Tag: crm hubspot

  • Top CRM Tools & Customer Relationship Management Tools for Startups and Businesses in 2025

    Customers are an important aspect of any business, and it’s a crucial task to maintain a good customer relationship. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system or software that helps businesses manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. The goal of CRM is to improve business relationships with customers, help in customer retention, and drive sales growth.

    CRM tools are used to store and manage customer data, track customer interactions and interactions, and provide actionable insights to help businesses improve their customer relationships. This can include information about customers’ past purchases, their preferences and behaviors, and any interactions with customer service representatives.

    CRM tools can also include tools for automating and streamlining business processes, such as sales forecasting, marketing campaigns, and lead management. By using a CRM system, businesses can more effectively target and personalize their marketing efforts, as well as improve their customer service and support. As CRM is an essential part of any business, here are the top Customer Relationship Management tools for businesses.

    5 Best CRM software

    The Best Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools for Businesses:

    Here is the list of top CRM software tools to fulfill various business needs in 2025:

    S.No CRM Software Key Features Pricing
    1 Zoho CRM Software Lead management, workflow automation, AI-driven insights Starts at ₹800/user/month
    2 Hubspot CRM Free CRM, marketing automation, email tracking Free plan; Paid starts at $20/user/month
    3 Salesforce CRM Highly customizable, AI (Einstein), sales forecasting Starts at $25/user/month
    4 Pipedrive Sales pipeline visualization, automation, reporting Starts at $14.90/user/month
    5 Creatio CRM Low-code customization, sales + marketing + service automation Custom pricing (on request)
    6 Freshsales Built-in phone & email, AI insights, workflow automation Free plan; Paid starts at ₹999/user/month
    7 vCITA Appointment scheduling, invoicing, client management Starts at $29/month
    8 EngageBay All-in-one CRM, email marketing, helpdesk Free plan; Paid starts at $12.74/user/month
    9 Zendesk Customer support, ticketing, omnichannel engagement Starts at $19/agent/month
    10 Apptivo IT financial management, cost transparency, budgeting Custom pricing (enterprise)

    Zoho CRM Software

    Rating 4/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 30 Days
    Zoho Customer Relationship Management Tools
    Zoho Customer Relationship Management Tools

    Zoho CRM is a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management tool, known for empowering organizations with a complete customer relationship lifecycle management solution. It is workable for both small and large businesses. It also comes with a free trial version. This CRM tool is extremely customizable, and smoothly runs with all other apps. The other app features include lead generation and qualification, pipeline analysis, competitive analysis, a single database, offers parent-child relationships between customer accounts and their subsidiaries, creating forms with no coding, uploading forms live instantly, etc.

    Pricing Details of Zoho CRM:

    There is a free edition and four paid plans, i.e, Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

    Standard Rs.800/month, billed annually
    Professional Rs.1,400/month, billed annually
    Enterprise Rs.2,400/month, billed annually
    Ultimate Rs.2,600/month, billed annually

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    Hubspot CRM

    Rating 4.4/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 14 Days
    Zoho CRM Tool
    Hubspot CRM Tool

    Hubspot CRM was the winner of the Expert Choice award in 2018, due to its top-class CRM services. It is built as a platform that allows the sales team to get started quickly without making much of changes in their existing workflow.

    It is very helpful in creating beautiful contact and company profiles, by keeping a neat organization of every detail from the customer’s communication that has a connection with the company. The features include customizing views, website integration, social media, CRM details, email connections, phone integration, deal and task board, etc.

    Pricing Details of HubSpot CRM:

    There is a free edition and four paid plans, i.e, Starter, Basic, Professional, and Enterprise.

    Starter $50/month
    Basic $200/month
    Professional $800/month
    Enterprise $2400/month

    Salesforce CRM

    Rating 4.3/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 14-30 days
    Salesforce CRM Tool
    Salesforce Customer Relationship Tools

    Salesforce CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management software platform that helps businesses manage and track customer interactions, sales, and marketing efforts.

    The features include account and contact management, lead management, sales forecasting, contact manager, file sharing, campaign influence, calendar, case management, lightning speed solutions, and much more.

    The platform also offers a range of customizable tools for customer service, analytics, and collaboration. Salesforce CRM can be used by businesses of all sizes and industries, and it is available in various subscription plans to meet the needs of different organizations.

    Pricing Details of Salesforce CRM:

    The CRM tool has a Free trial and four paid packages i.e, Lightning Essentials($25/user/month), Lightning Professional ($75/user/month), Lightning Enterprise($150/user/month), and Lightning Unlimited ($300 /user/month).

    Lightning Essentials $25/month
    Lightning Professional $75/month
    Lightning Enterprise $150/month
    Lightning Unlimited $300/month

    What are the different types of CRM?
    What is a Customer Relationship Management System?
    What does a CRM System do?
    Why have a CRM System?
    Do I need a CRM System?
    Types of CRM:
    Operational CRM
    Analytical CRM
    Collaborative CRM What is a Customer Relationship Management System?
    A customer relationship management (CRM) system is an IT te…


    Pipedrive

    Rating 4.2/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 30 days
    Pipedrive CRM Software
    Pipedrive CRM Software and Tools

    Pipedrive is the winner of the Expert’s Choice Award 2018. It is listed under the top customer relationship management (CRM) tools designed to help businesses manage and track their sales and customer interactions.

