Our opinion on Freshsales: the best CRM for SMEs and startups?

Freshsales CRM is a customer relationship management tool: one of the essential factors for the development of your company’s turnover.

In this article, we test the Freshsales CRM to help you choose the best solution for managing your opportunities and customers.

Freshsales: what is it?

Freshsales CRM is one of the most popular and trusted CRM software out there. It helps you track customer information and automate your marketing. Freshsales assures that the tool reduces its IT costs.

The Freshsales CRM has all kinds of features, such as:

• Automate marketing -related tasks to save time

• Use predictive AI for sales

• Follow up and relaunch your inactive prospects

What is Freshworks?

Freshworks is the publisher of Freshsales, specializing in CRMs and digital marketing tools. It has other products for your customers and employees in addition to Freshsales:

• freshdesk

• freshmarketer

• Fresh service

• Freshteam

Our opinion in brief on Freshsales

We find this successful CRM: the interface and prices are accessible, it is possible to create document templates to be automated and the sales analysis is quite advanced.

Most Freshsales CRM users are satisfied, as shown by user ratings on Trustpilot :

In the end, the average user rating on Trustpilot is 3.1 out of 5:

Freshsales (with the Freshwork suite) is one of the solutions highlighted by Gartner in its matrix of the best CRMs. The tool is classified for a niche solution (fairly restricted vision of the tool and perfectible execution).

But keep in mind that the Gartner matrices are mostly aimed at large companies :

✅ The advantages of Freshsales

• Accessible rates

• A marketing module to generate leads

• A lead scoring feature

❌ The disadvantages of Freshsales

• No customer support in French

• It is not an all-in-one tool: no website creation

Features of Freshsales CRM

The main features of Freshsales are:

• Contact management

• Cloud telephony

• AI to analyze sales

• The creation of quotes and invoices in 2 clicks with the configuration of personalized templates

AI FREDDY automatically reads filled in information, emails and other channels to generate leads from data insights.

CRM Customization

You can configure the software according to the type of business you are in, create custom fields and add reports according to the information you want to see.

Communication and centralization of exchanges

Businesses can use Freshsales to communicate with their customers through a centralized messaging platform:

• Email integration

• Cloud telephony and SMS

• Manage your website chat

• WhatsApp Business Integration

Marketing automation with Freshsales

Marketing automation is one of the main features of Freshsales CRM:

• Automatic lead assignment

• Workflows and sales funnels

It will help you generate leads and increase conversion rates .

Example :

A user comes to visit your B2B website. You will be able to know the time he spent on your site and the number of pages he consulted.

By analyzing the pages viewed, we can identify that the visitor is interested in the “coaching” product. He fills in the contact form: his contact form is automatically assigned to the sales representative in charge of coaching.

AI FREDDY: the artificial intelligence of Freshsales

AI FREDDY feature helps users by automatically generating reports and customer information.

Artificial intelligence analyzes all the information to generate lead scoring. Afterwards, he offers advice to salespeople to make the right decisions and convert the opportunity to the next stage.

Opportunity Management

Freshsales lets you manage your contact list with customizable tags and fields. The sales pipeline feature it has allows you to have a look at your different sales teams . It allows you to carefully follow up on your leads and customers.

Mobile version of the CRM

Freshsales is available not only on computers, but also on smartphones. A mobile version of the software allows salespeople on the move to consult their account.

Who is Freshsales CRM for?

Freshsales CRM is much more interested in small and medium businesses. It is only available in English.

This software is made for companies operating in sectors of activity such as:

• technology

• The provision of professional services

• real estate

• The hotel industry

• Healthcare

• e-commerce

• Telecommunications

• insurance

Is Freshsales an effective CRM?

Yes, Freshsales is an efficient CRM with the majority of necessary features. It lives up to its promises.

