Customer Management Software: 10 Options for You

One of the main tasks of businesses is to provide solutions to customer pain points. To do so, they have to handle multiple customer-related processes. If not handled properly, there may be unfollowed leads, resulting in lost sales. This is where the customer management software becomes advantageous.

You can streamline sales and marketing processes, helping people stay on top of how your business is performing.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps establish and foster one-on-one relationships between a business and its current and potential customers. It also allows businesses to automate repetitive activities, allowing the team to focus on higher-priority tasks.

In this article, we will discuss the top 10 customer management software platforms on the market to help you choose which one is the best fit for your business. We will also discuss the key features you should look for when selecting CRM software.

What to look for in customer management software

Customer relationship management software is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business has different needs, and every customer management system has its own standout features.

To help you choose, we've done extensive research to select 10 of the best customer management software platforms. All of the CRM platforms on this list have the following key customer management features:

• Ease of use: A customer management software system should be easily accessible to all team members. Additionally, your data dashboard should be easy for everyone to understand.
• Workflow automation: Automate tasks to save your team time and effort. For example, send automatic welcome emails when a new user creates an account.
• Activity tracking and task management: Track and monitor the current status of team members and customer activities, such as whether a sales agent has closed a deal or how often a customer requests support. This will help anticipate or prevent roadblocks.
• Analysis and reporting capabilities: The software should provide an easy way to view metrics about customers, team members, and the company's sales cycle, helping you assess whether you're on track. It should also have an easy-to-use reporting tool to pull up customized reports at any time.
• Communication channels: Send direct, personalized, automated responses or template messages across multiple channels including email and social media.
• Integrations: integrates seamlessly with the applications your company already uses, such as Google Suite, billing software, and productivity programs. This helps synchronize your data and saves time as your teams don’t have to learn to use completely new platforms. It’s also important that the client management software you choose allows you to migrate and export your contact database.
• Mobile access: Your chosen platform should offer mobile apps. This will allow your sales teams to instantly access important information and update deals on the go.

Top 10 Customer Management Software

Here are our picks for the best customer management software to help you optimize your business performance.

1. Zoho CRM

Zoho offers several business management solutions, including its customer relationship management system. Zoho CRM also provides a robust system to automate and analyze your business' sales functions, manage leads, customer activities, and forecast sales trends.

Here are some of the features of this customer relationship management software:

• Omnichannel communication: Reach customers through multiple channels, such as email, social media, and chat live. You will receive real-time notifications every time customers interact with your business.
• Sales Assistant Powered by IA: Zia, Zoho’s AI sales assistant, provides intelligent alerts such as data anomalies, predicts sales outcomes, and offers suggestions based on your successful tasks. It understands both text and voice queries and can read the data you request.
• Migration assistant: Import data from your existing CRM system or spreadsheets.
• Multiple integrationsZoho offers over 300 popular business app integrations. It also has over 40 other enterprise and productivity apps built in, making it a comprehensive business ecosystem for your organization.

Zoho has a free plan that is valid for up to three users. Its three paid plans come with a 15-day free trial, while the most advanced plan, the Ultimate, comes with a 30-day free trial.

This CRM software also offers two other CRM solutions: Zoho CRM Plus y biginWhile Zoho CRM is primarily a sales CRM, Zoho CRM Plus provides a holistic view of your sales, marketing, and support teams in a single interface.

On the other hand, Bigin is suitable for small businesses looking to move from spreadsheets to a CRM solution, but don't need full CRM features yet. Zoho CRM Plus starts from $57/user/month, while Bigin starts from $7/user/month, both billed annually.

In terms of support, Zoho offers four support plans. The plans Basic y Classic are free, while the plans Premium y Enterprise They cost the 20% and the 25% of the main plan subscription fee, respectively.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot CRM is an all-in-one customer management software to help grow your business. It offers separate customer management tools dedicated to specific needs: sales, marketing, operations, content management, and service.

This platform offers a free version which is the lite version of your paid CRM tools.

