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An ecommerce CRM is software that helps you understand your online customers, keep their data organized, and manage online sales or marketing activities. The most effective options offer marketing automation, so we looked at both CRMs and marketing software that help you manage leads and contacts. Then, to help you choose the best platform for you, we examined the top options and uncovered the six best, including an overall winner.
Here are the six best ecommerce CRM and marketing software:
Per our evaluation, ActiveCampaign is the best ecommerce CRM, scoring the highest among six options and tying for first in ease of use and customer support. However, all platforms on the list are good options for ecommerce and several scored highly in one category or another. Keep reading to find out how each option scored in terms of cost, core features, and more.
Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.
Helps you grow your online store with robust revenue-driving features and marketing tools.
Price Range: $29 per user, per month to $149+ for 5+ users (14-day free trial)
Pros:
Cons:
ActiveCampaign is a CRM and automation platform whose email marketing capabilities earned it a top spot in our guide to the best lead nurturing software. Automate your targeted drip campaigns by setting up autoresponders to remind your customers to purchase items in their cart or to feature a discounted price for a product they might want. Upgrade to higher tiers to leverage AI content generation and product catalogs for more robust marketing campaigns.
While ActiveCampaign provides a wealth of no-cost marketing tools specific to your ecommerce business, it doesn’t offer a fully-featured free plan. If having a free-forever platform is important to you, check out Zoho CRM.
Provides robust tools to build your one-stop-shop exactly the way your business needs it.
Price Range: Free to $52 per user, per month (15- to 30-day free trial)
Pros:
Cons:
Zoho CRM is an ultra-flexible sales software that allows ecommerce businesses to customize the way they market to, sell to, and support customers. Capture key information about your shoppers via custom web forms and target them with the right store promotions using the data you’ve gathered. Then, integrate it with third-party apps like shipping carriers, payment gateways, and email marketing platforms so you have more control over your store operations.
Zoho CRM works well for niche ecommerce companies that need a customized solution, but navigating through it can be overwhelming. If you’re looking for a user-friendly platform with great customer support, try ActiveCampaign, which won in ease of use and customer service.
Offers premium marketing tools you can purchase separately to optimize your online store.
Price Range: $14.90 to $99 per user, per month (14-day trial)
Pros:
Cons:
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM that offers robust add-ons to boost your ecommerce store’s customer retention. Leverage LeadBooster’s web form tool to capture your leads’ information and its live chat function to interact with your shoppers via bots and human reps. Then, create personalized emails or send out special offers via the Campaigns add-on using its drag-and-drop editor and templates you’ve saved from your previous marketing activities.
While Pipedrive is a good option for ecommerce companies looking for premium add-ons, its reporting tools are difficult to use. If you’re looking for a CRM that offers robust but easy-to-use reports and dashboards, check out Metrilo.
Helps teams manage their ecommerce activity with options to upgrade for more functionality.
Price Range: Free to $3,600 per month for 10,000 contacts (Marketing Hub)
Pros:
Cons:
HubSpot CRM is a free all-in-one sales, marketing, and contact management solution that’s also rated as one of our top WooCommerce CRMs. Use its free plan for ecommerce marketing tools such as email campaigns, ad management, and invoice templates. Upgrade to paid plans for advanced features like omnichannel marketing automation and custom reporting. You can also integrate with third-party apps like Stripe or use multiple currencies to manage your payments.
Although HubSpot CRM offers great premium upgrades for online stores, they can be pricey for smaller businesses. If having more affordable upgrades is important to you, learn about Zoho CRM, which won in the pricing category.
Combines a built-in contact management system with an ecommerce platform for online sellers.
Price Range: $29 to $299 per month for 2 to 15 users (3-day free trial)
Pros:
Cons:
Shopify is an ecommerce platform focused on helping launch online businesses, with no coding or design skills required. One of the many tools the platform offers is a simple native CRM for seamless management of customer information, email marketing, cart recovery, reporting, and more. Shopify is good for online store owners who prefer to maintain their ecommerce functions and customer database in one software solution to save time and stay organized.
While Shopify is a good option for businesses that need robust ecommerce tools plus CRM functions, its marketing automation isn’t the best. If you need a software that offers powerful recipes for automating marketing processes, try ActiveCampaign.
Provides companies with actionable customer insights and comprehensive marketing data.
Price Range: $199 to $299+ per month for unlimited users (14-day free trial)
Pros:
Cons:
Metrilo is an ecommerce growth platform that helps brands gather customer data to market their products to shoppers and improve buyer retention. Use tools like real-time analytics, list segmentation, and drip campaigns to reach your customers. Then, monitor your marketing channels, referrals, and coupons so you know exactly what drives sales for your business. You can also generate correlation reports for an in-depth analysis of how your products perform.
Although Metrilo is a robust analytics platform, its CRM features are only available at higher tiers. If you’re looking for a compact CRM platform with great reporting capabilities, check out Zoho CRM.
The best options for ecommerce platforms include these functions:
Store, organize, and manage your contact data, such as your interactions with your leads and customers, in a secure location that you can easily access.
Monitor your customers’ behavior, such as their website visits, shopping activities, social media engagement, and more to create personalized marketing strategies.
Segment your customers and design marketing campaigns based on their demographics, preferences, and more.
Create attractive online stores by customizing your website or choosing from pre-built ecommerce-specific templates.
In our evaluation, we defined six weighted categories based on the aspects important for ecommerce businesses. Then, we identified several subcriteria under each category and scored each one of them, which summed up to a total score out of five. Lastly, we determined the overall score for the best ecommerce CRM software and identified a use case for each option.
An ecommerce CRM is an industry-specific CRM that combines sales and marketing functions to help you attract and manage prospects through email and social media marketing, whereas a traditional CRM is more about outreach and building relationships. Hence, we gave cost and core features the most weight, followed by ease of use. We also evaluated each CRM’s customer service, customization, and integration to round out our list.
We evaluated each option based on subscription costs, free trial periods, billing options, and/or free plan offered.
Criteria Winner: Zoho CRMWe examined each CRM’s core offerings, like contact management, inventory management, email marketing, multiple languages and currencies, and more.
Criteria Winner: Multiple winnersWe looked at verified user reviews on review sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. We also assessed how comprehensive each option’s knowledge base or resources are.
Criteria Winner: Multiple winnersWe examined feedback from real users on G2 and Capterra and considered if email, chat, and phone support were included in each plan.
Criteria Winner: Multiple winnersWe assessed each CRM’s ability to create email drip campaigns, website content, sales funnels, reports, dashboards, and more.
Criteria Winner: Zoho CRMEcommerce platforms should sync well with other apps specific to different business needs. Because of this, we examined how each option syncs with third-party integrations for accounting, social media, retailers, and payment channels.
Criteria Winner: Multiple winnersEcommerce platforms provide tools needed to run a successful online B2C or B2B business. However, you also need a way to manage your growing customer database to understand your customer and why they buy. That’s why you need a reliable CRM software to organize your customer data and automate marketing. If you’re specifically planning to manage your ecommerce business via WordPress, you can check our list of the best WooCommerce CRMs.
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