Keap Review: Is It Right for Your Business?
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
Bianca is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who specializes in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
This article is part of a larger series on CRM.
Who Keap Is Good For
- Businesses looking for a CRM with advanced automation tools: Keap offers a robust set of sales and marketing automation tools. You can also use it to automate text messaging, tasks, workflows, invoicing, and payments. For these reasons, it has made it to our list of the best sales automation software.
- Companies relying on email marketing campaigns: Keap allows you to send an unlimited number of emails and to use its library of modern templates for your newsletters and broadcasts. It also gives you intelligent tips on how to increase your delivery and open email rates. It is one of our recommended CRMs for email marketing.
- Businesses needing a CRM with ecommerce tools: Keap is equipped with tools for invoicing, order checkout, and payments. You can easily send invoices via email and track customers who send payments. However, if you are looking for other solutions with shop-to-ship and inventory tools, check out our guide to the best CRMs for ecommerce.
Who Keap Is Not a Good Fit For
- Startups and small businesses with a limited CRM budget: While it has the invoicing tools and email integrations needed by startups, Keap does not offer a free plan. Moreover, its packages can get expensive for cash-strapped businesses. We recommend looking at our list of the best CRMs for startups and the top free CRMs for small businesses.
- Companies that rely heavily on telephony: Businesses like call centers put emphasis on lead management and telephonic features. Keap offers you a business line, but it does not have call tracking, transfer, routing, and service desk capabilities call centers need. If you are looking for these features, check out our guide to the best CRMs for call centers.
- Businesses that handle multiple accounts and sales territories: Companies that operate using complex sales processes need a CRM that can manage multiple contact relationships segmented by account or territory. However, Keap does not have this capability. If this is what you are looking for in a CRM solution, we have lists of the top account management software and territory management solutions you can choose from.
Keap Overview
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Allows unlimited email sending | No free option |
| Robust campaign builder | Pricing plans are expensive |
| Offers invoicing and payment management features | Entry-level contact limit is only 500 per month |
| Excellent coaching and support features | No auto-save feature |
Keap Pricing
Keap offers four paid plans, starting at $79 per user, per month, billed monthly. All subscribers are given a 500-contact monthly limit and are required to pay a one-time fee of $499 for its coaching package. Each tier includes essential CRM functionalities, such as contact and lead management, sales and marketing automation, appointment setting, and a mobile app. Other features include quotes, invoicing, and payment management.
Plans | Lite | Pro | Max | Max Classic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Best For | Solopreneurs and new businesses | Growing sales and marketing teams | Large companies with multiple sales teams | Large enterprises with advanced sales and ecommerce needs |
Monthly Pricing* | $79/user/month | $159/user/month | $199/user/month | Contact sales for pricing |
Basic Sales and Marketing Automation | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Contact and Lead Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobile App | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Marketing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Invoices and Payments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Landing Pages | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Sales Pipeline Management | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Reports | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Analytics | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
Shopping Cart and Order Forms | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
*Based on monthly billing.
Additional Fees:
- Expert Coaching (required): $499 one-time fee (includes one-on-one coaching, daily training webinars, personalized support, and a free Sales & Marketing Playbook worth $1,200)
- Additional user: $30 per user, per month (for Pro, Max, and Max Classic only)
- Additional contacts:
Number of Additional Contacts | Monthly Cost* |
|---|---|
1,000 | $30 |
5,000 | $130 |
10,000 | $200 |
25,000 | $300 |
50,000 | $350 |
*Based on monthly billing.
For more details on Keap’s subscription options, select a plan from the drop-down menu below:
Lite
Keap’s basic plan comes with contact management, segmentation, and list customization properties. It also allows you to build five types of “Easy Automations,” which use prebuilt templates that can be turned on and off with just a click. You can automate repetitive tasks, such as follow-ups, appointments, client feedback requests, and tasks within your sales and marketing processes. You can also do these from the mobile app.
The Lite plan helps you convert more leads using email templates and newsletters. It allows you to send invoices and receive both one-time and recurring payments. Lastly, it offers limited application programming interface (API) integration to sync your tools with your CRM and automations.
Pro
The Pro plan gives you access to additional features like landing pages, sales pipeline management, A/B email testing, a customizable dashboard, and an unlimited number of “Easy Automations.” It also gives you access to an Advanced Automation builder, which is a visual drag-and-drop interface you can use to build customized sales and marketing processes from start to finish. Some of the things you can automate include emails, landing pages, web forms, quotes, and opportunity stages.
