Top 10 CRM Applications to Use in 2024

Ensuring excellent customer care is a fundamental aspect of successful business practices. Not only does it reduce the expenses related to acquiring new customers, but it also maintains profitability over the long term. A reliable CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application lies at the core of this strategy, allowing you to centralize customer information and seamlessly merge sales, marketing, and service operations.

If you’re on the lookout for top-notch CRM applications to enhance your business operations, you’re in for a treat! This blog post is here to present the finest 10 CRM applications that can elevate your management skills and streamline your business processes.

Whether your goal is to organize customer data efficiently or effectively manage your sales pipeline, we’ve got your back.

So, let’s not delay any further—let’s dive right in and explore these stellar CRM applications!

What is a CRM application?

A CRM application is a software tool designed to assist businesses in handling and nurturing customer relationships. The acronym CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, a system used to enhance a company’s interactions and connections with its customer base.

These applications play a vital role in monitoring and storing customer data and interactions. They offer businesses invaluable insights into their customers’ preferences, behavior, and needs. CRM applications are instrumental in managing crucial aspects like customer contact details, potential sales opportunities, and the execution of marketing campaigns.

Additionally, they provide visibility into where sales succeed or fall short, offering a clear understanding of a company’s strengths and areas that need improvement.

One of the significant advantages of CRM applications are their ability to help businesses gauge their progress toward their customer relationship objectives. They facilitate staying engaged with customers, streamlining operational workflows, and ultimately contributing to a company’s overall profitability.

Consequently, CRM applications serve as indispensable tools that empower businesses to thrive and excel in today’s competitive landscape.

The three types of CRM applications

CRM applications vary in their functionalities and purposes, stemming from three primary types of CRM systems: collaborative, analytical, and operational.

Collaborative:

Collaborative CRM applications prioritize teamwork and seamless communication among team members. Their primary objective is to facilitate information sharing and enhance collaborative efforts within the organization. For instance, Salesforce exemplifies a collaborative CRM application, fostering teamwork and efficient collaboration.

Analytical:

Analytical CRM applications focus on providing users with comprehensive insights derived from their data. These applications incorporate features such as reporting tools and data visualization techniques to help users comprehend and derive meaning from their customer data effectively.

Operational:

Operational CRM applications specialize in automating repetitive tasks and operational processes within a business. They streamline sales operations by automating lead assignments, setting up follow-up reminders, and generating quotes. Zoho CRM serves as an example of an operational CRM system, aiming to enhance operational efficiency.

It’s common for CRM applications to integrate features from more than one of these systems, blending their functionalities to offer a comprehensive and multifaceted solution to users.

Benefits of using CRM Applications

Regardless of its size, every business stands to benefit from CRM application, as it serves as a fundamental tool for managing its most valuable asset: customers.

Here are several advantages that a CRM application brings to your business:

1. Enhanced Customer Relationships

CRM application efficiently records customer information, allowing for personalized interactions and tailored solutions. These personalized connections foster customer loyalty, resulting in increased brand allegiance and higher customer retention rates.

Additionally, it facilitates improved customer service by offering insights and feedback, leading to a better understanding of what works effectively.

2. Increased Sales and Revenue

CRM applications play a pivotal role in boosting sales by automatically collecting customer data, automating responses, and effectively managing potential leads through the sales funnel.

Furthermore, it encourages collaboration among sales representatives and other departments, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of customer needs, ultimately leading to increased deal closures. The system also records customer orders and purchases, offering valuable data for marketing purposes.

3. Advanced Reporting Capabilities

Most CRM application analyzes collected data, providing insightful reports on your business’s status. These reports offer a clear visual representation of your company’s operations, highlighting areas for improvement or opportunities for increased revenue.

4. Manual and Automated Marketing Tools

CRM application equips marketing teams with tools for planning and executing campaigns, including email marketing. Automation capabilities further enhance these campaigns by generating leads and guiding them through the sales funnel. Insights from sales data and customer data reviews contribute to higher conversion rates.

