Customer relations have come a long way since their inception. The business-to-consumer (B2C) mentality has also shifted to a more UX-centric mentality instead of the sheer delivery of the final product. Choosing the right customer relations management software for your business can be tricky.
According to studies, 87% of businesses use cloud-based CRMs actively.
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With the plethora of options available, it can be overwhelming and stressful to pick the right one. Let’s look at some noteworthy examples and discuss how you can choose the right tool for your small business needs.
How to Choose a CRM
Before we proceed, it’s important to set some criteria in stone. First, no two CRM tools are the same—each has its own set of options.
Choosing the right one is often done through self-reflection from the company’s side, mainly about what you need. While some companies prioritize sales, others prefer more detailed tracking and analysis. The right CRM will also positively impact your content marketing strategy, enabling you to see which type of content generates more leads. Let’s take a look at some questions that can help you determine the perfect CRM for your business:
The size of your business
- How big is your business?
- Do you work internationally or domestically?
- How many staff members do you have, and are you expanding?
- How much data do you process daily, and is it expanding?
The technical functionality of your business
- What types of professionals do you have on your payroll?
- Do you have data analysts and salesmen available?
- How automated are your customer support and sales process?
The priorities of your business
- What are your priorities when it comes to customer’ satisfaction?
- How much do you invest in marketing and advertisement?
- How streamlined is your workflow, and are there any bottlenecks?
55% of business owners ask for ease of use in their CRM above all else.
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Once you have answered all these questions, you will have a more transparent and objective picture of what you need. It’s easy to miscalculate and choose a CRM that doesn’t suit you, only to backpedal to a different one later. Now that we have a clearer understanding of selecting the right CRM let’s look at the most notable examples.
Agile CRM
If you are looking for a CRM that is good at managing and scheduling, Agile CRM has you covered. The tool boasts many automation and contact management options to streamline your customer relations management.
It was specifically designed with small businesses in mind, and it lacks certain large enterprise options that you would typically find in CRMs. However, Agile CRM has full support for plugins and widgets, which means you can customize it to fit your business needs perfectly.
Pipedrive
If you are looking for a sales-centric CRM for your business, look no further than Pipedrive. The service is designed explicitly with sales streamlining at the center, which is packed with many sales-specific options.
The slick interface design and a drag-and-drop UI ensure your team has a fast and reliable platform. Pipedrive even allows for email integration, meaning your sales team doesn’t have to multitask with different tabs and simply focus on doing their job.
Copper
Copper (formally Prosperworks) is a CRM with full Google suite integration. This means that the service is compatible with all the apps and tools found on Google, including Drive, Sheets, and Docs.
What separates Copper from other CRMs is the VoIP compatibility that comes integrated into the service.
Amari Mellor, Senior Customer Service Representative for Grabmyessay
This allows your sales managers and customer support to interact with callers and third parties without exiting the tool. It records and stores voice chats for later analysis and allows you to store and modify important data straight through Google. Copper is one of the more feature-full CRMs out there and is a good fit for most small businesses looking for a permanent CRM solution.
HubSpot
As the most affordable CRM on the market, HubSpot lives up to the hype. This is the de facto choice for startups and small businesses with lackluster budgets. It allows for full customer management, data analysis, and Google Workspace integration within the CRM. Best of all, HubSpot adjusts the pricing according to the options you use and the package you choose.
The fewer things you use actively, the less you will pay at the end of the month. HubSpot is a great platform for data tracking and customer management without any advanced options. However, this is a minor downside since most advanced tracking and analysis options are somewhat unnecessary for small and growing businesses.
Zoho
If the restriction to 10 users isn’t an issue for you, Zoho might be the perfect CRM for your business. Zoho is a free CRM with the core functionality of the most advanced CRMs. The on-service UI allows for customer management, analysis, and support.
Zoho is crafted with salespeople in mind and features gamification capabilities. This means that your sales team might create a competitive atmosphere in the startup and work for the betterment of each other. Zoho does offer more advanced capabilities and an expanded user roster at a small monthly fee. However, most small businesses and startups will also find plenty of versatility and functionality in the free version.
Your CRM is for Your Consumers
Consider your customers and your mutual interaction when choosing your CRM software. What are the difficulties you are experiencing now and would like to alleviate? This simple question can sometimes be all the initiative you need to invest in a CRM solution.
74% of CRM users said that they had more detailed access to customer data after investing in CRM.
CRM Software UserView
There is no need to manually conduct customer management with many feature-full and affordable solutions. Take a leap of faith and try a new tool to see if it fits your existing workflow. You might just be surprised with the results.