Here are some of the standout features of HubSpot's free customer management software:

• Marketing tools: It includes ad management tools to attract more visitors to your site. HubSpot CRM also has an email marketing tool to create and send bulk marketing campaigns to nurture your leads.
• Sales tools: Get a detailed, real-time review of your sales activities to see if you've met your quota and determine what to do to follow up with a prospect.
• Service tools: Your universal inbox lets everyone on your team view, manage, assign, and respond to any customer conversation with one voice. It also offers a help desk tool, ticketing system, and live chat. It includes chatbots for automated responses, helping you provide quick solutions for your customers.
• Trading tools: Offers over 1000 integrations, allowing you to connect to your existing tools and automatically sync data with your HubSpot CRM.

HubSpot CRM stands out among its competitors for its free customer management software. It’s especially beneficial for small businesses on a budget that are just starting to put more effort into their customer management process.

It is also possible to subscribe to the only set of tools you need. For example, you can use the free plan with an addition of the paid Customer Service toolset for your customer service teams.

Each toolkit is available in three levels: Starter, Professional y Enterprise, that go from $23-$3200/monthAll paid plans come with a 14-day free trial.

You can also opt for the package CRM Suite, which contains all five tool sets, with a subscription fee of $45-$5,000/monthAlternatively, HubSpot CRM offers custom bundle creation, where you can combine multiple tool sets at different levels, for example, the Professional Marketing plan with the Starter Sales plan.

It is possible to add up to 1 million contacts to your free HubSpot account. However, if you add the paid Marketing suite to your subscription, keep in mind that the number of contacts would also affect the price of your Marketing subscription, as they are sold in increments.

3. Insightly

Insightly is a sales CRM and marketing automation software with a beginner-friendly interface.

Check out the list below to see some of the features of this client management software:

• Routing of potential customers: Automatically route leads to relevant customers in real-time, helping sales reps make effective sales moves.
• Send and track emails: Create and send bulk emails to your contact or prospect list, then track and monitor your performance. Insightly will also notify you when a customer opens the email.
• Linking records: Maps complex customer relationships throughout your customer journey, helping you see your customers’ informal networks, organizational structure, and how they interact with your business.
• Custom App Builder: Create and deploy custom apps without writing any code with this CRM platform. Your team members can use the app on the web and in mobile devices.

Insightly offers a free client management software plan for up to two users. It also has three paid plans, which include a 14-day free trial period.

Additionally, Insightly offers a demo request. It includes a free assessment of your company’s customer engagement needs and concrete tips for getting the most out of this platform.

4. ProofHub

ProofHub is a project planning software that lets you manage your teams, projects, and clients from one place. Because it's multilingual, your team members can use the language they're most comfortable with.

Here are some of the best features of this client management software:

• Creating discussion topics: Focus on a particular topic by creating a discussion topic like “SEO strategy,” then share relevant files and comments, mention team members, and edit documents all in one place. Team members can subscribe to discussion topics, or you can select who you want to discuss a topic with.
• Detailed reports: Generate roadmap timelines of project milestones to help you see if your team is on track. You can also track open and overdue tasks.
• Request management: Organize job requests, tickets, and support inquiries using request forms to keep them from cluttering up your inbox.
• Account Transfer Tool: ProofHub allows for account ownership transfer, meaning you can transfer ownership and responsibilities to someone else when needed.

In terms of integrations, ProofHub integrates with popular apps like Google Calendar and Dropbox. Additionally, you can also integrate it with third-party apps using the ProofHub API, allowing for easy data transport.

ProofHub does not have a free plan per user: all of its plans are valid for an unlimited number of users. It offers two plans: the Essential, which can accommodate up to 40 projects and comes with 15 gigabytes of storage. storage, and the plan ultimate control, which can accommodate unlimited projects and has 100 gigabytes of storage.

All plans include a 14-day free trial period. ProofHub also offers deep discounts on subscription rates for nonprofits.

5. Monday.com

Monday.com is a workflow and team management solution. It offers several management solutions for the needs of specific departments, including creative and design, human resources, and sales and customer relationship management.

