Best Contact Management Software: Comprehensive Review (2024)

Contact management software, also known as CRM (Customer Relationship Management), has become an indispensable tool for modern businesses. They allow centralize information on prospects and customers, making them accessible to the entire sales team.

These tools go beyond simple contact management. They make it easier to create content for marketing campaigns and help with target prospects through the most appropriate communication channels.

It is interesting to note that many CRM softwares now incorporate contact management features, blurring the line between these two categories of tools.

The impact of these systems on business performance is meaningful. When used effectively, CRMs can generate a return on investment of 45% for every dollar invested.

In this article, we are going to look at best solutions contact management available on the market. We'll analyze their key features and pricing structures to help you make the best choice for your needs.

Let's discover together these tools that can transform your approach to customer management and boost your productivity.

Let's get started.

What is the best Customer Relationship Management software?

Here are my top picks for the best Customer Relationship Management software on the market.

1. monday : Best Global Customer Relationship Management Software

monday is a CRM software that helps offices in various industries manage and track workflow. It also tracks overall business performance and team productivity.

This software offers three models: sales CRM, partner management, and you can choose one based on your industry and purpose. It acts as a one-stop solution for organizing lead management, customer relationships, and sales tasks.

In addition to managing prospects, the platform allows users to create forms to be placed on the website. Submissions will go directly to your Monday.com board, where the contact information and meeting schedule related to that particular customer will automatically be saved.

The sales model uses the Kanban technique to help users see the current number of their leads and what stage they are in. Finally, the deadline management function allows for efficient task management.

Features

With its diverse templates and effective task management features, monday makes the sales process easy, from lead management to follow-up. It automatically creates a database to help organize relevant customer details for easy access.

Here are some of the features that Monday.com offers:

• The client table allows customers to consult the project roadmap.
• File and communication sharing
• Message tracking
• Support for note attachments
• Facilitate the movement of customers between the different pipelines

Pricing

monday.com allows users to start with a free plan (for two seats), which offers basic features like task management. But depending on the size of your team, you can opt for the following paid plans, whose prices are calculated per seat.

1. Basic plan at $8 seats per month

• $24 per month billed annually
• Five GB of storage
• One board per dashboard
• Customizable notifications

2. Standard plan at $10 per seat per month

• $30 per month, billed annually
• 20GB storage
• Five boards per dashboard
• Zoom integration

3. Pro plan at $16 seat per month

• $48 per month, billed annually
• 100GB of storage
• Up to 20 boards per dashboard
• Time tracking

4. Business plan

• 1,000 GB of storage space
• 50 boards per dashboard
• Secure lock mode

Start 100% Free with monday.com

2. Pipedrive: Best for sales support

Pipedrive is a Customer Relationship Management system equipped with an AI (artificial intelligence) assistant, “Zia”, for complete management of the sales force. It also includes other effective features like a chat box, web forms, and workflow automation to streamline recurring tasks.

The platform has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to set up quickly. With sales support, all members will receive personalized suggestions for automating tasks.

It can also contribute to the early detection of risks by analyzing the past performance of representatives to understand areas for improvement. Likewise, the assistant uses algorithms to automatically detect actions that can be automated.

Pipedrive focuses on improving current actions that contribute to increased sales. You can constantly monitor the sales pipeline and prioritize activities accordingly.

Users can name the various stages of the sales pipeline, fill them with deals, and drag them to “won” to mark the completion of the sales process.

Features

AI sales support keeps track of the sales pipeline in real time, helping your team achieve seamless sales conversions. Its effective analytical algorithms and automation suggestions contribute to better time management, allowing users to focus on essential tasks.

I will now list the characteristics of this Customer Relationship Management software:

• Suitable for freelancers and small businesses
• Helps connect customers across channels
• Customizable dashboards
• Allows you to compare performance reports
• Internal chat and mobile application

Pricing

Users can choose from four subscription plans per user, which receive 24/7 chat and email support.