    The website is built for salespeople and hardcore web app developers. It is a very friendly CRM platform and can be fully mobile-optimized, and can easily integrates its Google Calendar, Google Contacts, and other Google apps.

    It offers a range of features such as lead and opportunity management, pipeline visualization, task and calendar management, goal setting, contact history, and integration with other tools such as email and social media.

    With Pipedrive, users can create and manage deals, track customer interactions, set reminders and deadlines, and analyze sales performance. It also allows users to customize the CRM system to fit their specific business needs and workflow.

    Pricing Details of the Pipedrive CRM Tool:

    This tool offers a 14-day free trial and has three best packages, i.e, Essential($9.90/user/month), Advanced ($19.90/user/month), and Professional ($39.90/user/month) when billed annually.

    Essential $9.90/month
    Advanced $19.90/month
    Professional $39.90/month

    Top 5 Alternatives for Pipedrive CRM and Their Features
    Customer Relationship Management tools have now become a necessity. In this sector, Pipedrive is said to be the best. Check out its alternatives.

    Top 5 Alternatives for Pipedrive CRM

    Creatio CRM

    Rating 4.6/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 14 days
    Creatio CRM Software Tool
    Creatio CRM Tools for Business Development

    The Creatio CRM tool is known for being an out-of-the-box customer relationship management (CRM) tool that helps streamline company processes, boost employee productivity, and also to organize CRM data. There are several modules available: Marketing Creatio, Sales Creatio, and Service Creatio, where each module has specialized tools for specific departments.

    The features include customer data management, system integration, lead management, time management, sales management tools, communication tools, sales management features, document management compatible with MS Word, knowledge management offline, etc.

    Pricing Details of Creatio CRM Software:

    The tool offers 14 14-day free trial. And, its pricing plan is divided into three sections: Sales (an end-to-end platform to automate sales processes of any type with no-code), Marketing (a ready-to-use platform to automate marketing campaigns and lead management workflows with no-code), and Service Module (an omnichannel platform to automate customer service workflows of any complexity with no-code). Pricing details for each module are given below:

    Sales Module Pricing:

    Team $30/month
    Commerce $35/month
    Enterprise $60/month

    Service Module Pricing:

    Customer Center $45/month
    Service Enterprise $60/month

    Marketing Pricing Module: Custom Plan


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    Freshsales

    Rating 4.6/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 21 days
    Freshsales - CRM software tool
    Freshsales – CRM Management Tools

    Freshsales is the winner of the Great User Experience Award 2017. It is listed as a high-quality CRM software tool that is designed for high-velocity teams to keep track of contacts and also solve their inquiries.

    It offers a wide range of features, including contact details, communication history, and notes about interactions with customers. It also includes a range of sales and marketing tools, such as lead capture forms, email campaigns, and automated workflows to help businesses manage their sales pipelines and nurture leads.

    In addition to its sales and marketing capabilities, Freshsales also offers a range of customer support tools, including a ticketing system and a live chat feature, to help businesses provide timely and efficient support to their customers.

    Overall, Freshsales is a comprehensive CRM platform that can help businesses manage and grow their customer relationships by providing a central hub for storing and organizing customer data and communication, as well as a range of tools to support sales, marketing, and customer support efforts.

    Pricing Details of Freshsales CRM Software:

    The tool offers a free trial for 21 days. Other pricing plans include Growth, Pro, and Enterprise.

    Growth Rs 999/month, billed annually
    Pro Rs 2,799/month, billed annually
    Enterprise Rs 4,999/month, billed annually

    vCITA

    Rating 4.4/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 14 days
    vCITA - top customer relationship management) software
    vCITA – top customer relationship management) software

    vCITA is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that helps small businesses and freelancers manage their customer interactions and schedule appointments. It is used by professionals such as lawyers, accountants, fitness trainers, photographers, and more. It provides a range of features designed to streamline and automate various aspects of customer management, including appointment scheduling, invoicing, client communication, and task management.

    Overall, vCITA is a comprehensive CRM software that can help small businesses automate their customer management processes.

    Pricing Details of vCITA CRM Software:

    The tool offers a 14-day free trial and has three pricing tools: Essentials ($19/month), Business ($45/month), and Platinum ($75/month).

    Essentials $19/month, billed annually
    Business $45/month, billed annually
    Platinum $75/month, billed annually

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    EngageBay

    Rating 4.6/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial For 15 Users
    EngageBay- CRM platform
    EngageBay- Best CRM for Startups

    EngageBay is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses manage and organize their customer interactions and data by integrating sales, marketing, and service activities in one place. Its primary purpose is to generate leads and get loyal supporters. The features include sales and marketing automation. contact management, Facebook Ads, analytics, ticket management, email marketing, social media management, live chats, lead generation and nurturing, customer service and support, and analytics and reporting.

