9 Best CRM Software for Small Businesses in 2023

What do you feel about the confirmation message of your order? It provides a feel of happiness that your favorite product is reaching you asap. 

Hmmm……the OTP verification during the delivery of your order will completely give you a fulfillness, protection against fraud, ensuring that the product reaches only you, which develops trust.

The delivered message surely gives you a sense of fulfillment that you have received your product.

The constant notification drives your attention to buy another one, right?

This kind of activity tells you to buy another product from the same retailer. Hence, it constructs a beautiful bond between you and the company in such a way that you too become happy with your orders while the company’s good name and profit also expand.

This is what is simply termed Customer Relationship Management. It is a software system that allows you to save the details of your customer and leads, making them interact with you constantly.

By reading the below article, you will be able to 

• Get understand about CRM
• Demonstrate its working with real-time examples 
• Have the ability to find the best CRM software by knowing its features and integrations
• Find how a particular CRM is vital to your needs.
• Best CRM Software for Small Business in 2023.

Terms To take away

The CRM concept might be revealed as a harder subject but with the wisdom of vital terms reigning the CRM software, the rigidity could be tackled with ease. The mystified expressions develop brittle explanations which will be broken down into simpler steps.

Note, the approaching term doesn’t wrap up the CRM platform. A huge queue awaits to open up. We do not want our entrepreneurs to hate CRM subjects through overwhelming terms. Ergo, the forthcoming keywords are a victory track for startups as a novice to end up as a CRM experts, finding the best CRM Software.

1. Lead 

Also sounded as “potential prospects” or “prospect” or “potential customers”.

A lead is indicated as a person who is likely to become a business’ actual customer.

The lead is interested in your services but has not yet purchased them.

2. Sales Pipeline

Tool used by the sales team of a business in CRM which helps to locate the exact status of leads to become an actual customers. It is represented as a diagrammatic visual. 

3. Campaign

It is a tool used by the marketing team which contains a set of activities to fetch leads and convert them into real customers.

4. Customer report

Custom fields can be added or deleted to prioritise the interest of users.

5. Deployment 

The way CRMs are installed.

6. Leadscore

A numeric value that determines the likeliness or status of the potential customers. It ranges from 0-100. A hundred is the best lead score while 0 indicates a bad lead score.

7. Scalability

To increase your actual customer into prospects without losing your old customers.

8. Social CRM 

Making interactions through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to nurture user bonding.

9. On-premise CRM 

CRM is downloaded on a company’s own server and is also managed by its own guidance.

10. On-demand CRM or cloud CRM 

It won’t be downloaded in a company and the company depends on a CRM consultancy for guidance. 

11. Web lead or web to lead 

A website is designed in such a way to collect user contact databases which will be stored as a new lead in the database file. (usually CSV file)

What is CRM?

Straight to the point, CRM is defined as Customer Relationship Management, used to elaborate the bonding of actual customers by retaining them, and also it involves attracting Leads and performing activities to mould them into real customers. CRM involves the storage of a database containing the detailed report of its customers from scratch till its last update.

It combines with small businesses to reduce the stress of managing databases with over hundreds and thousands of integration. The CRM software has a wide range of cost variations from $0 to $2000. Thus, it comfortably approaches your needs from minimum to maximum cost. Sales and Marketing are not the only phrases to suit CRM. Services, IT, and e-commerce can also flourish fluidly in this field using systematic software.

The best CRM software serves as a hidden gem of renowned organisations to understand its customer’s requests and charge accordingly to gather more information.  CRM is managed by multiple services which will be discussed later. 

For instance, when you enter the ABC website, it might pop out the slide instructing you to fill out your name, contact number, and mail address. For some websites, it will be mandated before you begin with the page while others might format it at the bottom to fill out only when you are interested. 

Now the inputs will be processed and stored in the company’s CRM into the respective fields as the new lead along with lead ID [might be]. Mails, messages are some of the tools taken over by CRM activity to perform its mission. The best CRM software is a great substitution to complex software and programs to sustain and increment customer bonding.

