Best CRM Software Systems & Tools: 7 Platforms In 2023
Managing and nurturing customer relationships is crucial for sustainable growth in today’s competitive business landscape. Robust CRM software can be a secret weapon to streamline your sales process, enhance customer service, and drive overall business success.
In this article, I will explore the top CRM solutions available in 2023, carefully analyzing their features, usability, and value for money. You will have all the insights you need to choose the right CRM software for your business.
So, let’s dive in and discover the leading CRM software options that can revolutionize how you manage and engage with your customers.
What is CRM software?
CRM software stands for Customer Relationship Management software. It is a powerful tool to help you manage and streamline customer interactions.
At its core, CRM software is a central place to store and organize important information about your clients, such as their contact details, purchase history, and preferences.
A CRM system offers several benefits and can significantly impact your business’s success.
It helps you better understand your customer’s needs and preferences, allowing for more personalized interactions.
Furthermore, CRM tools enhance team collaboration by providing a unified platform where sales, marketing, and customer support teams can access and share critical information.
Additionally, CRM systems can help automate routine tasks, such as data entry and lead tracking, freeing up valuable time for your team to focus on more strategic activities.
Which is the best CRM software in the world?
Here are my top picks for the 7 best CRM software in 2023:
Hubspot.
monday sales.
Bitrix24.
CompanyHub.
Ontraport.
Creatio.
Pipedrive.
1. Hubspot – Best Overall CRM Software
HubSpot takes the crown as the best CRM platform. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, HubSpot simplifies customer relationship management and drives growth.
HubSpot has everything from contact management and leads tracking to sales pipeline automation and top-notch customer support. Its marketing automation capabilities and powerful analytics tools give businesses the insights they need to create personalized campaigns and make data-driven decisions.
In a nutshell, HubSpot is the go-to CRM software for organizations aiming to build strong customer relationships and thrive in the competitive market.
Key features
Contact Management: You can store and organize contact information, including details, communication history, and segmentation based on various criteria in a CRM database. You can hold up to 1 million contacts without an expiration date.
Lead Tracking and Automation: HubSpot enables you to track leads and automate critical tasks, such as lead nurturing, follow-ups, and assigning tasks to team members, streamlining the sales process.
Sales Pipeline Management: With HubSpot, you can visually track and manage your sales pipelines, allowing you to prioritize deals, forecast revenue, and identify potential bottlenecks.
Email Marketing and Automation: With HubSpot’s built-in email marketing tools, you can create and send personalized email campaigns, automate follow-ups, and analyze email performance to optimize engagement.
Customer Support and Ticketing: HubSpot offers a help desk and ticketing system to streamline customer support processes, ensuring efficient ticket management, tracking, and resolution.
Marketing Automation: HubSpot provides robust marketing automation capabilities, allowing businesses to create automated workflows, nurture leads, segment audiences, and execute targeted marketing campaigns.
Integration and Customization: HubSpot integrates seamlessly with various third-party applications (including Gmail and Outlook) and offers customization options to tailor the CRM to specific business needs.
Task management: Hubspot’s task management provides you an opportunity to
Schedule, align, and your tasks.
Call, send emails, and schedule meetings with customers.
Create notes.
Built-in analytics: Hubspot CRM helps you keep an eye on marketing activities. It enables you to analyze conversion factors and provide detailed analysis reports for your business.
Price
Hubspot has different pricing packages. Each service (marketing, CMS, sales, etc..) has its pricing structure. However, there are 4 main pricing options:
Free: This plan includes all the free tools.
Starter: A starter plan with relatively little support in terms of services.
Professional: This plan supports more contacts and can get expensive.
Enterprise: This plan is for you if you have an enterprise that needs multiple customized services.
Hubspot also offers a Starter bundle at just $50/month for the monthly subscription or $30/month for the annual subscription. This bundle includes multiple services that can help your business tremendously.
Pros
A comprehensive CRM tool that covers various services.
Offers a competitive free-forever package.
Supports more than 300 third-party integrations.
Cons
Customer support for the free plan could be better.
The professional and enterprise plans are expensive.
Check out this guide to learn more about Hubspot CRM!