    Introduction to EngageBay CRM platform

    Pricing Details of EngageBay CRM Software:

    EngageBay offers a free trial and three paid plans: a basic, growth, and a Pro plan.

    Basic $11.95/month, billed annually
    Growth $45.99/month, billed annually
    Pro $73.59/month, billed annually

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    Zendesk

    Rating 4.3/5
    Mobile Access Android and iOS
    Free Trial 14 Days
    Zendesk - CRM platform
    Zendesk – CRM platform

    Zendesk is a customer service-focused CRM designed to make customer support simple and efficient. It offers an advanced ticketing system with automated routing and SLAs, self-service portals where customers can find answers on their own, and AI-powered bots that handle routine queries. Businesses can also use their analytics and customizable dashboards to track performance and gain insights. Plus, Zendesk integrates easily with popular tools like Salesforce, Shopify, and Slack, making it a complete solution for customer support and sales automation.

    Pricing of Zendesk CRM Software:

    Suite Team $19/agent/month, billed annually
    Suite Growth $55/agent/month, billed annually
    Suite Pro $115/agent/month, billed annually

    Apptivo

    Rating 4.4/5
    Mobile Access Web-based (Cloud)
    Free Trial Not Available
    Apptio - CRM platform
    Apptio – CRM platform

    Apptio may not be as well-known as Zoho or Salesforce, but it works just as well and offers users plenty of flexibility at a lower price. It brought together useful apps like Office 365, G Suite, Dropbox, and PayPal in one place, making it easier to manage everything. A free version was available for up to 3 users, while paid plans started from just $8 a month. People could use Apptivo on Mac, Windows, mobile phones, or directly on the web, and 24/7 online support was also provided to help whenever needed.

    Pricing of Apptivo CRM Software

    Plan Pricing
    Costing Essentials ~$80,040/year for managing up to $25M in IT spend
    Costing Standard ~$110,040/year for managing up to $25M in IT spend

    Conclusion

    Choosing the right CRM software can make a huge difference in how efficiently your business manages customer relationships, sales, and support. Each tool has its strengths; some excel in automation, others in customization or affordability. By understanding your business needs, team size, and budget, you can pick a CRM that not only organizes your customer data but also drives growth, improves customer satisfaction, and saves time. Investing in the right CRM is a strategic move that invests in the long-term success of your business.

    FAQs

    What is CRM?

    CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management” and refers to all strategies, techniques, tools, and technologies used by enterprises for developing, retaining, and acquiring customers.

    What are the best customer relationship management (CRM) software platform in 2025?

    The Top-Rated CRM software product for 2025 includes:

    • Zoho CRM
    • Hubspot CRM
    • Salesforce CRM
    • Pipedrive
    • Creatio CRM
    • Freshsales
    • vCITA
    • EngageBay

    How much does a CRM system cost?

    Most CRM tools range from $10 up to hundreds of dollars per user per month. The more expensive plans usually have much more advanced features and increased access to customer support.

    What are the 4 pillars of CRM?

    Workforce, Strategy, Processes and Technology constitute the four pillars of CRM.

    What is a CRM framework?

    The customer relationship management framework is the way in which companies manage their customers.

    Should I consider a free CRM tool?

    If you have a small business with basic customer relationship management needs, a free CRM may be sufficient. However, if you have a larger business with more complex customer relationship management requirements, a paid CRM with more advanced features and support may be a better choice.

    What other tools integrate with CRM software?

    There are a wide variety of tools that can integrate with CRM software to enhance its functionality and enable businesses to more effectively manage their customer relationships. Some examples of tools that commonly integrate with CRM software include marketing automation, project management, social media, email marketing, financial tools, customer service, and support tools.

  • Top 6 Marketing Automation Software and Tools in 2024

    Marketing is a very important aspect of any business. If your marketing efforts are in the right direction it can increase your brand awareness and conversion rate. Marketers do a lot of things from strategizing content, capturing and nurturing leads, managing customer information, creating advertising campaigns, scheduling tasks, and a lot more.

    All these tasks require a lot of time and energy. Although if you want to save time and boost your productivity and sales you can use top marketing automation softwares to put these tedious tasks on autopilot.

    In 2021, about 51% of companies were using the marketing automation tool and were able to boost their sales productivity by 14.5%.

    80% of marketers saw an increase in their leads and 77% saw an increase in their conversion rates.

    All these stats show us that you should use this best marketing automation tool in your business. Although finding out a perfect marketing automation tool that matches your business needs is a tough job. Don’t worry we are here to help.

    In this article, we will tell you the 6 best marketing automation tools.

    What is Marketing Automation

    HubSpot Marketing Hub

    Rating 4.4/5
    Categories Email Marketing, SEO and Social Media Advertising
    HubSpot Marketing Hub Software- Automation Marketing Tool
    HubSpot Marketing Hub Software

    When you think of the best marketing automation tool HubSpot comes first to mind. The tool has an immense reputation in the market. Using this tool you can streamline your entire business workflow in a single place. No need to switch between different software!

    Using its easy-to-use visual editor you can make targeted workflows for your email campaigns or multi-stage journeys. Its advanced segmentation allows you to decide which audience will get enrolled in which workflows and when.

