A successful CRM software is essential to communicating with your customers and internal productivity. By choosing CRM solutions compatible with existing business processes, you can develop applications, strategies and business plans that help your company establish solid relationships with your customers.

Gaining customers’ trust in the after-sales process is as important as gaining new customers. It is possible to benefit from CRM platforms to gain customer trust and loyal customers. Businesses with traditional sales strategies such as sales and marketing can also find significant opportunities with cloud-based and next-generation CRM solutions. Thanks to the CRM add-ons developed for sales teams, effective communication can be established with the head office, information can be shared from the field, proactive approaches and original solutions can be produced for a 360° customer experience.

What is CRM?

Customer relationship management, also known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), refers to all of the applications, systems and tools that track the interactions of businesses with their customers. It gives an idea of ​​what a perfect customer experience is, how sales or services can be improved while creating this experience, and how to act while making informed decisions. In addition, CRM systems show what types of data can be collected, scaled, and planned with data.

What Makes a CRM Platform Great?

Businesses need to carefully define their CRM strategy and thoroughly evaluate the latest technologies before migrating to a CRM system. Choosing the CRM software suitable for the company infrastructure, workload and customer demands will bring many advantages that can move companies forward.

Automation and Integration

Advanced automation tools automate processes, increasing employee productivity and saving time, making it easier to focus on the main business plan. Integrating e-mails, conversations, teleconferences and mobile application sharing into company applications strengthens internal communication and prevents information pollution. In addition, the choice of a healthy third-party integration connects department functions, increasing data collection power and making it possible to create a complete customer profile.

Human Relations Management

All successful CRM applications give priority to human relations. Customer relations form the core of CRM systems; they generate leading ideas about how you should evaluate the people, customers or teammates in front of you. CRM software, which successfully fulfils communication management and can match ideal buyers in harmony, definitely adds value to businesses.

Ease of Use

A new generation of CRM software brings together many applications on a single platform with different integrations and API solutions. These applications must be well-configured and have a simple interface to be used smoothly and quickly. For this reason, CRM applications that can be used easily, provide 24/7 support, solve problems rapidly and have sufficient training documents are more preferred by businesses.

High Functionality and Ready to Use Packages

A CRM software that can perform complex tasks without extra connections is more stable and robust than one filled with many external applications and API integrations. The functionality and depth of ready-to-use products are critical to successful implementation. The more functions a software has, the minor customisation it needs. Although there is no concept of ready-made CRM, versatile CRM solutions fully support companies’ business processes and provide a faster return on investment.

Security and Scalability

Scalability is critical to meeting future business requirements. For example, for CRM software to be effective, these applications must be able to instantly process the data they collect, correspondence, orders and other important information. Scalability not only adds new users, customers, and application modules but also connects distributed databases through cloud systems. Security is also maximised thanks to certified browsers, next-generation protocols, and blockchain applications.

5 Most Preferred CRM Programs

A successful CRM software is essential to communicating with your customers and internal productivity. By choosing CRM solutions compatible with existing business processes, you can develop applications, strategies and business plans that help your company establish solid relationships with your customers.

Let’s take a closer look at five popular CRM products that can help you in your quest to find the right CRM software for your business

Salesforce

Founded in 1999 by industry veterans such as Marc Benioff, Frank Dominguez, David Moellenhoff and Parker Harris, Salesforce is among the most used CRM software worldwide. Salesforce, which offers unique solutions for businesses to integrate sales, marketing, trade, human resources, customer relations and IT teams, is among the first companies to prioritise investment in SaaS-based automation, artificial intelligence applications and cloud systems.

Advantages

  • Ability to quickly report the performance of specific user groups, customers or accounts over time, thanks to detailed reporting functions.
  • Ease of tracking how the sales representatives are performing and how the sales organisation is following the target
  • Tools that allow monitoring how internal data compares to previous months/years
  • Customisable solutions offered to help businesses create a unique CRM infrastructure for their field
  • Fast integration with AppExchange Marketplace and external applications
  • Full compatibility with Windows, Linux, Mac and Android operating systems
  • CRM application that works practically and fluently on mobile devices
  • 30 days free trial and 24/7 customer support
  • Open API and easy integration

Disadvantages

  • Too complicated instructions, message transitions and application locations
  • Business solutions are more expensive than other software

Pricing

Salesforce services; Priced as Basic, Sales Specialist, Service Specialist, and Pardot Solution. Additional pricing options are also available, which vary depending on usage needs, different security protocols, cloud solutions, and workflow applications.

Freshsales

Freshsales, a CRM solution originating in India, has been developed to help manage sales and customer management processes through multiple elements. Freshsales, which gathers the best features of traditional CRM solutions on a single platform and supports it with innovative tools, is an easy, fast and trouble-free CRM software.

