What Are Examples of CRM? Different Tool Types You Should Know About in 2024

Whatever your reasons for using a CRM, having them stacked up like a totem pole in order of priority would more likely get the right CRM software that matches your needs. That’s because many CRM apps are designed with a value proposition addressing a specific priority.

In the examples of CRM below, you’ll realize how these software solutions are classified in a general way, so you get to narrow down your options to a specific type that suits your business. The classification is not fixed, however. Instead, many CRM solutions have a diverse set of features or regularly introduce new features so that they cannot be boxed in one type alone.

Many businesses today have CRM at the core of their enterprise system. That’s not surprising when you consider that business revolves around customers. And their loyalty is one of the most important business success metrics.

Consider, too, that 13% of companies see the act of investing a matter of priority. Why is that?

With the right CRM strategy and technology in place, businesses do improve the bottom line by reaping CRM benefits, resulting from streamlining if not automating customer-relevant processes, such as contact management, lead generation, pipeline management, and customer service.

But CRM solutions come in a variety of types, as we mentioned earlier. We’re not talking about deployment or business type or even CRM pricing models; these are easily described. Rather, what we are presenting to you below are CRM types by function. What your priority function is will dictate the software solution of your choice.

What features should you look for in CRM tools?

When selecting a CRM system, businesses should consider several key features to ensure the tool meets their needs and enhances overall customer relationship strategies. Here are some essential features to look for:

• User-Friendly Interface: A CRM should be easy to use, ensuring new and experienced users can navigate the system without a steep learning curve. This helps improve team adoption and productivity.
• Customization Options: Every business has unique needs. A flexible CRM allows you to customize dashboards, reports, and workflows to suit your company’s processes, making the tool more effective and relevant to your operations.
• Lead and Opportunity Management: Look for CRMs that help track leads and sales opportunities from start to finish. This includes managing prospects, monitoring sales pipeline stages, and automating follow-ups to ensure no opportunities are missed.
• Integration Capabilities: A CRM tool should easily integrate with other essential software, such as email marketing platforms, customer support tools, and accounting software, enabling seamless data sharing across systems.
• Mobile Access: Since many businesses require remote or on-the-go access, a mobile-friendly CRM allows your team to track customer interactions and access critical data from anywhere.
• Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Reporting features enable businesses to track metrics like sales performance, customer behavior, and campaign results, helping to inform future strategies.
• Automation Features: Automation capabilities such as automated email follow-ups, task assignments, and reminders can significantly improve efficiency and reduce manual work.

Let’s break down the examples of CRM by their priority function:

Examples of CRM By Type

1. Inbound CRM

Some CRM can be classified by their specific thrust towards a main function, like promoting inbound marketing or the traditional sales-stage approach. While these CRMs also provide standard features and adapt to horizontal uses, the vendors position their product along particular expertise or thought leadership.

In other words, they promote a specific sales or marketing approach around which their product is designed. These tools, coupled with sound inbound CRM marketing strategies, can positively impact your business.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM stems from the vendor’s solid positioning as a leader in inbound marketing—the use of content to pull customers in (as opposed to advertising, which pushes your brand out to a target audience). A prolific content publisher, HubSpot presented its own marketing brand as the better approach in the digital space, using its own experience as a case. One of its strongest pull strategies is offering free tools, and this is where HubSpot CRM is coming from.

The CRM is 100% free. It is not a free trial or freemium with a limited feature set to tease you to a premium plan. You get the whole thing at no cost. And like any premium CRM, its feature set is robust. The app has the deals pipeline to help you visualize the entire sales funnel. You can sort deals by value, name, stage, or customized filter. The deals are bi-directionally associated with contact management. Any update from both ends is synced, giving you the latest on customer data. The app can capture customer interactions in your email (it has good integration with Gmail and Outlook), social media, phone, and website channels and automatically updates relevant leads, deals, and contacts.

HubSpot Smart CRM

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You also get free tools like live chat, team inbox, and bots. The team inbox is shared with your marketing, sales, and support reps, so it’s easy to track conversations and events across the customer journey. To start using this free CRM, you can simply sign up for HubSpot CRM free app.

HubSpot CRM helps you grow your customer base, but as it grows, you’ll need more sophisticated tools like marketing and sales automation. HubSpot provides both apps through paid plans, HubSpot Marketing, and HubSpot Sales. The free CRM natively integrates with these two systems, giving you a more robust architecture to generate leads, convert them into deals, and increase your win rate. But it’s the free CRM that makes the whole engine whirling.

2. General CRM

Most solutions will fall under general CRM, providing standard features for contacts and deals. They almost always have plans for small businesses and large enterprises, and they adapt to a wide range of industries.

When Salesforce started to popularize cloud-hosted CRM in the early 2000s, it established the key CRM features that have become the industry benchmark. These Salesforce features are standard today on top of built-in tools for collaboration, email integration, and communication.

