SaaS CRM - FREE Forever!

Software-as-a-service, also known as SaaS, is a trending way for modern businesses to optimize various processes and enhance operational efficiency. Earlier, businesses would purchase software to install on their systems, or build it themselves, from scratch. This also meant that high infrastructure, installation and maintenance costs were incurred.

In the SaaS model, your role is simply that of a user of an intelligently created, feature-loaded software that requires little or no installation. You can also now access these software through web interfaces and mobile apps.\Ever since the advent of cloud computing, there has been a huge boom in the number of SaaS applications available in the market. As a result, the number of SaaS applications for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) are also available aplenty nowadays.

Ever since the advent of cloud computing, there has been a huge boom in the number of SaaS applications available in the market. As a result, the number of SaaS applications for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) are also available aplenty nowadays.

When you have decided to buy best SaaS CRM software, try to ensure it is a one-time investment rather than switching vendors every now and then. Some of the most important factors to take into account when buying CRM are:

1. As your business grows, so will your CRM needs. That’s why your CRM needs to be scalable and you need to make sure that the CRM solution you select can be easily upgraded to the next version. Go for SaaS CRM that is scalable.

2. CRM software normally comes with a lot of functions that may be useful to a wide spectrum of businesses, and these are sold as a complete package. However, you must be allowed to pay only for the functions you need or use, and not forced to pay for the complete package. Ask if you can pay for individual features.

3. Remember that you’re buying CRM to help you streamline your business operations in an integrated manner, and not as a standalone tool! This is obviously why you need to ensure that the CRM system can integrate with any other applications you may already have. Avoid multi-tool chaos and work from a single-point integrated system.

4. Ask if they offer a free demo, a free trial and also help while onboarding. If all of these are offered for free, that's a big tick as a strong consideration to buy CRM. Also, playing around with the system will ensure whether the user experience is worth it.

5. Ensure that the SaaS CRM has many user reviews and mostly positive ones. Genuine review sites such as G2 Crowd, Finances Online offer unbiased reviews by genuine users who have actually used the software. An ideal rating for you to consider would be above 4 out of 5 rating stars. This ensures that the software is well accepted and effective.

6. Make sure the CRM is GDPR compliant. With GDPR now in complete effect, your customers’ data and where it’s stored is more important than ever before, and compliance would confirm to your customers that their data is in safe hands. Simply put, having a GDPR-ready CRM system helps you manage customer data more efficiently.

Knowing your customers is an unavoidable pre-requisite to be able to meet your customers’ requirements. This applies to both new as well as retention of existing customers. For lasting success, it is crucial for businesses to focus on customers and their needs. CRM supports all activities related to the efficient management of customers and also helps you to enhance customer retention and new customer acquisitions.

As far as customer acquisition is concerned, there are a number of ways to acquire fresh new customers. These methods include cold calling, email marketing, attracting visitors to your website and then using lead magnets to convert them into subscribers/paid users, etc. A good CRM is adept at all of these functions and performs them quite effectively.

Acquiring customers is the core intent of all SaaS businesses. Having said that, pushing your leads to the bottom of the sales funnel and subsequently converting them into customers is no mean task. For sales teams across the world, it is a challenging task to be able to successfully prospect, follow-up, nurture, and sell. Moreover, upselling and customer retention can be added tasks to consider.

In this current SaaS market scenario, competition can be ruthless. So the question is, how do you see yourself standing out and winning customers? Let's just say that offering great customer experience (CX) will be the real game-changer. The advantage here is that it is so easy to provide great CX with CRM software. However, you will need to choose a good SaaS CRM solution to get results.

There are a large number of SaaS CRM software out there in the market, with both integrated or/and standalone features. But when you choose the right CRM that suits both your budget as well as your needs, your sales process may be optimized right from the first touchpoint to the final sale.

CRM is of two types, broadly. These are On-demand (SaaS) CRM and On-premise CRM. Both are quite different from each other. The on-demand CRM is of a multi-tenant architecture – which means that multiple clients may work on a single instance of the application that is hosted on a server at a remote site in the cloud. These applications are completely accessible via the Web. On the other hand, the on-premise versions are each a separate entity that functions from a server that sits behind a company's firewall.

The on-demand business model is hosted, which means that the CRM vendor/provider is not the company that is actually using the application for their own work but is bearing the overhead, maintenance of the server, of the data as well as the costs associated thereof. The fees for on-demand CRM are strictly a per-user monthly subscription model-based. However, while the maintenance costs are built into the subscription fee, there may be incremental costs associated with the start-up of the application or for any customization required. At times, the on-premise model includes a license fee that pays for the installation and implementation of the software and the hardware that it needs to run.

However, the functions and features are pretty much similar in each. For example, whether it's on-demand or on-premise, the sales function is the same. In recent times, the on-demand model has gained huge popularity, and most CRM using businesses see the benefit of going on-demand rather than on-premise.