Jess Pingrey

Customer relationship management (CRM) software for small business offers low-cost features designed to help a startup, solopreneur, or small operation generate and retain customers. The best CRM for small business provides an easy-to-use solution to manage sales, marketing, and service tasks on one interface. The top options also come with data management features to stay organized and automation tools to help business owners and their teams work efficiently. We evaluated dozens of CRM products to find the best small business CRM. Based on our evaluation, the top eight CRMs well-suited for small organizations include: Best CRM software for small business (overall): Excellent for direct sales engagement: Ideal for workflow automation: Solid lead management capabilities: Great for project management: Best simple contact management features: Top choice for managing call centers: Robust customer support CRM: Best CRM Software for Small Business Compared See fullscreen table × *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. HubSpot CRM: Best CRM for Small Business (Overall) HubSpot CRM Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Starter CRM Suite**: $45 for two users Professional CRM Suite**: $1,600 (up to five users) Enterprise CRM Suite**: $5,000 (up to 10 users) Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **CRM Suite includes sales, marketing, customer service, content management system (CMS), and operations software. Individual modules can be purchased for lower monthly costs. HubSpot has one of the best free plans available to help oversee sales, marketing, customer service, and content management activities. Check out our HubSpot CRM review to learn more and see if it's the best choice for your business. Freshsales: Best Sales Engagement Features Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Growth: $15 Pro: $39 Enterprise: $69 Free trial: 21 days Add-ons Configure, Price, Quote: $19 per user, per month for quote document templates, invoicing, and document activity tracking Additional Bot Sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Like what you see? Explore all of the features of this CRM platform to determine if it’s the right solution for your business by reading our comprehensive Freshsales review. Zoho CRM: Best Workflow Automation Features Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to three users Standard: $14 Professional: $23 Enterprise: $40 Ultimate: $52 Free trial: 15 days Additional Plans Bigin: $7 per user, per month for basic sales pipeline management Zoho CRM Plus: $57 per user, per month for added help desk, email and social media marketing, survey, and analytics functions *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Learn more about this robust and elaborate CRM platform in our detailed Zoho CRM review. Pipedrive: Best Lead Management Features Pipedrive Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Essential: $14.90 Advanced: $24.90 Professional: $49.90 Enterprise: $99 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Discover how else Pipedrive can help your business grow in our in-depth Pipedrive review. Bitrix24: Best for Project Management Features Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Basic: $49 (up to five users) Standard: $99 (up to 50 users) Professional: $199 (up to 100 users) Enterprise: $399 (up to 250 users) Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly and quarterly billing is also available for a higher cost. Bitrix24 offers comprehensive business management solutions. To learn more about this platform’s full feature set, check out our comprehensive Bitrix24 review. Really Simple Systems: Best for Simple Contact Management Tools Really Simple Systems Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to two users Starter: $14 Professional: $30 Enterprise: $46 Free trial: 14 days Add-ons Simple Marketing**: $22 per month Advanced Marketing: $46 per month Service Desk**: $46 per month *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **Module is included in the Enterprise plan. Really Simple Systems offers a simple, all-in-one solution for sales, marketing, and support management. Get the full scope of the product in our Really Simple Systems review to see if it's right for your business. Close: Best for Telephone & Text Engagement Close Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Starter: $25 Basic: $59 Professional: $89 Business: $129 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Salesforce Essentials: Best Customer Support Features Salesforce Essentials Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Salesforce Essentials: $25 Free trial: 30 days Add-ons Sales Dialer: $5 for a built-in dialer with click-to-dial and call logging CPQ and Billing: $75 for price and quoting tools. Social Intelligence: $25 for social media data collection and sharing Sales Cloud Einstein: $50 for AI analytics and automaton Pardot: $1,250 per month for marketing and lead generation automaton Partner Relationship Management: $25 per user or $10 per login, per month for partner oversight features *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Want to learn more? Dive into this platform’s rich feature set for a wide range of businesses in our full Salesforce Essentials review. How We Evaluated the Best CRM Platforms for Small Business To determine the best CRM for small business, we evaluated product attributes relevant to managing sales, marketing, and service activity for a startup, solo-operated, or micro-sized business operation. Low and scalable pricing, for instance, is essential for a small firm that needs sales tools to grow revenue. Additionally, we looked at CRM features that are especially useful to a smaller operation. Workflow automation, for example, allows teams with limited resources to stay productive, while appointment scheduling is useful for managing sales calls. We identified as the best CRM for small business overall. The platform is not only free for unlimited users, but it also provides small teams with user-friendly features that offer tremendous value to growing sales teams. Reps can manage contact and deal records and engage prospects through email and digital ads, automated campaign sequences, blog posts, and customizable landing pages and forms. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best CRMs for small business: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is a small business CRM? A CRM system for small teams refers to a CRM product well-suited for a smaller or solo-operated product because of its features, free and cost-friendly options, and user simplicity. A robust CRM lets teams organize sales data for contacts or deals, collaborate on opportunities, and design and deploy marketing campaigns. It’ll also have tools to engage leads through email, phone, or live chat and manage appointments. What is the easiest & best CRM for small business? The “easiest” and “best” CRM will be different based on user needs. For example, we rank as the best overall CRM as it is easy to use, offers a free plan for unlimited users, and has modular features for sales, marketing, service, and content management. However, some companies need specific tools based on their operation and require certain criteria when choosing a CRM. If all you need, for example, is basic contact management, is the best choice. What is the cheapest CRM for a small company? If we look at the cost-friendliness of paid plans, for example, and offer the lowest starting pricing and excellent scalability for businesses that need to grow features, data, and user capacity. However, if you’re looking for the best CRMs in terms of free-plan availability, then , , and are best because of their unlimited user capacity. Bottom Line Small business CRMs give teams a simple, low-cost solution for managing sales, marketing, and customer support. is our top pick overall due to its free-forever plan with intuitive yet powerful features for storing sales data and deploying marketing campaigns. However, other CRMs could be better if you prioritize a specific feature, such as workflow automation, project management, or contact storage.