Client Management Apps: The Best Tools You Can Find in 2024

It’s customer relationships that will make or break your business so you need a way to organize and optimize client management to maintain contact and interest while responding effectively to queries and sales inquiries. Introducing Customer Relationship Management tools AKA CRM systems. This tech streamlines your contact management, sales pipeline and lead management processes and more depending on the CRM software you choose so you can stay on top of every interaction with ease and maximize opportunities for sales.

Benefits of Using Client Management Software

Using a dedicated CRM tool provides profitable advantages such as:

Streamlining business operations

Your CRM system is your centralized hub for contact management. With a few clicks, you can find out how many leads are in your sales pipeline, send out a marketing campaign to a specific segment of your customer base, and check for any pending messages waiting for a response.

Improving workflow efficiency

A CRM system can be set up to autonomously complete tasks in response to assigned triggers. For example, your CRM system could automatically send a message requesting a review a week after a customer makes a purchase. It saves time and hassle when keeping up with customer communication.

Boosting productivity

With customer communication streamlined to a T, your team can be much more productive. The data and functionality available at their fingertips means they can complete tasks quicker. By saving time on repetitive tasks, they can focus on real-time conversations where the real value is.

Enhancing customer relationships

All this improves the customer experience because communication is speedy and personalized. Customer reps can focus on shortening wait times and providing value, strengthening customer relationships. Marketing campaigns can be targeted to specific segments of the customer base, improving open, engagement and conversion rates.

Data-driven decision-making

Most CRM platforms have reporting features that collect and process data to give insights on customer characteristics and behavior as well as KPIs such as retention and conversion rates. Analytics dashboards can be customized to your business goals, driving success. For example, if the sales forecasting dashboard falls short of your sales goal, you can introduce a new marketing automation that will generate more leads and sales.

Key Features to Look for in Client Management Software

There are a lot of different CRM platforms out there. Make sure the CRM you choose has the features you need to get the best possible results from client management including:

Contact management

A CRM needs to have a contact database with the contact information of leads and customers alongside their interaction history and informative demographics for easy segmentation. A searchable and sortable contact database ensures the usability of all collected data.

Task and project management

Your CRM should be functional so you don’t have to switch between tools for different customer communication tasks. The best CRMs allow you to assign tasks and projects to different team members so you can collaborate on client management tasks natively within the CRM platform.

Communication tools

Make sure the CRM has in-built communication tools available and integrates with third-party communication platforms like social media. It allows you to give your customers options for how they contact you and how you keep in contact with them. Plus there is consistency across communication platforms because all interactions are accounted for in the customer profile.

Reporting and analytics

Data is a massive driver of growth because it clearly shows you what’s working and what isn’t, trends to get on board with, and changes to prepare for. So a good CRM is able to produce reports on customer base demographics and behavior, lead generation, sales and conversions, and loyalty and retention to help you identify and overcome any blockages in the sales pipeline.

10 Top Client Management Software Tools

With that in mind, let’s run through the top CRM apps on the market and what you need to know about each of them.

Podium

Podium describes itself as a “CRM built for small businesses”.

Pros: It’s more than a CRM platform. The Podium platform also includes text marketing, payment, online review management and other solutions so it’s great for streamlining processes and automating workflows.

Cons: To get the most out of Podium, it’s best to move all covered processes to the platform including webchat and surveys which may be unexpected.

Star features: It highlights its capabilities in personalizing communication with detailed customer profiles and segmentation through the tags feature, and saving time with a contact database that allows you to message or request payments from customers at the click of a button.

Cost: Starts at $399 a month.

Honeybook

Honeybook describes itself as “an all-in-one clientflow platform for those who do it all”.

Pros: Honeybook has a load of great tools for closing sales and delivering projects with professionalism such as contract and workflow templates.

Cons: There aren’t as many tools for lead generation such as dedicated phone, webchat and text messaging tools

Star features: It highlights the features of invoicing, contracts, payments, scheduling and workflow automation.

Cost: Starts at $9.50.

