Businesses strive to build the best experience for their customers and potential clients. An account management software (AMS) can consistently provide you with solutions to help you deal with customers before, during, and after a deal. Also known as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, these tools can help manage sales accounts and streamline your management activities.
CRMs target many aspects of account management, including analyzing customer data, providing customer support, integrating sales, marketing, and customer service systems, personalizing customer experience, and even automating administrative tasks. Here are some figures to consider:
- In a survey by Resco, 74% of respondents agree that CRM systems improve access to customer data, along with improvements in relationship management and customer interaction tracking.
- A majority (64%) of companies that utilize CRM systems find the technology impactful or highly impactful.
- CRM software provides an average return on investment (ROI) of $8.71 for every dollar spent.
- In 2020, large enterprises accounted for the highest market share of CRMs (56%). Companies with many operational departments benefited most from customer data integration features and easy coordination between sales, marketing, and customer service processes. In addition, scalable CRM solutions were in high demand.
If you’re interested in acquiring a solution in this space but aren’t sure where to start, we’ve got you covered! In this guide, we list 11 of the best account management software on the market, together with key features, pricing, and more, to help you pick the right tool for your business.
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Vendors Reviewed
Our criteria: How we chose the best vendors
We take our research seriously and want to make sure we are presenting our readers with the very best solutions in a given software category. Here's how we select vendors to be in our buyer guides:
- Product: We want to have a deep understanding of a vendor's product before recommending it. This usually means getting a demo by a senior executive (their CEO, head of product, etc), and/or using the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best in class offering.
- User feedback: We do our best to understand what users say when they experience this product. User input allows us to accomplish a more thorough due diligence of products, put new vendors on our radar, and generally make sure we are presenting the right products to our readers.
- Financial metrics: We are very much finance nerds and so use a product's retention rates, growth, profitability, and scale to understand whether or not it is truly best in class.
- Best for a use case: Sometimes the best solution is the cheapest, the best tool for international companies, or the best for startups. We try to include a diversity of solutions so that our readers can find the tool that is best for what they need.
Here's more detail if you want to read further on how we research vendors.
In this guide you'll find
- Top Account Management Software Vendors
- Common Use Cases of Account Management Software
- Pitfalls: Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Account Management Software
- Benefits and ROI of Account Management Software
- Pricing Models and Estimated Cost of Account Management Software
- Features of Account Management Software
- Questions to Ask During Your Account Management Software Demos
- Implementing Account Management Software
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Account Management Software
- Final Advice on Buying Account Management Software
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Top Account Management Software Vendors
We track thousands of HR Tech solutions. Here are the best account management software vendors as of January 2022.
Why we love it
:
Zendesk Sell is a powerful AMS that helps companies effectively manage their sales pipelines, sales opportunities, and account data through live updates and in-platform communication tools like calls and texts.
Zendesk
Review:
Zendesk Sell is a powerful CRM software that replaces their “Base CRM” product, working as a simple-to-use sales automation system that provides easily accessible sales data. The system can create comprehensive sales reports and integrate with other products within the Zendesk ecosystem.
It has a host of features that businesses love, from GPS location logging for sales visits to expansive custom fields. Its price works nicely with its UI’s simplicity, and its simplified input gives it a very shallow learning curve.
Zendesk
Customers:
Zendesk Sell’s customer base ranges from top-tier brands to start-ups that wish to take their brands to the next level, including Grubhub, Vimeo, Siemens, Klook, MailChimp, and many others.
Zendesk
Stats:
- Over 30 languages supported
- Over 170,000 customers
- Increase in monthly revenue forecast accuracy from 30% to 10% deviation (Intermind)
Zendesk
Pricing:
Zendesk Sell offers four pricing plans, each with its own free trial:
- Sell Team sells for $19 per user/month, billed annually for up to three paid users. This includes tools for basic reporting.
- Sell Professional sells for $49 per user/month, billed annually for unlimited users. This plan provides bulk emailing, email templates, sales goals, integrations, and API.
- Sell Enterprise sells for $99 per user/month, billed annually for unlimited users. This offers more advanced features for role-based permissions, call features, and customized notifications.
- Sell Elite sells for $199 per user/month, billed annually for unlimited users. This provides premier features for lead and deal scoring, extensive reporting, and more custom integrations.
Best For
Companies of every size, especially ones within the Zendesk ecosystem, can use Zendesk Sell’s features at every scale. If you rely heavily on your sales team, the system can work wonders too.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Zoho CRM provides the best mix of features for customer relationship management systems with useful integrations and a compatible suite of products at a reasonably competitive price, making it a solid pick for every company.
