Rick Kranz October 1, 2021 80% of customers leave after one negative experience and 72% of buying experiences are related to how consumers feel about how the business treats them. While those statistics are somewhat expected, it’s appalling to find that 85% of businesses believe they offer excellent customer experience yet, only 8% of their customers actually support those claims. It’s a huge gap –and fortunately one that can be successfully bridged by using customer relationship management tools (CRM).
CRM centralizes customer data that businesses can use to improve customer relationships. Other than that, it saves small businesses the time, effort, as well as inaccuracies that come with saving customer data on Excel spreadsheets. It also improves business scalability, shareability and provides vital customer insights.
If you’re a B2B small business with lean finances and are worried about parting with money to get a CRM tool that serves your needs, we’ve compiled a list of the best free CRM software that can give you the benefits you’re looking for. Stick around to find out.
The Best Free CRMs for Small Businesses
A well-utilized CRM can increase sales by 29%. With the following CRM systems, you can improve your sales by minimizing the risk of landing leads only to lose them somewhere down the sales funnel.
1. Hubspot
Hubspot’s free CRM works best for businesses looking for a CRM offering sales and marketing tools with an unlimited number of users.
Besides the robust database, it helps you to track leads from the first point of your interaction with them. Other benefits include:
- Provides vital information about customers and how they’re moving down the sales funnel.
- Hubspot automatically integrates with Hubspot marketing, sales, as well as customer service, which makes it easier to personalize campaigns, consequently creating a better customer experience.
- You can automate communication with customers through features such as deal tracking, form builder, email and ad management, live chat, ticketing support for customer service, etc.
- You can add as many users to the account as you want. This means it’s not limited to how big your workforce grows.
- You can use it free of charge for the rest of your life –and there are no hidden costs or trial periods.
2. Freshsales
Freshsales has an interactive, easy-to-use, and appealing user interface but its most notable feature –in regards to making revenue –is getting sales teams organized and fast lead engagement with inbuilt chats.
It also goes beyond streamlining your sales using tools that enable you to manage your contacts, accounts, deals, and activities.
Freshsales also incorporates features that’ll help you get more value out of a free option than you naturally would – chat widget, in-app dialer, and website integration. Further, you get the following advantages:
- 24 hours a day customer support for five days a week through the phone, live chats, as well as email.
- You can schedule tasks, appointments, and make notes.
- Access to renaming modules.
- Deal tracking and management.
- Ability to import and export data as well as data migration.
- You have access to a built-in phone dialer and you can buy local and toll-free numbers.
- Website tracking.
- Role-based access.
- Comes with mobile apps for iOS as well as Android.
3. Agile CRM
With Agile CRM, you can access your sales, marketing, as well as customer service from a single platform. This makes it easier for you if you handle all these roles on your own.
Additionally, it manages unlimited tasks and comes with a wide range of admirable features for free CRM software:
- Enables you to automate sales processes with custom data fields, scheduling appointments, lead scoring, tracking deals, as well as email tracking.
- Eases your marketing with email campaigns, website tracking, a form builder, and templates for emails.
- Provides a help desk, ticket labels, canned responses, and next recommended activities.
- Gives reports on activities and performance.
- Comes with one plugin.
4. Zoho
Zoho‘s software provides salesforce and marketing automation features, primary customization options, and standard reporting tools.
You can set workflow automation triggers and use the collaboration tools like team messaging, follow-up rules, status updates, as well as file sharing to manage customer data. Customer support is available through email during business hours.
Here’s a list of what you stand to gain by using Zoho CRM:
- Managing leads, contacts, accounts, and deals.
- Advanced filters, tasks, events, logs, and notes.
- Different options for page customization and tab renaming.
- Automating workflow rules.
- Access to standard reports.
- Help with email marketing automation –with 10 email templates, email opt-out, as well as email authentication.
- Web-to-lead and web-to-contact forms.
- Collaboration tools such as calendars, status updates, direct messaging, file attachments to feeds, and follow-up rules.
- Website tracking.
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android.
5. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 offers an unlimited customer database, making it an excellent choice for businesses that handle a large number of contacts. You can also create and manage an endless number of other important aspects –tasks, projects, web pages, orders, and calls.
Its customer support combines channels like live chat, email, as well as social media messaging onto one platform.
Check out more reasons why you should consider Bitrix24:
- You can view your CRM records, custom stages, sales, and track timeline activity.
- You can import and migrate data.
- Comes with a live chat and website widget plus 100 contact forms.
- Calendar and email integration.
- You get to integrate the contact center with your Facebook and Instagram accounts.
- Automated ad management.
- The e-commerce store allows you to track revenue and orders, process payments, manage inventory, and access discount templates, coupons, and a shipping costs calculator.
- Communication channels include video, chat, and calls.
- Access to relevant resources such as webinars, how-to videos, and Bitrix24 partner assistance.
Final Word
Your CRM is all about managing customer relationships in a way that benefits them so that it can in turn benefit you. With this in mind, a good CRM should collect all your information in one central place, help to keep you more ‘in sync’ with your customers, improve your brand’s trustworthiness, as well as offer relevant products easily to your customers.
No matter how unsure you may be about effective ways to market your business, we promise that it’s easier than you think if you work with the right partners.
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