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software for ecommerce businesses lets online retailers and sellers manage their websites, inventory, and transactions through one system. The best ecommerce CRMs also allow users to design and deploy omnichannel marketing campaigns to build loyal customer relationships and monitor a business’ prior customer interactions. We evaluated dozens of CRMs for ecommerce sites to find the best providers. Based on our evaluation, the top nine CRMs for online sellers include: Best ecommerce CRM (overall): Best free ecommerce CRM: Best for email marketing: Best ecommerce customer service system: Best for selling across numerous channels: Best Shopify integration: Best ecommerce analytics: Best for inventory management and accounting: Best for Google Workspace users: Best CRM for Ecommerce Businesses Compared See fullscreen table × *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. Zoho CRM Plus: Best Overall Ecommerce CRM Tool Zoho CRM Plus Pricing at a Glance* Zoho CRM Plus: $57 per user, per month Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Zoho CRM Plus is just one of many subscription plans you can select from the provider’s CRM solution. To get a full overview of Zoho CRM, check out our Zoho CRM review for details on pricing, features, and use-case scenarios. Bitrix24: Best Free Ecommerce Tools Bitrix24 Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Basic: $49 per month (up to five users) Standard: $99 per month (up to 50 users) Professional: $199 per month (up to 100 users) Enterprise: $399 (up to 250 users) Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly and quarterly billing are also available for a higher cost. Want to learn more about this platform’s full feature set? Our comprehensive Bitrix24 review tells you everything you need to know to help you decide if it’s right for your team. Capsule: Best for Deploying Email Campaigns Capsule Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to two users Professional: $18 Teams: $36 Enterprise: $54 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on monthly billing and users may cancel at any time. Agile CRM: Best Customer Service Management Features Agile CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to 10 users Starter: $8.99 Regular: $29.99 Enterprise: $47.99 *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. See if this CRM is right for your business with our Agile CRM review for insights on features, pricing, integrations, and user reviews. BigCommerce: Best for Multi-channel Selling BigCommerce Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Standard: $29.95** Plus: $71.95** Pro: $269.96** Enterprise: Contact for pricing Free trial: 15 days *All plans include an unlimited number of user accounts. **Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Freshmarketer: Best for Integrating With Shopify Freshmarketer Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Up to 100 marketing contacts Growth: $19 (up to 2,000 marketing contacts) Pro: $140 (up to 5,000 marketing contacts) Enterprise: $299 (up to 10,000 marketing contacts) Free trial: 21 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Metrilo: Best for Advanced Analytics Features Metrilo Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Essential: $99 Pro: $165 Premium: $249 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. QuickBooks Online: Best for Accounting & Inventory Management QuickBooks Online Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Simple Start: $15 Essentials $27.50 Plus: $42.50 Advanced: $100 Free trial: 30 days *Pricing is based on annual billing with 50% off for the first three months. Be sure to learn more about QuickBooks and all of its ecommerce, accounting, and payment processing solutions in our QuickBooks Online review to see if it's right for your business. Copper CRM: Best Google Workspace Integration Copper CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Basic: $23 Professional: $49 Business: $99 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Like what you see? Our Copper CRM review will give you everything you need to know about Copper’s Google integrations, built-in capabilities, and use cases to help you make your next purchase decision. How We Evaluated the Best CRM for Ecommerce Tools To determine the best CRM system for ecommerce, we evaluated the specific features relevant to managing an online storefront. For instance, an elaborate website builder with omnichannel marketing capabilities allows an online retailer to generate website traffic for a customer base. We also looked at other critical product attributes, including price, customer support, and what users say about the products. We found to be the best CRM software for ecommerce businesses and online retailers. For one, the platform offers end-to-end solutions for managing inventory, marketing, sales, projects, and customer support in one system. Additionally, Zoho CRM Plus has solid social media management tools for publishing content and monitoring activity. Finally, it has elaborate email marketing capabilities specific to ecommerce through automated purchases, abandoned cart follow-ups, and product and coupon syncs. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best ecommerce CRMs: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is ecommerce CRM software? Ecommerce CRM software products are platforms that let online retailers or businesses that sell through their websites manage sales, marketing, and operations. It’ll have features, either built-in or through integrations, for storing customer data, designing online storefronts, deploying marketing campaigns, and gaining revenue insights. It’ll also be able to track inventory and orders through the system. Though there are specialty tools like BigCommerce and Metrilo, many ecommerce solutions are found within traditional CRM systems. What is the best ecommerce CRM? There can’t really be a “best” ecommerce CRM because each platform has its own special use cases and standout product attributes. For example, traditional CRMs like Zoho CRM Plus are not specifically built for ecommerce and, therefore, will not have specialty capabilities like payment processing or storefront design tools. Specialty products like BigCommerce, on the other hand, are meant for online retailers and include capabilities useful to them. These, however, come at a higher cost and require steeper learning curves. What are the benefits of using an ecommerce CRM? The purpose of an ecommerce CRM is to manage as many functions of an online retailer as possible. If you can use one system to complete workflows and store data on sales, marketing, inventory, orders, and accounting activity, you can keep work centralized in one interface. This ultimately lets you reap the benefits of a more organized operation, increased collaboration with team members, and improved efficiency and results. Bottom Line Ecommerce CRM platforms help online retailers collect customer data and manage marketing, inventory, purchase orders, and transactional activities in one interface. While is our pick for the best overall ecommerce CRM software, other systems could better fit your business depending on features or product attribute needs. Regardless, adopting a CRM built for ecommerce offers benefits like a more organized and efficient operation—helping generate business growth.