Zoho
Review:
Zoho CRM is a high-quality account management system that works for every industry, providing crucial tools to help both SMBs and enterprises grow. Their lead management capability is top-notch, with gamification modules that help encourage teams to work on their quotas.
Zoho CRM’s free version makes it unique, which companies can use for up to three users. This allows teams to test out the product if it suits their needs. This can also be a fantastic gateway to more features for smaller companies.
Zoho
Customers:
Zoho CRM boasts more than 250,000+ customers worldwide from every company size, industry, and region around the world. Their customers include Agoda, Purolite, Amazon.in, Blue Star, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Bose, and Tassal.
Zoho
Stats:
- Over 250,000 customers in 180 countries
- 65% increase in sales pipeline (Sherpa)
- $100,000 saved annually (Purolite)
- Over 300% revenue growth (Quest)
Zoho
Pricing:
Zoho CRM uses a per-user/month pricing strategy, billing either monthly or annually on discounted value. It also offers a free edition for three users and basic features like leads, documents, and mobile apps. There are four paid plans (with free trials) for the software:
- The Standard plan is priced at $14 per user per month. This includes everything in the free version as well as scoring rules, workflows, multiple pipelines, mass emails, custom dashboards, and a single-view canvas.
- The Professional plan is priced at $23 per user per month. This includes everything in the Standard plan in addition to sales signals, blueprints, web-to-case forms, validation rules, inventory management, and a three-view canvas.
- The Enterprise plan is priced at $40 per user per month. This includes everything in the Professional plan, plus the Zia conversational AI assistant, command center, multi-user portals, advanced customization, custom mobile apps, and a five-view canvas.
- Lastly, the Ultimate plan priced at $52 per user per month offers everything in the Enterprise plan in addition to enhanced feature limits, the Zoho Analytics bundle, and a 25-view canvas.
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises looking for an all-in-one solution. Companies within the Zoho ecosystem can also take advantage of Zoho CRM as an easy way to sync their information.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Apptivo has an extensive feature set with 360-degree insights, customization options, and integrations with popular tools, making them an excellent option for companies looking for a CRM that grows with their business.
Apptivo
Review:
Apptivo CRM is a flexible account management system that supports multiple modules, providing businesses with 360-degree insights into their prospects, customers, and accounts. It’s a powerful all-rounder CRM solution for any need.
Its intuitive interface, powerful features, customization options, and affordable pricing make Apptivo CRM a great choice, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Apptivo also provides granular security controls with consistent 24-hour support, and its mobile application is outstanding.
Apptivo
Customers:
Apptivo has over 200,000 customers at several business scales, including Zeltiq, HS Brands International, MediPro, Steinar, Descon, and CET Color.
Apptivo
Stats:
Apptivo
Pricing:
Apptivo CRM offers four paid plans on a per-user basis either billed monthly or annually:
- Lite: This plan for small sales teams starts at $8 per user per month. Lite offers 18 apps, 100 custom fields per app, 25 workflows, 8 custom dashboards, and third-party service integration.
- Premium: This plan starts at $12 per user per month and is best for growing teams needing an all-in-one CRM solution. It has capabilities for 46 apps, 250 custom fields per app, 75 workflows, 25 custom dashboards, and third-party service integration.
- Ultimate: This tier for large businesses that need integrations and automation tools starts at $20 per user per month and offers 57 apps, 350 custom fields per app, 150 workflows, 50 custom dashboards, and third-party integration.
- Enterprise: This custom-priced plan offers complex integrations and 65 apps, 500 custom fields per app, 300 workflows, 100 custom dashboards, custom integration, SLA, and a dedicated account manager.
Best For
Small and medium businesses that need a low-cost but powerful CRM solution.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
HubSpot Sales Hub provides an all-in-one solution for companies looking for a reliable CRM to handle their sales processes, marketing automation, content, and web development.
Hubspot
Review:
HubSpot Sales Hub is an all-in-one solution that is perfect for companies looking for a reliable CRM to handle sales processes, lead generation, sales engagement, and analytics. Their bundle pricing lets you get a solid bang for your buck, and their sales software allows you to eliminate sales friction at every step.
What makes HubSpot Sales Hub unique is its ability to track opportunities, leads, customers, and many more, allowing you to log everything you need.
Hubspot
Customers:
HubSpot Sales Hub boasts thousands of customers worldwide from every company size, industry, and region around the world. Their customers include Casio, LegalZoom, Motley Fool, Vacasa, Wistia, and Zapier.