    The tool provides you with customizable email templates that you can use to write personalized emails with no coding skills. Automate your email campaigns, generate more leads and move your prospects further down the funnel. To send emails to the right people at the right time HubSpot gives you numerous triggers, conditions, and action parameters.

    HubSpot Marketing Hub goes beyond traditional email or SMS automation and provides you with all the tools and utilities through which you can score leads, rotate leads to sales, set up webhooks, and automate data transfer from one team to another.

    Your team will automatically receive notifications if a user performs an important action like putting up a business query in your forum. This will help your team to quickly message the users and convert them into customers.

    HubSpot also provides you with a set of SEO and blog tools. You can set up a drip campaign, manage your social media, build Al-powered live chat, and create forms and landing pages all in one place. The tool integrates with other HubSpot solutions which makes it a killer deal.

    You will also get access to HubSpot Academy where you can learn how to use the tool efficiently and easily. As you can see HubSpot is a stellar marketing automation tool.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Starter $45
    Professional $800
    Enterprise $3200

    Oracle Eloqua

    Rating 3.9/5
    Categories Email marketing campaigns and sales lead generation
    Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation Tool
    Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation Tool

    Oracle Eloqua is an all-in-one marketing tool using which you can nurture your leads, get detailed analytics, automate workflows and manage cross-channel B2B marketing campaigns. Segment your users based on web visits, specific attributes, interests, and geography.

    You can easily create campaigns using its drag-and-drop editor. Get stats on what users are doing on your website in real time. Along with this, you can use SMS messaging to send event reminders, product updates, or to get feedback.

    Lead scores are updated in real-time across multiple campaigns based on customer profiles. For accurate lead scores, the tool analyzes the most recent activity of the user and adjusts the scores in real-time.

    Oracle Eloqua has built-in Al that suggests what action you should take for each contact. Find your best-performing products and content. Using Eloqua’s account engagement scoring, find the most engaged users.

    Automate your email campaigns, improve your subject lines using the Al suggestions and find the best time to send emails. Build responsive emails, landing pages, and forms without the need to learn HTML code. Save blocks of content that you often use so you can use them in future campaigns.

    Create dynamic content for your landing pages and emails that adapts and personalizes the messaging based on the user’s behavioral pattern and location. After launching the campaign analyze metrics such as email opens, clickthroughs, form submissions, and more.

    To help your brand in increasing sales, Eloqua will automatically identify and prioritize top-tier accounts that show high-buying opportunities. Get detailed statistics on your dashboard and analyze usage metrics like bulk API activity, native CRM activity, email sends, form submissions, page views, and much more. Monitor and compare all your campaigns.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Basic $2,000
    Standard $4000

    Pardot

    Rating 3.9/5
    Categories Email automation and lead management
    Pardot by Salesforce – perfect marketing automation tool

    If you are in a B2B business then Pardot by Salesforce is a perfect marketing automation software to handle your business operation effectively. Using this automation tool, you can build relationships with your customers and boost your revenue. Pardot provides you with real-time sales alerts, prospect activity tracking, and sales campaign tracking.

    Using the drag-and-drop editor you can build landing pages and forms. Get highly profitable leads using Pardot’s automated lead-scoring functionality. Put your common marketing and sales tasks on autopilot.

    Market Automation Tool – Pardot by Salesforce

    Create dynamic campaigns that adapt to each customer’s activity and buying signals and move them further in the sales funnel. Using built-in sales alerts and assignment triggers your sales team can contact the prospects at the right time.

    Segment your audience based on their preferences and send the right email at the right time using Pardot’s intuitive email editor. The platform has an in-built SPAM analysis tool that will check your email copy against common spam filters.

    Personalize your email copy based on the prospect’s score, grade, title, industry, and job. You can also perform email A/B testing to understand which of your content is resonating more with your target audience.

    The visual reports help you analyze the ROI of your campaigns and empower you to maximize your marketing efforts. Using the engagement and lifecycle reports you can understand your sales performance and analyze where your prospects are getting stuck in the funnel.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Growth $1,250
    Plus $2,500
    Advanced $4,000

    SendinBlue

    Rating 4.5/5
    Categories Email Campaigns, CRM
    SendinBlue Marketing Automation Tool
    SendinBlue – Best Marketing Automation Tool

    Using SendinBlue you can automate all of your tedious marketing efforts, capture leads, segment your audience and send the right message at the right time using email and SMS.

    You can set up a workflow and build a set of rules that triggers an action that you want to take for your prospects. This includes automatically sending emails and SMS, organizing contacts into different lists, and updating your database in real time. Automate lead scoring and perform A/B split testing.

    Set up a CRM in no time and upload all the information that you have about your contacts directly into the CRM contact profile. Create and assign tasks to your teammates and set up deadlines using the CRM.

    Create custom landing pages and forms without any coding skills. Choose from 40+ responsive email templates and easily edit your emails easily using the drag-and-drop editor. Personalize your email copy by adding your prospect’s name to the text.