2. Monday Sales – Best Affordable CRM Software
monday sales is a game-changing customer relationship management solution designed to revolutionize your sales process and drive business growth.
Efficient sales management is crucial, and monday sales offers a comprehensive suite of tools to streamline your sales operations.
With monday sales, you can effectively manage leads, track opportunities, and monitor your sales pipeline in a user-friendly interface. This platform empowers your sales team to stay organized, prioritize tasks, and collaborate seamlessly to close deals faster.
monday sales goes beyond traditional CRM software by offering robust automation capabilities. From personalized email campaigns to intelligent lead scoring, the platform helps nurture leads and maximize conversion rates.
Furthermore, monday sales provides:
In-depth analytics and reporting.
Giving you valuable insights into sales performance.
Revenue forecasting.
Team productivity.
These data-driven insights enable informed decision-making and strategic planning for accelerated growth.
monday sales is the ultimate sales management solution, equipping you with the tools and intelligence to drive sales success and outshine your competition.
Key features
Email marketing: monday sales allows you to track and manage customer communication via email in one place.
Performance tracking: monday sales provides beautiful dashboards that you can use to track your team’s performance and see future forecasts.
Data management: monday sales provides an all-in-one solution to import, merge and manage customer data easily.
Project management: A different platform is included with the sales CRM to streamline the workflow across teams.
Automation capabilities: You can automate tasks using if-else conditions or integrate with third-party business tools to streamline your sales pipeline.
Lead scoring: You can prioritize and identify opportunities by knowing the highest-value leads.
Template center: monday sales includes many templates that allow you to start managing your project without breaking a sweat.
Price
monday sales CRM offers 4 pricing options:
Basic CRM: $12.5 per seat/month for the monthly subscription or $10 per seat/month for the annual subscription.
Standard CRM: $17 per seat/month for the monthly subscription or $14 per seat/month for the annual subscription.
Pro CRM: $30 per seat/month for the monthly subscription or $24 per seat/month for the annual subscription.
Enterprise CRM: Customized plan. Contact their sales team to learn more.
The software also offers a 14-day free trial. You have time to play around with it and see if it fits you.
Pros
Incredibly intuitive and easy to use.
Powerful automation capabilities.
Excellent customer support.
Cons
The free trial only lasts for 14 days.
3. Bitrix24 – Best Versatile CRM Software
Bitrix24 is the epitome of excellence in CRM software. As one of the best CRM solutions, Bitrix24 offers a powerful and comprehensive suite of features to supercharge customer relationship management.
You can efficiently manage your contacts, streamline sales processes, and foster meaningful customer interactions with Bitrix24. From contact management and lead tracking to sales automation and customer support, Bitrix24 covers every aspect of CRM with finesse.
What sets Bitrix24 apart is its all-in-one nature, combining CRM functionalities with project management, communication tools, and collaboration features. This integrated approach fosters seamless teamwork and enhances overall productivity.
Moreover, Bitrix24 excels in its customization options, allowing you to tailor the CRM system to your needs.
Key features
Sales Pipeline Management: With this feature, you can track customer progress through the sales pipeline.
Lead Tracking and Web Forms: Bitrix24 helps you track and manage leads. Thus you can capture leads at critical points.
Marketing Automation: You can create and manage email marketing campaigns. You can create custom task templates to automatically renew every week or month or build a customized timetable.
Sales Analytics: This feature helps you track sales analytics. You can use this data to know what works, where customers are coming from, tracking leads, and what you can be made.
Bots and AI: With bots and AI through Bitrix24, you gain more resources and hands to help with customer support. The bots can help you answer common customer questions through chat features, so you are free up for other tasks.
Multichannel communication: Communication within a company is vital to working with your team and customers. Bitrix24 provides many channels of communication to keep everyone on track and informed. They cover everything, from live chats and comment boxes in tasks to built-in telephony services for web calls.
Detailed Reports: You can create advanced reports with a few simple clicks. This tool saves you time and energy in creating customized reports for clients and management.
Customer Contact Center: They provide excellent customer support, and you will receive answers to your problems faster.
Price
Bitrix24 provides 4 pricing options:
Free: A free plan.
Basic: $61/month for the monthly subscription and $49/month for the annual subscription.
Standard: $124/month for the monthly subscription and $99/month for the annual subscription.