Working of CRM

This paragraph deals with the mechanism and actions of the best CRM software in the business field. This is only a hypothetical example to illustrate the working of  CRM. To clear out the passing clouds of CRM, Here is Mike 23yo handsome man who had a great interest in online shopping. 

From Adidas to Nike, he inspired witty purchases among spam suppliers. On an occasion, Mike entered the ABC website, famous for men’s clothes and accessories, and as email subscription, he entered his contact number along with the email address in the popup box. Now let’s see how different departments utilised the CRM database to profit its business.

1. Marketing 

It constantly emails about the latest offers, and combo discounts that keeps on entering the mind of the prospect. Also, the marketing team scheduled a meeting to promote shopping on their website. Messages also play a supporting role here.

Finally, Mike has accepted to shop some outwear for himself.

2. E-commerce 

This team now designs its storefront in such a way that it would match the desire of Mike. 

3. Sales 

The sales team now attracts Mike through Hurry up buttons, features, cashback offers,  discounts, less shipping charges, etc. Finally, Mike purchased the second skin successfully.

4. Service

After Fulfilling the payment for your cart, the server team sends progress of the product and even after it reaches Mike.

This Is a cyclic process to retain its real customers through various features and also aids in pulling prospects around the globe.

Features of CRM 

The main scope of this article is to wash out barriers in acknowledging the advantages of CRM. To execute, it is important to note down what CRM offers to its entrepreneurial users in order to be with the software until your lifetime.

• Customer database management [contract names, mail address, etc] 
• Sales pipeline management 
• leads interaction 
• leads management and provision of analysis
• Detailed reports, statistics 
• Leads score management 
• Campaign management 
• Web lead or web to lead services.

Importance of CRM

CRM is a potential software driving the bar graph of compact business to higher profits. As already discussed, the best CRM software can help the teams of sales, marketing, service, etc CRM can be optimised to its highest when you get to know about its work and importance. The oncoming group of lines checks out the latter one, dealing in brief.

• Single platform with thousands of integrations rather than different integration software absorbing your disk space 
• Sustains actual customers 
• Attract potential prospects 
• Transforming lead into real customer
• Combines with teams of all types
• Customer database formatted in CSV extension has a lot of protective measures 
• Finely scripted reports and detailed analysis
• Campaigns, sales funnel, and leads score efficiency

How to utilise CRM for your business?

CRM is so renowned to big businesses who either setup CRM consultancy to manage the bonding or utilise their talented stick figures to sustain the bonding on their own. 

For the self depending business, it is vital to know how to implement CRM for your small business

• Plan actionable goals.
• Research about the top CRM system that would suit your needs. 
• Mainly check about its interactions 
• Set up teams after your target. Define your website or any other system to retrieve customer details. 
• Input customer database in CSV file and upload it.
• You could add a field according to your interests.

Best CRM software for small businesses in 2023

• Salesforce CRM
• Pipedrive
• ZohoCRM
• Freshsales
• Monday
• Zapier
• Insightly
• Hubspot
• Zendesk

1. Salesforce CRM  

Considered as #1 best CRM software on our list, Salesforce Inc is an American cloud-based software firm based in California that is widely considered to be the best Software solution for small businesses. It offers solutions for sales, customer support, analytics, app integration, and other areas. It also includes a marketing cloud, a web cloud, a service cloud, a health cloud, a financial service cloud, an IoT cloud, and a commerce cloud.

Features 

• Email integration
• Sales collaboration
• Lead Management
• Appexchange
• Einstein analysis,
• Interaction of customers through channels
• Quotes/proposal management 
• Interaction tracking
• Workflow automation.

Pricing 

It is available for custom request 

Compatibility 

It is flexible with PC as well as mobile

Trial 

30 days free trial

Money back 

60 days

Rating  

4.2 / 5  [ 12k+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a tried-and-true method for scheduling, completing, and tracking activities. Visual pipelines are another example of the sales wisdom built into Pipedrive, which allows you to see exactly where each deal stands and has a slew of smart and user-friendly features. It ranks as the second best CRM software for small businesses.