    You can also use prospects database attributes to make your email more personalized. For example, if you know that a particular contact loves the color yellow you can show different product images with yellow color in the background.

    Segment your contacts list based on the prospect’s preferences, previous engagement or purchase history, and socio-economic or geographical characteristics. You can automatically update your contacts list based on actions your contacts take on your website and email.

    Get detailed email marketing stats and using the in-built Al find the best time to send emails to each recipient. Visually see how your recipients interact with your email using the email heat map functionality.

    Send bulk SMS marketing campaigns to your contacts directly from your database. You can also send transactional SMS order confirmations, shipping updates, password reset, and much more.

    Install a chatbox on your website and answer your user’s questions via Sendinblue Chat Inbox. You can even see on which page of the website the user is currently on directly from the chat box. You can directly use the Facebook ads tool inside SendinBlue.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Lite $25
    Premium $65

    EngageBay

    Rating 4.6/5
    Categories Email Campaigns, Sales Automation, CRM
    Engagebay automation marketing software
    Engagebay automation marketing software

    Most of the tools on this list focus on automating marketing and sales efforts. But, EngageBay automates your support system as well. This allows you to provide top-notch after-sales service to your customers.

    You can set up live chat software on your website. Whenever users initiate a chat your sales team would be instantly notified. Find all the tickets raised by your customers on your dashboard. You can set up standard responses for the tickets. Create support groups based on department or skills and direct your support tickets to the right support groups.

    From the live chat itself you can find out customers’ locations, total pages visited and time spent on the website. Get powerful stats on support tickets and understand what common problems your customers are facing.

    Using EngageBay’s CRM you can send leads from marketing to the sales team, automate your workflow and data entry, schedule meetings, create follow-ups for each lead, and do much more.

    Every interaction with your customer like emails, calls, and meetings gets automatically recorded in the system and presented to you in a timeline format.

    Using the drag-and-drop visual builder you can create marketing and sales workflows. Automate lead scoring based on email opens, link clicks, website visits, etc.

    Create drip email campaigns and personalize emails with contacts’ names, companies, locations, interests, and more. Get notified when users open your email or click a specific link and engage with your customers at the right time to increase the conversion rate.

    Landing pages and forms can also be created easily. You can also send push notifications. Set up pop-ups on your website and show them to your customers when they are about to leave the website.

    Automatically segment your customer’s list based on what actions they take or do not take. Tag customers based on behavioral patterns and run smart personalized marketing campaigns.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Basic $11.99
    Growth $33.99
    Pro $79.99

    ActiveCampaign

    Rating 4.6/5
    Categories Email Marketing, Automation, and CRM
    Active Campaign- Marketing Automation Tool
    ActiveCampaign- Marketing Automation Tool

    ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation (CXA), which combines transactional email, email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM categories.

    If you are specifically looking to automate your email marketing efforts then ActiveCampaign is for you. Most of the marketing automation softwares on this list will help you in automating your email campaigns but, Active Campaign takes email marketing to the next level.

    ActiveCampaign allows you to send a wide variety of emails to your customers: broadcast emails, triggered emails, targeted emails, transactional emails, scheduled emails, and email autoresponders.

    Using the drag-and-drop editor you can create beautiful email campaigns within a few minutes. Segment your audience based on their personal interests, job function, geographic location, website visits, email clicks, products purchased, quiz results, and time since the last purchase.

    You can automatically add tags to your list based on what pages or links they clicked on your website or email.

    Set up forms on your website and collect customers’ personal information, preferences, and more through standard and custom fields. Show forms at the right time based on the user’s behavioral pattern and interests. You can automate email sequences so that as soon as the form is filled the customers will get a series of emails that will nurture them to buy your products.

    Send personalized emails with customers’ personal information like name, city, preferences, purchase history, and a lot more. Active Campaign has 6 email deliverability best practices to ensure that your email lands in the subscriber’s inbox.

    To achieve the highest email deliverability the tool will automatically review and remove inactive email addresses. It has pre-built automation and re-engagement campaigns that help you in engaging with your customers constantly. The tool has an in-built spam checker as well.

    You can easily send double-opt-in emails to your customers to make sure only the interested ones get added to your email list. Notify your team to follow up with high-value leads.

    Plan Pricing ($/month)
    Lite $29
    Plus $49
    Professional $149

    Conclusion

    As you can see all of the tools will help you in automating your work but, you shouldn’t choose a software randomly. You need to understand your business needs, budget, and technical expertise to find out the right tool. Since most of the tools come with a free trial, you can use and test them first and once you are satisfied you can buy them.

    FAQs

    What is the difference between marketing automation and CRM?

    Marketing automation helps you to generate and score leads and automates your digital campaigns and email marketing efforts. On the other hand, CRM helps you to track leads and convert them into customers.

    What is the most common use of marketing automation?

    Marketing automation tools are majorly used for generating leads, automating email marketing, social media posting and ultimately increasing the conversion rate.

    What is marketing automation software?

    Marketing automation software streamlines the marketing processes used to support digital marketing campaigns.

    Are there any free marketing automation tools?

    Some market automation tools that offer a free trial or free plan include MailChimp, HubSpot, and Zoho.

