The Best Online CRM Software Of 2021

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Getting in contact with satisfied consumers has become even more of a challenge due to the global pandemic, and this difficulty will remain as long as we have hybrid work. Your sales staff’s manner of communicating with consumers, and how your customers choose to interact, will be forever altered. 

This indicates a lot of companies will have communication issues with their clients, which will impact income and marketing. In the event that you’re considering it, then you’ll need the most effective customer relationship management (CRM) solution available.

An overview : What is an online CRM software

online crm software

CRM is more than just prospecting. It requires nurturing connections, building loyalty, and maintaining a dynamic contact database and client history. To improve collaboration, businesses must make information easily accessible and feed it to other business software solutions via smart connections.

Achieving efficient commercial contacts with consumers throughout the sales and post-sales process is critical for successful organisations.

Confusion and redundancy are probable outcomes for SMBs trying to duplicate CRM functionality in a large, unwieldy spreadsheet. Online CRM software may automatically create events and set reminders for users and contacts.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software often integrates messaging and phone calls, with recordings of customer interactions used to analyse and document consumer preferences and enhance company information.

One of the key features of a strong online CRM software is the ability to retrieve a customer’s past interactions and data.

In addition to finding new prospects, it may help you boost present client income, market to new consumers, and keep track of invoices.

By not pursuing the same prospect, this approach guarantees salespeople are not penalised for running out of offers. Using the finest CRM software for your company improves teamwork, sales, and customer satisfaction.

What makes a best online CRM solution 

When it comes to CRMs, every organisation has distinct criteria. To suit your needs, we selected those components we believe are the most universally representative of them:

Ease of use

Trying to keep things simple by cutting out distractions might be too much to ask of CRM websites, but at least the “don’t make me think” principle should be put in place.

Once a user can log in and obtain a clear understanding of the fundamental operations, then they have fulfilled their objective. 

In-app help articles, explanations, and guidelines should be given forth so sophisticated features can be made use of.

Support and onboarding features help to make the overall user experience more efficient.

Customization

CRM should work in the same way that your business does.

In addition to the variables included above, specific terminology, data needs, procedures, and apps you use (or work with) are related to your operation. Your firm should be able to use as many CRM software as feasible.

Contact management

Managing people is critical since it is through people that your CRM and your business are run. Do you know them well? How can you become better acquainted with them? To maximise your sales effectiveness, where should you position your sales efforts? How do you keep in touch? Your ideal customers should be reflected in your CRM’s contact management tools.

Integrations and automation

Automation helps improve staff efficiency and minimise the risk of gaps in communication. CRM can’t do everything.

When you use third-party connections, your company’s operations and data gathering power may be connected, resulting in a better picture of your customers.

Reporting 

You can’t manage without measuring. What are you trying to discover? Have you ever done any forecasting?

You want your online CRM software to report on each data item that you can gather, such as the sales that each sales rep generated, the sales cycle length, and the total dollar worth of sales.

Best online CRM software in 2021

Here are our top choices for the best online CRM system after closely analyzing each of them:

Salesforce

Salesforce online CRM software

We selected Salesforce as the best overall solution because it has the potential to affect various facets of your organisation.

This includes sales, marketing and even the information technology department.

Salesforce is the greatest overall choice on our list since it integrates with virtually any of your current company systems, including IT, sales, customer service, and marketing.

This enables you to maintain your present system while your program shares data and consolidates personal information.

Although it is geared for small enterprises, it is also capable of handling medium- and large-sized businesses.

Salesforce’s cloud-based technology ensures that you remain connected to your business regardless of where you are, allowing you to concentrate on your customers.

sales force interface

Salesforce’s most critical feature is its ability to integrate with other software.

This is the fundamental component of the system, but other features such as a speed dialer and a territory mapping can be incorporated based on your specific requirements.

Salesforce makes use of a learning community of Salesforce professionals who are available to answer queries.

Additionally, it offers training videos and certification programmes. This is critical since it enables a client to obtain such information at any moment without contacting customer care.

Salesforce is adaptable, with a world-class technical support team capable of customizing features to fit your unique requirements. You can customize reports without the assistance of their developers.

Both the  Sales and Small business  plans start at $25 per month per user on a yearly basis and may go to over $1,000 per month as additional users and features are added.

Product review

Salesforce is the third-best customer relationship management (CRM) software on the marketplace, after HubSpot and Freshsales. It is a highly rated, feature-rich CRM software that amazes with its extensive customization options. Salesforce is a fantastic option. Small firms, on the other hand, may not require such a robust solution.

