Simple CRM for Small Business – Are you ready to take your small business to the next level?
If you’ve outgrown spreadsheets and need a reliable CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution to scale your operations, this article is for you.
In my quest to find the most effective CRM software for small businesses, I’ve extensively tested various options and narrowed it down to the top eight CRMs that can help you either upgrade from your current solution or adopt a powerful CRM app for the first time.
So, get ready to unlock more opportunities, enhance your negotiating agility, and achieve more closed deals than ever before.
A CRM serves as the backbone of your tech stack, housing all the critical information about your leads and deals.
It provides a comprehensive timeline of past and planned interactions, empowering you to prioritize tasks, coordinate your sales team, and gain valuable insights for improvement.
However, when it comes to selecting a CRM specifically designed for small businesses, certain factors become crucial.
You need a solution that strikes the right balance between robust features and scalability while staying within your budget.
Moreover, the CRM should offer visibility and control over your business processes to empower your team with the necessary insights.
Here are the key aspects I considered while evaluating the best CRM software for small business:
Any CRM that deviates from these criteria will be mentioned in the following review.
Sometimes, unique approaches and compelling features outweigh minor shortcomings.
So, let’s dive into the details of my top picks after researching 130 CRM apps and testing the 30 best contenders.
Read more: CRM Software List: The Best of 10
Vtiger emerges as the ultimate all-in-one CRM software for small businesses.
It effectively organizes your contacts and deals while seamlessly integrating inventory management, marketing, help desk support, project management, and document handling.
Despite the comprehensive range of features, Vtiger maintains an uncluttered user interface.
Each major feature set has its dedicated screen, easily accessible through a simple navigation menu.
With just a click, you can switch between screens and find what you need promptly.
Vtiger’s strength lies in offering excellent features across the board:
Adding new contacts is a breeze with a short form, allowing you to quickly input information between calls or emails. You can later access the main contact page to add more details at your convenience.
The sales screen provides a visual pipeline to track deals efficiently. By clicking on a deal, you can view the next task and access detailed information related to the associated data.
The help desk screen enables you to track open cases, maintain a live chat tab, and even build a custom FAQ section to support your customer support team effectively.
Vtiger’s email marketing screen empowers you to create campaigns, set up autoresponders, and personalize messages using dynamic fields based on recipient data.
The projects page allows you to add, manage, and assign tasks, ensuring smooth collaboration and providing a centralized source of truth.
Vtiger seamlessly connects all these features, allowing you to convert deals into projects and cater to specific customer requests effortlessly.
Moreover, if there’s a critical feature missing in Vtiger, you can leverage Zapier to extend its capabilities.
The pricing structure includes different user types, with admin users having access to all features, and lower-priced options available for employees requiring access to specific feature sets.
Flowlu strikes the perfect balance between affordability and functionality, making it the best choice for small businesses that have at least eight team members.
With a clean user interface and comprehensive onboarding tasks, Flowlu combines sales, project management, financial features, collaboration tools, client portals, and knowledge bases—all within a single CRM solution.
Upon logging in, you’re greeted with a feed of recent messages, allowing you to keep everyone on the same page through quick polls and announcements.
The left-side menu provides convenient shortcuts to create tasks, deals, or contacts without unnecessary clicks.
Flowlu excels in contact and sales management, offering a filterable list view for activities and customizable stages in the sales pipeline.
Automation features streamline your sales tasks, reducing administrative burdens.
With a strong focus on project management, Flowlu seamlessly connects projects with relevant contacts, ensuring easy access to all project-related information.
Whether you prefer waterfall or Agile methodologies, Flowlu caters to your needs.
Pricing for Flowlu starts with a free plan and an affordable Team plan, making it an excellent choice for budget-conscious small businesses.
The cost is based on a fixed number of users, which can be advantageous depending on your team size.
Flowlu also offers an Enterprise plan for larger teams, unlocking all features at a flat price instead of a per-user rate.
When planning for long-term growth, Zoho CRM proves to be an ideal choice.