Under the Pro plan, you now have access to reports on your return on investment (ROI) and areas for improvement. It also adds subscription management and customizable checkout forms to the ecommerce features available in Lite.
Max
The Max plan adds lead scoring to the list of essential CRM features offered by the first two tiers. It also helps you convert more leads by letting you send targeted marketing campaigns via text message broadcasts. Aside from that, its analytics capabilities allow you to maximize your campaigns and zero in on opportunities.
When it comes to ecommerce, this tier offers more advantages because of its one-click upsell and cross-sell feature, custom promotion codes, and Shopify integration. It also lets you create multiple landing pages through your sales process.
Max Classic
Keap’s highest tier helps you get more things done with its sales round-robin feature, which ensures all reps are continuously assigned a lead to work on. It also offers additional ecommerce features like a shopping cart and order forms. However, it does not have some of the lower tiers’ features, such as appointment scheduling, text messaging, calendar sync, checkout forms, and reminders. It also does not offer access to a mobile app.
Keap Features
Keap is equipped with easy-to-use tools for client and lead management, sales and marketing automation, email marketing, sales pipeline management, reporting, and analytics. It also offers ecommerce tools for quotes, invoicing, order processing, and payments.
Take a closer look at Keap’s most essential features below:
General Features
Keap’s general CRM features include automated lead capture, a centralized contact database, audience segmentation, data migration, and third-party integrations. It automatically collects and organizes leads and contacts using custom lead forms, landing pages, and social media. You can also automate actions based on customer actions. For example, you can set it to send a follow-up email if a contact accepts your invitation to a webinar, or it could send a discount code if the contact rejects the offer.
Keap’s contact and lead management feature
(Source: Keap)
Sales & Marketing Automation
- Easy automation builder
- Reminders and notifications
- Custom internal forms
- Pipeline automation
- Sales and marketing processes
Keap’s intuitive automation builder allows you to create “when/then” triggers in as little as three minutes. For example, when a lead submits a web form, your CRM sends an introductory email and waits for five days before sending a follow-up email. You can also automate lead capture, lead conversion, follow-ups, new deal creation, and nurture sequences.
Keap’s advanced automation feature (Source: Keap)
Payments & Ecommerce
- One-time and recurring invoices
- One-time and recurring payments
- Subscription management
- Customizable checkout forms
- Multiple landing pages
- One-click upsell and cross-sell
- Promo codes
- Shopify integration
Keap’s invoicing and payment tools allow you to accept credit card payments, send invoices, and track payment transactions. You can also set up daily, weekly, and monthly payments, as well as automatic reminders when invoices are ignored. You can choose from a variety of payment providers, such as Stripe, PayPal, and WePay.
Sample view of an invoice generated using Keap
(Source: Keap)
Reporting & Analytics
- Customizable and interactive dashboard
- Visualize traffic, data, and insights
- Marketing analytics and reporting include conversions, email open rates, click-through rates, marketing, campaign performance, and contact action
- Sales reports on payments, revenues, transactions, growth, and trends
- Track weekly and monthly engagement
- Payments and revenue analytics
Keap allows you to track your business performance and pinpoint areas of improvement in sales, marketing, payments, and revenue using its reporting and analytics capabilities. Based on these reports, you can take immediate actions to improve your performance, such as modifying engagement methods and managing invoices. You can also personalize your dashboard so that it shows only relevant information and data.
Email Marketing
- Email templates
- Newsletters
- A/B email testing
- Audience segmentation
Keap automatically segments your contacts according to specific criteria like industry, behavior, and personal information. You can personalize the emails you send based on set criteria. Choose from various email templates in Keap’s library or create your own customized email design. Use at-a-glance reports to track your email marketing campaign performance and improve your next campaigns.
Keap’s email templates
(Source: Keap)
Keap Business Line
- Personal and business numbers in one device
- Automatic responses
- Organize and access data on the go
- Notes, tasks, and appointments
Keap provides a second phone number that’s dedicated to your business. You need to install the Keap mobile app first in order to set up your business line. It can be shared with your personal number on the same device, but you will always be notified which line your callers are trying to reach. It uses automatic replies, personal follow-ups, and group messaging, helping you convert more leads even when you’re away.
