Free CRM: benefits, integrations, mobile CRM and features

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By purchasing a free CRM you will be taking the first step towards efficient commercial management, capable of improving your sales targets and your customer satisfaction level .

The goal of this platform is to make life easier for those who work in sales and, at the same time, offer a richer and more data-driven experience. Check out the benefits and features available in this free CRM in this article.

Find out what a CRM is and its main benefits
CRM is an acronym that stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a set of techniques and actions that place the customer at the center of the purchasing journey.

Currently, CRM is widely used to designate commercial management systems that implement these actions. On the market, we find both free CRM and paid platforms with an annual or monthly plan.

Among the main benefits of a CRM are the control and organization it offers to those who work in sales. The history of interactions, the sales cycle and contact information are all gathered in one place.

This system also automates actions , which is a very interesting benefit. This is because it saves your team time on activities that can already be performed automatically, reallocating this human effort to more complex activities.

Understand what CRM does and learn about its strategic importance
It is very important for those who work in commerce – whether retail, wholesale or both – to have greater control over their inventory, the purchasing journey, customer satisfaction , meeting the goals established by management and revenue. CRM comes to embrace all of this in a single system.

These systems record data on buyers (or potential buyers), the sales cycle, who has proposals in hand, automate the sending of communications and offers, manage communication with prospects, etc.

In addition, everything is recorded in one place, making it easier for salespeople to work, as well as for managers to access metrics. This means that strategic decisions and greater control over your business and sales can be put into practice with greater preparation.

Existing CRM types: on-premises and cloud-based
A professional in your office analyzes the data and graphs provided by your CRM.

Not all CRMs are the same. There are, for example, paid CRMs and free CRMs available on the market. There are other important differences, the biggest being whether the CRM is local or cloud-based. Let's take a closer look at the differences.

Local CRM is software-based, installed on a machine. This means that to access that information, you will need to operate on that computer, in that company. Your server is physical. You may have come across servers like this when you went to make a purchase at a clothing store or signed up for a gym.

Cloud-based CRM is hosted on an external server. This means that it can be accessed from different devices, since it is in the cloud, just like the storage drives we are used to storing our photos, texts and spreadsheets. In the case of this type of CRM, the company is protected from attacks on local servers and gains in ease of use.

Free CRM: tips to sell more, better and faster
Having the help of a CRM, especially a free one, is very effective for a company. This tool increases sales and brings greater credibility and acceptance to the brand in the consumer market.

But how can CRM help a company sell more, better and faster? Well, that's easy to answer! Since the tool is focused on improving the business's relationship with customers, it invests in strategies to understand the needs and profile of the target audience and solve their problems in a satisfactory manner.

In this way, the company starts to offer personalized service, identify the best business opportunities, improve customer support, analyze results of marketing campaigns and carry out several other actions that direct, improve and organize sales.

How can a company with such an organization not grow in the sector and increase its sales? Certainly not! So, CRM boosts the company's results, in addition to accelerating them and making them more satisfactory for both the corporate team and the customers!

Find out why it's worth using a free CRM
You have just seen the importance and benefits of using a good CRM . And the good news is that the market already offers free, quality CRMs that are well worth implementing in your business's day-to-day operations.

To begin with, we need to demystify the idea that free solutions are always inferior and incomplete. In the case of a free CRM system, the Brazilian market already has complete, even robust solutions that bring all the benefits we mentioned earlier.

In addition, it is common for free CRMs to have versions with additional features if you choose to pay for a subscription. In this sense, free CRM can be an effective entry point.

Image with a blue background, written Best CRMs on the market: a comparison to help you choose yours. In the image there is a computer with the Bitrix24 screen.

What to consider before choosing your free CRM: 8 tips
There are countless system options to help you with customer relationships, but few are truly winners.

Managing contacts can be the lifeblood of a growing business. Contacts and leads represent both long-term and future customers. While managing this treasure trove of data can be done with a giant spreadsheet, organizations at the cutting edge of digital transformation are far better served by using customer relationship management software. Aka CRM.

Not only is a CRM easier, it’s also more versatile than a spreadsheet. The right software can become a smart contact list. It not only records your customers’ contact information, but also details their relationships and interactions, whether austria telemarketing data by phone, email, social media, or customer service. A goldmine of opportunities, right? It allows you to identify up-sell and cross-sell prospects, convert new sales to existing customers, and even target your marketing. Depending on the software, you can set sales goals, track campaigns, and keep an eye on what people are saying on social media.

Getting CRM right can dramatically improve your team’s collaboration and productivity, boost sales, and increase customer satisfaction. That’s why we’ve listed the most important things to consider when analyzing and choosing CRM software:

1. Free samples!
It’s essential to take advantage of free trials when available. No matter how many reviews you read or how many demos you watch, you’ll never know how a CRM works until you use it yourself. Make sure to have colleagues from different departments try out the software, too. That way, you understand how successful it is in different situations and business processes.