  • Top 5 Alternatives for Pipedrive CRM and Their Features

    In any kind of business, customers are the key to its growth. Without the customers, a business is as good as dead. So for the survival of a business, customer relationship management tools are extremely important. With the rise of online tools and SaaS over the web, it has become a consumer hub of software and online services. This exponential rise in both parties online, the seller and the buyer, have to lead to the rise in demand for Customer relationship management (CRM) tools. One of the most used and popular CRM tools is Pipedrive.

    Pipedrive is a Customer Relationship Management Tool that helps users draw their attention to the right leads and sell better. It offers to fill up your sales pipeline with highly convertible leads, track communication and metrics to offer insights into the customer data, and also allows you to integrate with your sales boosting applications to give the best results.

    Although Pipedrive is one of the best in business available and has been considered the number 1 user-rated CRM tool, users often look for Pipedrive Alternatives to evaluate all the options. In this article, we will talk about the top 5 CRM tools, which you may deploy as an alternative to Pipedrive. So, let’s get right into it.

    Salesforce CRM
    HubSpot
    Zoho CRM
    Insightly CRM
    Copper CRM

    Salesforce CRM

    Salesforce Website
    Salesforce Website

    Salesforce is one of the most sought-after CRM which helps you with marketing, sales, commerce and services. Salesforce helps collect customer data in one place to make precise and more informed decisions. It also helps you by automating trivial and recurring tasks in a more personalized way by sending custom emails for marketing. Salesforce hence delivers an exception and rather personalized experience with excellent customer support 24/7.

    Features Offered by Salesforce

    • Salesforce offers you an all-around view of your customer’s activities, contacts, and communications to better know your customer.
    • With the help of Opportunity Management, monitor your competitors and products and tag along the information you need to enhance conversion.
    • Salesforce furnishes you with a mobile application that helps you work even without a desktop, such as log calls and respond to leads.
    • Track your leads till the deal is closed and make informed decisions based on insights from sales data.
    • Easily share files among your team members and enable real-time tracking of your content.

    Pricing for Salesforce CRM

    Essential plan Professional plan Enterprise plan Unlimited plan
    Costs $25 per user per month Costs $75 per user per month Costs $150 per user per month Costs $300 per user per month
    Offers you accounts and leads management Offers all features of Essential plan along with lead registration and scoring Offers all features of Professional plan along with collaborative forecasting and workflow approval automation Offers all features of Enterprise plan along with 24/7 support

    HubSpot

    HubSpot Website
    HubSpot Website

    HubSpot is a sales and marketing tool offering all round CRM, with tools and services for best in class marketing tactics. With services in every domain of sales and marketing, HubSpot offers the users free courses, eBooks and guides along with services such as Onboarding, Consulting and those of a Service Provider. Tools offered by HubSpot include Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Services Hub, and CMS Hub.

    Features offered by HubSpot

    • Offers sales automation, e-Signatures and lead scoring along with email sequences.
    • HubSpot also offers premium marketing features such as automation, SEO tools, and video hosting.
    • With HubSpot, users are furnished with an interactive and analytical dashboard, deal pipelines and customizable reports.
    • HubSpot also offers tools for blog and content creation with SEO, live chat and security monitoring.
    • Its Service Hub offers Customer Service Automation with multiple ticket pipelines and customer feedback.

    Pricing for HubSpot

    Software Starter Professional Enterprise
    Marketing Costs $45 per month, and offers tools such as landing pages, email marketing, and ad retargeting Costs $800 per month and offers marketing automation, SEO recommendations, and custom reports with campaign reporting Costs $3200 per month and offers services such as team management and advanced reporting with predictive leads
    CRM and Sales Costs $45 per month and comes with customizable sales properties, meeting scheduling, and other basic features Costs $450 per month and offers sales analytics, custom reporting, eSignature and some personalization features Costs $1200 per month and offers webhooks, custom objects, scalability, and reporting dashboard
    Customer Service Costs $45 per month and comes with live chats, conversational bots, and simple automation Costs $360 per month and comes with ticket status and routing, and offers a better customer service with custom reporting and insight dashboard Costs $1200 per month and helps user manage multiple teams slack integration along with webhooks

    Zoho CRM

    Zoho Website
    Zoho Website

    Zoho CRM is one of the first names that strikes when we talk about an all-round CRM tool. From remotely connecting to customers across different channels, to automating leads and actions required, Zoho has all the features of an effective CRM. With an interactive and insightful dashboard, it helps you monitor sales and business analytics and predicts future developments based on real-time trends and statistics while also furnishing you with a conversational AI. The AI offered by Zoho, named Zia, identifies convertible leads, so they can be more focused on, in turn, generating more revenue.

    Features offered by Zoho

    • Zoho offers Sales and workflow automation for better lead and account management, and avoid repetition.
    • Predictive sales and Zia voice assistant point out convertible leads and detect anomalies while also suggesting on assignments and workflows.
    • With Zoho, you get to customize your page layout, views and fields, and add components and subforms.
    • Reports, statistics, funnels and KPIs based on real-time analysis with Target meters to set and achieve milestones.
    • Zoho makes project management and team collaboration efficient with tags, chats and groups while also providing data security and compliance.