It offers a free plan, a reasonably priced entry-level plan, and affordable yet feature-rich higher tiers.
As your client roster expands, Zoho CRM provides a seamless transition without straining your finances.
Although Zoho’s user interface may not be as visually appealing as some competitors, it compensates with robust functionality.
Alongside sales management, Zoho CRM includes email marketing, a company activity feed for improved team communication, self-service portal creation, help desk features, and automatic lead scoring.
Zoho CRM’s extensive integration capabilities allow you to connect with various other Zoho apps, most of which offer generous free plans or affordable pricing options.
This adaptability ensures that you can adjust your software ecosystem based on your budgetary requirements.
In case a desired feature isn’t available within the Zoho software suite, you can connect Zoho CRM with Zapier to integrate it with other applications seamlessly.
Zoho CRM’s pricing tiers unlock additional features and customization options as you ascend.
The plans range from Standard to Ultimate, catering to different business needs and budgets.
Capsule CRM combines the power of a robust CRM system with a reliable project management app, making it an excellent choice for small businesses looking to manage projects efficiently.
With a strong emphasis on user experience, Capsule offers an intuitive interface and a well-organized dashboard that helps keep overwhelm at bay.
Intuitive User Interface and Effective Task Management
Capsule understands that productivity is key, and it reflects in its user interface. The Projects screen provides three views: calendar, Kanban, and list.
This versatility allows you to choose the view that suits your project management style.
You can easily add tasks, assign them to team members, and attach all the necessary files for seamless execution.
Once you’ve added tasks, you can switch back to the dashboard and find them organized in a list on the left side, ready for you to tackle.
On the right side of the list, you’ll find a stream of completed tasks, calls, and deal updates, keeping you informed about the latest activities.
Insightful Reports for Improved Productivity
Capsule offers comprehensive reports that help you identify productivity issues and areas for improvement.
These reports complement the standard sales pipeline data available in most CRM apps.
By analyzing the reports, you can gain insights into task durations and identify team members who might need assistance or guidance to overcome project-related challenges.
Seamless Integration with Other Apps via Zapier
If your projects involve multiple apps and you need to transfer important data seamlessly, Capsule allows you to connect with Zapier.
This integration opens up a world of possibilities, enabling you to automate data transfer between Capsule and other applications.
You can set up workflows to ensure a smooth flow of information, enhancing your project management capabilities.
Flexible Pricing Plans
Capsule offers different pricing plans to cater to various business needs.
The Professional plan, starting at $18/user/month, includes all the core features and provides 50,000 contacts.
The Teams plan, priced at $36/user/month, increases the contact limit and adds automation, advanced analytics, and user roles.
The Enterprise plan, available at $54/user/month, further increases contact limits and storage.
Although it doesn’t unlock any significant additional features within the app, the Enterprise plan offers ongoing priority support.
Depending on the size of your business, it may be more cost-effective to stick with the Teams plan before considering an upgrade to an enterprise-grade software suite.
If you require email marketing features, you can subscribe to the add-on for $11/month, without it being on a per-user basis.
By choosing Capsule CRM, you can streamline your project management processes, improve productivity, and ensure seamless collaboration among your team members.
With its intuitive interface, insightful reports, and integration capabilities, Capsule stands out as the best small business CRM for managing projects effectively.
Freshsales is a simple yet powerful CRM solution designed for small businesses.
It offers a user-friendly interface and a range of features that can help streamline your sales processes and enhance customer relationships.
User-Friendly Interface and Helpful Onboarding
Freshsales prioritizes ease of use, ensuring that users can navigate the platform effortlessly.
The onboarding process is designed to guide you through adding leads, tasks, and appointments right from the start.
Each page within Freshsales has a “What’s this page about?” link, providing instant help and clarification whenever needed.
In case you encounter any difficulties, Freshsales offers the option to connect with their support team via phone, a valuable feature not offered by all CRM solutions.
