Customer relationship management (CRM) tools have become essential for almost all modern businesses in all industries and sectors – and there is now a wide range of vendors to choose from. The key for potential buyers is to find the right match for their company’s needs.

To help you with this significant investment, check out this list of the top 5 CRM software providers for UK small businesses.

How is this top 5 composed?

These CRM software providers are selected based on the business type for which they were developed, (expert) reviews and the possibilities and functions.

Important functions include identifying sales opportunities, recording service issues and managing marketing campaigns. The start-up time, ease of use and support were examined in the expert reviews.

Choice for CRM software: what should I take into account?

The range of CRM systems is wide. How do you make a wise choice? There are a number of things that you have to take into account when choosing.

1. CRM type or purpose

In general, you could define five types of CRM systems: Sales, Client Management, Marketing, Customer Support or multi-function (integrating different customer processes). The first question you should ask yourself is; what is the main goal or purpose of a new CRM system?

2. Customer processes

Next you have to define which customer processes you want to facilitate with the CRM software. You may think of sales, customer support, marketing but also project management, invoicing and time tracking. Defining these processes will help you with defining your wish list and narrow the scope of your search for the best CRM system.

3. Your budget

Usually you pay about 20 to 50 pounds per month for a good CRM system. For a complex system in which, for example, you also do team scheduling and have a lot of customer processes to cover, you might want to look at a specialist SME CRM provider.

4. Integration with other software

Do you have existing software for, for example, email marketing? Or do you keep track of your customer contacts in an accounting program? If so, be sure to check if you can link the systems together as that makes it much more convenient to share data between different departments and systems. Most CRM providers will offer such integrations and will advertise on their websites which apps or software they are compatible with.

Important functions

In addition to the above, you can select a CRM system based on the functions that are important to you. For example, think of:

• Store customer and prospect contact information
• Identify sales opportunities
• Record service issues
• Document management
• Manage marketing campaigns
• Forecasting
• Mobile app version (be sure to check which functions work when offline)

Further Resources

The best CRM system for your micro business – what’s available on the market right now for the smaller UK business.

How to future-proof CRM solutions for digital business – eight experts explain what to look for when evaluating CRM systems.

Artificial intelligence: the next step for CRM – AI has a significant role to play in future developments.