Features

• Chatbot
• Livechat
• Lead inboxes
• Prospector
• Web forms
• Spreadsheet imports
• Schedules meetings

Pricing

• Free with in-app offers
• Essential: $9 per month
• Advanced: $19 per month
• Professional: $39 per month
• Enterprise: $59 per month

Compatibility

PC and mobile 

Refund 

No refund available

Trial Period

14 days

Rating

4.2 / 5  [ 1.5K+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

3. Zoho CRM

As the best CRM software developed by Zoho Corporation is an Indian browser online Office Suite-Zoho office suite. Zoho CRM is software that should be employed less for optimal output. It streamlines repetitive marketing and selling core services that take up some work lines. It also provides real-time knowledge and insight about your customer while having a conversation across channels to form strong bonds.

Features 

• AI-featured 
• Remote work 
• Mobile accessibility 
• Security and reliability 
• Quick onboarding 
• Flexible subscription 
• Journey orchestration 
• Customer support
• Deal and Lead Management 
• Workflow maintenance 
• Canvas 
• Custom dashboards 
• Case forms 
• Inventory management 
• Sales signal 
• Command Centre 
• Mobile SdK and MDM 
• Zia AI 
• Zoho Analytics

Pricing 

• Standard =$10.08 per month
• Professional =$17.64 per month
• Enterprise =$30.24 per month
• Ultimate =$32.76 per month

Compatibility 

Flexible with PC as well as mobile.

Money back 

30 days 

Free trial 

15 days 

Rating 

4.2 / 5  [ 2K+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

4. FreshSales

It is among the finest CRM software for small businesses. Freshsales is a cloud-based client relationship management software that assists businesses with sales, lead reporting, event tracking, sales pipeline management, customer database management, and other tasks. It ranks fourth on our list of the best CRM software. It enables you to create the most effective leads, increase interactional involvement and participation, and manage multiple pipelines, among other things.

Feature

• 25/5 support
• Sales sequence 
• AI-powered prediction
• Contact scoring 
• WhatsApp business 
• Territory management of
• 5000+ bot sessions 
• Time based workflow
• Custom module 
• Audit logs 
• Dedicated account management 
• AI based forecasting 
• insights and detailed report analysis.

Pricing

• Free with in app purchases 
• Growth =$12.59 per user/month
• Pro =$35.26 per user/month 
• Enterprise =$62.98 per user/ month 

Compatibility 

Flexible with PC as well as mobile 

Refund 

Unavailable information 

Trial 

21 days

Ratings 

4.5 / 5 [900+ Users] [In accordance with g2.com]

5. Monday.com 

This CRM, which is seated comfortably in the #5 best CRM software, is a work OS that virtually guarantees flow of work all across the workgroups. Monday.com CRM makes it simple to create accountability among teams, shift needs as needed, and collaborate collaboratively. Monday.com’s main selling points are specific reporting tools and storage services.

Features 

• Simplified decision making with real-time insights 
• Lots of integration 
• Advanced analytics and reporting 
• Tailored on boarding 
• Premium support 
• Custom dashboard up to 50 boards
• Time tracking 
• Chartview
• Gantt view 
• Formula column 
• File storage upto 1000 GB
• Activity log until five years 
• Zoom integration 
• Whiteboard collaboration
• 200 + templates
• Data sync

Pricing 

• Starts free plan offering in app purchases 
• Basic $10 per seat/ month 
• Standard= $14  per seat/ month
• Pro= $24 per seat / month 
• Enterprise =contact monday.com ]

Refund 

30 days 

Trial  

3 days 

Rating 

4.6 / 5 [5k+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

6. Zapier  

Zapier allows you to streamline your work out all over 5,000+ apps, allowing you to move forward more quickly. As the best CRM for small businesses, Zapier helps you manage your entire funnel—from customer acquisition to customer emails—so you get more conversions and less chaos. From side swindlers to entrepreneurship figureheads, Zapier connects your work apps to give you more focus and less frustration. Zapier lets you better serve your organisation so you can concentrate solely on the big picture.