AI-Powered Insights with Freddy
Similar to Zoho CRM’s Zia, Freshsales introduces Freddy, an AI-powered assistant. Freddy works tirelessly to provide valuable insights and recommendations based on your data.
It helps identify priority contacts that align with your business requirements, suggests optimal follow-up timings to enhance engagement, and can even be deployed as a chatbot on your website, facilitating customer support and appointment scheduling.
Expanded Functionality and Integrations
Freshsales goes beyond standard CRM features by offering document management, product tracking, and integration capabilities.
You can keep track of important documents, monitor product-related activities, and connect your telephone and chat systems, all within the CRM platform.
Additionally, Freshworks provides other software options that can complement Freshsales, including marketing and customer service solutions.
For further integration possibilities, Freshsales seamlessly integrates with Zapier, allowing you to connect thousands of other apps to enhance your workflow.
Flexible Pricing Plans
Freshsales offers different pricing plans to accommodate various business needs.
The Growth plan starts at $18/user/month and includes essential sales features, telephone integration, chat functionality, and AI contact scoring.
The Pro plan, priced at $47/user/month, unlocks additional features such as time-based workflows, AI deal insights, and next best action recommendations.
The top-tier Enterprise plan, priced at $83/user/month, provides complete AI sales forecasting capabilities.
Although this plan is pricier compared to similar offerings, it may be suitable for businesses that require advanced AI features.
If you’re interested in AI functionality for your CRM, it’s worth scheduling some time to test both Freshsales and other alternatives to determine the best fit for your needs.
By choosing Freshsales, you gain access to a user-friendly CRM solution that simplifies sales processes while offering AI-powered insights and expanded functionality.
Its intuitive interface, support options, and integration capabilities make Freshsales the best choice for small businesses looking to enhance their sales operations.
folk is a CRM solution that focuses on personalization and fostering genuine connections with your contacts.
It offers a unique approach to managing relationships and sending highly personalized emails at scale, bringing a human touch to your communication.
Intuitive Interface and Contact Management
folk boasts a user-friendly interface that feels familiar, particularly if you’re accustomed to using Notion.
The left side of the interface allows you to search your contacts database, access email breakdowns, and manage settings.
Below that, you’ll find your contact lists, providing a convenient way to organize various types of relationships.
Whether you’re managing clients through a sales pipeline or interacting with investors at different stages, folk provides the flexibility to accommodate diverse relationship dynamics.
To explore more options, you can browse the template gallery, offering 50 different templates to kickstart your communication.
Ultra-Personalized Email Capabilities
The highlight of folk lies in its ability to send ultra-personalized emails to your contact lists.
By clicking on a contact list and selecting the option to compose a new dynamic email, you can begin crafting customized messages.
As you write, you can incorporate dynamic tags by simply typing a forward slash followed by the contact’s data fields.
This allows you to include their name, company, or any other custom text field in the body of the email.
Once you’ve composed your email, you can review it to ensure the static parts align with the dynamic tags and then send it to the entire list.
Contact Enrichment and Integration Options
To maximize personalization, folk offers a contact enrichment feature that automatically fills in missing contact information.
This feature provides a more comprehensive understanding of the individuals you’re communicating with, allowing for deeper personalization and meaningful interactions.
Additionally, folk integrates seamlessly with popular platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Gmail through its Chrome extension.
For further integration possibilities, you can connect folk with Zapier, enabling integration with thousands of other apps.
This opens up a world of opportunities to streamline your workflow and enhance your productivity.
Pricing Plans
folk offers two pricing plans tailored to different business needs.
The Standard plan, priced at $14/user/month, provides 100 enrichments and allows you to send up to 500 messages per month.
The Premium plan, priced at $29/user/month, increases the limits to 500 enrichments and 2,000 messages per month.
This feature-rich pricing structure is ideal for businesses selling high-ticket products or services with longer sales processes.
While folk may not offer advanced analytics and reports like some enterprise-level CRM solutions, its simplicity, focus on personalization, and robust contact management make it an excellent choice for sales teams seeking a rank-and-file, close-quarters sales tool.