Business introduction emails are an effective way to start conversations with potential leads, referral partners, and customers. They offer a solid channel for generating sales pipeline opportunities and developing business relationships. When reaching out to a contact, you should use a proven introduction email template that grabs their attention and maximizes engagement. We’ve created 11 email templates to quickly and easily target prospects. Download these introduction email templates and customize them for your sales outreach. You can also import your templates into many customer relationship management (CRM) systems to use in sales emails. Email Introduction Templates for Sales Leads These email introduction example templates are specifically for targeting potential customers directly. They can be used for creating brand awareness, generating leads, or qualifying prospects after they’ve been submitted to you via a referral, website form, or digital ad submission. During these types of email introductions, you can employ various tactics within the messaging to grasp the contact’s attention (such as identifying their pain points) and place them in the sales funnel. Business Introduction Email Templates for Partners You aren’t always sending cold emails to potential customers. Often, sales reps and business owners look to make introductions to other businesses that could serve as valuable partners. They could be either solid centers of influence for referral opportunities or be helpful to add value to a customer. For example, IT management companies often partner with cybersecurity consultants to offer more services to their clients. Regardless of the purpose, here are some email templates for partner introductions. Email Introduction Templates for Customers & Accounts As we’ve covered templates for writing cold emails to prospects and business partners, let’s now explore circumstances for sending an introduction email to clients. Though it's assumed a customer would already be familiar with their account manager, customer service rep, or client success manager, there are a few scenarios where you still need to send an email either to introduce yourself, another person, or a new product or service. How to Get More Value From Introduction Email Templates Our introduction email templates are designed to facilitate conversations with leads, business partners, and customers to ultimately produce more revenue. In addition to using these outlines for sending cold emails, here are some other ways you can boost conversions for your introductory emails: Bottom Line Email is a popular communication channel for developing sales opportunities and professional relationships. Using business introduction email templates helps improve messaging quality and save time through a proven outline already created for you. In addition to utilizing introductory templates, teams can improve production and conversions by using CTA automation, template storage systems, personalized messaging, and premade email lists.

Sales automation software lets users complete sales activities, such as entering data, assigning tasks, and sending emails, through automation rather than manual completion. Automation allows sales reps and managers to maximize efficiency by putting repetitive, tedious tasks on autopilot and prioritizing building customer relationships. While many specialty marketing and workflow automation products exist, most automation solutions can be deployed using customer relationship management (CRM) software. We evaluated dozens of sales process automation tools and CRMs with robust automation capabilities. Based on our evaluation, here are the 11 best products for automating sales tasks: Best for end-to-end sales process automation: Best artificial intelligence (AI) features: Best for automating sales call tasks: Best for deal management automation: Best for automating business-to-business outreach: Best for automated lead qualification: Best for email automation: Best for omnichannel automation: Best workflow integration system: Best for advanced lead insights: Best low-priced prospecting automation: Best Sales Automation Platforms Compared *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. CRM Sales Automation Platforms CRMs often come with automation features that let teams centralize and automate sales workflows in one platform. They come with sales process automation, where users can update data, assign tasks, and send communications based on triggers such as updates to deals or when a new lead gets generated. There’s also sales activity automation, where users complete repetitive tasks without manual requirements. This is common for obtaining sales analytics, creating revenue forecasts, identifying qualified sales opportunities, and inserting data into a proposal in real time. 1. HubSpot Sales Hub: Best End-to-End Sales Automation Software offers a popular CRM system that runs simple automated workflows, such as notifying a user or creating a new task when a deal stage changes. It also handles complex processes, like auto-assigning new leads to a sales rep based on customer attributes such as deal size or industry. HubSpot lets teams put the entire sales process on auto-pilot as it allows for data capture from web forms to auto-generate leads in the CRM. It also has lead scoring to qualify the best opportunities and nurturing through automated sales follow-ups via email or LinkedIn. HubSpot Sales Hub Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Starter: $45 for two users Professional: $450 (up to five users) Enterprise: $1,200 (up to 10 users) Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing, monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Like what you see? Learn more about HubSpot’s features and other product modules in our HubSpot review. 2. Pipedrive: Best Automated Insights Features is a sales-focused platform that lets reps set up CRM automations to assign or generate sales tasks, send emails to prospects, and update data records. Users can do one-click data enrichment from the Smart Contact tool, which automatically compiles recent contact data and insights found online or on LinkedIn profiles. There’s also the sophisticated Sales Assistant tool. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze CRM data, where it can provide automated suggestions for how to improve performance and which deals to prioritize. Pipedrive Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Essential: $14.90 Advanced: $24.90 Professional: $49.90 Enterprise: $99 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Learn how Pipedrive can help your small business grow by checking out our Pipedrive review. You’ll get insights on pricing, usability, and best-for circumstances based on its features and integrations. 3. Agile CRM: Best for Call Automation Features lets businesses automate lead scoring, marketing campaign deployment, data management, and customer support communications through chatbot tools. Despite these excellent capabilities, the most notable workflow automation enabled by Agile CRM is for telephone calls. Sales reps who do a lot of cold outreach and nurturing through the phone can use Agile CRM to automatically mass drop voicemails to CRM leads, Users can also log call notes, create tasks, schedule meetings, and send follow-up emails after a prospect call. Agile CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to 10 users Starter: $8.99 Regular: $29.99 Enterprise: $47.99 *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Agile CRM gives small businesses an all-in-one tool for overseeing sales, marketing, and customer service operations. Find out if it's right for your small business by checking out our full Agile CRM review. 