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If the CRM {industry} is a zoo, Salesforce is an 800-pound gorilla. It’s one of many best CRM software platforms available on the market, powered by cutting-edge AI tools and hosted on the cloud. It additionally has separate modules for managing buyer relationships throughout gross sales, service, marketing, commerce, and extra, making it a terrific match for nearly any group in any enterprise.
With over 150,000 prospects worldwide, Salesforce CRM has been a driving drive within the digital transformation of companies for over twenty years.
However, its dominance doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best fit for every organization. In this in-depth Salesforce review, I’ll dive into the platform’s core capabilities, ease of use, integrations, customer support, value for money, and company trajectory to help you determine if it’s the right choice for your business.
While we’re going to focus primarily on Sales Cloud, Salesforce’s most popular CRM module, this review is also going to weave in features from other Salesforce offerings like Customer Success and Einstein 1.
My hope is to present you with a well-rounded perspective of Salesforce’s core CRM offerings. While not every feature will be available on every module, Salesforce makes it very easy to build your own version by combining different aspects of its suite into a package called Customer 360. You can read our dedicated Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM review right here.
Salesforce CRM core capabilities
At its core, Salesforce provides a robust set of CRM features to effectively manage customer relationships throughout the entire lifecycle. On the whole, I’ve found the core relationship management capabilities to be quite intuitive.
Contact management is simple, with the flexibility to seize detailed data like communication preferences, exercise historical past, and customized fields related to my enterprise. I can simply retailer and manage detailed details about particular person contacts, together with their function, communication preferences, and interplay historical past. Plus, the account hierarchy characteristic is especially helpful for managing advanced B2B relationships with mum or dad and baby firms.
You possibly can simply rating leads based mostly on standards like demographics, habits, and engagement. A visible kanban-style lead workspace means that you can drag-and-drop leads by completely different phases of the gross sales cycle, from new to certified to transformed. I respect the pliability to customise lead phases and automate task guidelines based mostly on distinctive gross sales processes.
I can monitor offers throughout each stage, from lead generation to closed-won or closed-lost. Salesforce’s alternative document supplies a whole view of the deal, together with merchandise, competitors, quotes, and income projections. There’s additionally a collaboration forecasting characteristic, which permits gross sales managers to view and alter group forecasts whereas offering executives with real-time visibility into the sales pipeline.
Talking of visibility, Salesforce supplies a variety of normal studies out-of-the-box, protecting every thing from gross sales efficiency to customer support metrics. I have been impressed with the report builder, which permits me to simply create customized studies utilizing a drag-and-drop interface. The power to schedule and share studies with key stakeholders will enhance your group’s effectivity and accountability.
Other than this, Salesforce’s cellular app is a helpful addition for area gross sales reps. I can entry and replace important buyer data, monitor actions, and even shut offers proper from my smartphone or pill. Push notifications preserve me knowledgeable about vital updates, like when a key alternative stage modifications. Salesforce’s cellular expertise is intuitive, mirroring the desktop model, making certain a seamless transition between numerous units.
Salesforce has lately enhanced its CRM platform with a number of AI options, by introducing a brand new module referred to as Einstein. It’s built-in throughout numerous Salesforce Cloud purposes, together with Gross sales Cloud, Advertising Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud. Einstein’s conversational AI assistant can automate day-to-day duties like summarizing data, producing personalized communications, and streamlining case resolutions.
Whereas it affords a wealth of options, I’ve encountered a number of limitations with Salesforce too. For instance, the email templates will be fundamental in comparison with different advertising and marketing automation platforms. The forecasting software, whereas highly effective, does require some setup and coaching to leverage.
Talking from a extra common perspective, Salesforce CRM additionally encompasses a little bit of a studying curve and has a pricing construction that’s considerably prohibitive for small companies.
However total, I have been impressed with the core capabilities of Salesforce CRM. The platform supplies a complete set of options to handle the whole buyer lifecycle, from result in loyalty. Whereas there could also be a studying curve for some superior performance, the advantages when it comes to productivity, collaboration, and buyer insights far outweigh any challenges.
How easy is Salesforce CRM to use?
Salesforce’s layout is clean and well-organized, with key features and data easily accessible from the navigation menu and dashboard. The use of consistent iconography and naming conventions makes getting around the platform easy and fast. However, given the sheer breadth of features on offer here, a certain learning curve is expected.
It also allows administrators to tailor the user interface to match their organization’s specific needs and terminology. I’ve been able to create custom fields, page layouts, and workflows that align with unique sales processes. While the customization options are extensive, Salesforce provides a user-friendly setup menu and guided wizards to help admins make changes without needing to write code.