Hubspot
Stats:
- Over 128,000 customers
- 940 integrations through the marketplace
- Six languages supported
Hubspot
Pricing:
HubSpot offers a Pay As You Grow strategy for most of its products. It also offers free CRM tools, including contact management, email and meeting scheduling, one deal pipeline, and live chat.
All paid plans include 1:1 technical support and storage for 15 million contacts. Depending on your needs, HubSpot offers three price points:
- The Starter plan starts at $45 per month for two paid users. It includes all free tools plus email templates, multiple currency support, sales automation, task queues, and more.
- The Professional plan starts at $450 per month for five paid users. This includes all Starter features with less limits in addition to workflow extensions, sequences, eSignatures, automatic lead rotation, custom reporting, forecasting, sales analytics, and more.
- Enterprise at $1200 per month for ten paid users. It comes with all Professional tools plus advanced features like hierarchical teams, playbooks, single sign-on, conversational intelligence, admin notifications and management, and sandboxes.
Best For
Small-to-medium sized companies that handle all their sales strategies. Bigger companies can experience difficulties in taking advantage of their features.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Insightly offers one of the best platforms for managing customer relationships, with an easy-to-use interface and flexible features accessible on mobile (Android and iOS) and desktop.
Insightly
Review:
Insightly is a reliable account management system that is ideal for smaller businesses. It has a complete feature set, minor integrations, and a solid free version. Its range of functionalities, like its built-in project management and report generation, are effective for businesses of every size.
What makes Insightly stand out is its user-friendly social media style CRM, a feature which allows for the simple management of customer accounts. It’s easy to track conversations and see who your most valuable customers are.
All aspects of your business are displayed on one page with Insightly CRM, since it combines multiple tools into one dashboard. That kind of convenience seems worth the subscription fee. Insightly CRM is a great choice for streamlining and organizing your client and employee networks. It may take a little while to become accustomed to the system, but after a while, you will find it updating contacts and linking projects all by itself.
Insightly
Customers:
Insightly has more than 1.5 million customers in over 25,000 companies worldwide. These customers include Better Earth Solar, Momentum, Vitajoy, Waite Company, UK Local TV, and Trust Consulting.
Insightly
Stats:
- Over 1.5 million users in 25,000 companies globally
- 40% reduction in costs (PCG Digital)
- 20% costs saved (Hurst Review)
Insightly
Pricing:
Insightly offers a free version for up to two users and three paid plans:
- The Plus plan is priced at $29 per user/month and includes mobile support, project management features, and tools for team collaboration.
- The Professional plan is priced at $49 per user/month. This offers more advanced features for lead management, customizable sales processes, intelligence, and standard support.
- The Enterprise plan is priced at $99 per user/month and offers all Professional features, plus contact and organization management and complete workflow automation.
Best For
SMBs are looking for robust account management software. Its range of functionalities makes it useful for companies that need something better than an entry-level CRM.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Pipedrive offers an intuitive interface together with a solid offering of mobile apps and other specialized features like chatbots and efficient reporting.
Pipedrive
Review:
Pipeline CRM offers various features that will make any SMB happy, from website chatbots to efficient reporting systems. Its ease of use is one of its most vital features, making it an excellent pick for startups and smaller teams.
What makes Pipedrive stand out is its customizable dashboard, which allows users to see helpful information at a glance. With a solid set of features for account management, including pipelines, lead management, and sales forecasting, Pipedrive is an exceptional platform for helping businesses drive revenue.
Pipedrive
Customers:
Pipedrive has over 95,000 global companies in its customer base. Among their most notable clientele include Amazon, Skyscanner, Vimeo, Remax, Festo, and TNW.
Pipedrive
Stats:
- 95,000 companies in 175 countries
- 93% customer support satisfaction
- $85 billion worth of closed deals
- Over 280 integrations
- 28% increase in closed deals, on average
- Over 40% average increase in revenue
Pipedrive
Pricing:
Pipedrive charges on a per-user-per-month basis billed either monthly or annually. There are four pricing tiers for this account management system:
- Essential: This is priced at $12.50/user/month and is used for setting up simple sales processes. This plan includes lead, deal, calendar, and pipeline management, simple data import, basic customization, over 275 integrations, and 24/7 support.
- Advanced: This plan is priced at $24.90/user/month and includes all Essential tools plus workflow builders with triggered automations and group emailing and tracking.
- Professional: This recommended tier is priced at $49.90/user/month, with more tools to boost performance and revenue. It offers all Advanced features plus eSign capabilities, forecasts, and custom reporting.