4. Freshsales: Best Deal Management Automation is equipped with tons of sales automation, including customer profile enrichment, lead scoring, sales email sequences, and invoice updating capabilities. Each module even lets teams auto-assign new opportunities, such as contacts, accounts, and deals based on location or product line. The main focus for Freshsales automation, however, is overseeing deals in the sales pipeline. Users can receive automatic insights on how to move a deal forward, and whether it is trending, rotten, or solid enough to commit to the next sales forecast. Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free Plan: Unlimited users Growth: $15 Pro: $39 Enterprise: $69 Free trial: 21 days Add-ons Configure, Price, Quote: $19 for quote document templates, invoicing, and document activity tracking Additional bot sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Explore the features of this CRM tool to determine if it’s the right solution for your business in our comprehensive Freshsales review. 5. Overloop: Best for Automating Business-to-Business Sales Campaigns is both a CRM and sales automation platform. Built for business-to-business (B2B) sales, Overloop offers sales management features and connects with LinkedIn. The LinkedIn integration lets users create CRM records from profiles, deploy mass message and connection request campaigns, and use Sales Navigator from the CRM. In addition to LinkedIn automation, revenue teams can manage automated email campaigns. The contact lists are formed using email finder credits the provider accepts for email address data. Overloop Pricing at a Glance** No Brainer (Base Price)*: $82 per user, per month Free trial: 14 days Email Finder Credits $39 per month for 250 credits $59 per month for 500 credits $99 per month for 1,000 credits $299 per month for 5,000 credits $499 per month for 10,000 credits *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **Base plan automatically includes 250 email credits per user on a monthly basis. 6. Keap: Best for Automating Lead Qualification is an elaborate CRM excellent for B2B teams. It has features for contact management, appointment scheduling, quoting, invoicing, and the ability to track contacts related to company records. For automation, users can capture leads through web forms, assign them to reps, send recurring invoices, and deliver email and text campaigns automatically. Lastly, while other CRMs can automate lead qualification with lead scoring, Keap extends the capability with email and task automation based on those lead scores. Keap Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Pro: $129 Max: $199 Max Classic: Contact for pricing Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Keap is an excellent CRM option for businesses seeking robust sales automation and email marketing capabilities. Find out other great use cases for this platform in our Keap CRM review to see if it's right for your business. Marketing Automation Platforms Marketing automation platforms focus on the communication aspect of generating business. These systems allow users to design marketing campaigns through email, text, online ads, or social media channels, then distribute them to a contact list or preset audience. The automation component becomes useful for drip and redeployment. Users don’t need to keep sending or posting content because the automation platform will do it for them based on conditions, such as time intervals or audience behaviors like clicking a link or making a purchase. 7. Mailchimp: Best Email Marketing Automation Features is one of the best email marketing software tools to put brand development and lead generation on autopilot. Users can access prebuilt emails and automated journey templates to design mass emails and automate lead nurturing. Teams can also create landing pages and web forms as destination points, and automate contact segmentation based on built-in, predictive analytics tools. Finally, the platform offers A/B testing to optimize campaigns and a creative assistant to import brand pallets into your campaigns. Mailchimp Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: One user Essentials: Starts at $13 (up to three users) Standard: Starts at $20 (up to five users) Premium: Starts at $350 (unlimited users) *Pricing based on monthly billing and 500 contact records. Additional contact records will be more expensive. Did you know Mailchimp integrates with many popular CRM systems like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM? See where else you can connect your Mailchimp system when you read our guide on the best Mailchimp CRM solutions. 8. ActiveCampaign: Best for Automating Multiple Communication Channels offers a marketing platform, a CRM, and the option to bundle both into one. This software is a powerful solution for engaging customers and leads on numerous channels. Users can manage email, short message service (SMS), and Facebook ad campaigns from the system. Additionally, ecommerce businesses can integrate to oversee marketing outreach on WooCommerce, Shopify, Square, and BigCommerce. In addition to the omnichannel channel capabilities, ActiveCampaign has drip options to automate customer journeys. ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance** Lite: $9 (up to one user)* Plus: $49 (up to three users)* Professional: $149 (up to five users)* Enterprise: Contact for pricing (up to 10 users) Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **Pricing is strictly for the ActiveCampaign email and marketing automation product. The CRM and sales product can be purchased separately or bundled for an added cost. Workflow Automation Integration Tools Workflow automation integrators refer to a system that connects two or more applications and runs automations between them. For example, you can add a contact record in Zoho CRM and notify a sales rep through if a new lead submitted their information on a Facebook ads form. With three apps in this ecosystem, you could easily use an integration to create this workflow. Because of the platform’s unique capabilities, only made the list for this type of sales process automation software. 9. Zapier: Best for Creating Workflows Between Apps is the ultimate do-it-yourself automation creator. It lets small businesses connect their favorite applications, including , , and , so they can deploy automations between apps. This allows users to get other functionality out of their software, such as notifications or data syncs through connectivity. Zapier uses the trigger-action system to create “Zaps” workflows. So if something happens in one app, like a deal stage changes in HubSpot, then an action occurs in another app, such as DocuSign sending a proposal to a lead. Zapier Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Up to one user Starter: $19.99 (up to one user) Professional: $49 (up to one user) Team: $399 (unlimited users) Company: $799 (unlimited users) Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Data Intelligence Tools Data intelligence software and services take the manual labor out of online research. Instead of spending hours on prospecting, sales teams can use intelligence platforms to purchase lead data or contact lists for cold outreach campaigns. Investing in these services lets you automate the prospecting stage, early parts of the lead generation process, and even intelligence activities like data enrichment. 10. DemandScience: Best for Advanced Prospect Insights is a prospecting service that offers lead intelligence and outreach solutions. Users can create their own B2B lead list using desired criteria like industry, revenue, title, and the technology the business uses. There are sophisticated features for identifying buyer intent where you can see which leads are most interested based on signals like email engagement, keyword searches, and ad clicks. Finally, DemandScience offers outreach services where sales reps will place calls on your behalf to generate leads. 