Some of the features of this customer relationship management software are:

• Sales channel management: Stay on top of the progress of your sales pipelines and manage leads more easily with the Kanban viewYou can also analyze them based on various metrics, such as priority, deal size, or expected closing date.
• Centralized data review: Manage your data including contacts, customer records, documents, and tasks in one platform.
• Contact management software: Provides informative contact cards that display customer data such as activities, deals, tasks, and documents, providing comprehensive context about a contact.
• Marketing Operations Management: Visualize milestones and deadlines, execute email marketing activities, and sync data so everyone on your team is on the same page.
• Sales and CRM templates: Monday.com provides several templates for sales activity tracking and CRM, such as managing marketing activities, tracking sales materials, and managing the customer onboarding process.

Monday.com has an intuitive interface that your clients can understand in no time. You can give them access to the project dashboard, creating full transparency for your progress. This will also help save time. There which you typically use to update your clients on project status and reporting.

This platform offers a free plan for up to two users, suitable for people who want to track their own work.

There are also four paid plans, with subscription fees ranging from $8-16/user/month. The subscription fee for the highest level plan, the plan Enterprise, is available upon request. All paid plans include a 14-day free trial period.

6. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is one of the best CRM software on the market. It focuses on optimizing sales and the actions that drive them.

Here are some of the features of this CRM software:

• Sales pipeline managements: This visual interface categorizes deals by sales stage, allowing your sales team to gain a clear view of your sales process and priorities.
• Perspectives and reports: Keep your most important reports and KPIs in one central place and forecast your revenue for a targeted date. You can share reports even with those who don't have Pipeline accounts.
• Contact management and tracking of customer communications: Manage sales conversations by organizing them into categories of people and organizations, then automatically link them to the deals they're associated with. You'll receive a notification every time emails or links are opened, allowing you to follow up at the right time.
• AI Sales Assistant: Provides suggestion cards containing useful information such as tips for improving performance, recommended features, and information about potential risks, all based on your past performance.

Pipedrive offers over 300 popular app integrations. This includes tools to automate your financial management process, communicate with remote team members, and generate leads. If you can't find the app you need, use the Pipedrive API to create a custom app for your company's internal use or for all Pipedrive users.

This sales CRM offers four paid plans that include a 14-day free trial period.

It also provides premium add-ons like LeadBooster, Smart Docs, and Campaigns. Subscription fees range from $32.50 and $41 per company/month when billed annually, and you can try these add-ons for free once you sign up for any Pipedrive plan free trial period.

7. HoneyBook

HoneyBook is a client management software that combines invoices, contracts and project management tools in one place.

Check out the list below to see some of the features of this customer relationship management software:

• Proposals: In HoneyBook, a proposal is an all-in-one booking file that combines invoice, contract, and payment information. It allows your clients to review, sign, and pay in one place, eliminating unnecessary steps on their part and waiting time on their end, helping you win clients faster.
• Programme of meetings: Book meetings and sync your sessions with Google Calendar to avoid double bookings. You can also connect to projects to see important information before the meeting.
• Project management: Stay on top of your project progress, from consultation to payment. HoneyBook also allows for the creation of a dedicated project portal for your clients, where they can send you messages, select services, reschedule meetings, access documents, sign contracts, and pay invoices.
• Automation: With this CRM tool, it is possible to delay certain automated messages for your approval to add relevant personal details. Doing so can increase the conversion rate.

When accepting online payments, HoneyBook applies a transaction fee of 3% for credit and debit cards or 1,5% for bank transfers. This customer management software also offers fraud protection to ensure the security of your customers' transactions and resolution services to help you in the event of a dispute with a customer.

HoneyBook offers two monthly paid plans, the HoneyBook plan. Home and the plan unlimited monthly, and the unlimited plan annual. The starter plan is only valid for one user and has an accepted payment limit of $ 10,000; once you reach that amount of payments, you will need to upgrade to a higher tier plan.

All plans include a 7-day free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee.

8. Keap

Keap is a customer relationship management software that helps businesses automate their sales and marketing processes.