    Pricing for Zoho CRM

    Standard Zoho Plan Professional Zoho Plan Enterprise Zoho Plan Ultimate Zoho Plan
    Costs INR 720 per user per month, billed annually Costs INR 1200 per user per month, billed annually Costs INR 2100 per user per month, billed annually Costs INR 2300 per user per month, billed annually
    Offers all the utilities in the free version along with scoring rules and workflow management Offers all the utilities in the standard version along with SalesSignals and business blueprint Offers all the utilities in the professional version along with Zia AI, a command center and a canvas layout Offers all the utilities in the enterprise version along with advanced Business Intelligence and Zoho Analytics
    Offers to build and manage multiple pipelines, send mass emails and customize dashboards Helps build forms to collect user data, frame validation rules, and manage inventory Enterprise plan comes with advanced customization, portals for multiple users and, mobile SDK Advanced features with Zia recommendations on different niche

    Insightly CRM

    Insightly Website
    Insightly Website

    Insightly is a CRM tool that specializes in offering you a unified view of your customers including marketing, sales and project teams. Insightly allows you to connect with your customers on a personal scale, and helps convert your audience into regular consumers. Like most other CRM tools, Insightly assists users in creating customer journeys through marketing, sales, lead conversion, and integration with your email and other applications, with the primary focus on growing your pipeline.

    Features Offered by Insightly

    • Naturally, a CRM’s primary task is to collect and manage customer data. Insightly seamlessly manages data and has it stored in an organized manner.
    • Insightly helps you come up with campaign ideas to nurture existing leads and welcome new leads simultaneously.
    • Insightly offers flexibility to tailor the CRM to your specific business needs. Design your own sales processes, lead opportunity and management, and custom fields.
    • You can also create new fields using custom objects, applications, and fields, without any complications.
    • Insightly helps you turn deals into projects and set milestones, so you have the perfect opportunity to deliver what you promise and eventually build a brand and earn customers’ trust.

    Pricing for Insightly CRM

    Plus plan Professional plan Enterprise plan
    Costs $29 per user per month Costs $49 per user per month Costs $99 per user per month
    Helps you work from any device and deliver prjects Offers all features of the plus plan along with lead searching and management Offers all features of the professional plan along with strengthening customer relationships
    Insightly also helps you collaborate with your team with a unified platform for your team members to be on the same page Offers integrated phone dialer for call analysis and reporting with some extra cost Offers custom automation with validation rules, fields on objects, and permissions
    Offers over 250 business app integrations and web APIs Along with the integrations, Professional plan offes configurable webhooks Enterprise plan offers schedulable serverless lambda functions to create and run custom code

    Copper CRM

    Copper Website
    Copper Website

    Copper CRM is one that works with Google Workspace, and helps you manage contacts and communications, deals, and files all in one place, so you don’t have to juggle around in your work. Copper allows you to manage multiple tasks such as updating deals, searching for past transactions, and scheduling tasks with Google Calendar, all with the help of Gmail. Moreover, you get custom dashboards and pipelines to help you never miss an opportunity such as a strong lead.

    Features Offered by Copper CRM

    • Schedule your meetings and other tasks with integrated Google Calendar, and never miss them again.
    • Copper also allows you to customize your slide decks with advanced slide integrations to enrich it with important and useful data.
    • Leave all the task of finding and updating contact details of leads to Copper. Moreover, make data-driven decision with Data Studio to analyze and visualize data.
    • Copper also offers multiple resources to grow your business including books, product updates, blogs and others.
    • Along with other features, Copper offers complete security of your data, track deals through pipelines, and get custom reports and insights into your business.

    Pricing for Insightly

    Basic plan Professional plan Business plan
    Costs $25 per user per month when billed annually and $29 when billed monthly Costs $59 per user per month when billed annually Costs $119 per user per month when billed annually
    Offers a full Google Workspace integration with a limit of 3 users This plan is more suited for growing businesses needing basic CRM features This plan is built for scaling businesses and enterprises
    Contact enrichment and project management and multiple pipelines Contact enrichment and automation features such as workflow automation Contact enrichment and automation features such as workflow automation and unlimited templates and bulk email
    Basic reporting and sales forecasting Various integrations such as HubSpot, Slack, and Zendesk with account configuration All integrations in the Professional plan with custom embedded integrations along with leaderboard and goal tracking

    Conclusion

    CRM tools help you to strengthen your relationship with your customers and manage them. Not only that, they also help in identifying sales opportunities by drawing the attention of your customers to your business. Just like Pipedrive, all the alternatives of it are also functioned in a way to increase the sales of your business by dealing and managing the customers.

    FAQs

    What is a CRM tool?

    CRM is also known as customer relationship management is a tool, that helps businesses better organize and access customer data.

    What are the Benefits of CRM tools?

    • Better knowledge of customers
    • Better segmentation
    • Better customer retention
    • Better anticipation of needs
    • Better and speedier communication
    • Better protection of data privacy

    What are the alternatives to Pipedrive?