11. Lusha: Best Cost-friendly Lead Database is a B2B database businesses can use to automate prospect research and lead list generation. The free plan is a great starting place for sales teams to construct their contact list and begin outreach campaigns. They can also keep the data automatically up to date with the free LinkedIn enrichment features. Users can upgrade as they need more contacts and users to a paid plan, which starts at $29 per user every month for 480 annual credits for up to five users. Lusha Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance Free: Up to one user for five credits per month Pro: $29 (one to five users for up to 480 credits per user, per year) Premium: $51 (one to five users for up to 960 credits per user, per year) Scale: Custom plan, must contact for pricing *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. How We Evaluated the Top Sales Automation Software To evaluate the best sales automation tools, we limited our product list strictly to software products that can complete workflow automations for the sales process, during marketing campaigns, or while managing projects. Once established, we narrowed it down to the top automation tools using these attributes: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is sales automation software? Sales automation software is a function, often found in CRMs or specialty tools, used to complete repetitive workflows for a user, such as sending communications or updating a data record. It often uses a trigger, condition, and system, where if an event takes place that meets certain criteria, then the action happens. For instance, users could create a workflow that IF a deal stage changes to “closed-won,” THEN that lead record is updated to “client” status and assigned to an account manager who receives an email notification. What is the best sales automation software? There is no “best overall” sales automation software. Instead, there is sales automation software that’s “best” for the user, because products have their own use cases. CRMs, for example, combine data storage, lead management, communication tools, and workflow automation for an all-in-one automation platform. However, if you need something specific, like email automation, look to a specialized product like . Additionally, product attributes like price and usability will also dictate which sales automation tool is best for you. What are the benefits of adopting a sales automation software tool? Employing sales automation helps businesses scale their operation. Because workflows, specifically repetitive ones like data entry or lead nurturing, are put on autopilot, it's like having another employee at your disposal. This lets you do more in less time so you can focus on the interpersonal parts of sales and close more deals. Automation, in general, also reduces human error since a computer is completing the work for you. Bottom Line Sales automation software helps businesses maximize efficiency during the sales process by putting tedious data, communications, and task management activity on autopilot. As a result, they can focus on building customer relationships and closing more deals. While often found in CRM systems, sales automation can also have narrower use cases. Users, for instance, can access automation in specialty tools like email marketing platforms, app connectors, and database services.

Sales management software refers to any tool that can be used to oversee sales personnel or enhance or monitor the performance of your sales operation. While it includes customer relationship management (CRM) systems, sales managers and executives can also use other project management, sales enablement, and data analytics tools to understand and improve their team’s sales process. We’ve reviewed dozens of software products to identify the top 13 sales management systems: Best customizable sales management software: Best for enabling teams with lead automation: Best for overseeing account management teams: Best free reporting features: Best simple project management software: Best for dynamic project management: Best contact center management platform: Best for pipeline management: Best business-to-business lead source: Best for analyzing account and pipeline health: Best simple sales forecasting tool: Best for enhancing all-around sales rep experience: Best sales coaching platform: Best Sales Management Software at a Glance *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates Best CRMs for Sales Management CRM systems help businesses manage leads and sales activity while acting as a database of customer and contact information. Due to their built-in features and integrations, CRMs serve as a central platform to oversee the sales cycle, track team performance, and improve the production of sales reps. Additionally, CRM platforms often come equipped with tools for goal setting, quota management, and gamification to boost performance—making them some of the most effective sales management tools available. Best Project Management Software Project management software is used to track, assign, collaborate on, and visualize operational activities or tasks. These systems are highly customizable and can be used as a CRM alternative for sales, marketing, projects, and customer service functions. Managers use these products as sales management tools for pipeline activity and tasks outside the typical day-to-day, such as training campaigns, data migration projects, and content development tasks. Best Sales Enablement Solutions Sales enablement solutions are implemented by sales managers to improve productivity, efficiency, and, ultimately, sales performance. While the enablement process can include training, creating additional marketing assets, or adjusting operations, these solutions specifically refer to sales technology and online services that help teams reach their goals. Best Sales Analytics Tools Sales analytics tools let managers convert stored data into actionable insights. They centralize, analyze, and interpret sales information, such as lead profiles, pipeline activity, and sales performance, for intelligence purposes. Any insights a sales manager gathers, either through artificial intelligence (AI) or other analytics tools, can be used to improve team performance and operational efficiency using appropriate enablement solutions. Best Performance Management Tools Performance management tools are a subcategory within sales management software. These solutions aim to improve sales rep effort and engagement through sales gamification tools and material motivators such as gift cards, cash prizes, or additional days off. Many performance management software products also have a system for administering sales training and coaching to individual reps. How We Evaluated the Best Sales Management Systems Sales management consists of various responsibilities, like monitoring deal activity, managing individual rep performance, and supplying team members with resources to succeed. That said, we divided our evaluation into categories of sales management systems that can assist managers in overseeing and optimizing their operations. Once divided, we made a more direct comparison of products within each category regarding the following criteria: Pricing: The availability of a free plan or free trial by the provider, as well as cost-friendly and scalable paid plans with flexible billing options. Features: The functional capabilities of each product through built-in features or third-party integration options, specifically ones relevant to its category. CRMs, for example, should offer sales reporting tools, forecasting and analytics, activity monitoring, and sales automation tools. Customer support: The options for customer support personnel to help users with product issues. We considered the selection of support channels through live chat, phone, email, and self-service resources, as well as customer service hours of availability. Expert score: The perception of how real users feel toward each product based on their reviews. These helped us evaluate how they like the product’s features, the value users have extracted for the price paid, and the ease of use when operating the features and navigating the interface. