In the last 2 decades, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools have seen a significant rise in their popularity and use. Most big corporations are implementing CRM Tools to optimize their process of managing their customers. These CRM Tools simply provide an engaging User Interface for collecting data that helps companies recognize and communicate with customers in a scalable manner. CRM supports companies in building long-term Customer Relationships, thereby developing customer loyalty and retention. Since customer loyalty plays a major role in a company’s revenue, implementing a CRM Tool in the Sales and Marketing strategies can result in higher profits for the company.
Several businesses often have a strong opinion regarding the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate as to which CRM Tool is more suited for their companies. However, every CRM Tool has its benefits and limitations. But, which platform you choose isn’t the only crucial factor. The most crucial thing is the expertise of the CRM Tool that you choose.
This article will introduce you to 2 of the most popular CRM Tools in today’s market, SharpSpring and HubSpot. The article will explain the various factors which should be considered while deciding on a CRM for your company. Furthermore, it will list down the benefits of both of the CRMs involved in the SharpSpring vs Hubspot debate and will try to help you reach a conclusion. Read along to learn which factors matter the most while deciding on a CRM Tool and settle the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate!
Table of Contents
Introduction to SharpSpring
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SharpSpring is a Marketing Automation tool that works on Cloud technology and is widely used by businesses to optimally manage their Marketing Campaigns and generate Leads. It is specially designed for Marketing Agencies and Small-scaled businesses.
SharpSpring is beneficial for Marketing Agencies as it provides them with a Customer-oriented Interface and innovative Sales Widgets, a Multi-Client Dashboard, and the ability to add guests and new products to the platform at any time. SharpSpring is a complete solution that blends CRM and Marketing Automation functionality and is ideal for companies looking for an integrated CRM. Some of its features include Custom Funnels, Social CRM, and Actionable Reporting.
To learn more about SharpSpring, visit here.
Introduction to HubSpot
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HubSpot CRM is a free, integrated Cloud platform that helps companies manage and organize Customer Relationships through intuitive structures. It can be easily connected to other related tools and areas of the company like Sales Teams, Marketers, Customer Service Teams, Operations Managers, etc for organizing information and managing post-processing contacts in a single view architecture. The HubSpot CRM ensures seamless communication within and within the organization and, as a result, increases the conversion rate of potential customers.
The results provided by CRM enables companies to effectively monitor potential customers, create a complete Database of customer actions, and extract critical information about their taste and ideal business segment. This, in turn, catalyzes business growth by orienting the company’s strategy and operating structure in the right direction.
To learn more about HubSpot, visit here.
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Its completely automated pipeline offers data to be delivered in real-time without any loss from source to destination. Its fault-tolerant and scalable architecture ensure that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss and supports different forms of data. The solutions provided are consistent and work with different Business Intelligence (BI) tools as well.
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Factors to Consider Before Choosing a CRM
As discussed above, there’s a constant SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate among companies when it comes to choosing a CRM tool. However, if you have never used these CRM platforms before, you may have a basic question in mind, Why are these services so significant?
CRM software is indispensable for any company that wishes to expand and achieve new heights. Now, what makes the CRM platform significant? To start with, it helps streamline your company’s Sales process. Each business can benefit from this streamlining, although small-scale companies benefit the most from it. Furthermore, the automation that a reliable CRM Tool can provide, act as a real game-changer. It’s nearly impossible to determine the huge chunk of time such automation can help save you in the years to come.
A good CRM system takes your company’s Data Analytics to an all-new level and helps you measure how your business is accomplishing its recent KPIs.
Lastly, a CRM ensures a good experience for your users. Implementing a better user experience is a great way to stand out from your competitors. Now before discussing the SharpSpring vs HubSpot question, you must understand the following factors which will help you in making a better decision regarding your CRM Tool selection:
1) Importance of CRM Tools
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Although the idea of utilizing a CRM Tool may be appealing, you might still wonder whether you truly need one. Why not simply develop everything yourself? The following points will highlight how using a CRM Tool instead of building one, can simplify your work life:
- Developing the whole Customer Relationship Management process on your own is not a wise decision because it might take around a year for you to establish everything yourself. That’s because the difficult procedure involves migrating information, establishing automation, and offering the right training to the team.
- All of this isn’t easy to do on your own, and that is why it is estimated that around 69% of Customer Relationship Management projects fail. But by using the correct CRM partner, you could save a lot of your time by setting up as well as running the system almost instantly.
- Your time and resources are your real assets and each minute that you do not have to stress about learning a CRM solution is a minute that your company can spend concentrating on Sales and Marketing.
2) Limitations of CRM Tools
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Theoretically, having a CRM platform is a real game-changer. But there is a blunt truth regarding the system that several companies do not understand until it’s too late. As per stats, around 40% of companies have a CRM adoption rate of over 90%.
- Several companies that choose the wrong CRM Tool suffer from tremendous struggle and bleak failures post which they completely abandon the CRM Tool they are using and refrain from trying a new CRM Tool.
- Lack of training, complex software, and limited support are also responsible for the failure of successful implementation of CRM Tools in a company.
