Salesforce CRM Software: Reviews & Pricing

We’ve narrowed down Salesforce CRM’s best bits and drawbacks to help you figure out if this is the right system for your business. 

Salesforce occupies a giant space in the CRM market, taking up a share of around 20%. 

Its cloud-based software helps you manage leads, sell more efficiently, and increase productivity. The system is straightforward, intuitive, flexible, and able to meet the demands of various businesses. 

Salesforce is suitable for businesses of all sizes; however, it’s best suited for large or multi-layered businesses as you’ll need to invest time and money to make the most of this software. 

Salesforce is an incredibly comprehensive system, so we’ve conducted extensive research to help you see if this CRM software is the right fit for your business. 

What are Salesforce CRM’s features and benefits?

✓ Almost 100% customizable 

You can almost completely customize Salesforce, making it a flexible and dynamic system for your business. There are very few limitations when using this software, which is great as you can adapt it to your unique needs. 

You can customize it through point-and-click tools, or with code for more complex options. You can customize anything, including email templates, field types, dashboards and automated workflow tasks. 

This customizability provides your business with the tools to be able to easily adapt when necessary. You can continue to modify the system as your business grows and evolves.

✓ Third-party integration 

Almost every third-party app can be integrated into Salesforce. This is one of the reasons it’s so popular – you’re able to carry out almost any process with this software. Integration gives you the ability to seamlessly use most apps with Salesforce. 

You can integrate Salesforce with apps such as G-Suite, Slack, QuickBooks, LinkedIn, MailChimp and Dropbox. 

This means you can continue to use all the apps you love, and better yet, access them from one central place. This gives you a birds eye view of your business’s operations, and ensures that information, data, and tasks are all handled under one roof. 

✓ Workflow automation

Salesforce offers a simple point-and-click action for automating business processes. This automation increases efficiency and productivity, opening up room for you to focus on more important tasks. 

For example, you can efficiently organize and deliver an email marketing campaign as this system allows you to send automated customized emails in bulk. 

Automation can occur based on triggers such as user activity and time. Using it, you can streamline your day to day tasks, deliver customized correspondence to customers, and ensure that tasks are completed on time. 

✓ Great customer service features

The aim of a CRM is of course to manage relationships with customers in an easy, efficient and intelligent manner. You’ll be glad to know that Salesforce offers several great features for your customer service team. 

Tracking and managing phone calls with customers is vital for a great customer experience. Call management with Salesforce is fairly straightforward: you can record calls, make notes, and link a call to a customer, case or email. Effective case management helps your business deal with customer enquiries and problems easily. The advanced, intuitive software gives you the ability to link relevant cases, emails, information, and files. This means you can deal with queries quickly and efficiently.

✓ Sales features

The name might have been a giveaway, but Salesforce’s focus on providing fantastic sales features is good news for your sales team. 

Its system gives you the ability to manage leads (or ‘opportunities’ in Salesforce lingo) in a clever and effective way. Salesforce provides insights, reports, and the ability to track an opportunity at every stage. 

As a lead progresses, you can assign and manage tasks, dating them and viewing the entire team’s schedule. 

The great thing about CRMs is that you can conduct your entire business in one place. Even if your business is multifaceted and there are lots of moving parts, you’re able to manage and see various processes at once. 

✓ Insightful analytics and reporting 

Using the data you have on hand is key to making informed decisions in your business. And Salesforce does not disappoint in this department. 

Salesforce provides fresh CRM data which gives you the ability to:

• Analyze a customer’s journey every step of the way, gaining insight into how you can increase conversion rate
• Use data from Einstein, Salesforce’s resident AI, to find information you would never have found otherwise
• Create reports without relying on IT 

The dashboard is easy to use, intuitive, and provides a snapshot of your business at a glance. If you want deeper insights and data, you can easily create a report yourself by dragging and dropping filters, fields, charts, and groupings to put together a live report. 

How much does Salesforce cost?

Salesforce prices are only available in USD. 

At first glance, it seems that the pricing is fairly affordable. However, this pricing only covers fairly basic features. 

You’ll need to pay for extra features, such as the Einstein AI tool, which will cost you $50 per user, per month. 

Then there’s Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly ‘Pardot’) Salesforce’s B2B marketing solution, which provides complete marketing automation – with costs starting at $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. 

Despite the complex pricing, these add-ons are  one of the great things about Salesforce – you only pay for what you need. You can build your business a customized and dynamic system that is unique to your needs. Plus, you won’t find yourself with extra features that you’ll never actually use. 

The prices are presented per month, however you can only be billed annually. This may be limiting for some businesses. 

Is Salesforce CRM right for my business?

“Will Salesforce keep my data safe?”

Yes, Salesforce will keep your data safe. 

As it’s a cloud-based platform, your data will be secured in the cloud. Cloud-based storage is a safe way to have your data stored, because it protects your data from disasters, robberies, and unhappy employees. 

Salesforce utilizes Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology when you gain access via a Salesforce-supported browser. TLS uses server authentication and Classic Encryption, to keep your data safe and only available to registered users in your business. 

As well as security, there are other advantages to having data stored in this way: 

• There is no need to have expensive on-site data storage, saving money and resources.
• You can scale your business without needing to update your physical data storage.

“I’m on a tight budget. Is Salesforce a good fit for me?”

Salesforce’s complex pricing system means that initially it might seem fairly affordable. However, to gain access to the more advanced and comprehensive features, you’ll have to spend some more money. 

If you run a small business and you’re not in need of these features, you might be quite happy with the lower-tiered packages. There’s also no customization available, but as a new or small business you might find that this simplicity works for you. 

As your business grows, you might find that you need other features, and at this stage you can then add on the features you want. 

Salesforce doesn’t offer a free version of its software, unlike some other CRM systems, so you’ll have to shell out money if you want to use it. 

However, Salesforce does offer a 30-day free trial for all of its packages. This can help you figure out if the system is right for you without needing to make a commitment. The 30-day trial doesn’t ask for any credit card or payment details, so you won’t find yourself stuck if you don’t cancel in time.

What do Salesforce customer reviews say?

We’ve collected reviews from Salesforce users to give you real-life insight:

Expert verdict

Salesforce is the most popular CRM system in the world, and it’s easy to see why. Its advanced features, analytics, and customizability make this software one of the most comprehensive systems available. 

Small businesses and start-ups may struggle to implement this system effectively as there’s so much to learn and modify. There’s a pretty steep learning curve, and larger businesses have the resources to customize, learn, and apply this system more easily. 

As a new or small business, you might prefer something like Zoho. Although its free version is limited, it is much easier to set up and use.

We’ve given you our expert verdict on Salesforce, and you should have enough material to make an informed decision. 

If you’re still not convinced, you can use our free comparison tool to match you with suppliers customized to your exact requirements. 

Simply give us some brief details such as your team size, what you need a CRM system for, and what system you’re currently using. We then do all the work for you, and match you up with trusted CRM system providers that can cater to your needs. They’ll then be in touch with tailored, no-obligation quotes for you to compare. 

Our tool is completely free and is the easiest and quickest way for you to compare the right CRM systems for you. 

What other CRMs could I consider?

If you’re still not sure whether Salesforce is the right system for you, read our other reviews to find your best-fit software.