Professional: $249/month for the monthly subscription and $199/month for the annual subscription.
You will have 30 days to try the software for free! Check it out!
Pros
A highly versatile tool that can provide solutions to various business needs.
Can partially automate your sales and marketing efforts.
Excellent internal communication features for teams.
Cons
Clustered user interface.
Quite tricky to set up and use.
4.CompanyHub
CompanyHub is a leading CRM software offering a powerful solution to streamline sales processes and enhance customer interactions.
CompanyHub allows you to easily manage contacts, track leads, and monitor your sales pipeline. Its user-friendly interface and intuitive features make it simple to navigate and utilize, ensuring quick adoption and increased productivity.
What sets CompanyHub apart is its advanced customization capabilities. Tailor the CRM system to fit your business needs, create custom fields and workflows, and design personalized dashboards for insightful data visualization.
Moreover, CompanyHub offers seamless integration with various applications and services, enhancing workflow efficiency and enabling smooth data synchronization.
Key features
Lead Management: You can manage your leads as easily as editing an Excel sheet. You can create and edit leads, add notes and conversations, and import/export leads information.
Email Automation: CompanyHub provides all the tools for email marketing campaigns. You can sync, track and schedule emails with this feature. You can also send personalized bulk emails to your customers.
Sales Pipeline: You can visualize each person in your sales team’s sales pipeline.
Sales Reporting: You will get detailed reports on how your sales team is doing. These reports provide valuable information for your sales strategy.
Customizable CRM: You can customize this tool depending on your industry.
Sales Bots: CompanyHub can automate repetitive tasks like nurturing leads or reminding clients so that you can dedicate your energy to the most critical tasks.
Integrations: The platform offers various integrations, from Zapier and PieSync to API and Web to Lead.
Price
CompanyHub offers 3 pricing options:
Productivity: $21/user per month for the monthly subscription and $15/user per month for the annual subscription.
Automation: $36/user per month for the monthly subscription and $24/user per month for the annual subscription.
Accelerate: $64/user per month for the monthly subscription and $42/user per month for the annual subscription.
You will have a 14-day free trial to try the software as well.
Pros
Powerful customization capabilities that fit any industry and niche.
Excellent customer support who will go out of the way.
Cons
The mobile app doesn’t work well as the desktop version.
5. Ontraport
Ontraport has earned its place as one of the best CRM software in 2023.
The platform empowers businesses to manage contacts, track leads, automate marketing campaigns, and analyze customer interactions in one powerful platform. Its intuitive interface and robust features make it easy to navigate and utilize, providing a seamless user experience.
The software stands out for its advanced marketing automation capabilities. From email marketing and lead nurturing to personalized customer journeys, Ontraport empowers businesses to create targeted campaigns and maximize customer engagement.
Additionally, you can gain valuable insights into sales performance, marketing effectiveness, and customer behavior with reporting capabilities. This data-driven approach enables informed decision-making and optimization of business strategies.
Key features
Mobile CRM App: With this tool, you can run your business on the go. The app makes it easy to access data, keep workflows moving with a tap or stay on top of your calendar events.
Custom Objects: Ontraport provides custom objects to store, manage and automate various tasks. You can create records, generate relationships between records and use these records for automation. The software also offers many available templates that you can take advantage of.
Segment + Organize: You can store and organize customer data in one central platform.
Smart Pipelines: You can create drag-and-drop pipelines for every part of your business.
Unified Contact History: You can check every step of your sales process. Ontraport lets you see where your leads come from and every touchpoint in your sales process. This information helps you identify what works and what doesn’t.
Task Automation: You can send tasks to your team members from the automated campaigns. You can also find out what happened to automate the next steps.
Google Calendar Integration: Ontraport integrates with Google Calendar, which helps you schedule and manage online meetings conveniently.
Lead scoring + Routing: This feature allows you to identify hot leads and route them to the corresponding rep automatically.
Price
The software offers 4 pricing options:
Basic: $29/month for the monthly subscription and $24/month for the annual subscription.
Plus: $99/month for the monthly subscription and $83/month for the annual subscription.
Pro: $149/month for the monthly subscription and $124/month for the annual subscription.
