CRM is a way to manage customer relationships, its essential function is to collect and analyze information about customers, improve the quality of service, goods and services sales. Most systems are universal and suitable for automating processes in a variety of niches.
How to choose a CRM system?
CRM should be convenient and functional, no matter what kind of business you run. For this to be the case, you need to evaluate the selected CRM according to a couple criteria:
- It is important to understand what functionality is needed specifically for your business and choose a CRM system that suits your needs.
- Business area. There are CRM-systems designed for certain areas of business, taking into account their features. If your business is not popular or difficult to present to the audience, this option is worth considering.
First you need to determine the needs of the business, what functions and integrations it needs, what tasks you would like to solve with the help of CRM.
Bitrix24
What does the free CRM software from Bitrix24 include? Unlimited deals, contacts, companies and users. You can also send up to 1,000 emails to CRM contacts per month and you will have 5 GB of disk space. In terms of usability, this CRM program seems a bit more cluttered than others due to the sheer number of menu items.
Bitrix24 provides all the necessary tools for managing business processes, up to 12 employees can work in its free version. At the same time, the program has a sufficient set of basic functions that a business may need for the first time: analytics, sales automation, reporting, and much more. Integration with payment systems, telephony and other software is granted.
vTiger CRM
This CRM system works via a web interface. It is open, that is, it is possible to fine-tune it. It did not develop as an independent system, but became a derivative of SugarCRM. Well suited for the service industry and for managing the marketing department.
Some of the pros:
- Open to programmers;
- Ideal for small businesses;
- Low cost.
It integrates well with the Asterisk service. It is a telephony service for creating call centers in organizations.
Zoho CRM
Considered as the superman in the world of customer relationship management on 3 key levels: marketing, sales, support. The service allows you to control and automate the main business processes. Free CRM Zoho supports up to three users and includes the necessary set of tools for communication with customers and sales:
- lead, contact and deal management;
- task performance control;
- adding events;
- multi-channel marketing;
Zoho allows users to collect all the important data in one place and as a result – to improve ROI and increase sales.
HubSpot
The program was developed in 2006 in the USA. Its distinctive feature is that the free version is available to an unlimited number of users. CRM is suitable for both micro-organizations and large businesses. It provides:
- tracking transactions and financial results in real time;
- marketing tools;
- a large number of integrations, including free ones: Slack, Facebook Ads, Google Ads and others.
However, paid options settings are limited. Therefore, some companies will not be able to adapt the platform completely to their needs.
Sendpulse
A system with a simple interface and a small set of features for small businesses or for use exclusively by the sales department. Aimed at those who want to get away from using Excel and automate the process of transactions with clients. In the current version of CRM, 2 sales funnels are available. Users can specify all the necessary information in them, designate a priority, add checklists and links to other tasks, deals or contacts, attach files.
Pros:
- Simple, clear and completely free CRM;
- Omnichannel sales funnel and communication system: chat bots, email, SMS and multilinks.
- Auto mailings on configured events.
- Automatic creation of transactions for the specified actions.
Be aware there are few third-party integrations at the moment.
Conclusion
The free plan offered by the best CRM systems is a great opportunity to pre-test the program at no extra cost. It is vital to implement management systems even in small teams in order to effectively use employees’ time and not lose customers. It’s even better when you don’t have to pay for the program, but most free versions offer incomplete functionality.