- Enterprise: This is priced at $99/user/month and includes all Professional tools plus advanced security preferences, implementation program and phone support, and no feature limits.
They also charge for extras, including their lead generation system, web analytics, and Smart Docs add-on.
Best For
Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of its powerful CRM tools. Big companies can make good use of the system, but its limited features can be a constraint.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Oracle NetSuite CRM provides a high-quality CRM solution, from tracking sales leads and service requests to managing your marketing campaigns, making it easy for businesses of any size, industry, or region to manage their accounts.
Oracle
Review:
Oracle NetSuite CRM is a powerful enterprise-grade account management system that for various industries. As a cloud-based solution, it runs directly in your browser, making it easy to use, even if you’re on the go or out of the office.
The intuitive interface makes it easy to use, even if you’re new to account management. It has everything you would need under the hood, from sales force automation, marketing automation, CS management, partner relationship management, mobile apps, and powerful reporting and analytics.
What makes NetSuite CRM unique is its extensive lead management capabilities that allow you to create sales opportunities, track leads, and manage them in a way that works for your business.
Oracle
Customers:
Oracle NetSuite CRM claims that more than 28,000 customers trust their systems to do the job. Their customer base includes Quicken Inc, ESET, Green Rabbit, Hello Products, Jive Software, Siemens, and Solarwinds.
Oracle
Stats:
- Used by 20% of Fortune 100 companies
- 80% increase in business insights
- 10% increase in revenue performance
- 80% less customer backorders
- 75% reduction in resource costs
Oracle
Pricing:
Oracle NetSuite does not provide public pricing for its account management software. Customers are required to talk to a sales agent for further information.
Best For
Oracle NetSuite is perfect for bigger companies that need a complete set of CRM features.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Capsule aims to improve productivity and collaboration. They offer specialized features like marketing automation, social media integration, and email marketing, all of which are designed to maximize customer retention.
Capsule
Review:
It’s fantastic how Capsule manages to pack enough functionality into a simple, low-cost, and easy-to-use relationship management tool. Its sleek and intuitive interface makes it look like it’s designed for beginners, but it’s everything but that. In addition to its reliability and helpfulness, it could provide you with insight into inefficiencies in your organization's sales processes. Its features can also build stronger relationships with your clients and partners.
Capsule
Customers:
Capsule focuses on small to medium businesses, with customers from thriving startups and SMB upstarts. These include Hasbean, Evoluted, Sookio, Caviar and Chips, Liquona, Zigger Design, and Red Circle.
Capsule
Stats:
Capsule
Pricing:
Capsule has three price tiers, charging per user/month. Apart from the free version that offers limited options for up to two users, they also provide three paid plans which provide increasing contact and storage capabilities:
- Professional: This starts at $18 per user per month and offers activity reporting, single sign-on, and premium integrations.
- Teams: This is priced at $36 per user per month, providing all Professional features plus multiple sales pipelines, advanced sales reporting, user roles and restrictions, and custom activity types.
- Enterprise: This plan is priced at $54 per user per month, with implementation support, import assistance, custom training, dedicated customer success manager, and priority support.
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses that want a powerful, easy-to-use system at their fingertips.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Bitrix24 offers all-in-one functionality in an easy-to-use package, with CRM and lead management features combined with sophisticated analytics perfect for SMBs.
Bitrix
Review:
Bitrix24 is a comprehensive customer relationship management system with sales and marketing, project management, and helpdesk tools. They offer a powerful and comprehensive set of analytics, like funnel analytics and activity history.
Bitrix24 also provides a system to support remote work. It integrates with all major social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter) and offers a unified workspace. Bitrix24 also has solid project and team management capabilities, allowing you to automate workflows and monitor your sales.
Bitrix
Customers:
Bitrix24 has more than 10,000,000 customer organizations worldwide, including Sotkon, MoSAiK, Mobilblitz, K-webs, Artistic Closets Inc., Saigon Newport Corporation, and Smartway.
Bitrix
Stats:
- 10,000,000 customer organizations
- Over 35 CRM tools
- 100% secure and GDPR compliant
Bitrix
Pricing:
Bitrix24 has a free version for unlimited users with limited features for collaboration, task management, CRM, online storage, contact center, and website builder. There are three paid plans:
- The Basic tier starts at $39 per month for five users. This includes all features in the free version with less limits in addition to online store capabilities and customer support.
- The Standard plan starts at $79 per month for 50 users. This includes all Basic tier offerings, plus tools for marketing, online documents, and administration.
- The Professional plan starts at $159 per month for unlimited users. This includes all Standard features in addition to sales intelligence and business process automation.