5. Streamlining Operations

CRM application reduces operational costs by seamlessly handling repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more crucial assignments. Moreover, its mobility features enable businesses to serve customers from any location. Ultimately, CRM applications enhance a company’s agility through digital enhancements, making the business more adaptable in the modern market.

In essence, a CRM application isn’t merely a tool; it’s a fundamental asset that streamlines operations, enhances customer relationships, boosts sales, and ultimately propels your business toward success.

Our top picks for 2024

1. Monday.com

Monday Sales CRM emerges as our top choice, revolutionizing the landscape of managing customer relationships for businesses.

Image by Monday.com

Developed by monday.com, a project management software, Monday Sales CRM offers an array of features designed to handle team management, contacts, tasks, and sales processes. A free version, albeit with limited features, is available, providing two seats, a capacity of up to 1000 contacts, and web forms for lead capture. However, higher-tier plans may necessitate a minimum seat requirement, potentially leading to paying for more than required. While a free 14-day trial allows for plan testing, the software might present a slight challenge for beginners due to its complexity.

Key features encompass advanced account management, an expansive contact database, and seamless app integrations. The platform centralizes and tracks communications, automatically merging or importing customer data while identifying and handling duplicates.

The sales team benefits from features enabling the view of deals, progress reports, and sales forecasts, along with lead generation, scoring, and the creation of customizable sales pipelines and dashboards. Additionally, the software allows for code-free automation of sales processes.

Moreover, Monday Sales CRM offers insights into team performance, activity tracking, and comprehensive call and meeting logs. For customer support, a 24/7 help center is available, comprising learning resources, community forums, and an online form facilitating communication via email.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Free: $0 and free forever
• Basic: From $8 per user/ month
• Standard: From $10 per user/ month
• Pro: From $16 per user/ month
• Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote

2. ClickUp

ClickUp simplifies the organization and enhancement of customer relationships by offering an all-in-one solution encompassing data visualizations, marketing automation, communication tools, and more—all within a unified platform.

Image by ClickUp

Notably, ClickUp is not confined to any specific industry; its adaptable features and tools cater to cross-functional teams such as Marketing, Support Engineers, and Finance, enabling them to effectively manage tasks and expedite deal closures.

You can easily set up your ClickUp Workspace to suit your needs, providing teams and sales representatives the flexibility to visualize data in diverse formats. Streamline workflows by consolidating tabs and applications through ClickUp’s seamless integration with native and third-party tools.

You can eliminate communication barriers by integrating emails directly into ClickUp, fostering collaboration and enhancing operational efficiency. Time-saving automation features enable the team to automate sales processes, reminders, and follow-ups, allowing a focus on high-value tasks. The platform’s flexibility extends to accessibility from any device, ensuring productivity whether in the office or while on the go.

Further, ClickUp empowers users to create customized CRM templates for client deliverables and sales strategies, utilizing historical data to develop precise sales forecasting models.

For newcomers to ClickUp, the ClickUp CRM Template serves as an excellent starting point, facilitating personalized project management and sales automation, thereby streamlining processes effortlessly.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Free: $0 and free forever
• Unlimited: From $7 per user/ month
• Business From $12 per user/ month
• Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote

3. Hubspot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a key component of the HubSpot sales and marketing suite, offering a free application designed to seamlessly integrate with paid tools like Sales Pro and Marketing Pro. This integration aids in lead nurturing, boosting conversion rates, and initiating inbound marketing strategies.

Image by HubSpot CRM

When coupled with HubSpot Sales Pro and Marketing Pro, the CRM provides an extensive platform for organizing contacts, creating detailed descriptions, prioritizing leads, and launching targeted campaigns.

Notably, HubSpot CRM is entirely free, accommodating unlimited users without an expiry date, setting it apart as one of the most robust freemiums in both the CRM and broader SaaS industries.

Core CRM functions, such as contact management and lead-to-conversion pipelines, are seamlessly integrated into the platform. Its user-friendly tools and workflows cater to both non-technical users and managers who are new to CRM applications.

HubSpot is renowned for its expertise in inbound marketing strategies. The integrated CRM facilitates easy implementation of tips and techniques offered by HubSpot. For instance, lead segmentation becomes simpler with comprehensive visibility of contacts. Real-time identification of interested visitors is made possible by embedding the Prospect code on your website.