1. Essential plan at $15 per month

• $12.50 billed annually
• Easy organization and monitoring of the pipeline

2. Advanced plan at $29 per month

• $24.90 billed annually
• Automation and task tracking

3. Professional plan at $59 per month

• $49.90 billed annually
• Collaboration and communication features

4. Business plan at $99 per month (per year)

• Requires a minimum of ten users
• Personalized on-boarding

Apart from the Enterprise plan, the other three plans include a 14-day free trial, which gives full access to features.

Users can opt for the LeadBooster add-on (priced at $32.50 per business per month, billed annually) available with each of the above plans. It is a lead generation tool with four integration features.

Likewise, the Web Visitors add-on allows you to track engagement analytics and costs $41 per month per business, billed annually.

Get started with Pipedrive for free

3. FreshSales.: Best for communicating with customers

FreshSales makes it easy to manage the sales pipeline by combining AI-based performance information, lead generation, and integrated phone and email communication.

This 360-degree software solution helps users track prospects' touchpoints, such as their sm profiles and websites. Contact information remains stored in the platform, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

With the lead evaluation feature, users can prioritize lead follow-up based on relevant data.

You can also categorize your sales teams according to their respective territories for better operational management. With features like revenue analysis, in-depth sales reports, and customized reports, teams can track progress in real time.

Pipeline management offers features such as business status tracking and visual insights into lead management. Users can also use CRM mobile applications to track project activities at any time.

Other features, such as website tracking, task timeline management, and lead segmentation (based on their behavior), contribute to successful sales conversion. The automatic profile enrichment function provides a database of social media profiles and images of prospects.

Features

Users can purchase multiple local or toll-free phone numbers (available internally in the software) and assign them to team members. Likewise, tools for synchronizing and tracking emails in both directions enhance its marketing automation capabilities.

These are some of the benefits that FreshSales offers:

• Seamless data transfer from other CRMs
• Follow-up to priority setting
• Integrated calls and emails
• Synchronizing emails in both directions
• Android and iOS apps

Pricing

FreshSales offers three paid subscription plans (per user) and one free plan.

1. Growth plan at $18 per month

• $15 per month, billed annually
• Automated tasks

2. Pro plan at $47 per month

• $39 per month billed annually
• Multiple sales force management

3. Business plan at $83 per month

• $69 per month, billed annually
• Advanced control

Get started with FreshSales.

4. Hubspot CRM: Best for platform integration

Hubspot CRM has a varied list of tools that can be easily used by marketing, sales, and customer service teams. It is an effective all-in-one platform that can be compared to the highest paid CRMs.

An important feature of this software is its intuitive user interface, which is beneficial for users of the free version who do not have immediate technical support. There's also no customer support, but an intensive online guide makes up for this shortcoming.

Marketing tools allow users to create landing pages, web forms, emails, and social media (sm) content for marketing automation.

They can also organize and schedule marketing content with simple drag and drop. The versatile utility of this CRM software simplifies the management of marketing projects and campaigns.

Hubspot allows integration with other related platforms like Gmail, Microsoft Office365, and G-Suite so your team can easily access all customer information. There are dedicated email templates that allow you to create and program marketing email content.

Regardless of the size of the team, it can back up to 100,000 contacts (even in the free version) with no expiration or time limits. But you can always upgrade to paid plans to get more features.

Features

Hubspot offers an equally competent free version, which is suitable for small businesses or teams.

Features like invoice templates, SEO recommendations, and digital signature generators automate much of the process. Likewise, integration tools help streamline customer information and contact management.

Here are a few other features of the platform:

• Centers dedicated to marketing, sales and customer service,
• Content templates and tracking
• Save up to one million contacts
• Track tracking
• Live chat for customers

Pricing

If you are interested in paid plans to access advanced CRM tools, I've listed them below. These prices are applicable for the marketing plan, and the subscription will be different for plans like sales, operations, CMS, etc.