Dynamics 365

Microsoft’s CRM offering is positioned as a system that “connects your teams, processes, and data across your entire org to create exceptional customer experiences and operational agility.”

Pros: Dynamics 365 seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft tools you may already rely on and has a modular nature in which you piece applications together across sales, marketing, customer service and more.

Cons: It’s best used with other Microsoft products like Outlook and Teams. You may struggle if you don’t already have that infrastructure in place.

Star features: It highlights its AI feature Microsoft Copilot and the low-code tools of Microsoft Power Platform for building and modifying workflows.

Cost: Each Dynamics 365 application is priced separately and per user with the Business Central Essentials app being priced at $70 per user per month.

Keap

Keap encourages you to “Grow revenue. Empower your team. Wow your customers.”

Pros: Keap is all about saving you time through workflow automation so you don’t drop the ball on a customer experience that sells.

Cons: While it has a lot of communication tools, it doesn’t offer much in terms of reputation management such as online review features and webchat functions.

Star features: It leads with its automation building capabilities, collecting contact information from landing page forms and optimizing the sales pipeline.

Cost: Starts from $159 a month.

ClickUp

ClickUp encourages you to “Save time and get more done”

Pros: ClickUp is great for visualizing the projects you’re currently working on and the leads you have in your sales pipeline.

Cons: It’s more focused on project management than client management so it lacks features like text marketing and webchat.

Star features: It prides itself on its offerings of visualizing pipelines, tracking and managing accounts, collaborating and streamlining customer workflows.

Cost: Starts with a free plan.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot’s CRM is positioned as making “your job easier” by providing “tools for everyone on your team”.

Pros: It’s a flexible CRM software that can support small business growth and scaleup enterprises and everything in between.

Cons: It lacks some features available from other CRM platform providers such as payment software and review management tools.

Star features: HubSpot highlights its highly functional features such as email tracking and notifications, prospect tracking and meeting scheduling.

Cost: Starts with a free plan.

Salesforce

Salesforce promotes its platform’s ability to “unite sales, service and email outreach in a single app.”

Pros: Salesforce is a traditional CRM with a longstanding community around it including learning models and user groups.

Cons: The different modules across sales, marketing, commerce and more have a varied pricing structure which can be confusing to navigate and decide what you need.

Star features: Salesforce is known for its sales forecasting software which can be organized in various ways including according to sales reps to identify top performers.

Cost: The small business starter suite is priced at $25 per user per month.

Bitrix24

Bitrix24’s CRM is sold as software that enables you to “Sell more. Sell better. Sell faster”

Pros: Bitrix24 is a single platform that covers a lot of needs, particularly for sales teams such as an automated sales pipeline and an omnichannel contact center.

Cons: There’s a lack of focus on building an online presence on review sites which is important for social proof, SEO, lead generation and closing sales.

Star features: It’s a CRM system known for its team collaboration capabilities and includes a free website builder.

Cost: Starts with a free plan for unlimited users.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM boasts the selling point of Superfast Work and Steadfast Growth.

Pros: This software has tools to help you build better customer relationships such as omnichannel communication and improve productivity such as workflow automation.

Cons: It’s a platform designed more for sales teams than cross-department teams which could limit usability.

Star features: Zoho CRM has a Command Center feature that includes Path Finder for insights on customer preferences and Journey Builder to adapt the stages of the customer journey.

Cost: Starts at $14.

Zendesk Sell

Zendesk Sell invites you to “Sell smarter, not harder”.

Pros: It’s a platform designed to bring together customer service teams and sales reps for continuity across the customer journey due to a full customer view and analytics throughout the pipeline.

Cons: It’s a CRM software that is very much focused on sales teams so it lacks key marketing features such as text marketing and review management.

Star features: Zendesk Sell highlights its productivity, customer experience and reporting features.

Cost: Starts at $19 per user per month.

If you’re interested in making your marketing 2x more effective, saving 10+ hours a week and getting 2.6x more reviews like our customers have, try out Podium, the CRM built for small businesses who refuse to stay small.