Trailhead, Salesforce’s learning platform, offers a wealth of onboarding and training resources to help new users get up to speed quickly. It takes a gamified approach to training, with bite-sized modules and hands-on challenges that cover everything from basic navigation to advanced features. I think that this is an engaging and effective way to onboard new team members, with the added benefit of allowing them to learn at their own pace.
In addition to Trailhead, Salesforce offers extensive documentation, how-to guides, and community forums where users can find answers to common questions and best practices. The Salesforce Success Community is a particularly valuable resource, connecting users with experts and peers who can provide guidance and support.
Based on my own experience, I think that most users can navigate the basic features and perform essential tasks with Salesforce within a few days of training. More advanced features and customizations may take a few weeks to master, but the platform’s intuitive design and robust support resources make the learning process manageable.
Whilst this flexibility is a strength for enterprise customers, it can also be overwhelming for small businesses and probably isn’t the best CRM for startups that don’t have an intensive onboarding finances or plenty of ramp-up time. Salesforce’s preliminary setup and configuration course of is a good instance of this, requiring a major time funding and a sure degree of technical data to get every thing configured optimally.
Regardless of the problems, nonetheless, I’ve discovered that the long-term advantages of Salesforce’s scalability far outweigh the preliminary setup hurdles. As soon as the platform is tailor-made to your group’s particular wants and processes, it turns into an extremely highly effective and environment friendly software for managing buyer relationships.
Salesforce CRM integrations
Salesforce provides both pre-built integrations and an open API for custom data exchange. Beyond that, there’s comprehensive documentation, code samples, and developer resources to support integration development and usage.
With the AppExchange marketplace, Salesforce offers a vast library of pre-built integrations and applications from partner companies. These out-of-the-box solutions cover various business functions, such as marketing automation, customer support, accounting, and more.
With over 3,000 pre-built apps already available, businesses can easily find and deploy integrations that align with their specific requirements. Popular integrations include Mailchimp for email marketing, Zendesk for buyer help, QuickBooks for accounting, and Jira for project management.
For companies with distinctive integration wants, Salesforce supplies a sturdy and well-documented API. The Salesforce REST API permits builders to entry and manipulate knowledge programmatically, enabling customized integrations with inner methods and exterior purposes.
Salesforce’s API helps commonplace HTTP strategies and exchanges knowledge by JSON or XML responses, making it appropriate with a variety of programming languages and instruments. It helps numerous protocols and knowledge codecs, comparable to REST, SOAP, and bulk knowledge operations, giving builders flexibility in designing integrations.
Salesforce additionally supplies sturdy knowledge administration capabilities to keep up knowledge integrity throughout integrations. Options like knowledge mapping, transformation, and cleaning be sure that knowledge is correctly formatted and synchronized between methods. Moreover, Salesforce’s knowledge governance instruments assist implement knowledge high quality requirements and compliance necessities, giving companies confidence within the accuracy and safety of their built-in knowledge.
Throughout my time with the CRM, Salesforce’s integration capabilities appeared dependable and performant. Pre-built integrations from the AppExchange labored fairly seamlessly. Plus, the API was steady and responsive, permitting for environment friendly knowledge alternate and real-time updates. Information synchronization was constant and well timed for each pre-built integrations and customized ones.
Nevertheless, it is vital to notice that the success of integrations largely relies on correct implementation and adherence to greatest practices. Salesforce’s Developer Group supplies tips and suggestions for integration growth, comparable to understanding limits, securing knowledge, and implementing authentication strategies. Customized integrations will be constructed utilizing fashionable programming languages like Java, C#, and Python, making it accessible to a variety of builders.
Moreover, Salesforce’s companion community contains a variety of integration specialists and consultants who can help companies in designing and implementing advanced integration options. Plus, the corporate releases common updates and new options that develop its integration capabilities and enhance total efficiency.
Salesforce CRM customer support
Salesforce offers several different support channels, including both live and self-service options. Users can reach out for assistance via phone, live chat, and e-mail, relying on their choice and the urgency of their concern. Based mostly on person testimonials, help representatives look like educated, affected person, and genuinely fascinated with offering a passable decision.
Reside chat affords fast and handy help for much less advanced queries. Representatives are more than pleased to supply step-by-step steering or direct you to related assets. For extra concerned queries, you may contact the help group through telephone at +1-800-664-9073. E mail help, whereas not as speedy as telephone or chat, is a dependable sufficient choice for much less pressing issues, with representatives sometimes responding inside a day or two.