1. Starter plan starts at $45 per month

• $540 per year
• From 1,000 contacts
• Support for creating landing pages
• Live chat function

2. The professional plan starts at $800 per month

• $9,600 per year
• Multilingual content
• A personalized commitment
• ATM tools and task automation

3. Business plan starting at $3,200 per month

• 38,400 dollars per year
• From 10,000 contacts
• Specifying team hierarchy
• Lead prediction

Start 100% Free with HubSpot CRM

5. Zoho CRM: Best for Small and Medium Businesses

Zoho CRM is a versatile system that takes care of sales forecasting, management, automation, and multi-channel communication with customers. It makes it possible to centralize existing customer data and generate new prospects with the same efficiency.

The various communication channel options include telephone, web forms, email, live chat, and social media interactions. They also allow the team to assess the effectiveness of communication, as representatives can find the most appropriate channel and time to contact prospects.

Another feature is the business application integration functionality, which makes it easy to operate multiple communication channels. It includes various platforms such as Mail Chimp, Whatsapp, Whatsapp, Facebook, Dropbox, etc., to facilitate the communication preferred by the customer.

The intuitive platform is beneficial for new users, and the general utility is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. A comprehensive guide takes you through the installation process, eliminating the need for technical assistance.

Features

The flexibility offered makes it possible to meet the different needs of businesses. It has plenty of free extensions that can be integrated without coding to help improve sales and productivity. The video guide and mobile apps complete a seamless user experience.

Here are some of its main characteristics:

• Real-time notifications for customer engagement
• Measure the effectiveness of communication
• Automating tasks
• Workflow Management
• Contact Management

Pricing

Starting with a free, flexible trial, users can choose from four subscription plans. Plus, they can cancel or change plans at any time.

1. Standard plan at $14/month per user

• Billed annually
• Custom dashboards
• Multiple sales pipelines

2. Professional plan at $23/month per user

• Billed annually
• Validation rules
• Inventory Management

3. Business plan at $40/month per user

• Billed annually
• AI assistant
• Command center

4. Ultimate Plan at $52/month per user

• Billed annually
• Advanced AI analytics
• 30-day trial

Get started with Zoho CRM.

6. Keap: Best for tracking leads

Keap is a CRM platform that combines marketing and sales in order to capture more leads and turn them into customers. It has several features that improve the automation of tasks for monitoring sales activities.

Its range of tools includes email marketing, appointment scheduling, invoice generation, quotes, and payment features. Users can choose from pre-structured emails and automate the sending of messages to new prospects.

The software collects relevant customer information and creates “central” storage for instant access. It can also automatically update information and provide follow-up reminders to increase sales. Thanks to call and message services, it reduces communication efforts.

This customer relationship management tool makes it unnecessary to use a separate form builder application because users can embed custom forms into the landing pages of their business websites. They trigger certain automatic actions, which encourage the team to follow up in a timely manner.

The database can store crucial customer information, such as social media contact information, business addresses, etc.

Features

Keap uses various Customer Relationship Management tools that allow for rapid follow-up and response, as well as subsequent sales conversion. It also collects and stores customer data in a centralized database to provide a single Customer Relationship Management solution.

The following section lists some of its main features:

• Maintain payment and communication history
• Email marketing tools
• Follow-up notifications
• Pre-written emails
• Form integrations

Pricing

The price of subscription plans depends on the number of contacts you have. Here, I mentioned the prices for 500 contacts, with the upper limit being 25,000 contacts. If you have more than that, contact the Keap sales team.

1. Lite plan at $79 per month

• One user
• Automating tasks
• Messaging tools

2. Pro plan at $159 per month

• One user
• Automated marketing campaigns
• Additional users to 30

3. Max plan at $199 per month

• One user
• Secure payment platforms
• Optimized sales channels

Start free for 14 days with Keap

7. Insightly: Best for marketing automation

Insightly is a CRM tool that supports market automation by integrating Gmail, G-Suite, and Outlook. It is ideal for medium-sized businesses and offers a range of tools that enable project management for sales and marketing.