Enterprise: $299/month for the monthly subscription and $249/month for the annual subscription.
The platform also offers a 14-day free trial. You have plenty of time to see if it fits you.
Pros
Excellent scheduling features.
Beautiful sales pipeline that manages the sales process.
Cons
Require a steep learning curve to master the tool.
Only supports a few integrations.
6. Creatio
Creatio empowers businesses to effectively manage customer interactions, automate workflows, and gain valuable insights into their operations.
The software is well-known for its unified platform, seamlessly integrating sales, marketing, and customer service functionalities. It enables you to align your teams, streamline processes, and deliver exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint.
Creatio also offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing valuable insights into sales performance, marketing campaigns, and customer behavior. This data-driven approach can help you make informed decisions and optimize your strategies for growth.
Key features
360° customer view: The tool helps you obtain a complete picture of your customers. You can get to know your customers better, understand their preferences, and build efficient, personalized communications.
Segmentation: You can segment your database and build data collections of any complexity.
Lead management: You can identify the lead sources and focus on the best-performing channels.
Trigger campaigns: Creatio provides a visual way to plan your marketing campaigns. You can also monitor campaign progress over time.
Personalized email marketing: You can send personalized emails to a mass audience with just a few simple clicks.
Event management: With Creatio, you can plan and manage all events, from promotions and advertising campaigns to conferences and webinars. The system allows tracking dates and locations, segmenting target audiences, planning budgets, and assigning teams.
Business process management: Creatio provides comprehensive tools to effectively manage business processes, including execution, process modeling, monitoring, and analysis.
Sales forecasting: Creatio forecasting tools ensure you can achieve your sales goals. You can plan sales volumes, compare indicators across periods and apply filtering tools to get the information you need for your sales strategy.
Price
Creatio offers 3 lines of services.
Marketing Creatio
This service starts at $1719/year (supports 4000 active contacts and one user). You can adjust the price based on your business needs.
Sales Creatio
This service offers 3 pricing plans:
Team: $30/user per month for the Cloud version and $25/user per month for the On-site version.
Commerce: $35/user per month for the Cloud version and $30/user per month for the On-site version.
Enterprise: $60/user per month for the Cloud version and $50/user per month for the On-site version.
Service Creatio
This service offers 2 pricing plans:
Customer Center: $45/user per month for the Cloud version and $35/user per month for the On-site version.
Service Enterprise: $60/user per month for the Cloud version and $50/user per month for the On-site version.
Bundle CRM
You can also create your custom plan by mixing and matching these services.
Pros
Excellent 360° customer view provides a comprehensive view for prospects and customers.
Visualized campaign management tool that helps you manage campaigns.
Business process management enables you to manage various business processes.
Cons
It can be expensive to access all three models.
Doesn’t integrate with social media.
7. Pipedrive
Pipedrive has firmly established itself as one of the best CRM solutions in 2023.
With Pipedrive, you’ll have all the tools to manage leads efficiently, keep track of deals, and optimize your sales pipelines.
The tool has a unique emphasis on visual sales pipeline management. You can easily visualize and track the progress of your sales, prioritize deals, and identify potential obstacles, empowering you to make well-informed decisions that drive revenue.
Furthermore, Pipedrive seamlessly integrates with a wide range of third-party applications and services, making it effortless to connect and synchronize data, enhancing your workflow efficiency.
Key features
Custom Columns and Filters: This powerful feature helps you add, remove, and records like working with a spreadsheet.
Activities Overview: Provides a comprehensive activity overview that gives you the exact follow-up on a particular account so you can manage your sales activities on busy days without worrying about missing out on events.
Email Templates: Pipedrive provides beautiful email templates that help you reach potential prospects faster. You don’t have to waste time writing the same email repeatedly.
Logging Leads: You can keep track of leads at a high level. Never worrying about missing follow-ups again.
Customizable Reports: The platform offers many customizable reports with detailed information about conversion rates, leads sources, etc., so you can adjust your sales strategy accordingly.
Revenue Projection: You can lay out your revenue shortly and pivot your strategy if it doesn’t work.
Smart Contact Data: Pipedrive provides customer contact data at your fingertips so that you can customize your outreach.
Track Communication: This feature provides a history of all previous customer communications.