Customer Support

Freshsales customer service is available 24 hours a day. It is only available in English. According to the many customer reviews we have read, the support is not very efficient with a long response time and fairly limited skills:

Ease of handling

The main features of Freshsales are its simplicity and ease of use. It’s designed for small businesses with limited resources and time, so it can be used without any prior sales or marketing training or experience. This is also what most customer reviews say:

Freshsales’ interface is easy to use and intuitive enough for anyone with no experience to easily manage their contacts, leads, deals, and reports.

Integration with other tools (API)

Freshsales is a CRM designed to integrate with other tools and APIs : Gmail, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox , Box, and Slack. Obviously, it is natively connected to the Freshwork suite of tools.

How do I cancel Freshsales CRM if I’m not satisfied?

To cancel a paid Freshsales CRM subscription, you must:

1. Login to your account

2. Access the Settings tab

3. Scroll down until you see the Billing tab

4. Click on the Cancel button on the page

Freshsales subscriptions and prices

Freshsales CRM is a powerful and robust tool for sales teams, but it comes at a cost. It offers four rates :

• Free subscription

• The growth version

• The Pro plan

• Enterprise version

The free version

The basic plan includes as features:

• Contact and account management

• Data import

• Access to support 24 hours a day

• Access to the mobile version of the application

• Cloud-based email and telephone management

The growth version

It costs €18/month per user, with the previous features and the following:

• Sales pipeline

• Lead-scoring

• Products catalogue

• Sales sequences and funnels

• Custom dashboards

The Pro version

For 47 €, it offers in addition to the Growth version:

• Multiple sales pipelines

• whatsapp business

• Chat campaign

• Transaction information

Enterprise version

The Enterprise version is worth €83 per month per user. In addition to the features of the Pro function, it has the following:

• Dedicated account manager

• Outlook and forecasts of business results

• Automatic enrichment of profiles with external databases

Freshsales offers users the option of monthly or annual payments.

Freshsales CRM pricing at a glance

Here is a summary of the prices of the different Freshsales plans.

How long does the Freshsales free trial last?

The Freshsales free trial lasts for 21 days.

What alternatives to Freshsales CRM?

What is the best tool between Freshsales and Hubspot?

In its free version, Freshsales allows you to have an unlimited number of users . Hubspot allows you with its free version to have only one: you have to switch to the paid version to have several.

Hubspot gets a similar rating to Freshsales on Trustpilot: 3 out of 5 compared to 3.1 for Freshsales.

What is the best tool between Freshsales and Salesforce?

For an SME, the best tool between Freshsales and Salesforce is clearly Freshsales. It is more affordable, as it starts from €15/month, while Salesforce starts at €250/month.

Also, Freshsales CRM is a much more user-friendly and customizable solution than Salesforce. It’s easy to learn and these features allow sales managers to manage their team more efficiently. In addition to having all the main features of Salesforce, it incorporates artificial intelligence that helps users with decision-making.

What is the best tool between Freshsales and Twilead?

Freshsales is very complete for commercial management, but it does not replace all marketing tools. Twilead is an all-in-one CRM with lead generation marketing automation platform and website builder.

We have given you a summary of the different CRMs that we have just mentioned:

Should you choose Freshsales?

Freshsales is one of the most comprehensive and popular CRMs on the SMB and Startup CRM market.

But even with Freshsales, you will have to pay for many other tools (including other Freshwork solutions). If you want one tool to replace them all, you need to choose an all-in-one CRM solution.

Twilead is a CRM for managing your opportunities, which also replaces the majority of your marketing tools (sales funnels, emailing, creation of websites, forms, landing pages, etc.) and helps you manage recurring tasks (making appointments, you, bills, voice messages, etc.).

Try Twilead for free now!

These articles should also interest you:

• Comparison Of The 15 Best CRMs On The Market

• Our Opinion On Hubspot CRM: Is It Right For You?

• Our Review And Complete Test Of The Zoho CRM

• Salesforce Review: Is The CRM Leader Right For You?

• Pipedrive: is this CRM better than Freshsales CRM?