Freshsales CRM review May 2024: Advanced automation features, useful customizations for SMBs

According to Freshworks, its Freshsales CRM is trusted by more than 65,000 businesses. Freshsales is highly rated on most review platforms, with reviews praising its ease of use, value, and features. The CRM has various tiers, including a free forever plan and a 21-day free trial. All rates and fees are current as of May 21, 2024, and are subject to change.

Freshsales CRM

Price:	Starting at $9 per month, per user
Free trial length:	21 days
Free plan available:	Yes

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Reasonable pricing on all its plans
• Higher-tier plans include advanced automation features
• Includes a user-friendly mobile app
• Basic customization options on all plans

Cons

• No reports available with the free plan
• Support is only 24/5, even for higher tiers
• AI assistant limited to higher tiers

Who is Freshsales good for?

Freshsales is for businesses that want to keep things simple with an affordable, all-in-one CRM solution. Its free and low-cost plans are perfect for small businesses and startups that need to manage their sales without the complexity or cost you often get with larger CRM systems. The free plan includes many features, such as contact management, Kanban-style views, and basic custom fields.

Freshsales also has features for medium-sized businesses and enterprises with more complex needs. Businesses opting for higher tiers can use features like sales forecasting and more robust analytics. Sales and marketing teams, in particular, can benefit from the software’s ability to automate workflows and help teams communicate with leads more effectively.

Who shouldn’t use Freshsales?

While Freshsales can appeal to various businesses, it may not always be the best choice. For instance, complex businesses with specialized needs may find that Freshsales doesn’t offer enough customization options. A CRM like Salesforce has more in-depth customization options for its features, workflows, and interface. Large businesses with complex needs should consider more advanced CRMs or industry-specific products.

Freshsales has a free plan, but some businesses will find that this plan is missing key features. For example, no reports are available with the free plan nor are many of Freshsales’ customization features, advanced automations, or integrations. Businesses that need a free CRM but more than the bare essentials should consider alternative options.

Freshsales service plan overview

Freshsales offers powerful features like sales task automation, artificial intelligence (AI) assistance, and a wide range of integrations on its paid plans. Customers can track and manage deals, send personalized bulk emails, and get deal insights from the software’s AI-powered assistant, Freddy.

At $9 per month with annual billing, the Growth plan offers the best value, given how many extra features you get over the free plan. All plans are eligible for a 21-day free trial.

Best Freshsales CRM plan for small businesses: Growth

The Freshsales free plan might be the best choice for the most basic needs but, for anything beyond that, the Growth plan provides the best value for your money. This plan is priced at about one-quarter the cost of the next tier, and it still includes numerous features.

Some of the best features in the Growth plan are:

• Visual sales pipeline: This lets you track your deals in Kanban style, timeline, or funnel view. You can also get deal statuses at a glance.
• Built-in email, chat, and phone: This makes it easier to communicate with your customers how you want ― or however they prefer. Plus, the Growth plan supports two-way email sync with Freshsales, so you can see all your activity in both places.
• Other messaging channels: You have even more communication options with Freshsales Growth, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, LINE, and Google Business messages. This lets you meet your customers wherever they are.
• Bulk emails: Send up to 250 personalized bulk emails per user per day. You can customize messages and greetings for select recipients.
• Basic workflows: Includes 20 basic workflows to create tasks, update records, and send reminders to sales owners.
• Rotten deals: This feature lets you set an age for when the deal pipeline should surface certain deals when the chance of winning the deal diminishes.

Other services Freshsales offers 

Pipeline management is central to the features you get with Freshsales, but that is far from all the platform offers. Additional features include:

• Documents: All paid plans let you create documents like quotes and invoices within the CRM. However, this feature isn’t available in the free plan.
• Multicurrency support: Available in the Pro and Enterprise plans; not available in lower plans.
• Tasks, appointments, and notes: Set up follow-up tasks for yourself, set appointments with contacts, and make notes for each record.
• Mobile CRM: All plans include a mobile app that lets teams access the CRM on the go.
• Application programming interface (API) access and marketplace: All paid plans include API access and a marketplace for integrating popular apps into Freshsales.

All plans also include a basic dashboard so you can see incoming conversations, your team inbox, and the speed of response quickly.

The Freshsales platform and customer support 

The Freshworks website is easy to navigate, with a menu that makes it easy to find information about Freshsales and other products. When you visit the website, you will see a button to get your free trial and a link to request a demo. The Freshsales dashboard is user-friendly and easy to use, with a clean yet customizable interface. It lets you see features like contact management and analytics in one place.

If you need to contact Freshsales with any questions or concerns, there are phone, email, and live chat options. However, all plans include 24/5 support, and no support is available on the weekends.

Is Freshsales secure?

Freshworks takes security seriously, using advanced security measures, such as AES 256-bit encryption, access controls, and dedicated virtual private clouds (VPCs) for enhanced security. The company uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its hosting. It has 24/7 monitoring and situation awareness and procedures for reporting and tracking incidents and breaches.

These strong security measures have generally been effective, but there was an incident in 2021 that may have allowed an unknown attacker to gain access to Freshworks data. However, on its blog, Freshworks said that after learning about the attack, “the Freshworks security team took immediate action to assess the ramifications of this incident.” After the incident, the company worked with any customers who may have been affected and established enhanced monitoring of its network.

Freshsales user reviews

Freshsales reviews from users are generally positive, often saying the software is easy to use and navigate. One reviewer on Trustpilot says, “The platform is very intuitive, easy to move items around but also delete items if there are any errors.” Reviewers also like the value, saying it offers more for the money compared to competitors, such as Salesforce and HubSpot. Many reviewers also rate the company’s customer service highly as well, saying representatives are responsive and helpful.

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