That is why it’s significant to use the correct CRM Tool to achieve the best results. The right tool could help you master and navigate complex software as well as provide the training support and the opportunities that your business needs.
3) The Financial Aspect of CRM Tools
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The correct CRM tool can enhance your business and Customer Relations many folds. But why do several companies still hesitate to have a CRM solution? Well, it all comes down to the finances involved. Many companies believe, they can’t afford a good CRM tool to get the most out of their business. So, they try to build their own Customer Relationship Services.
However, if you try and do everything yourself, you need to set up a robust CRM tactic and coordinate with your Marketing and Sales Teams.
During this time, you will have to ensure that both your technology and CRM tactics line up perfectly with your recent KPIs as well as other crucial performance metrics.
However, that would mean, a huge overload of work in an organization, which can be difficult to cope with especially in small startups. Hence, using a reliable CRM Tool will save your time and resources, and will place you way ahead of your competitors.
SharpSpring vs HubSpot
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Now, since you have a good grasp as to why your business needs a CRM tool, it’s time to dig into the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate. The following points will help you in arriving at a logical conclusion and will support you in solving your SharpSpring vs HubSpot dilemma:
SharpSpring vs HubSpot: Benefits of SharpSpring
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The first thing you would observe about SharpSpring probably is that it is easy to use. For a company that has never used any CRM system before, this acts as a good sign as they won’t have to worry about providing extra training to the employees for this.
What is good about SharpSpring? When you can monitor a prospect’s behavior, it helps transform your Sales and Marketing efforts completely. Besides, your capacity to automate this, as well as other procedures, can save a lot of your time and help educate and nurture customers via Sales Funnels.
SharpSpring offers an array of Marketing and Sales tools. Here are a few of the features that put the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate in Sharpspring’s favor:
- Landing Pages: Develop web pages for conversions that are mobile optimized.
- E-Mail Marketing: The ability to send mails to lists as well as personalized single mails via automated templates for the Sales Team.
- Sales Tracking: Personalized Sales processes and pipelines will organize your team and let you predict expected revenue.
- Social Community Management: Schedule as well as share the content with much ease.
- Website Integration: Track the web Leads, their behavior on the website.
- ChatBot: Enable personalized interaction between customers, prospects and website visitors, and more.
With the help of the correct CRM Tool, your business can accomplish the perfect integration of strategy and technology. By using SharpSpring, you can have the perfect launch to CRM and be sure of having a seamless and smooth CRM solution.
SharpSpring vs HubSpot: Benefits of HubSpot
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HubSpot CRM is a major alternative for SharpSpring. And like SharpSpring, HubSpot has a few major benefits that you should be aware of.
A key benefit of HubSpot is that it offers a free standard CRM plan. This option is best for small businesses that are not ready to use a fully integrated Sales and Marketing Automation system. However, keep in mind that this free option only provides basic HubSpot functionality and is a completely stand-alone experience.
On the other hand, if you are the sole proprietor, who doesn’t have a Marketing team, this free basic HubSpot option will make a great choice for you. Like SharpSpring, even HubSpot comes with features that allow you to see when a person visits your site. That helps you in reaching out as well as converting customers when time is perfect.
Another factor that puts the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate in HubSpot’s favor is that in addition to its properties, HubSpot also offers E-Mail features like personalized Bulk E-Mmails and E-Mail tracking, similar to SharpSpring. The E-Mail Marketing aspect is among the most result-driven Marketing strategies, and both these platforms can aid you in taking this strategy to new heights.
SharpSpring vs HubSpot: Decision
Well, SharpSpring vs HubSpot is a tricky question as both are amazing CRM platforms. However, one will make a better choice than the other based on your business needs and niche.
If you’re a freelancer or a small enterprise, there isn’t any doubt that HubSpot would make the ideal choice. The CRM platform is free and comes with some amazing features to help grow your company. It is easy to use and navigate, and you do not need any coding skills or hire any developer. Besides, HubSpot also comes with a few additional features and tools that the other CRMs do not generally include, like the ‘live chat feature’ for your company website.
On the other hand, SharpSpring is best suited for medium-sized companies and agencies due to its pricing model. Though it seems costly, SharpSpring offers value for your money, especially when it comes to Page Builders, Social Media Management, and E-Mail Marketing Automation that are part of its monthly package.
Hence, the SharpSpring vs HubSpot dilemma has no universal answer, instead, it’s up to the users’ requirements and budget which will decide which CRM Tool will suit their business the best.
Conclusion
This article introduced you to SharpSpring and HubSpot CRMs and explained the various factors that you must consider before deciding on a CRM for your business. Moreover, the article weighed in on the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate and discussed the benefits of both these CRMS. The Sharpspring vs HubSpot question has no unique answer, rather it depends on your requirements and the scale of your business.
However, irrespective of your conclusion of the SharpSpring vs HubSpot debate, you will need to transfer data from a CRM tool to a Data Warehouse for analytical purposes. This will require you to manually develop the code for the ETL processes involved in this data transfer. This task will consume a large part of your time and resources and is also highly error-prone.
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Share your understanding of the SharpSpring vs HubSpot discussion in the comments below!