As leads progress through sales stages, users can associate the appropriate campaigns and contacts, attaching related tasks accordingly. This consolidation of sales and marketing efforts is a notable benefit of utilizing HubSpot CRM.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Professional: From $1,600/month, billed annually.
• Enterprise: From $5,000/month, billed annually.

4. Pipedrive

Pipedrive stands out as one of the most sought-after CRM applications in the market, renowned for its sleek and organized visual interface, providing users with a rapid snapshot of their sales pipeline. The software focuses on enhancing the sales cycle transparency by prioritizing the pipeline as its core feature. Offering a notably helpful free trial plan, Pipedrive allows users to explore its functionalities before committing.

Image by Pipedrive

One of its key highlights is the highly visual sales pipeline, meticulously tracking deals and activities from initial contact to closure. Particularly appealing to fans of the Kanban system, Pipedrive boasts a clear and structured lead-to-conversion layout. While many CRM apps employ boards, Pipedrive’s distinct advantage lies in its color-coded and tidy design, even showcasing a photo of the sales representative or contact associated with each deal.

Additionally, Pipedrive’s robust Android and iOS apps ensure easy accessibility to the visual pipeline, providing users with on-the-go functionality.

Through the Pipedrive free trial, users gain comprehensive visibility into their deals, discerning which ones are progressing, stagnating, or moving across different sales stages. For many managers, visual cues are preferable to extensive reports, and Pipedrive’s interface caters well to this preference.

Moreover, its feature-rich mobile apps enable seamless access to the platform from anywhere with an internet connection available, enhancing user convenience and flexibility.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Essential: From $9.90 per user/ month, billed annually
• Advanced: From $19.90 per user/ month, billed annually
• Professional: From $39.90 per user/ month, billed annually
• Power: From $49.90 per user/ month, billed annually
• Enterprise: From $59.90 per user/ month, billed annually

5. CRM Creatio

CRM Creatio is a comprehensive solution crafted to elevate lead generation, nurture strategies, expedite sales processes, and enhance customer service standards. Its versatility stems from three distinct modules: Marketing Creatio, Sales Creatio, and Service Creatio. These modules can function independently or together, offering a holistic CRM platform.

Image by Creatio

Collectively, these modules deliver a 360-degree view of customers. Users can store diverse customer information, spanning career history, preferences, and purchasing behavior, facilitating the creation of personalized marketing strategies.

Notably, the software boasts automatic smart data enrichment, effectively identifying email addresses, phone numbers, and social media profiles from various sources. This ensures that marketing and sales representatives constantly possess up-to-date customer data.

The modules within CRM Creatio also offer an array of features designed for efficient CRM data management. Users have the capability to assign weights to different parameters within a customer profile and visualize profile completeness.

Furthermore, maintaining updated customer databases is simplified through tools for data cleansing and merging duplicates. These features collectively empower agents and representatives to utilize the most recent information, providing context to customer interactions and ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Growth: From $25 per user/ month (Minimum 5 users)
• Enterprise: From $55 per user/ month (Minimum 5 users)
• Unlimited: From $85 per user/ month (Minimum 50 users)

6. Salesforce CRM

Salesforce CRM is a vital component of the Salesforce sales and marketing platform, designed to cater to small businesses while offering remarkable scalability and a comprehensive set of tools for contact and lead management. When coupled with other Salesforce applications, this CRM tool provides seamless integration with Salesforce’s sales and marketing automation, sales analytics, and cloud storage capabilities.

Image by Salesforce

Being a part of the Salesforce ecosystem, users benefit from native integration with an extensive sales and marketing platform. Salesforce, a pioneering Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, continually introduces cutting-edge technologies to augment business processes. Presently, Salesforce CRM incorporates the company’s AI-powered lead management tool, enhancing its functionalities. Prospective users can explore the capabilities of Salesforce CRM through its free trial option.

