What is CRM Software?

It is easier to understand CRM Software once the basics of CRM are explained. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is any process that organizes customer data for a business. It evolved from handwritten notes to databases stored on computers to the technology it is now.

Managing relationships is complex, and over time handwritten notes were not enough. To compete in any industry today, CRM software has become a necessity.

CRM software is a platform that connects different departments within the company into one cohesive system. Each user has access to real-time client data. This ensures coordination across teams throughout the company. Departments ranging from marketing to sales to customer service are all connected. CRM software collects and organizes their notes, activities and metrics into one system.

This allows for easy access for the users of the software as well as another benefit for the customers of the company. A successful CRM platform allows the consumers to have a one-on-one, personalized customer experience. CRM software has revolutionized the way a company connects to its consumers.

CRM product by HubSpot | iTMunch

What is HubSpot CRM?

HubSpot CRM is a free customer relationship management application that helps with managing customer data across the company. It is one of the leading CRM applications available on the market. It helps companies create their profiles, and organize every single detail from the customer’s communication. HubSpot assigns and tracks all deals made, controls the agent’s performance, while offering a single, detailed dashboard for all the team members so that they can keep track of the company’s activities.

It allows sales teams to get started quickly without making many changes in the existing workflow.

It is one of the biggest integrated CRM platforms on the market currently available. No other free software can offer this level of integration. Some of the popular applications that HubSpot CRM integrates with are Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Zapier, Shopify, and more.

HubSpot CRM is also a certified premier Google partner, and is suitable for all niches and industries. It is free and lets you include an unlimited number of members on an account. This makes the application very attractive to small to mid-level companies.

Why you should use this CRM Software

One of the most prominent reasons why you should use this CRM software is because it does not cost any money. Hence, any business regardless of its budget can use this platform. In addition, you will be able to link HubSpot CRM to all the places where your modernised sales processes are taking place, which includes your websites, email service providers, social media profiles, phone calls and much more. Another reason, why you should opt for this platform is because it is flexible enough to meet the needs of individuals, B2B and B2C businesses. These businesses include retail, accounting, real estate, construction, etc.

Benefits of HubSpot CRM

  • It is a completely free software available for integration. It can be used by any and all businesses, regardless of size. It can integrate with as many people and applications as necessary.
  • HubSpot CRM can be linked to all locations and places of modernized sales processes. This includes websites, email service providers, social media profiles, phone calls and more.
  • It is a flexible option to meet individual needs, B2B and B2C businesses, people and organizations operating in retail, accounting, real estate, construction, or any other industry.
  • After installation, HubSpot CRM runs in the background, alongside the tools that are already in use. It can be triggered whenever needed. The list of applications it integrates is very long, a few of them have been mentioned above. HubSpot can be applied to any software system, and it blends easily with all processes and operations, instead of asking for modifications.
  • It offers some very powerful data enrichment functionalities, making importing leads from emails as simple as a click. It has fast leads backlog and an intuitive interface which does not require any training or complicated installations to master.
  • Consolidation and analyses of customer data with HubSpot CRM leads to the formation of patterns, trends and other insights that can be critical to making strategic decisions with regards to market behaviour.
  • With additional information using HubSpot CRM, qualifying new leads becomes faster. It increases the time and focus spent on promising prospects. It is also easier to notice if customers are up for an upsell, cross-sell or sort out, and it also helps in reactivating dormant customers.
  • Organization of customer information into a centralized database makes it easy to have a whole view of the customers. Information like transaction history, contact details, demographics, etc. are easy to retrieve with the help of various tags and filters.
  • Both sales and marketing teams can benefit from the consolidation of information using HubSpot CRM. Sales can feed the on-ground data of customers to help those in marketing with their campaigns. Marketing can feed sales by providing them with new deals in bulk. It is a win-win situation for both sides.
  • It is easier to make an accurate sales forecast because relevant details like the deals and tasks that come through, what is moving and what is stagnant, are all visible with the help of a clear sales pipeline. This makes forecasting a lot easier.
  • By saving customer information such as phone, email and chat interactions real-time, the administration work reduces significantly which leads to an increase in the response rate, improving the relationship between customer and business.
  • Companies using HubSpot CRM always receive real-time data, which means the reports and analytics made are always up-to-date.
  • HubSpot CRM lets businesses automate mundane and repetitive tasks such as creating leads from signup forms and sending welcome emails to new leads.
  • The entire process starting from a prospect lead to a customer is captured by the CRM. These combined insights put a company in a better position to recognize people and their needs and how the business can benefit them.
  • There are no gaps in information or unnecessary back-and-forth between employees. The customer can now hear one consistent voice.

SEE ALSO: Increase in Data Protection Officer Jobs after GDPR Recently Introduced This Position

Key Features of HubSpot CRM:

  • Contact management
  • Contact and company insights
  • Company records
  • Gmail and Outlook Integration
  • Documents
  • Forms
  • Contact activity
  • Facebook and Instagram lead ads
  • Canned snippets
  • Email scheduling
  • Email tracking and notifications
  • Email templates
  • Conversations inbox
  • Team email
  • Live chat
  • Conversational bots
  • Calling
  • Meetings
  • Deals
  • Tasks
  • Ticketing
  • Reporting dashboard
  • Customize views
  • Deal and Task Board
  • Hubspot Marketing Synchronization
  • Drag and Drop Communicator
  • Website Visitors

Pricing Plans for HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is available completely for free, so you can easily start using the software right away for your business without any costs or charges involved.