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is sales management software? Sales management software is a platform a sales manager or executive uses to keep sales data organized, improve operations, monitor activity, and discover insights to help optimize performance. Due to a sales manager's wide range of responsibilities, many of these solution capabilities are often found in a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Alternatively, users could access sales management capabilities in specialty tools, such as project management, sales enablement, or data analytics software. What is the best sales management software product? Because sales management software can take many forms depending on the features offered, there’s no “best” sales management system. Rather, some products offer more value and benefits depending on the user’s needs. For example, if you only need sales intelligence, invest in data analytics tools like Gong.io for insights about your sales process. If you need multiple sales management functions in one platform, look to a CRM for your software needs. Bottom Line Sales management software is the broad term for technology that helps sales professionals understand and improve their sales operations. It can include various product types, such as a CRM system, gamification tool, project management platform, performance management system, data analytics tool, or sales enablement solution. Depending on your use cases and purchase preferences, one (or a combination) of these sales management products will help monitor activities and get the most out of your sales force.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software for freelancers helps solo-operated businesses manage multiple functions, such as sales, marketing, and client projects, in a single interface. The best freelancer CRMs let single users complete more with less through marketing and sales automation features. The software can also include additional useful freelancer tools, such as invoicing, quote generation, and multi-channel communication with leads or customers through email, chat, and phone. We evaluated dozens of freelancer CRMs to determine the best overall and which products can help specific circumstances. Based on our evaluation, our list of the six best CRM solutions for freelancers are: Best overall: Best for product simplicity: Best for omnichannel communication: Best freelance invoice software: Best marketing CRM: Best case management CRM: Best CRMs for Freelancers Compared *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. Pipedrive: Best CRM for Freelancers (Overall) Pipedrive Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Essential: $14.90 Advanced: $24.90 Professional: $49.90 Enterprise: $99 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. monday.com: Best for Simplicity monday.com Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to two users Basic: $8 (minimum three users) Standard: $10 (minimum three users) Pro: $16 (minimum three users) Enterprise: Contact for pricing *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Freshsales: Best for Communication Capabilities Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Growth: $15 Pro: $39 Enterprise: $69 Free trial: 21 days Add-ons Configure, Price, Quote: $19 for quote document templates, invoicing, and document activity tracking Additional bot sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Zoho CRM: Best for Quotes & Invoice Management Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to three users Standard: $14 Professional: $23 Enterprise: $40 Ultimate: $52 Free trial: 15 days Additional Plans Bigin: $7 for basic sales pipeline management Zoho CRM Plus: $57 for added help desk, email and social media marketing, survey, and analytics functions *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. HubSpot CRM: Best for Marketing Campaigns HubSpot CRM Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Starter CRM Suite**: $45 for two users Professional CRM Suite: $1,600 (up to five users) Enterprise CRM Suite: $5,000 (up to 10 users) Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **CRM Suite includes sales, marketing, customer service, content management system (CMS), and operations software. Individual modules can be purchased for lower monthly costs. Agile CRM: Best for Client Case Management Agile CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to 10 users Starter: $8.99 Regular: $29.99 Enterprise: $47.99 *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. How We Evaluated the Best CRMs for Freelance Businesses To determine the best CRM for freelancers, we evaluated the features relevant to helping a solopreneur manage and grow their client base. Quote generation, for example, lets users quickly create and send price estimates and contract proposals to leads to help bring them on as clients. Additionally, invoicing capabilities let freelancers collect revenue from clients using the CRM. We also looked at other critical product attributes, including price, ease of use, and customer support. We found to be the best freelancer CRM overall. Its robust, sales-heavy features give solopreneurs the ability to manage leads, documents, and communications all in one platform. Additionally, the pricing starts at just $14.90 per user, monthly, which includes a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) sales assistant tool that acts as another employee through activity notifications and tips to improve performance. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best freelance CRMs: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is a freelance CRM? A freelance CRM is a software product with features for solo-operated businesses. Since solopreneurs and freelancers must oversee sales, marketing, and administrative activities, a platform for lead tracking, marketing campaigns, invoicing, document management, and customer engagement is valuable. Additionally, any kind of automation and AI tools enables higher productivity and insights for freelancers. Does a solopreneur need a CRM? The short answer is it depends. While solopreneurs don’t necessarily need a CRM, many products on this list are free and, therefore, have no risk attached to adopting the features. Using a CRM is also helpful for remaining organized. The primary use of a CRM is data management, where users can store and access information on contacts, leads, deals, accounts, or clients. The best CRMs for consultants and CRM products for designers will even contain project management features to help oversee client deliverables. Is a freelance CRM the same as an industry-specific CRM? An industry-specific CRM assumes the platform has features or integrations for a particular vertical, such as healthcare, manufacturing, insurance, or real estate. Freelance CRMs, on the other hand, have no industry requirements and are merely dependent on whether the CRM is useful for a solo-operated business. This, ideally, would be through its cost-friendliness, end-to-end capabilities, and features that serve sales, marketing, client management, and administrative activities. Bottom Line Freelancer CRMs are software products that offer multi-functional features for a solopreneur, such as a graphic designer, business consultant, or freelance writer, to stay organized and productive. It will include features for managing activities and projects for sales, marketing, service, and administrative work. While is our pick for the best freelance CRM system, other solutions on this list could be better suited for your business if you need certain features, such as marketing tools, omnichannel communication, or low-cost invoicing.