Additional features

  • Allows users to see and transact business in different languages and currencies using the same information.
  • Allows for the consumption, publication, and modification of content via a centralised interface. For CRM systems, content management may comprise presentations, images, documents and other associated electronic assets.
  • Tasks and activities may be managed and tracked. To organise daily schedules and priorities, assign due dates and interact with calendars.
  • Allows users to compose and send emails to a large number of recipients at once. Typical features include integrated email templates, social network integration,  sign up forms,, A/B testing, and autoresponders.
  • Utilize open social media platforms to listen to and connect with clients. Allows users to prioritise and reply swiftly to critical messages. Frequently, this capability enables for the submission of queries and requests from consumers via social media to case management.
  • Provides data at the account level to provide the most relevant information possible to salespeople.

Product highlights

Salesforce’s most distinguishing feature is its extensive customization choices and reporting widgets, which enable you to assess performance from a variety of different perspectives.

It also includes all of the benefits of cloud deployment, such as access from anywhere in the globe, a reduced IT workforce, and cheaper expenses.

Shortcomings

Cloud computing is a two-edged sword. Its disadvantages include a complete reliance on internet access to work and a necessity that the internet be always safe and dependable. 

Additionally, while Salesforce’s vaunted customization capabilities are excellent, they come at a price that can drive the price skyward.

It may be a too complicated and versatile option for smaller firms with more constrained marketing and sales staff.

Reputation of Salesforce in the market

Salesforce is undoubtedly a top-rated customer relationship management (CRM) software that is recognised for its extensive customization capabilities.

While the majority of software reviewers give it good ratings, it has a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of D- and 46 complaints.

Given that Salesforce is one of the most widely used online CRM software on the market, 46 complaints is a drop in the bucket, given the software’s overwhelming good ratings.

Integrations

With a robust integration app ecosystem, you may integrate your preferred software with Salesforce to provide a more robust CRM experience. Salesforce connects with 17 different software products in a variety of different product categories, including marketing, accounting and cloud storage. 

Let’s take a look at some  of its more significant integrations:

Accounting/Finance
  • FinancialForce
Marketing/Sales
  • LeadExec
  • Pardot
  • Marketing Cloud
  • Zendesk
Productivity
  • Zuora
  • Heroku
  • JIRA
  • Service Cloud
  • Analytics Cloud
Other
  • Desk.com
  • Data Cloud
  • ExactTarget Fuel
  • Samanage

Additional information

Salesforce provides a comprehensive array of business tools that, when combined, provide the user with more power and capability in their software experience.

Following are the other products of Salesforce:

  • Service Cloud
  • Quip
  • Heroku

Freshworks (formerly Freshsales)

Freshworks is our preferred option for entrepreneurs since it eliminates the trouble of switching between platforms. All of your software is now accessible in one location.

Freshworks develops a platform that centralises your demands, saving solo entrepreneurs time and increasing concentration. Setup is as simple as clicking a button to begin converting website traffic to leads. 

With this cloud-based program, you may access your data from any location. With access to some of the most qualified leads for your business, you now have the power to boost client engagement and close more transactions.

Freshworks employs an artificial intelligence platform to forecast your demands through intelligent analysis. This seamlessly integrates with a variety of platforms, like Calendly, Hubspot, Klenty, Facebook to name a few.

freshworks user interface

This program is capable of consolidating all of your contact information into a single spot. You can generate reports of recent actions, as well as email campaigns. Also , you have the ability to examine customer assistance data in real time using the analytic function.

In addition to all of that, you can enhance your expertise and get certification through the Freshworks Academy. Along with the blogs and academic training, customer assistance is available with a few keystrokes.

Monthly pricing begins at $29 per user. There are more complex and customizable options available based on the business’s demands. These cost-effective solutions provide an all-in-one platform for new and small enterprises, allowing you to choose the plan that is right for you.

Product review

Freshworks is a leading online CRM software that includes all of the industry’s basic features, including lead and contact management,mobile optimization deal tracking with storage, activity and task monitoring, and reporting dashboards.