Salesforce CRM

What can be a better example of a general CRM than the one that started it all? Salesforce CRM redefined the sales space when it launched a cloud sales system with tools that today has evolved into the standard CRM features we mentioned above.

Over the years, CRM software has ballooned with more functions as internet, cloud computing, and mobile technologies improve, and business processes become more integrated. If you want to check its comprehensive feature, set you can easily sign up for Salesforce free trial.

Salesforce CRM

Try out Salesforce CRM with their free trial

Salesforce CRM today is part of Sales Cloud, the over-arching cloud solution that includes AI-powered sales tools, integrated sales workflow management, custom app development for sales, CPQ tools, and data integration with other systems like support, marketing, and ecommerce. You’ll also find built-in or add-on help desk tools, productivity apps, and marketing automation features in this CRM. In short, this CRM adapts horizontally across industries and use cases, and is very flexible price-wise.

The bottom line, a general CRM like Salesforce is an excellent long-term investment, that is, you get to utilize it for various sales and marketing goals, whether to get more leads, close more deals, shorten sales cycles, or get more insights from your sales operations.

3. Fully Integrated CRM

The typical tech setup of how marketing, sales, and support cooperate goes like this: leads from a marketing software, which handles campaigns, are qualified and fed into the CRM. The CRM converts them into won customers. Post-sale complaints are then handled by another software, a help desk app. These three apps are closely integrated but are often sold separately.

However, some CRMs today evolve into a platform that fully integrates the three functions in one place. Inside the system, marketing can launch email campaigns; sales can follow up deals via phone, chat, or email, while support can answer tickets. This is an example of a fully integrated CRM.

Freshworks CRM

Freshworks CRM is an advanced platform that integrates sales, marketing, and CRM activities into one system. Using the platform, marketing teams can gain insights into personalizing the customer journey to address pain points, while sales teams get immediate access to sales-ready prospects to close these deals. Keeping customers engaged is easy, too, through Freshworks CRM’s multichannel capabilities.

The platform offers numerous powerful features that benefit both sales and marketing teams. Managers can create tasks, reminders, and appointments to ensure that customers move through the sales or marketing pipeline at the right time. Automated workflows and sales action sequences also reduce the need for manual input and help teams focus on more important tasks.

The advantage of using an integrated platform like Freshworks CRM is that it serves as a centralized hub that provides ready access to information on customers and deals. Detailed customer profiles allow agents to add context to customer interactions, improving the chances of a deal’s success.

With all its bells and whistles, though, Freshworks CRM may work best for companies can make the most of all its features. The platform is a good fit for businesses with a larger customer base and well-defined workflows for sales and marketing.

4. Operational CRM

Operational CRM streamlines the business process. Apart from the regular CRM functions, it also automates sales, marketing, and services. This CRM captures leads and converts them into contacts by capturing all their details and maintaining the relationship throughout the customer lifecycle. CRM has been shown to boost conversion rates by as much as 300%.

NetSuite CRM

NetSuite CRM is a robust CRM solution that can bring a comprehensive view of your entire business process and automate it. With NetSuite, you receive a continuous stream of information from all points of the customer lifecycle, allowing you to deliver tailored customer experience, all the way from lead generation to fulfillment and post-sales support.

You can try all its premium features at no cost when you sign up for NetSuite free trial.

NetSuite CRM

Try out NetSuite CRM with their free trial

As an operational CRM, NetSuite can give you total control over all aspects of the automation process. It can automate your sales channels by setting standards for customer acquisition and retaining them. In addition, it can also automate your marketing campaigns and offer customer support. One unique example of how NetSuite CRM’s does this is knowledge management. This can give any organization the tools to create, publish, and organize their content, making it easier for both customers and employees to find what they need.

Lastly, NetSuite CRM plans are available on a quote basis.

5. Sales CRM

You would think that CRM, being a sales tool, is all about selling. But selling today is more complex and requires closer cooperation with management, marketing, support, and other departments to manage customer experience across the buying stages. The result is robust CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot that try to cover all customer-facing processes in your operation.

Some vendors stick to the selling proposition, and these are ideal if your revenues come mainly from the skill of your top sales reps. But of course, you will need to come up with an effective sales process to optimize your use of CRM.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive CRM focuses on the function of the sales rep. And what tool do sales reps use? The sales pipeline.

It is Pipedrive’s banner feature and where its other tools connect. It is a clear visual interface that gives sales reps the whole picture: deal owner, deal value, activities, action to be taken, bottleneck issue, close probability, and more. The pipeline is based on sales stages that your team can customize to follow contacts from lead to deal to won. It features a smart filter for stats that matter to the health of your sales like conversion rate, win-loss ratio, and best performers.

You can try all its features at no cost when you sign up for a Pipedrive free trial.