Here are some of the features that this CRM software offers:

• Customer Management Tool: Capture new leads and organize contacts automatically through custom web forms, landing pages, and social media. Keap also allows for free data, contacts, and audience migration from MailChimp and Constant Contact.
• Invoices and payments: Track, send, and receive payments from clients directly from Keap's native invoicing software. You can also set up recurring payments to bill clients regularly.
• Sales pipeline: Easily track all sales performance and processes as they move through the sales funnel via this drag-and-drop visual dashboard. It's also possible to assign your team members specific tasks.
• Integrations: Sync with thousands of apps, including Gmail, Quickbooks, and WordPress. Plus, this platform also features the Keap Marketplace, which offers specialized apps, pre-built campaigns, and technology partners to extend the functionality of your Keap account and further grow your business.

Keap provides a free CRM plan with limited features: 100 contacts, 25 text messages per day, and only one user.

Meanwhile, there are three paid plans ranging from $40-100/user/month. These prices are valid for up to 500 contacts, and for each additional user, you must add $ 30Use Keap's subscription plan calculator to calculate the exact budget for a specific contact volume.

All paid plans include a 14-day free trial period and exclusive access to the growth coach for small businesses. The Growth Coach service offers access to personalized coaching, on-demand strategy courses, and unlimited expert support 24/7.

9. SalesforceCRM

Salesforce CRM is one of the best customer management systems for monitoring your company's marketing and sales processes. It offers robust sales automation, contact management, and marketing attribution tools.

Here are some of the best features that this client management system offers:

• Customer360This CRM system brings together your marketing, commerce, service, IT, and sales teams on a single platform.
• Pipeline management and sales forecasting: Get a complete view of your pipelines, review sales forecasts and adjust your strategies accordingly. Forecasts are based on your business KPIs, making them relevant to your business needs.
• Marketing tools: Reach customers at any stage of the customer lifecycle, from awareness to retention. Then manage customer journeys across all channels, including email and sales reps.
• Sales Cloud Einstein AI: is an AI-powered data analyst that helps your sales team by analyzing your customer relationship management data. It also provides opportunity insights and skips data entry by connecting sales reps’ email and calendar to Salesforce, saving them time.

In terms of integrations, Salesforce has an app marketplace that offers various solutions to extend its functionality. This includes third-party apps, components to build custom apps and pages without code, and access to certified consultants to tackle Salesforce implementation.

Salesforce has a flexible pricing model, meaning you can choose the product you need, for example, just SalesCloud or the package Sales and Service. Each product has multiple plan levels. For Small Business Solutions, there are four plans ranging from $25-1,250/user/month, all billed annually.

Please note that the number of contacts is also factored into the price, and there are additional fees for some third-party integrations.

10. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer service solution that offers customer relationship management software called Zendesk Sell. It is an integrated sales tool to track customer communication history, streamline daily sales activities, and monitor each prospect as they move through the sales funnel.

Features of this customer management system include:

• sales prospecting: Create targeted lists of prospects based on specific variables, such as industry, company size, and role, using Reach, Zendesk Sell’s lead generation and prospecting tool. Then, use the list to create automated workflows for outreach tasks, such as post-meeting follow-ups.
• Call logs and records: Record outgoing or incoming calls and reference them within the context of the appropriate lead, contact, or deal.
• Integrations: There are over 1300 third-party apps, over 100 Help Center topics, and over 350 partners that can help you improve the functionality and performance of your business.
• Sales Reports and Analysis: Zendesk Sell breaks down trends across your target regions or sales teams, helping you see the underlying factors driving your sales performance. Plus, you can download customer data in multiple formats, including CSV, Excel, and PDF.

Zendesk Sell offers four paid plans that come with a 14-day free trial.

However, keep in mind that there are additional fees for using Reach, with the subscription fee ranging from $27 and $81/user/month, billed annually.

Using customer management software plays a key role in the quality of your business relationship with your clients and customers. It helps in nurturing both existing and new customers, which ultimately impacts your revenue.

Keep in mind that business needs and preferences may vary from company to company. Make sure the CRM software you select has all the most important customer management features for your business, such as contact management, sales pipeline dashboard, and sales automation.

We hope this list of the best client management systems helps you determine which platform is best suited for your needs. Good luck with your client management efforts.