Additional features

  • Contract management of client relationships. Contract management includes negotiating contract terms and conditions and verifying their compliance, as well as recording and agreeing on any modifications or revisions that occur throughout the contract’s implementation or execution.
  • Automates a procedure that needs a number of stages that are normally performed by several individuals. Administrators can create rules that specify who and when a user must do a task. Additionally, users are notified when they must take action.
  • Manage sales possibilities from lead through order. Maintain a record of the phases, values, and probabilities of closure. Manage sales pipelines for individual sales representatives, teams, regions, and the entire organisation.
  • Provides customer support specialists with access to all information necessary to assist the customer, including the client’s information, case history, and associated social activity. 
  • Capability of bulk data entry, modification, and extraction from the program through a structured file.
  • Utilize open social media platforms to listen to and connect with clients. Allows users to prioritise and reply swiftly to critical messages. Frequently, this capability enables for the submission of queries and requests from consumers via social media to case management.
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Product highlights

Users will appreciate Freshsales’ AI-powered lead scoring and robust integration capabilities, which include Google Calendar, Office 365, Mail Chimp, Magento, and Xero. While Freshsales’ top rival HubSpot CRM’s top competitor does allow you to compose and send emails in bulk and plan outbound emails, Freshsales provides so much more.

Shortcomings

While Freshworks offers more helpful capabilities, Hubspot is the most cost-effective alternative due to the software’s perpetual free status. Freshsales now only offers an all-inclusive 21-day free trial period during which consumers can access all of their programmes. 

Following that, Freshsales’ plans range in price from $19.00 to $65.00 each month. Users may also choose to pay annually to obtain a monthly discount, in which case they will pay between $12.00 and $49.00 each month. Freshsales’ enterprise plan requires a yearly commitment at a cost of $79.00 per month.

Reputation of Freshworks in the market

In many major firms, Freshworkss is praised as a complete CRM platform that includes industry-leading features. Freshworks was able to get a Better Business Bureau (BBB) grade of A+ and positive customer reviews round out the ranking.

Integrations

Freshsales’ open source API enables integration with virtually any piece of software on the market. Naturally, Freshsales connects with other Freshworks products, resulting in a more robust customer interaction experience and several additional benefits for the user. 

The following are some of its main integrations that work best when used in conjunction with a CRM solution:

Helpdesk
  • Freshcaller
  • Freshdesk
ERP/CRM
  • Zapier
Productivity
  • Segment
  • Freshchat
  • Google Calendar
  • Freshconnect
  • Mailchimp
Accounting 
  • Xero

Additional information

Freshworks provides a comprehensive suite of business solutions that, when integrated, provide users with more power and capability in their software experience.

  • Freshservice
  • Freshdesk
  • Freshconnect
  • Freshcaller
  • Freshbooks
  • Freshteam

Hubspot

Hubspot CRM

HubSpot is the most well regarded of the free online CRM software. One million contacts may be managed using your sales, marketing and customer support processes under the free plan.

One location to handle a million contacts, together with free sales ,marketing, and customer support capabilities, makes HubSpot our top free CRM choice.

Paid pricing begins at $45 a month invoiced annually, however they offer a free service for all members. You may use several marketing consultancy add-ons, such as outbound and inbound marketing, to take your firm to the next level. It also has a consultant that can assist you in the plans that you will implement and as you expand your firm.

Hubspot CRM software

A network of specialists from across the world is available to answer your inquiries. We provide a wide range of help options, such as in-app assistance, email, and phone support, all of which may help at any time.

Getting integrated with and working with HubSpot is simple. There are easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions available for those who are new to the platform. All the software integration tools are integrated with the above-mentioned software solutions, including Zoom, Gmail, WordPress, Agency Analytics, etc.

In the System Status section, users will receive thorough information on productivity, productivity on an individual level, and sales activity. Everything you need to know is available on the reporting dashboard. Don’t overlook HubSpot’s complete feature set while customizing your processes.

Product review

HubSpot is one of the best free CRM applications for handling lead and customer relationship management, since it gives free access to nearly anything a business may want to keep track of and manage. The free CRM that HubSpot provides to organisations with a maximum of ten employees also comes with up to one million contacts, storage, and users.

Additional features

  • Content creation and publication are intuitive and non-technical processes.
  • The system enables the storing and administration of files with rich media content.
  • Provide or encourage security compliance capabilities, such as SOC 2 certification.
  • Mobile themes that are effective and easily adaptable are accessible.
  • Page headers, pagination, meta tags, titles, and URL structure all contribute to the site’s search engine optimization success.
  • Allows users to drag and drop objects and information to alter the appearance of their site.
  • Provide web development pre-production and staging environments.

Product highlights

Hubspot users get access to a comprehensive range of CRM capabilities, such as lead and contact management, monitoring and storage of sales or prospects, as well as tasks and activities, including scheduling of appointments or meetings with staff as well as customers.