Pipedrive

Try out Pipedrive with their free trial

The visual pipeline gives clarity to your sales reps’ daily activities and allows you to forecast goals with accuracy. Again, this works best if your revenues come mainly from below-the-line selling, riding on the strength of your reps’ contacts, and less on your campaigns.

What’s the Next Step?

With a clear picture of the different CRM types, it is easier to gauge now a software solution for its value proposition and not for a feature it is not designed for. You’ll also have a more meaningful way to compare products.

Still, if you dig deeper into our list, you can find that HubSpot CRM is the best software of its kind. It’s free, lightweight, and can integrate with its other sister products to expand your reach. Don’t be fooled by its “inbound” type, however, as it can do more than just inbound marketing efforts. It can do everything that its competitors can do, all while being totally free. If you want to know more about the features, you can easily sign up for HubSpot CRM free trial.

That said, if you’re ready to match products, you can read this list of best 20 CRM solutions to fast-track your product research.

Key Insights

• Importance of CRM Prioritization: Selecting a CRM should be based on your business priorities. CRMs offer diverse features tailored to specific needs, whether it’s inbound marketing, general CRM functions, full integration, operational efficiency, or sales focus.
• Inbound CRM: HubSpot CRM is renowned for its inbound marketing capabilities and offers a free, comprehensive set of tools, making it a valuable option for businesses focusing on content-driven customer acquisition.
• General CRM: Salesforce CRM provides a robust, flexible solution that has set industry standards, suitable for businesses of all sizes and various industries.
• Fully Integrated CRM: Freshworks CRM combines sales, marketing, and CRM activities in one platform, offering a centralized hub for managing customer interactions and enhancing team collaboration.
• Operational CRM: NetSuite CRM excels in automating business processes across the customer lifecycle, offering tools for sales, marketing, and customer support automation.
• Sales CRM: Pipedrive CRM focuses on the sales pipeline, providing sales reps with a clear visual interface to manage deals and activities, ideal for businesses that rely heavily on sales team performance.
• CRM Benefits: Companies investing in CRM report significant benefits, including improved customer relationships, increased sales quotas, enhanced team productivity, and higher lead conversion rates.

FAQ

1. What is the main function of an Inbound CRM? Inbound CRM focuses on attracting customers through content and inbound marketing strategies. HubSpot CRM is a leading example, providing tools for managing customer interactions through various channels and automating marketing efforts.
2. How does Salesforce CRM differ from other CRMs? Salesforce CRM is a general CRM that offers a comprehensive set of features adaptable to various industries. It includes tools for collaboration, email integration, and communication, making it a versatile choice for businesses of all sizes.
3. What are the benefits of using a Fully Integrated CRM like Freshworks CRM? Freshworks CRM integrates sales, marketing, and CRM activities into one platform, providing a centralized hub for managing customer interactions. It improves team collaboration and offers detailed customer profiles to enhance sales and marketing efforts.
4. How does an Operational CRM like NetSuite CRM help businesses? NetSuite CRM automates business processes across the customer lifecycle, from lead generation to post-sales support. It provides tools for sales, marketing, and customer support automation, streamlining operations and improving customer experience.
5. What makes Pipedrive CRM ideal for sales-focused businesses? Pipedrive CRM centers around the sales pipeline, offering a visual interface that helps sales reps manage deals and activities. It provides clarity on daily activities and accurate forecasting, making it ideal for businesses that rely heavily on their sales teams.
6. What are the key benefits of investing in a CRM system? Investing in a CRM system can lead to improved customer relationships, increased sales quotas, enhanced team productivity, and higher lead conversion rates. CRM systems help streamline and automate customer-relevant processes, contributing to overall business success.
7. Is HubSpot CRM really free, and what does it include? Yes, HubSpot CRM is entirely free, offering a robust set of features without any cost. It includes tools for managing deals, contacts, customer interactions, live chat, team inbox, and more. As your business grows, you can integrate it with HubSpot’s paid marketing and sales automation tools for additional functionality.
8. Can a CRM system be tailored to specific business needs? Yes, many CRM systems offer customizable features and can be tailored to meet specific business needs. For example, Salesforce CRM and NetSuite CRM provide flexible solutions that can adapt to various industries and business processes.

By Adam Goldberg

Adam Goldberg is a senior market research analyst and one of the key customer experience technology and CRM pioneers working for the FinancesOnline review team. He has been cooperating with FinancesOnline for over 5 years now. During that time Andrew has analyzed more than 2,000 CRM solutions and he’s well-known for his honest reviews and his unique perspective on challenges and opportunities posed by customer-centric innovation. He’s a strong believer in business process automation and the role it plays in customer data management, conversational intelligence, and customer engagement. His work has been mentioned in many major publications and media sites, including MSN, Springer, TheNextWeb, and CIO.