Account management customer relationship management (CRM) software lets businesses assist and engage clients after they’ve undergone the sales process and become closed business deals. Commonly used in business-to-business (B2B) sales, the best account management software offers features that allow users to communicate with contacts through phone or email and set up appointments. It also needs to store product catalogs, be able to manage invoices, and track previous account activity. We evaluated dozens of account management software products to oversee, support, and upsell current business clients. Based on our evaluation, the seven CRMs for account management include: Best overall: Best phone system: Best for overseeing account management teams: Best for CRM customization: Best case management features: Best product catalog features: Best free account management software: Best Account Management Software Compared *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. Zendesk Sell: Best Overall Account Management CRM Zendesk Sell Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Team: $19 Growth: $49 Professional: $99 Enterprise: $150 Free trial: 14 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Discover the best use cases and robust feature set of this platform in our full Zendesk Sell review. Freshsales: Best for Its Built-in Telephone Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Growth: $15 Pro: $39 Enterprise: $69 Free trial: 21 days Add-ons: Configure, Price, Quote: $19 per user, monthly for quote document templates, invoicing, and document activity tracking Additional bot sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Explore the features of this CRM platform to determine if it’s the right solution for your business in our comprehensive Freshsales review. Maximizer CRM: Best for Running Account Management Operations Maximizer CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Base Edition**: Starts at $55 (three-user minimum) Sales Leader Edition**: Starts at $75 (five-user minimum) Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. **Prices indicated are just estimated starting prices—other taxes and fees may apply once subscribed. Zoho CRM: Best for Account Management System Customization Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Free: Up to three users Standard: $14 Professional: $23 Enterprise: $40 Ultimate: $52 Free trial: 15 days Additional plans: Bigin: $7 for basic sales pipeline management Zoho CRM Plus: $57 for added help desk, email and social media marketing, survey, and analytics functions *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Learn more about this comprehensive sales management platform in our detailed Zoho CRM review. Salesforce Essentials: Best for Case Management Features Salesforce Essentials Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Salesforce Essentials: $25 Free trial: 30 days Add-ons: Sales Dialer: $5 for a built-in dialer with click-to-dial and call logging CPQ and Billing: $75 for price and quoting tools Social Intelligence: $25 for social media data collection and sharing Sales Cloud Einstein: $50 for AI analytics and automation Pardot: $1,250 per month for marketing and lead generation automaton Partner Relationship Management: $25 per user or $10 per login, per month for partner oversight features *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Dive into this platform’s rich feature set for small businesses in our full Salesforce Essentials review. Apptivo: Best for Product Catalog Management Appivo Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance* Lite: $8 Premium: $12 Ultimate: $20 Enterprise: Contact for pricing Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Interested in learning more about this software? Head over to our comprehensive Apptivo review. Bitrix24: Best Free Account Management Software Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users Basic: $46 (up to five users) Standard: $87 (up to 50 users) Professional: $175 (up to 100 users) Enterprise: $325 (up to 250 users) Free trial: 30 days *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly and quarterly billing is also available for a higher cost. Learn more about this platform’s full feature set in our comprehensive Bitrix24 review. How We Evaluated the Best Account Management Systems To determine the best account management system, we evaluated the specific features relevant to assisting business clients, communication with account points of contact, and tracking activity. A product catalog built into the CRM, for instance, helps account managers efficiently help a client navigate through various product or service offerings and monitor purchases to include on invoices. We also looked at other critical product attributes, including price, ease of use, and customer support. We found to be the best overall account management CRM system. It offers end-to-end account management solutions for activity tracking, communicating with clients through phone, email, and text, and data management. The system also includes a products and price books tool that lets users store product or service information to pull for upselling sales deals and when helping clients. Finally, Zendesk Sell is an easy-to-use platform offering multi-channel customer service for user assistance. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best account management CRMs: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is account management software? Account management software is a platform, usually a CRM system or equivalent solution, used to communicate with business contacts and assist clients in finding products, services, or other solution needs. It also helps oversee transactions with a business account through billing, invoicing, quoting, and purchase order features. Account management software is most commonly used by business-to-business (B2B) organizations to help support business customers and track account activity. Why should you use an account management system? An account management system helps account managers stay organized and more productive. It has capabilities, such as data enrichment, activity tracking, and product catalogs, specifically built to help them perform better and provide excellent support to their clients. Without those built-in features, account management teams must manually update client data, monitor prior communications and purchase history, and seek out product information from another source—ultimately taking more time away from other tasks and being more prone to error. Which is the best free account management software? Many account management CRMs on this list, including and , offer a free-forever plan that gives users access to certain features at no cost. , however, offers the best free account management solution. Its free plan supports unlimited users and comes with account management features, including contact management, product catalogs, and client activity planning. Bottom Line Account management CRM software helps account managers and businesses stay engaged with clients, assist their needs, and keep organized contact data and account activity history. While is our pick for the best overall account management software, other systems could better fit your business depending on features or product attribute needs. , for example, stands out for its solid system customization, while offers a free, built-in phone system.