Keap’s business line uses automatic responses when you’re away.
(Source: Keap)
Mobile App
- iOS and Android apps
- Keap business line
- Add and access contacts, tasks, and notes
- View and manage appointments
- Send invoices and collect payment
Keap mobile allows you to manage appointments and communicate with clients via call and text using your business line.
(Source: Keap)
Integrations
- Gmail
- Outlook
- BigCommerce
- WordPress
- JotForm
- OptinMonster
- Customer Hub
- QuickBooks
- AppointmentCore
- Zapier
Extend the capabilities of Keap by connecting the platform with other tools you use. The Keap Marketplace provides access to over 600 free integrations and almost 400 paid apps. There are various app categories to choose from, including mail, ecommerce, automation tools, landing pages and forms, lead generation, membership, reporting, and scheduling. Some of its most popular third-party integrations are AppointmentCore, Customer Hub, OptinMonster, JotForm, and QuickBooks.
Use the online automation tool, Zapier, to connect Keap with more than 2,000 other apps. The best thing about this is standard app integrations are free for Keap subscribers. Using Zapier connections, you can automate repetitive tasks without coding, import and export data between two apps, and build workflows with just a few clicks.
Keap’s most popular third-party integrations at the Keap Marketplace
(Source: Keap)
Customer Service
Keap offers 24/7 customer support via chat. You can also reach them using toll-free phone lines during weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. For common issues, you can turn to its help center, Keap Community, or its official Facebook user group. Other online resources include release notes about new product features and a step-by-step tutorial for app developers.
Ease of Use
Keap is best suited for intermediate-level users who are familiar with how CRM software works. Its clean layout and drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to use, even for those who do not have coding experience. It also provides an excellent onboarding and support package, which is useful for those who find its learning curve to be challenging. Users have access to free video tutorials, self-help resources, and community support.
Note from the author: If you want to sign up for a free trial, expect to run into a hurdle with Keap. After several sign-up attempts, I repeatedly encountered a pop-up saying that the free trial was unavailable. The message also explained that this could happen either by accident or “in an effort to maximize email deliverability” for their customers.
Keap Alternatives
If Keap is not a good fit for your business requirements, here are some alternative options for you:
 |  |  | |
Best For | Organizations that need a CRM with social media marketing tools | Teams needing a free CRM with excellent email marketing automation tools | Small ecommerce businesses looking for a CRM with order and inventory management features |
Starting Price | Free or $14 per user, per month | Free or $45 per month for 2 users | Free or $34 per month for 5 users |
Reviews |
You can also check out our guide to the top six CRMs for small businesses.
What Users Think of Keap
Most users like Keap’s ease of use, sales and marketing automation tools, campaign builder, and sales pipeline management features. They also appreciate how it incorporates ecommerce tools into the CRM platform. In addition, people love the software’s constant development and improvement. As of the date of this publication, it has earned the following scores from popular review sites:
- Capterra: 4.1 out of 5 stars from 1,097 reviews
- G2: 4.2 out of 5 stars from 1,237 reviews
- Gartner: 4.2 out of 5 stars from 118 reviews
- TrustRadius: 8.4 out of 10 stars from 165 reviews
Keap’s biggest setback is its steep pricing, and many users find it too expensive for the set of features it offers. They explained how costs quickly add up for a growing business because of the user and contact limits. Some expressed difficulty in learning how to use the app on their own, while others brought up issues with the quality of customer support. However, the company notably takes customer feedback seriously and uses negative comments as a basis for improvement.
Bottom Line
Keap is an all-in-one CRM solution that lets you manage leads and contacts, automate sales and marketing processes, and manage invoices and payments. It is best suited for small to mid-size businesses that need a CRM with a robust set of automation tools. If you find its pricing model limiting, consider looking at free CRM options. However, if you think it is the right fit for your business, sign up for a 14-day free trial to see Keap in action.
You Might Also Like…
- Take a look at our ultimate CRM guide to deepen your understanding of how CRMs work and why it’s an essential tool to grow your business.
- Do you need a specialized CRM solution for your industry? Read our guide on how to find industry-specific CRMs.
- Are you ready to create your own CRM strategy? Check out our guide on how to formulate one and download our free CRM strategy worksheet.