    Some of the popular alternatives to Pipedrive are:

    • Salesforce CRM
    • HubSpot
    • Zoho CRM
    • Insightly CRM
    • Copper CRM
  • HubSpot Business Model: How does HubSpot Make Money

    The internet has brought an immense change in the world, its invention is the game-changer in the technology industry, and is actually the root of every modern tech. In fact, the entire world is literally in our hands because of it.

    Thanks to technological advancement, now we can store and manage data on the internet itself and can also provide IT services through it with the help of Cloud computing systems. In this computing system, we don’t need computer hardware to run the program and store the data.

    The growth of a company hugely depends on its marketing, sales, and its customer service; a business has to do a lot of things for its survival. Online marketing is a new way, and a business must indulge itself in it. The software is used for all of these so that a company can grow to its full extent. One of the most popular platforms that offer all the above facilities is HubSpot. In this article, we will talk about HubSpot, its business model, how it makes money and what exactly it does. So let’s begin with it.

    “Every kid coming out of school now thinks he can be the next Mark Zuckerberg, and with these new technologies like cloud computing, he actually has a shot.”

    – Marc Andreessen

    What is HubSpot?
    Business Model of HubSpot
    How does HubSpot Make Money?
    FAQ

    What is HubSpot?

    HubSpot was founded in the year 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, both of them are MIT graduates. HubSpot is mainly about developing cloud-based marketing software, for businesses to market themselves online.

    HubSpot is a huge platform that deals with everything that is needed in the process of digital marketing of a business, like Inbound marketing, social media publishing, blogging, SEO, web content marketing, email marketing, and reporting and analytics. Its headquarters is in Cambridge, United States of America. Basically, it is a software platform that helps business sell their products and services more.






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    In 2021, HubSpot acquired The Hustle, which is a newsletter company that deals with small business owners and entrepreneurs. In the month of September of 2021, Yamini Rangan becomes the new CEO of HubSpot.

    What Is Inbound Marketing?

    Hubspot deals with CRM (customer relationship management) and offers inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is all about helping potential customers find the business by making it visible online. Inbound marketing includes SEO, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing.

    What Are The Advantages Of Inbound Marketing?

    Here, we will talk about the benefits that a business gets from inbound marketing. They are:

    • Gets the business its customers from different sources like YouTube, Blog, and social media instead of from a single source.
    • Trust can be ensured to the customers when the company shares the content about their products and services that shows their reality.
    • If inbound marketing is done properly, advertisement costs can be avoided and money can be saved.
    • Content is created in such a way that they can reach the audience whenever they search about something using specific terms.

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    Business Model of HubSpot

    HubSpot being a SaaS company indulges in the creation of software for inbound marketing and sales-related work. It mainly makes money through subscription plans and of course professional services that include providing tools to help in the process of digital marketing of a business.

    When HubSpot first started its journey, it used to focus on small and medium-sized businesses, but now with time, any kind of business that wants to strengthen its online presence is, willingly investing in HubSpot. In 2007, only they proved their mettle when it acquired their competitor GroupSharp.

    How does HubSpot Make Money?

    The software made by HubSpot is sold on a subscription basis. The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool is free for the customers to use, plus this helps HubSpot attract customers to use their subscription basis plan.

    The hub application of HubSpot is another form where the income comes from. It includes three hubs, which are marketing, sales, and service hub. Third-party apps, consultation, and events are additional ways how HubSpot makes money.

    Marketing Hub

    The marketing hub comes in three different plans and they are starter, professional, and enterprise. This also comes in a free package as well and helps in converting the users into customers that willing to pay.

    Sales Hub

    The Sales hub is used to boost the performance of the sales of the business. It has some great features that include live chatting with potential customers, sending quotes to the customers, and others.

    Service Hub

    The Service hubs include a different support system that the customers need, like giving out surveys and answering all the frequently asked questions to enlighten the customers more.

    Third-party apps like Outlook, Mailchimp, and Slack provide these hubs offering to the customers. Consultation service is offered by HubSpot like SEO-related tips for the customer’s website, content strategy, and others.

    Events are also conducted all over the world to advertise their tools and services and teach how to increase sales, all these come under a fee that the audience of the events had to pay.

    As of 2021, HubSpot has reached over $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. The 15-year-old company has over 100,000 customers that are paying for its services. In the year 2021, HubSpot reportedly has over 4981 employees and with so many employees and a brilliant business strategy, the revenue of the company is not at all surprising.






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    Conclusion

    HubSpot as a CRM platform with its different tools works in making the business reach the heights of success through the help of inbound marketing.  We are in a position where we cannot ignore digital marketing for our business.  All the things that are necessary for the digital marketing of a business, HubSpot gives out those services through cloud computing.

    FAQ

    What is HubSpot used for?

    HubSpot is a CRM software designed to help customers in aligning the business sales and marketing teams.

    Is HubSpot good for Small Businesses?

    HubSpot is said to be the best for small and mid-sized businesses that are looking to attract customers online.

    Who is the CEO of HubSpot?

    Yamini Rangan is the current CEO of HubSpot in 2021.