Along with dwell help, Salesforce affords an enormous assortment of self-help assets below the umbrella of Salesforce Assist. It’s a complete data base that covers each facet of the platform, from fundamental setup to superior customization. The articles, movies, and documentation are all well-prepared, straightforward to comply with, and ceaselessly up to date to replicate the most recent options and greatest practices.
A part of the bigger self-help infrastructure of Salesforce Assist, there’s additionally Trailhead. It’s a guided and gamified studying module that provides an interactive strategy to shortly familiarize your self with the platform’s most vital options and performance. You should utilize Trailhead to improve your Salesforce expertise, earn badges for every milestone, after which promote your providers and experience by the related group.
Talking of group, Salesforce Trailblazer connects customers from around the globe to share data, ask questions, and collaborate on options utilizing a devoted discussion board. A fast take a look at the platform exhibits you ways lively and useful the group is, due to each inner specialists and different customers. Each day, the group discussion board highlights lively members to reward them for his or her participation. This makes positive that customers really feel rewarded for serving to others navigate the platform and troubleshoot their points.
When it comes to response occasions, Salesforce typically meets or exceeds {industry} requirements. Buyer satisfaction with Salesforce help is persistently excessive, as demonstrated by a 4.5-star score on platforms like G2 and TrustRadius. Whereas the training curve for brand new customers is steep, Salesforce’s typically dependable and useful help system makes it a lot simpler to undertake.
That mentioned, there may be at all times room for enchancment. Some customers have reported longer wait occasions throughout peak hours or when coping with significantly advanced points. It additionally appears that the standard of assist acquired is immediately influenced by the help tier you’re on. Clients who buy Premier+ Help or Mission Vital Help obtain precedence entry to raised brokers. In the meantime, commonplace customers are largely caught utilizing the self-service choices.
Salesforce CRM security
Salesforce CRM’s security credentials represent one of the platform’s strong points. The CRM uses a shared responsibility model, with Salesforce providing a secure infrastructure and the customer being responsible for configuring and managing the security of their data within the platform.
Among the features that Salesforce employs to guarantee customer security is encryption – each at relaxation and in transit. As an example, all knowledge transmitted between a person’s system and Salesforce servers is protected by industry-standard Transport Layer Safety encryption. On the similar time, all knowledge saved on Salesforce servers is encrypted utilizing a singular key for every group. Salesforce makes use of industry-standard AES-256 encryption, thought of a extremely safe encryption technique.
As well as, for companies with significantly stringent safety and compliance wants, Salesforce affords a further paid add-on referred to as Salesforce Defend. This permits for extra complete encryption of delicate knowledge inside commonplace and customized fields, recordsdata, and attachments. It even affords the choice for purchasers to “Convey Your Personal Key” (BYOK) for enhanced management. By completely managing their digital belongings, organizations acquire an additional layer of safety.
Salesforce CRM value for money
As one of the most expensive CRM solutions on the market, Salesforce demands a significant investment, but it also delivers a robust platform that can grow with your business. A per-user pricing model allows for flexibility as your team grows, but it can become costly for larger organizations.
Salesforce employs a tiered pricing model with four main editions: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. The Essentials plan starts at $25 per user per month while the Unlimited plan costs $300 per user, per month.
However, Salesforce offers a breadth of features even in lower-tier plans. Essentials, while basic, still includes features like account and contact management, opportunity tracking, and email integration. But, advanced capabilities like lead scoring and collaborative forecasting are only available from Professional, while workflow automation is restricted to Enterprise and Unlimited.
The company offers a 14-day free trial. After that, Salesforce offers annual billing for all plans except Essentials, which can be paid monthly. While opting for annual billing often comes with a discount, it requires a larger upfront investment and less flexibility for businesses with fluctuating needs.
Apart from the core plans, Salesforce also offers various add-ons that can enhance the CRM’s functionality. While these can provide excellent value for businesses with specific needs, you should calculate costs thoroughly to make sure the investment justifies the ROI.
When comparing Salesforce to other CRM solutions, it’s important to consider the total cost of ownership. While the initial price may be higher, Salesforce’s extensive customization options, robust app ecosystem, and scalability can provide you with more long-term value. Its ability to integrate with a wide range of third-party applications can also lead to increased efficiency and productivity, potentially offsetting the higher cost.