The platform encompasses a wide array of tools tailored for organizing contacts, tracking leads, and even forecasting the conversion potential of promising leads. Additionally, for those seeking more advanced features such as reporting and analytics, Salesforce CRM seamlessly integrates with the vendor’s other packages, allowing businesses to scale up as needed.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Starter: From $25 per user/ month, billed annually
• Professional: From $80 per user/ month, billed annually
• Enterprise: From $165 per user/ month, billed annually
• Unlimited: From $330 per user/ month, billed annually
• Unlimited+: From $500 per user/ month, billed annually

7. Freshsales

Freshsales offers a robust set of features designed to streamline the sales cycle, automate sales processes, and foster lead nurturing. Its functionalities span automation, customization, communication, collaboration, pipeline management, analytics, and governance. Leveraging AI technology, customers can effectively manage contacts, engage in client conversations, forecast sales, and more.

Image by Freshsales

The software is highly adaptable, allowing users to create custom fields, modules, roles, and sales activities, catering to the unique sales processes of each company. It offers flexibility with multiple language and currency options, ensuring alignment with diverse business requirements.

Within Freshsales, sales team members gain tools to easily identify and prioritize deals. Features like the product catalog, CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), and weighted pipelines are tailored to expedite deal closures. Additionally, the software enables tracking of progress and efficacy through metrics such as closed deals and revenue generation.

Freshsales seamlessly integrates with popular communication tools like email, phone, chat, and SMS. Furthermore, it extends its capabilities by integrating with other platforms such as DocuSign, Zapier, Quickbooks, PandaDoc, and Xero, enhancing its functionality and versatility for users.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Free: $0 for upto 3 users
• Growth: From $15 per user/ month, billed annually
• Pro From $39 per user/ month, billed annually
• Enterprise: From $69 per user/ month, billed annually

8. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a robust business management software crafted to deliver comprehensive solutions for both small and large enterprises. Featuring a diverse range of modules for management, the platform effectively streamlines operations, granting managers and sales and marketing teams control over workflows. It enables task assignments to teams and individual members, facilitates project management and scheduling, and allows overall productivity monitoring within the platform.

Image by Zoho CRM

Renowned for its reliability, Zoho CRM merges functionality with user-friendly design to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs. This solution automates key processes involved in nurturing customer relationships, encompassing lead generation, marketing, sales, and customer support. Through automation features, you and your team can prioritize formulating and executing effective strategies for both potential leads and existing customers.

Regarding integrations, Zoho CRM seamlessly integrates with over 400 applications, including popular platforms like HubSpot, MailChimp, Google G Suite, Zoho’s cloud-based solutions, and more. This extensive integration capability enhances the software’s adaptability and flexibility, empowering businesses to efficiently manage their workflows and enhance productivity.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Standard: From $14 per user/ month, billed annually
• Professional: From $23 per user/ month, billed annually
• Enterprise: From $40 per user/ month, billed annually
• Ultimate: From $52 per user/ month, billed annually

9. Insightly

Insightly stands out as an ideal CRM application, particularly for sales teams frequently on the move or commonly chosen by small businesses. Its user interface is straightforward and easily navigable, catering to both newcomers to CRM apps and busy agents needing accessibility while on the go.

Image by Insightly

One notable feature of Insightly is its ability to map your contacts. This visual representation provides a comprehensive view of informal connections and the network of your clients and organization, facilitating the onboarding process for new members. Moreover, it offers business card scanning capabilities, saving your agents the hassle of manually inputting contact details.

The platform allows users to craft custom dashboards from scratch, enabling effortless interface adjustments without requiring the desktop app. Users can conveniently add, remove, or rearrange objects on their dashboard to suit their evolving needs.

Its user-friendly drag-and-drop system also permits the creation of various visual aids like charts and graphs, fostering collaboration and sharing within your team.

However, Insightly falls short in advanced functionalities compared to some other CRM applications, lacking features like custom workflows. Additionally, its higher-tier pricing might be considered relatively steep for some users.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• Plus: From $29 per user/ month, billed annually
• Professional: From $49 per user/ month, billed annually
• Enterprise: From $99 per user/ month, billed annually

10. Less Annoying CRM

Less Annoying CRM is designed with a focus on simplicity, offering a no-frills approach for its users. It steers clear of sophisticated AI automation, intricate sales reports, and lacks built-in marketing tools.