2. Value x Price
Price can be a significant factor when evaluating a CRM, but your analysis should focus on more than just the initial costs. Most software offers per-user pricing, but it’s important to check what’s included in the package and what you actually need. The best case scenario may be a CRM with a fixed price tag that doesn’t increase as you scale your team.

Training can eat up a chunk of your budget, as can upgrades and ongoing support. Additional costs to integrate the software with existing systems can also arise. But don't worry, you can try to avoid these by hiring a more complete CRM. That way, the integrations already come natively. ;D

3. Complementary tools
A person touching a screen with a hologram image that shows all the connections made by a free CRM.

Cloud-based CRMs are rapidly growing in popularity. With them, you no longer have to worry about managing software on your own servers, which can be both complex and expensive. You can look for CRMs that integrate with social media to record customer interactions. Also, it’s important to consider CRM software that integrates with your telephony system so you can capture call information.

4. Ease of use and support
CRM should be intuitive or you’ll never want to use it. Note how many clicks it takes to perform a basic task and how easy or difficult it is to find the features you need. In addition to being easy to use, the software should be able to handle user error. For example, if you try to perform a task on the wrong screen or enter the wrong data, the best software will identify your mistake and suggest the right path.

Check to see if a support team is included in your subscription. After all, when you run into bugs or have trouble using the app, a little help will be very welcome. Read the support documentation, FAQs, and other self-service help. Also check out the blog, knowledge bases, and even videos and courses / training .

Another tip: a Brazilian or Portuguese-speaking team is not always available, but it makes all the difference! Remember: Implementing CRM can be complicated, but support shouldn't be.

5. Mobile and social features
Understand how your company interacts with customers via email. Then, make sure your candidate CRM will act as a complement, not a hindrance. Automatically capturing data from email interactions and not forcing your employees to manually input it is essential.

Take the time to properly evaluate the mobile application. And here we are talking about a separately developed app (not just an adaptation) that does not have an extra cost. Mobile devices are completely different from desktops or laptops. Employees use them in different ways, which means that business processes will behave differently.

Some apps offer a read-only view of your sales pipeline or contacts. This doesn’t allow you to make any updates until you get back to your computer. Is there anything more annoying? Others offer a seamless, responsive experience, allowing you to do everything you would do on a computer. That’s it!

6. Automation in CRM
The ability to integrate into a marketing strategy is one of the most valuable aspects of CRM. And not all software packages offer this. Marketing automation is a popular term these days and refers to the software’s ability to track customers through the different stages of their interaction with the company. Automation will remind you of tasks or, in the best cases, will perform them for you. A practical example: 30 days after a sale, send the customer a discount coupon to encourage them to return.

The process can also extend to other software, such as launching an email marketing promotion based on criteria met during a phone call with a customer, even if that call was initiated with the CRM system.

7. Indicators
Once you’ve used CRM software to manage your calls and deals, you can take stock of how successful you’ve been or where you and your team can improve. Look for CRM software with customizable reporting features to help you understand how your employees are performing and which customer profiles are responding. Also, look for a tool that lets you export reports if you need to present high-level data to stakeholders.

8. Don't forget safety
When you’re working with sales pipelines and customer data, ensuring security is a top priority. It’s a red flag if your CRM software lets you set a password but doesn’t generate an audit trail every time someone makes a change. If it doesn’t let you set access controls for each user, it’s even worse.

Googling whether a candidate vendor has been breached in the past and what their response was is another good indicator. Customer data is an extremely valuable asset. Ensuring security isn’t just about privacy; it’s about protecting profitable relationships that directly impact your bottom line.

Now it's up to you! Having in hand the most important points to be analyzed before deciding which CRM to use in your company, it's time to list the best options.

Best Free CRM: Bitrix24, a Solid Option
A professional analyzing data on her laptop. Represents a sales manager evaluating data provided by a free CRM.

Bitrix24 is an excellent free CRM and is already used by over 12 million companies worldwide. With features geared towards different types of business, this complete system gathers all relevant information about your customers and prospects and has a positive impact on your team's routine .

In addition, it allows you to manage projects and tasks and gives entire teams the option to use the system and monitor tasks and the sales cycle without paying anything. Ease, free of charge and market reputation. Your business deserves a consolidated option that understands CRM and what salespeople need.

Bitrix24 free: features available in CRM
We have listed 5 unmissable features of Bitrix24's free CRM to help you bring digital transformation to your business. Check it out!

Storage limit
Bitrix24 's free plan comes with 5GB of cloud storage. Plus, since it's a free cloud-based CRM, you can access this information from different devices, including mobile devices , wherever you are.