But for smaller businesses or those with simpler CRM needs, Salesforce’s pricing may prove prohibitive. Unless you need all the advanced functionality, there are more affordable options on the market that offer similar core functionalities at a lower price point.
|
Plan |
Price (per user, per month) |
Features |
Limitations |
|
Starter Suite |
$25 |
Basic CRM functionality, including sales pipeline, prospect tracking, contact management, and reporting. It includes email marketing campaigns and omnichannel customer service. |
Designed for small teams and has limited customization and reporting capabilities. |
|
Professional Suite |
$80 |
All Starter Suite features plus more advanced CRM tools like workflow automation, collaboration features, and improved reporting.All Starter Suite features plus more advanced CRM tools like workflow automation, collaboration features, and improved reporting. |
Lacks some advanced features found in higher-tier plans. |
|
Enterprise |
$165 |
Includes all Professional Suite features, plus advanced reporting, additional custom objects, and increased API call limits. |
Can be expensive, and even at this tier, some features (like AI-powered chatbots) may be paid add-ons. |
|
Unlimited |
$330 |
All Enterprise features, along with priority support, a dedicated success team, and expanded customization options. Includes AI lead scoring and forecasting KPIs. |
The most expensive plan, and not all features are included; some may still be paid add-ons. You cannot downgrade from this plan. |
Saleforce trajectory
Salesforce has maintained its position as the dominant player in the CRM market, consistently innovating and expanding its offerings. As of 2023, it commanded 21.7% of the global CRM market share, easily outpacing its nearest competitors, Microsoft (5.9%), Oracle (4.4%), SAP (3.5%), and Adobe (3.4%).
Within the present fiscal yr, Salesforce reported a complete income of $34.86 billion, 11% greater than final yr. In the meantime, the corporate’s subscription and help revenues, which type the core of its enterprise mannequin, grew by 12% to $32.54 billion. Its development trajectory is supported by strategic acquisitions, comparable to Tableau and Slack, which have expanded its capabilities and attain.
Going past the financials, Salesforce’s person group is among the largest and most lively within the software program {industry}. Its ecosystem, together with prospects, companions, and builders, continues to develop quickly. Proper now, 150,000+ companies make the most of its providers globally.
As a CRM, Salesforce was named a pacesetter in numerous analyst studies, comparable to The Forrester Wave and IDC MarketScape, which consider options based mostly on standards like market affect, imaginative and prescient, and functionality. The corporate’s Pledge 1% initiative, which inspires firms to donate 1% of fairness, product, and worker time to charitable causes, has garnered participation from over 15,000 firms worldwide.
Wanting forward, Salesforce’s trajectory seems promising, with projections indicating continued development in each market share and income. The corporate’s give attention to integrating AI-driven insights into its platform is predicted to additional improve its choices and keep its aggressive edge.
With common updates, an lively person group, and strategic partnerships by Salesforce AppExchange and Associate Innovation Awards, Salesforce continues to function because the undisputed chief of the CRM house — regardless of competitors from giants like Microsoft, Oracle, and Adobe.
Salesforce CRM FAQ
What are the main benefits of using Salesforce CRM?
The core advantages of making Salesforce your organization’s chosen CRM include improved sales productivity, enhanced customer service, streamlined marketing efforts, and better data-driven decision-making. By automating tasks and providing real-time analytics, it helps businesses increase efficiency and drive revenue growth.
Is Salesforce a good fit for small businesses?
Although Salesforce may be better known for its enterprise-level solutions and can be a significant investment, it also offers a “Starter Suite” designed for small businesses. However, its pricing and complexity can be a barrier for firms that don’t have huge budgets or IT teams. As such, some small businesses may find more value in more affordable or less complex CRM solutions, such as Freshworks or Zoho.
What’s the distinction between Gross sales Cloud and Service Cloud?
With the plethora of various options below the Salesforce umbrella, the completely different instruments on provide will be considerably complicated. To clear issues up, it’s vital to get the distinction between Gross sales Cloud and Service Cloud clear in your head.
Whereas Gross sales Cloud is designed for gross sales groups to handle the gross sales course of, together with lead and alternative monitoring, contact administration, and gross sales forecasting, Service Cloud is for customer support groups, offering instruments for case administration, a data base, and omnichannel help (telephone, e-mail, chat). Basically, each are designed to enhance buyer relationships, however in numerous methods.
What’s the Salesforce AppExchange?
The Salesforce AppExchange is a web-based market for third-party builders and companions to record and promote purposes and integrations that stretch Salesforce’s performance. It is a key a part of the Salesforce ecosystem, providing hundreds of pre-built options for numerous enterprise wants.
Salesforce CRM review: Summary
After a comprehensive evaluation of Salesforce CRM, I find that the platform excels in several key areas, offering a robust set of core capabilities and extensive integration options. It’s a great choice in particular for medium-to-large enterprises, with a pricing structure and learning curve that may not be the best CRM for small businesses.