Feature

• Unlimited Zaps
• 1 min update time
• Multi-step Zaps
• Transfer (beta)
• Filters
• Formatters
• Connections via Webhooks
• Autoreplay
• Unlimited users
• Folder permissions
• Account consolidation

Pricing

• Free with in-app offers
• Starter: $20.38 per month
• Professional: $49.96 per month
• Team: $304.86 per month
• Company: $610.74 per month

Platform 

PC and mobile

Moneyback

3 months

Trial period

14 days

Rating 

4.5 / 5 [900+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

7. Insightly  

With over 1.5 million active users and over 25,000 companies worldwide, this award-winning best CRM software is excellent for startup companies. It is a widely known CRM that lures sales, connects databases, potential prospects, and real customers. GDPR compliance ensures 100% data safety and assurance, establishing this as the best CRM software.

Features 

• lead routing 
• Workflow automation 
• Send, track, save emails 
• Deliver projects 
• Modals and customisable business process 
• Lots of integration 
• Aligns the business process 
• Encryption of data in transit and at rest.
• European or us Privacy Shield 
• GDPR compliance 
• Ensures 2FA 
• Data sync

Pricing 

• Starts free with in app purchases 
• Plus= $29 per month
• Professional= $49 per month
• Enterprise =$99 

Compatibility

 PC as well as desktop 

Refund 

no refund available 

Free trial 

14 days 

Rating 

4.2 / 5 [700+ Users] [In accordance with G2.com]

8. Hubspot CRM  

A software solution firm based in the United States that provides CRM software for revenues, marketing, and customer service. Surprisingly, this CRM is free to begin with basic tools. It cultivates the sales funnel, digital marketing, and lead interaction. It is a Fully – featured CRM system with dozens of integrations that corresponds all teams to extract insights for success.

Features 

• Forms
• Ads Management
• Landing pages 
• Basic bots 
• Email scheduling
• Ticketing 
• Shared inbox 
• Contact management 
• App Marketplace integration
• Data sync 
• Lead generation
• Organisation of sales funnel 

Pricing 

Free plan exists with in-app purchases 

CRM Suite:

• Starter= $45 per month  (For sales team)
• Pro=  $450 per month  (For sales team)
• Enterprise= $1200 per month  (For sales team)

Compatibility

Flexible with PC as well as mobile

Refund 

5 to 10 days 

Free trial 

30 days

Rating 

4.4 / 5 [9K+Users][In accordance with G2.com]

9. Zendesk  

Zendesk improves customer service, develops software to meet customer needs, prepares your team for success, and keeps your business on track. Dhandho Karo chooses it as one of the best CRM Software for small businesses due to the following unique features.

Features

• Ticketing system
• Live chat
• Answer bot
• Report and analysis
• Help centre
• Forum Software

Pricing

• Suite Team: $49 per month
• Suite Growth: $79 per month
• Suite Professional: $99 per month
• Refer website for exclusive purchase options.

Compatibility

PC and mobile

Refund

No refund available

Free trial

14 days

Rating

4.3 / 5   [4k+ Users][In accordance with G2.com]

Wrapping up

The overwhelming benefits of CRM might process your thoughts to return from work hours as soon as possible. But low employee engagement, bad data support, vendor-based issues, expensive CRM, privacy and ethical issues, and outdated information could be a battle storm.

Be smart enough to research various criteria affecting the quality of the CRM and ensure to jot down whether it offers services in accordance to your needs. Anyhow, this issue is a passing cloud that doesn’t matter in today’s CRM. 

With the hope of helping you, we are closing the deal of the day by providing the best CRM software guidance to our excellent entrepreneurs. Please comment down in the session whether you love the article or not.