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software for the hospitality industry helps hotels, bed and breakfast homes, restaurants, and event venues market operate their businesses. Hospitality CRM systems come equipped with features for obtaining online customer reviews and guest surveys, scheduling reservations, and deploying automated marketing campaigns. The best leisure and hospitality software includes those capabilities and other essential CRM features. We evaluated dozens of hospitality CRM systems small businesses can use and identified the top six providers: Best overall: Best for hotel operations management: Best free hospitality CRM: Best for Salesforce users: Best event management system: Best hotel marketing software: Best CRM Software for the Hospitality Industry Compared *Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates. Revinate: Best Overall Hospitality & Hotel CRM Software What Users Say About Revinate Online reviews show users particularly like the audience segmentation and email marketing features for creating email campaigns. They also feel that managing guest reviews is simple and helps grow their business. However, one issue is users dislike the reporting features—indicating that while useful, some features are not intuitive to operate. Guestware: Best for Managing Hotel Operations Guestware Pricing at a Glance* Guestware Select: $112 to $513 per month Guestware Suite: $200 to $775 per month Guestware Plus: Contact for pricing *Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. The monthly cost is based on the number of rooms in the hotel, ranging from 50 to 500 rooms. Freshsales: Best Free Hospitality CRM Freshsales Pricing at a Glance* Free: Unlimited users for basic CRM features Growth: $15 per user, per month Pro: $39 per user, per month Enterprise: $69 per user, per month Free trial: 21 days Add-ons: Configure, Price, Quote: $19 per user, monthly for quote document templates, invoicing synced to deals, and document activity tracking Additional bot sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support *Pricing is based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Want to learn more? Check out our Freshsales CRM review with deep insights on product features, usability, pricing, and best-for circumstances. Hapiguest: Best for Salesforce Users Hapiguest Pricing at a Glance* Hapiguest subscription: Starts at $4.80 per room, per year Implementation costs: $5,000 for optional implementation services Free trial: 30 days *Pricing does not include costs required to subscribe to Salesforce Cloud products. Tripleseat: Best for Events Management What Users Say About Tripleseat The most consistent positive attribute users describe in the reviews is the platform's usability. Most users say customizing and setting up the CRM and operating the CRM tools and functions is highly intuitive. As for the negatives, users feel the financial and payment processing features tend to be glitchy and that communicating internally through the platform is often difficult. eInsight Hotel CRM by Cendyn: Best for Hotel Marketing Features What Users Say About eInsight CRM Users of eInsight CRM love the email designer and marking tools—saying they are simple to use through its drag-and-drop functionality and intuitive system for setting up email automation triggers. Some users, however, struggle with customer loyalty management features, specifically when managing personalized guest data and trying to engage customers. How We Evaluated the Best CRM for Hotels & Hospitality Businesses To determine the best hospitality CRMs, we evaluated the specific features within the platform helpful in managing and marketing a hotel or other hospitality-style service. For instance, reputation management and customer feedback features let hotels easily obtain online customer reviews that could interest potential customers to book a location. Additionally, we assessed product attributes such as price, support availability, and what users say about each product. We found to be the best CRM software for hotels. It offers sophisticated features, including reputation management and an AI text messaging system for automated marketing, upselling, and supporting hotel customers. Additionally, there are omnichannel communication options that use customer data to deliver personalized campaigns and enrich guest profiles. Finally, Revinate offers a call center service that accepts room reservations using their agents when a hotel becomes overflowed or unavailable. The tabs below provide insight into our evaluation process of the best CRM software for the hospitality industry: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is a hotel & hospitality CRM? A CRM for hotels and hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, event venues, or caterers, is a platform that helps improve sales and marketing activities, operations, and the guest experience. For example, it would contain tools to help book reservations, maintain the facilities, obtain customer online reviews and feedback, and create personalized automated marketing campaigns. While a generic CRM system, such as , can be customized into a hospitality CRM, most hotel and hospitality software products are industry-specific. In other words, they are designed by the provider to offer features for the particular vertical it serves. What are the benefits of using a hospitality CRM system? While you can use a generic CRM and customize it into a hospitality CRM, that can take time and doesn’t guarantee the features will adequately meet your unique needs. Hospitality CRMs have features, like reputation and reservation management, and data fields within the system that are specifically useful for a hospitality business. By keeping all workflows and data in one system, you can stay better organized and keep sales, marketing, and operations activity all on one interface. Bottom Line Hospitality and hotel CRMs are industry-specific platforms that let users manage reservations, events, guests, customer service, and marketing campaigns in one system. While was our pick for the best overall CRM for hotel businesses, other products on this list could be better suited for your business, depending on your needs. , for instance, is the most cost-friendly CRM solution, while is better suited for other verticals within the hospitality space, such as restaurants and event planners.