Best For
Bitrix24 is best for small businesses and startups with the time to learn and implement a new CRM system. While its pricing is hard to beat, companies need training time to maximize its value
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the software to beat, leading the way with innovations, including artificial intelligence support and boosting interoperability with other Salesforce apps.
SalesForce
Review:
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the top account management software for medium to large businesses. This platform is arguably the best CRM solution on the market, with flexible features, powerful integrations, and a fantastic set of customization options.
Salesforce Sales Cloud is unique in its artificial intelligence capabilities, which allow you to build predictive models based on your customer data. These predictive models enable you to predict customer behavior and preferences so that you can tailor how you interact with them.
SalesForce
Customers:
Salesforce Sales Cloud boasts thousands of business customers worldwide from every scale. Their roster of customers includes American Express, Telstra, Vodafone, Eatigo, Starhub, Zero Motorcycles, and many more.
SalesForce
Stats:
- 44% increase in sales productivity
- 38% faster sales deal closures
- Over 150,000 customers
SalesForce
Pricing:
Salesforce Sales Cloud has a tiered pricing structure with four different price points:
- The Essentials plan is priced at $25 per user per month. This includes features for account, contact, lead, and opportunity management, email integration, and the Salesforce mobile app.
- The Professional plan is priced at $75 per user per month. This includes Essentials features plus lead registration, rules-based lead scoring, and collaborative forecasting.
- The Enterprise plan is priced at $150 per user per month. This includes Professional features in addition to workflow and approval automation.
- Lastly, the Unlimited plan at $300 per user per month offers all Enterprise features, plus 24/7 support.
They also offer a 14-day free trial for every package, after which you’ll be charged a monthly fee.
Best For
While every company can utilize what Sales Cloud offers, its price point only makes it practical for heavy corporate use.
Worth Checking Out:
Why we love it
:
Freshsales is an all-in-one account management suite that includes sales and customer support features, including a useful free version, with a solid CS through live chat, email, and phone support.
Freshsales
Review:
SMBs can quickly implement the Freshsales CRM on the go, either through the desktop version or through the Freshsales mobile app. It's an easy-to-install system that provides pricing tiers that make sense for any company, AI-powered forecasting and insights, and a bevy of customization options that appeal to businesses that need frictionless software. It is simple and light, making it a solid pick for SMBs.
What makes Freshsales unique is their free version, which allows teams to test out the product and see if it suits their needs. It can also be a fantastic gateway to more features for smaller companies once they’re ready to move up to higher tiers.
Freshsales
Customers:
Freshsales is trusted by businesses worldwide, with different name brands like Sify, Cadence Health, Blue Nile, Dyson, PharmEasy, and Klarna.
Freshsales
Stats:
- 40% increase in monthly recurring revenue within six months (Synergy ES)
- 88% increase in revenue (Top Digital Agency)
- 30% increase in customer reach-out (Vantage Circle)
Freshsales
Pricing:
Freshsales has three paid plans:
- Growth: This starts at $15 per user per month, with features including visual sales pipelines, product catalogs, and custom reports and dashboards.
- Pro: This starts at $39 per user per month, with more features including multiple sales pipelines, AI-powered insights, and chat campaigns.
- Enterprise: This plan starts at $69 per user per month, with advanced features including custom modules, AI-powered forecasting, and a dedicated account manager.
Freshsales also offers a free tier that provides limited features for contact and account management, contact lifecycle stages, built-in phone, chat, and email, 24x5 support, and a mobile app.
Best For
Freshsales is great for SMBs looking for a free tier CRM.
Worth Checking Out:
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Final Advice on Buying Account Management Software
Finding the right account management software can be difficult. There are so many different features, options, and price points. But, if you’re able to narrow your search down to a few options, you can find a system that works for you.
Here are some final tips before you choose your account management software:
- Evaluate your business goals. What do you want to achieve with your account management software? By understanding your goals, it will be easier to find a system that will help you reach them.
- Get demos from more than one vendor. Seeing the software in action will help you better understand how different platforms work and determine which one is a good fit for your business.
- Ask lots of questions. Make sure you know what each program can do and how it will benefit your company.
- Find reviews from a vendor's previous or existing customers. Reading reviews from other businesses that have used the software can give you a good idea of what to expect.
Our list of the top 11 account management software is an excellent place to start your search for the right product for your business. But, it’s important to keep in mind that the best software will always depend on your specific needs and how you plan to use it.
Looking for the best tools to improve customer experience? Read our guide for the top customer experience management solutions today!
Top Account Management Software
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