Pros and Cons of Using HubSpot CRM

PROs:

  • Free

There is no trial period, HubSpot CRM is free to use forever, even if there is no other paying HubSpot account. It includes unlimited users as well, which means the entire company can use it.

  • Live Chat

The Live Chat tool was released in 2018 to all HubSpot users. It is simple to set up and manage. Basic chat functionality is available as well, taking online visitor and customer experience to the next level.

  • Better Insights

HubSpot CRM tracks customer interactions automatically, which helps provide insights into customer behaviour. This makes it easier to know when a follow-up is required.

  • Customization

HubSpot CRM, even though it is free, has no limits on customization. Everything can be customized to be brand-specific and tailored to specified sales processes.

  • No Integration Needed

The HubSpot CRM is natively connected to the HubSpot marketing tools, giving way to a smooth transition of leads from marketing to sales to simplify communication of data.

  • Compatible with other CRM Software

HubSpot can be used with other CRMs and can allow you to use both platforms simultaneously.

CONS:

  • It is still relatively new when compared to other CRM tools. Therefore there are some feature limitations.
  • It is not fully equipped to handle large teams, especially in sales, yet.
  • Organizations that have very complex sales processes cannot find the flexibility they need in HubSpot CRM.

Top Reviews for HubSpot CRM:

Rhianna J – “User-friendly software with great resources. I am a big fan”

Profile: Head of Marketing
Reviewer source: Capterra

Overall score- 5/5
Ease of Use– 5 / 5
Features & Functionality- 5 / 5
Customer Support- 4.5 / 5

Pros:

  • Hubspot is user-friendly, attractive, and useful for different levels of expertise.
  • We use it for the website, blog, social media, email, and CRM.

Cons:

  • Some things are a bit inflexible. For example, the Industry field for Companies is very large and has a lot of industries which would never be relevant to us.
  • I would like to be able to delete or at least hide features and information that we never use and would never use.

Chloe C. – “A must have for any business!”

Profile: Owner

Marketing and Advertising, Self-employed
Reviewer source: Capterra

Overall score- 5/5
Ease of Use– 5 / 5
Features & Functionality- 4 / 5
Customer Support- 5 / 5

PROS:

  • With automatic email logging and the ability to make notes, log phone calls and other important documents, Hubspot keeps all of my important information in one place.
  • Hubspot gives me the ability to store all my clients details, their company details and all my communication with them in one bit of software.
  • This makes it easy to look back over whenever I need to and keep up to date with what’s going on.
  • Hubspot also has the ability to have multiple team members within one account. Although this isn’t something I use currently, it is something I have used in the past.
  • This feature is wonderful for all team members to see emails both incoming and outgoing from customers / clients and is a life saver for looking back over email / telephone communications say if a team member is off ill and their client needs looking after for a few days.
  • Hubspot has also been updated to comply with GDPR standards.

CONS:

  • Hubspot doesn’t always integrate with other software you may have, or sometimes it will integrate but not as well as you would like.
  • I use Spark email for OS. Although Hubspot does still track my outgoing and incoming email, if I BCC clients into an email, this isn’t tracked in Hubspot. This can be a little annoying but it’s not a deal breaker for me.

Emily C. – “Inbound Marketing Exec using HubSpot on a daily basis”

Profile: Marketing Executive
Reviewer source: Capterra

Overall score- 4/5
Ease of Use– 5 / 5
Features & Functionality- 4 / 5
Customer Support- 3 / 5

PROS:

  • CRM is completely free, until you want to upgrade and add more features.
  • Really easy way to easily keep track of all contact and see what actions they have been taking.
  • Very intuitive tool.
  • Helpful snapshot of metrics with the dashboards.

CONS:

  • There are only a few cons to the HubSpot CRM – sometimes it can be slow at loading changes to the database.
  • Occasionally it does crash and needs to be refreshed multiple times before it returns to normal.

Top HubSpot CRM Alternatives

Pipedrive:

Pipedrive is built by salespeople and hardcore web application developers. It organizes business leads in a way that gives a brilliant sales overview and allows the user to focus on deals that need to be prioritized. Setting up is simple and other operations are easy to use and straightforward as well.

The downright intuitiveness of Pipedrive helps businesses distinguish hot leads and priority deals, and assists in developing an individual approach without wasting time. Negotiating a deal and maintaining lead relationships are both flexible processes that can be customized to the company’s brand standards.

Pipedrive is also a universally applicable system available in 13 different languages and works with a wide range of currencies.

Freshsales:

Freshsales is designed for high-velocity teams that helps in keeping track of contacts while solving their inquiries. It is a single management hub that helps businesses stay in control of thousands of leads with a simple, easy-to-navigate interface.

Freshsales optimizes sales and prioritizes pipeline opportunities. It gives sales insights and suggests ways for companies to use them to their advantage. The set-up procedure is easy, multiple integrations are fully functional, and all operations are stored in cloud. The core of the application is determining where the leads come from.

Users have an advanced suite of features which include auto-dialers, call recording, call routing, affiliate management, and so on.

Zoho CRM:

Zoho CRM’s core is lead and contact management, sales pipeline management and purchase control. Their interface is easy to use and customizable to user preference. Zoho CRM automates daily business activities, tracks sales and engages customers on various platforms.

It integrates with popular applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, MailChimp, QuickBooks, ConstantConnect and Google Apps. It has cloud-based connecters like OneSaas and CloudWork as well.

Keep reading iTMunch for more such CRM software reviews and ratings!