 Many CRM functionalities that are less popular are also provided by HubSpot. The other CRM software has several features that other free CRM software does not have, such as insights into the company (a feature missing in other leading online CRM solutions) traffic analysis, customer support form fields, ticketing system, etc.

Shortcomings

For smart features like team management, revenue analytics, sales cycle report,workflow automation, and trendline reports you’ll need something like ngDesk, an online CRM system that offers less capabilities overall than HubSpot but still provides unrestricted access to all of its features.

Another pretty standard functionality missing from HubSpot is the ability to import and export data.

Reputation of Hubspot in the market

HubSpot is widely recognized as one of the industry’s best products, receiving good ratings from the majority of software critics. This is supported by an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). 

While some users on the Better Business Bureau’s site have reported about payment problems, terrible customer service, and misleading renewal methods, these are outliers among a huge pool of pleased consumers.

Integrations

With a robust integration app ecosystem, you can integrate your preferred tools with HubSpot CRM to provide a more robust CRM experience. HubSpot CRM connects with 42 distinct third-party software applications across a variety of product categories, such as marketing, accounting, cloud storage, eCommerce etc.

 Here are a few of its most significant integrations.

Helpdesk
  • Snapengage
  • Salesforce
ERP/CRM
  • Pipedrive CRM
  • Zoho CRM
  • BaseCRM
  • Uberflip
eCommerce
  • Bigcommerce
  • Shopify
Productivity
  • Google Drive
  • Google Chrome
  • GoToWebinar
  • Pocket
  • Dropbox
  • Survey Monkey

Additional information 

HubSpot provides a comprehensive suite of business solutions that, when combined, provide the user with more power and capability:

  • Marketing Hub
  • Service Hub
  • Sales Hub
  • Growth Suite

Pipeliner 

Pipeliner is one of the popular online CRM solutions that makes sales teams more productive, with the ability to instantly visualise the pipelines, processes, and activities that they are engaged in.

CRM software

In simple terms, users can rapidly pick up the system due to its consistent navigation and visual approach, both of which drive rapid adoption and accelerated ROI. Customization is easy since users may configure the system to their own liking.

In Pipeliner’s administrative backend, drag ‘n drop, in-line editing, and other non-technical features provide for a simple, easy to use interface. Pipeliner is unique in that it doesn’t require the use of a full-time administrator or expensive technical support.

Not only can the reporting engine built-in to the product produce reports from any location inside the system, but it is also highly configurable to provide control over many other aspects of the reports. Pivot, advanced, and graphical dashboards are accessible in different formats.

Product review

The online CRM solution, Pipeliner has achieved 4.6/5 stars in the ratings with a single focus on improving user engagement and increasing sales. Customers are particularly complimentary of the simple design, outstanding user experience, and endless integrations. It does not have any extra products, but it does integrate with over 200 applications to give a deeper customer relationship management (CRM) experience.

Additional features

  • Offers administrators the ability to tailor the system to their own specific procedures. Areas of Specialization: These enable customization of the UI with the addition of custom objects, fields, rules, computations, and views.
  • Allow users, roles, groups, etc. to get access to certain features, data, and objects.
  • Establish sales opportunities across the life cycle of a lead, all the way to a customer order. Watch for changes in the track, value, and probability of a close. Consider all sales pipelines to be segregated and managed based on sales representative, region, team, and company-wide.
  • Facilitates organisational development and deployment of multiple-channel marketing campaigns that are geared toward targeted demographics or people and allows for measurement of these campaigns by demographic.
  • Helps consumers receive answers to questions, make orders, examine order histories, and access other information in the knowledge base by providing an easy method.

Product Highlights

Customers like how easy it is to use Pipeliner, which offers a great feature set, many helpful connectors, and stellar customer support. Its price flexibility covers a wide variety of company sizes, as well as major organisations.

Shortcomings

The only drawback of using  Pipeliner is the users will not get a free plan since Pipeliner does not, unlike HubSpot. This drawback can be quite upsetting for users as they look for online CRM software that offer free plans.

Reputation of Pipeliner in the market

According to the Better Business Bureau, the organisation has no accreditation with the organisation, but does have a large number of positive evaluations and ratings from consumers and software reviewers. 

This review sums up the products and customer assistance in FinancesOnline, with 5/5 stars for value for money and simplicity of use.

To find the negative feedback, you’ll have to dig in deeper as most of the people have good things today about it.