Price
The software offers 5 pricing options:
Essential: $21.9/user per month for the monthly subscription and $14.9/user per month for the annual subscription.
Advanced: $37.9/user per month for the monthly subscription and $27.9/user per month for the annual subscription.
Professional: $59.9/user per month for the monthly subscription and $49.9/user per month for the annual subscription.
Power: $74.9/user per month for the monthly subscription and $64.9/user per month for the annual subscription.
Enterprise: $119/user per month for the monthly subscription and $99/user per month for the annual subscription.
Pros
Affordable paid plans.
Unlimited and customizable sales pipelines.
Artificial Intelligence powers sales assistants.
Offers many email templates for optimizing email outreaches.
Cons
No free plan is offered.
Phone support only on highest tier packages.
How to Choose CRM Software
1. Have a budget in mind
Customer relationship management (CRM) costs from few to even hundreds of dollars monthly, so it’s best to set your budget before you find a service. It’s easier to narrow your options by eliminating services outside your budget before drilling into features and tools.
2. Create a list of necessary features
When selecting CRM software for your business, creating a list of necessary features that cater to your specific needs and goals is crucial.
Start by considering the core functionalities that will help you effectively manage customer relationships, such as contact management, lead tracking, and sales pipeline management.
Next, think about the tools that would support seamless communication and collaboration among your teams, including task management, file sharing, and calendar integration.
Remember to evaluate features related to marketing and customer support, such as email marketing, social media integration, and ticketing systems.
Lastly, prioritize ease of use, customization options, and scalability to ensure the CRM software can adapt to your business’s evolving needs.
By carefully considering these aspects, you’ll be better equipped to choose a CRM solution that aligns with your objectives and sets your business up for long-term success.
3. Gather referrals from businesses in your industry
When selecting the right CRM software for your business, one of the best ways to find out which platform is right for you is by asking other companies like yours.
Ask people in your network about their experiences with different CRM solutions and what features they found most helpful.
You can also read online reviews or join industry forums to get firsthand opinions from users who have already tested these services.
Gathering referrals from similar companies will give you a better understanding of how a particular CRM solution might work in practice and help you make an informed decision.
4. Assess the current market
The SaaS industry is constantly changing. New products and services come almost every year. Services that worked in the past are not necessarily relevant currently. Learn about the latest services that are beneficial for your business.
5. Read customer reviews
Reading customer reviews is essential in choosing the right CRM software for your business. It provides insight into users’ experiences who have tested a specific service and helps you make an informed decision.
You can find reviews on various websites, such as Capterra or G2, as well as on the vendor’s website.
6. Test your best options
Once you’ve narrowed down your options, it’s time to test them out. Most vendors offer free software trials, so take advantage of this and try the features for yourself.
It can be helpful to involve multiple people on your team in testing the CRM solutions, as different users may have different experiences with each service.
This will also allow you to understand how easy or difficult it is to use the platform and its features. You should also consider each vendor’s customer support—some services provide more extensive help than others.
In addition, look into data migration capabilities if you already have customer information stored in another system.
Once you’ve tested all your top choices, compare what you learned from each trial period before making an informed decision that best fits your company’s needs and budget.
7. Decide which software is best for you
After researching, you have more than enough information about different CRM software. Decide which service is best for you and commit to that service.
FAQs
What is a CRM and ERP?
Both services can increase business value by centralizing data and automating processes.
However, CRM manages and automates customer interactions, while ERP is responsible for business processes.
Which is #1 CRM software?
Salesforce is currently the #1 CRM software in the market.
What is the most commonly used CRM?
Hubspot CRM is currently the most commonly used CRM in the world.
Is Excel a CRM tool?
Yes. An Excel spreadsheet is widely used and simple to handle. You can collect, manage and evaluate data in table formats. That’s why you can use Excel as a CRM tool. You can create a table with different tabs and apply formulas for sorting and analyzing customer data.
However, Excel has few automation functionalities. Thus, invest in an advanced tool to help you automate all the CRM processes.
Is Mailchimp a CRM?
Yes. Mailchimp is a perfect CRM software for small businesses. It offers various features that can take the CRM process to the next level.
Featured Image Source: Image by vector4stock on Freepik
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