Image by Less Annoying CRM

However, this stripped-down approach is well-suited for many small business owners who prefer a more straightforward CRM experience without unnecessary extras.

Larger businesses might find Less Annoying CRM’s limited integration options and shallow customization capabilities somewhat limiting.

Nonetheless, its transparent pricing structure and user-friendly onboarding process make it an ideal choice for those seeking a centralized platform to manage tasks, contacts, events, and calendars without added complexities.

Customer Ratings

Pricing

• $15/user/month

What to look for when choosing the best CRM application for your business

When deciding on the best CRM application for your business, several crucial factors should guide your choice. Firstly, consider your business’s specific requirements by asking pertinent questions:

• Which features hold the utmost importance?
• Do you need the CRM application to integrate with other software?
• What type of customer data needs tracking?
• Are certain reporting capabilities necessary?
• Does your team prioritize ease of use or possess tech proficiency?

Once you’ve outlined your needs, prioritize the CRM app features aligned with your requirements.

Here are some essential features to ponder upon when selecting the ideal CRM application for your business:

1. Multiple Seats for Your Team

Ensuring multiple seats within a CRM application is vital for all team members to maximize its potential. CRM applications serve not only sales teams but also marketing and customer service departments. Multiple seats ensure comprehensive access, enabling efficient teamwork, better customer understanding, and improved communication.

2. Ease of Use

User-friendly CRM applications streamline customer relationship management. An intuitive and straightforward interface encourages regular usage and accurate data input. Apps that are cumbersome to navigate may deter consistent usage, leading to incomplete or inaccurate databases.

3. Integration Capability

CRM applications should seamlessly integrate with other business systems, like chatbots. Chatbots gather valuable customer data, enhancing customer service and sales efforts. Integration with existing software systems amplifies a CRM app’s utility.

4. Desktop and Mobile-Friendly

CRM applications must cater to both desktop and mobile users, particularly field sales teams. Mobile-friendly apps promote engagement, allowing salespeople to access CRM data during customer meetings, enhancing customer relationships, and improving productivity.

5. Reporting Capabilities

Robust reporting functionalities empower businesses to track sales and marketing endeavors, pinpoint trends, and identify areas for improvement. Detailed reports guide energy and resources towards the most effective strategies.

6. Setup and Implementation Ease

CRM apps that are user-friendly and straightforward to implement encourage user adoption. Simplified setup procedures with clear instructions appeal to all users, including those less tech-savvy.

7. Customization and Automation Features

Customizable features align the CRM app with specific business needs. Automation streamlines tasks like follow-up emails and report generation, ensuring data accuracy and saving time.

8. Sales Pipeline Management

Effective CRM applications proficiently manage the sales pipeline, aiding in closing deals and revenue growth. They provide insights into the sales process, highlighting where improvements are needed.

9. Dashboards and Reporting

The presence of dashboards and reporting features offers an overview of crucial customer-related data, enhancing understanding and utilization of CRM apps.

10. Pricing

Consider the app’s price vis-à-vis its features. While it’s crucial to find suitable functionalities, it’s equally vital to match them with your budget to avoid overspending on unnecessary features.

By assessing these features, you can make an informed decision to choose the CRM application that best aligns with your business goals and operational needs.

Bottom Line

With numerous CRM options available, choosing the right one can be daunting. Our review presents various choices and their standout features, with Monday.com leading the pack.

To find the most suitable CRM for your business, follow these tips and match your specific needs with available options. Utilize free trials and conduct thorough research to ensure the CRM you select seamlessly integrates with your company’s operations.

FAQs

For Further Reading:

• Top 10 Issue Management Applications to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Gantt Charts to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Kanban Boards to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Meeting Management Applications to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Risk Management Applications to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Team Management Applications to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Note Taking Applications to Use in 2024
• Top 10 Task Management Applications to Use in 2024
• 10 Best Productivity Apps to GTD in 2024
• 10 Best Project Management Applications to Use in 2024