Integrations

With an extensive collection of applications to interface with, you can create a full customer relationship management experience by using Pipeliner in tandem with your chosen software. Integrating with over 200 different product categories, such as marketing, accounting, cloud storage and more, Pipeliner offers services for different applications. It includes several important integrations.

Accounting/Finance
  • Sage Intacct
  • Freshbooks
Marketing/Sales
  • Clearbit
  • Zendesk
  • Freshdesk
Productivity
  • Google Drive
  • MS Office
  • Calendly
  • Dropbox
  • Monday
Other
  • Zapier
  • EventBrite
  • Shopify

Additional information

Pipeliner’s CRM platform, Pipeliner CRM Hybrid, is an alternate offering from the company. This CRM software strategy provides the user with the ability to easily transition between the online and offline CRM applications. Using an offline mode allows the programme to be significantly quicker and more secure. The prices are precisely the same, regardless of whatever plan you choose.

Bitrix24

CRM (customer relationship management) software, collaboration tools, and management capabilities are all part of Bitrix24. To make corporate operations more effective and to better communicate with customers, Bitrix24 provides over 35 collaboration tools.

Bitrix24’s major benefit is that it is a single online platform where all of these separate technologies are perfectly linked, ready to use through a browser, desktop, or mobile app.

Product review

Bitrix24 is a top-ranking, intuitive online CRM software is made accessible by offering its users numerous tools, including the ability to plan and handle online campaigns, maintain a product catalogue, send bulk emails, schedule appointments and meetings, and integrate with third-party applications, such as Jotform, Stripe, and PayPal.

Additional features

  • Create departments for instance customer service, sales, marketing, etc.
  • Segment people easily for knowledge bases, workgroups, and communication.
  • Record videos and allow you to send them.
  • You can message your teammates through an internal chat feature.
  • Allow you and your team members to view and share work progress.
  • Email your contacts, so you can send and receive mail, as well as keep track of the communications you receive.
  • Customize contact fields to save contact info that is pertinent to your business.
  • Make your email account accessible by linking it to your contact records in the CRM, which enables you to send and receive email and track the messages you send.

Product highlights

Customers get what they want from Bitrix24 since the company has combined everything that a modern client wants into a single offering. For example, in contrast to other close competitors, Bitrix24 provides a number of unique features, such as an account software integration,call transcription function, multi-channel messaging, and a live chat system, that are not available from any of its competitors.

Shortcomings

Of the many features that Bitrix24 does not have, perhaps the most noteworthy is its lack of support for email scheduling feature,form fields, and native interaction with internal applications. Businesses who need these features may consider investing in Hubspot, a leading CRM software with more functionality and numerous features.

Reputation of the Bitrix24 in the market

Because Bitrix24 is considered to be an exceptional, complete platform, it’s a fantastic CRM option. However, although the Better Business Bureau doesn’t accept accreditation from Bitrix24, it does have a mix of both positive and negative evaluations for the company. 

FinancesOnline awarded a 9/10 score to the product, with 96% customer happiness,  4/5 for ease of use, 5/5 rating for value for money and  5 stars for customer support. No negative feedback has been seen on the surface yet.

Integrations

Bitrix24 provides an extensive range of apps to link with, so you may leverage your preferred software with Bitrix24 for a more comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) experience. SaaS (Software as a Service) software applications from many product categories such as cloud storage, marketing, accounting and others can be easily integrated with Bitrix24.

Check out how well this app integrates with some of other key integrations:

Accounting/Finance
  • Xero
  • Freshbooks
  • Quickbooks
Marketing/Sales
  • Pipedrive
Productivity
  • GSuite
  • Asana
  • Dropbox
  • Microsoft Office 365
Other 
  • Zapier

Conclusion

CRMs are strong tools that can help your organisation with email campaigns, contact management, task management, workflow automation, and landing pages. They can even add features like help desk options to make customer service easier and ensure client satisfaction.

Don’t undervalue the choice of CRM. Not for the weak: A CRM system may wreak chaos in your company unless you have extensive knowledge about online CRM software. We have many clients that are certain about their CRM approach, despite the successes and failures in various industries.

If you’re interested in custom software development for your business, which tailored according to your business needs then you should contact us (Codup) right now.

Tooba Nadeem

Tooba Nadeem is an experienced technical writer with 5 years of expertise in technical writing. Her extensive research and knowledge enable her to provide comprehensive insights into various interesting topics. She excels at presenting complex information in simplified language, ensuring clarity for the audience.