The use of CRM systems has been on the rise and it is a no brainer to understand why. Here is a system that has potentially changed the customer user experience and taken it to a level where servicing customers has become relatively easy and enjoyable.
In the world of numbers, it was not easy to gather all information at one place and make it accessible to all departments in order to provide tailor made solutions to the customers.
However, CRM system have done just that and perhaps a lot more. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning it is only going to get better and no wonder why every organization wants to make use of CRM systems.
However, with so many systems in the market and with so much at stake in terms of money involved that it becomes difficult for small and medium sized companies with lesser budgets to choose from what is available to them.
For that reason, we have chosen what we think are some of the free CRM software out there in the market for small and medium sized companies
SugarCRM
SugarCRM is amongst the most prominent names in the technology industry. It offers plans that are relatively cheaper and market specific.
Since it is in the industry from a long time it has gained a good experience of understanding typical issues small and medium sized companies face in regards to implementation and integration of the system.
If you find it hard to deal with CRM applications that have way too many features, you need to opt for SugarCRM then.
It is a no-nonsense CRM solution for those small businesses that are looking for a simple and unclutter dashboard to control every aspect of their business operation. SugarCRM will let you manage marketing campaigns with ease and it will also let you expand your business without spending hours at your desk.
SugarCRM’s platform is easy to follow and integration with other system is as easy as pie. Its UI looks super cool and modern and it offers easy accessibility to all its features and applications to all the users.
It allows you to make better decision and effortless collaboration. SugarCRM makes use of the powerful REST API to make it easier for you to integrate it with other business applications.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales driver tool with main focus on customer relationship management. It has a large customer base and it customizes to serve organization of all sizes. Since it is present in more than 150+ countries it understands demographical issues and the types of customers each company is looking to cater to.
Pipedrive users are a happy bunch as the tool itself does a lot of things and answer most of your questions that you may well be dwelling upon before opting for a CRM system.
Freshsales
FreshSales is another popular CRM that has managed to eke out a niche for itself by offering a robust customer relationship management solution by exploiting the power of Artificial Intelligence.
FreshSales CRM can automatically group sales leads after analyzing them carefully and then assigning these leads to the right department.
FreshSales also offer a 360 view of each customer profile right from its Single Screen Dashboard so that you can take action immediately.
What is amazing about FreshSales’ CRM is that there is no need to enter data manually into the system as the CRM is smart enough to fetch social information of each customer.
Social profiles and photos of customers are fetched automatically by the CRM application thus eliminating the needs of manual data entry.
ACT!Premium
Act!Premium has been around from a very long time and has been offering services to small sized businesses.
They have mastered the art of serving small businesses as their original ACT product serves a team of 1-1000 with most of them ranging around the mark of ten. The primary features include built in marketing tools and proactive notifications at its core.
Infusion Soft
Infusion Soft has always been categorized as a small business CRM but it can function perfectly alright for larger teams as well.
It has been noted that most tools who serve small sized companies give little focus and emphasis on automation as it adds to their cost, however Infusion soft has just done that. It is cost effective and probably the best in its line for the price you pay.
Monday.com
Monday.com is primarily a visual tool that helps you manage different projects and track leads in one place. It is a combination of a CRM system merged with a management tool which is completely visual and one can see and keep track of all moving parts
It is fun and intuitive and visual interface makes the experience even more personal which in turn drive sales growth and helps in improving customer relationships.
Active Campaign
Active Campaign is a tool that provides a combination of CRM systems uses. Sales CRM automation, email marketing and marketing automation are the most significant features of Active Campaign.
It helps you create a number of automated marketing campaigns thereby keeping your customers interested in the products on offering. Automation also means that it saves a lot of your time as a lot of your redundant tasks become relatively easy
With the help of Active Campaign, you can design email campaigns, send newsletters from time to time and interact with your customers on a regular basis. It will also enable you to automate your marketing using behavioral data about your customers and provide them with customized solution or campaigns.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is one of those rare tools available in the market that provides a free CRM software that is equally capable of carrying out tasks without burning a hole in your pocket.
While most of the CRM systems charges you in some or the other way, Zoho CRM lets you onboard up to ten users at no extra cost and gives them access to all core functionalities.
Accelo CRM
Accelo CRM is perhaps the simplest of tools available in the market when it comes to communicating with the customers.
The CRM system works in a way where it stores all important communication with the users in one place and automatically track all information pertaining to current or previous communication with the clients. One can share all data in real time with the clients and add attachments to it.
Salesforce
Salesforce is one of the most renouned name in the industry of cloud computing. It provides cloud-based solution which has everything you would want in a good CRM system.
Primarily Salesforce cater to the larger players, however its small business edition gives you access to some of the most important features of a CRM system at an affordable price for small businesses to make use of.
In addition to this the smaller edition is very user friendly and include key features of the bigger sibling thus making it a robust platform for small and medium sized organizations.
HubSpot
Hubspot is free for all tools for every organization to make use off. It is not as robust as some of the earlier ones but does a perfect job of keeping all contacts in one place and tracks and organizes all your potential sales.
It helps monitor all steps of a sales pipeline and its app contain additional features like document tracking and templates for emails and in-app calling features.
Author: Satish Babu