Advantages

  • Intelligent workflow processes that allow you to track how your customers interact with your brand
  • Bringing together dozens of different workflows on a single platform with pipeline management
  • Ability to send e-mails to sales representatives over personalised templates and calendars
  • Team definition and potential customer assignment feature via regions
  • Practical API solutions for iPhone/Android applications and native applications
  • Ease of monitoring the performance of employees instantly with e-mail tracking
  • Useful features like EUC data centre and IP safelisting
  • Automatic profile enrichment and advanced customer portfolio sorting
  • AI-based business solutions, practical reporting and CRM customisation options
  • Full integration with current applications and systems
  • Having a wide product range and free plan
  • Flexible and stable use

Disadvantages

  • Need for more integration in knowledge transfer
  • Lack of detailed reporting feature in the free plan

Pricing

Freshsales prices; The 21-day trial version is designated as Growth (Beginner), Pro (Professional), and Enterprise (Enterprise).

HubSpot

HubSpot platform, which includes social media publishing, SEO, content management, e-mail marketing, e-commerce automation and cloud-based data analysis, is among the most preferred CRM software today.

Advantages

  • An easy-to-use interface that allows managing the entire customer relations process in a clear and understandable way
  • Ease of carrying out in-company correspondence and managing e-mail tracking instantly without the need for a different e-mail application with the Chrome extension
  • Ready-made e-mail templates and group-specific e-mailing options
  • Easily customise the area you want thanks to widgets and columns suitable for additional customisation
  • The privilege of accessing a holistic view of potential customer information on a single platform
  • Ability to view when users open an e-mail and all activities performed on the e-mail
  • Fully automated structure that eliminates manual processes and traditional customer relationship management
  • Opportunity to professionally manage basic CRM processes with the free plan
  • Additional applications showing balance sheet and income information

Disadvantages

  • Compelling reporting and deal flow features for beginners
  • Complexity of merging duplicate pages and updating contact attributes
  • Insufficient free plans for corporate use

Pricing

It has four basic pricing policies: Free, Starter, Professional and Enterprise.

Zoho CRM

Another of the most well-known cloud-based customer relationship management applications is Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM is one of the most user-friendly CRM solutions on the market; It stands out with its reasonable price range, competitive features and practical cloud services. From CRM packages to e-mail marketing, from social media management to managing business process flows, customers can perform many tasks through a single platform. Founded in 1996, Zoho CRM can be easily integrated into different systems thanks to its rich application ecosystem.

Advantages

  • Full support for text, conversation and team communication tools such as Zoom, Slack, Teams, Zoho Cliq, Zapier, Trello and Zoho Flow
  • Instant access to SEO data and online data via Google Analytics, Zoho Analytics and dotConnect
  • Combination of analysis and evaluation tools such as KPI, pie charts, funnels, goal meters and Cohort charts
  • User-based cloud storage solutions with different package options
  • Analytics – Detection of anomaly components with Zia tools
  • Customizable and practical interface alternatives
  • Built-in planning tools to manage sales and marketing processes
  • Regular data backup and attractive price options

Disadvantages

  • Difficulties experienced in the integration process
  • Poor customer service

Pricing

There are five basic pricing options: Free, Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Pipedrive

Known for its user-friendly features, Pipedrive is among the new generation CRM tools. Offering attractive business solutions to small businesses with big goals, Pipedrive brings an inclusive perspective to the entire workflow process. In addition, Pipedrive, which comes with a handy mobile app, has powerful CRM tools that help synchronise correspondence, calls and e-mails.

Advantages

  • Easy visualisation of the pipeline thanks to the intuitive software interface
  • Intelligent automation solutions that make repetitive work a chore
  • Ability to analyse activity reports and internal metrics in depth
  • The advantage of using feedback effectively with the LeadBooster plugin
  • Opportunity to analyse visitor habits thanks to Web Visitors plugin
  • Ease of compiling calls, e-mails, contact histories and correspondence
  • Reliable encryption technologies and daily backup
  • Dozens of apps, web tools and integrations
  • iOS/Android mobile application and open API support
  • 24/7 active customer service

Disadvantages

  • Limited development opportunities for entry-level accounts
  • Scarcity of training documents

Pricing

It is possible to choose from four main service packages: Basic, Advanced, Professional and Enterprise.

FowCRM

Offering all the functions you expect from a new generation Customer Relationship Management System with easy-to-use, flexible and customisable processes, FowCRM has user-friendly solutions that help your teams work more efficiently, increase customer satisfaction and grow your business. FowCRM has the tools that will enable you to keep the company-customer interaction at the highest level, know your customers better, and manage your sales processes systematically from end to end. Many features make FowCRM different and superior to other customer relationship management systems.

Advantages

  • The most comprehensive free CRM on the market
  • Easy to use
  • Multiple pipeline management
  • Access from anywhere and on any device
  • Customisation according to need
  • Integration with different applications
  • Time-saving with automation
  • GDPR compliance
  • Price advantage
  • Multi-language and currency support
  • Get started right away

Pricing

FowCRM has four main packages: Standard, Pro, Business and Enterprise. While the starter package can be used for free, other packages are charged per user, and advantageous pricing is available for annual plans.

How to Choose the Best CRM Software?

Each of the above mentioned CRM software is unique, practical, robust and has rich features within its ecosystem. You can benefit from industry-based solutions with the popular CRM tools included in this software. In addition, you can easily choose from service packages that can meet the demands, workflow, budget, quality of your team and customer needs of your business.