The bulk email feature allows users to create and send emails to the contact list, and they can design custom applications on this platform. Users can also integrate this software with other applications for marketing tracking.

With its dashboard, reports, and task automation features, it allows you to spend more time and energy on sales conversion. The Insightly CRM mobile app allows business cards to be scanned and audio notes taken to help managers quickly take stock in the field with their team.

Based on their interaction with ongoing marketing campaigns, Insightly will automatically direct new leads to the right sales rep, saving valuable response time.

Features

The mix of communication and automation tools helps streamline the complex steps in the customer relationship process. When used in combination with tracking applications, this CRM software can offer real-time insight into customer relationship management.

Here are some of its features in a nutshell:

• Centralized record keeping
• Easy installation
• Helps the client to understand the organizational structure
• Automatic track redirection
• Email marketing

Pricing

Users can start with a free “no-frill” plan for basic project management, applicable to two users. Also, there are three paid plans.

1. Plus plan at $29/user per month

• Billed annually
• Realization of the project
• Collaboration of members

2. Professional plan at $49/user per month

• Billed annually
• Prospect Management
• Voice tool

3. Business plan at $99/user per month

• Billed annually
• Process automation

Get started free for 14 days with Insightly

What is Customer Relationship Management software?

Customer Relationship Management software is an application that helps business owners establish and maintain one-on-one relationships with customers in a seamless manner. It becomes a single point of reference for teams to obtain crucial customer information.

The platform can also include other tools, which facilitate the overall management of the project, communication with the customer, the automation of tasks, and the monitoring of the various stages of the purchasing process.

How does Customer Relationship Management work?

Customer relationship management is a set of processes and strategies used to manage interactions between a business and its customers. This includes acquiring new customers, retaining existing customers, and resolving customer problems.

Customer Relationship Management processes may include:

• Collecting customer data, such as name, email address, phone number, and purchase history
• The use of this data to create customer profiles and market segments.
• The implementation of targeted marketing campaigns to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
• The establishment of loyalty programs to reward loyal customers.
• Establishing processes to manage customer complaints and resolve issues.
• Establishing processes to monitor customer feedback on social media and other online platforms.

Customer Relationship Management aims to improve customer satisfaction, increase customer loyalty, and increase sales. It is often managed by a dedicated team that uses customer relationship management (CRM) tools to manage customer interactions.

What is the difference between Customer Relationship Management software and CRM?

A customer relationship management (GRM) software and a customer relationship management system (CRM) are both computer tools used by businesses to manage customer interactions, but they have different functionalities and purposes.

Customer relationship management (GRM) software is primarily used to manage customer interactions, record customer information, plan targeted marketing campaigns, manage customer complaints, and monitor customer feedback on social media. It is often used to improve customer satisfaction, increase customer loyalty, and increase sales.

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is a more comprehensive set of tools and features that include customer relationship management (GRM) features, but also features for sales management, supplier relationship management, supplier relationship management, employee relationship management, and partner relationship management. It is used to improve the efficiency and profitability of business processes by allowing businesses to manage relationships with all types of business stakeholders.

In summary, customer relationship management (GRM) software is primarily used to manage customer interactions, while a customer relationship management (CRM) system is a more comprehensive set of tools that helps manage relationships with all types of business stakeholders.

Conclusion

If you want to improve sales conversion and maintain lasting customer relationships, choose an option from the list below:

• monday.com: The best for CRM
• Pipedrive: The best for sales enabler
• FreshSales: The best for communicating with customers
• Hubspot CRM: The best for platform integration
• Zoho CRM: The best for small and medium businesses
• Keap: the best for tracking prospects
• Insightly: The best for marketing automation

I hope my efforts will help you find the best Customer Relationship Management software for your business.

Looking for more blog posts?

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• Are you having trouble managing your company's contacts? Here are the best contact management platforms.