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6 Best Outlook CRM Software & Integrations 2022

Name: HubSpot CRM
Item: HubSpot CRM
Rating: 4.2
Author: J.R. Johnivan

Written By

J.R. Johnivan

Sep 8, 2022

2 minute read

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Outlook CRMs are full-scale CRM solutions that integrate with Microsoft Outlook natively or via a third-party tool. The best Outlook CRMs help salespeople capture and nurture leads via email, organize contacts, manage opportunities, and oversee the brunt of your pipeline while syncing key customer information between the CRM and email software. In this article, we examine the best CRM solutions that are compatible with Outlook to help you choose the right one for you.

Here are the top six Outlook CRM solutions for salespeople in 2022:

HubSpot CRM: Best overall Outlook CRM for pricing and features (free starting price)
Pipedrive: Best CRM to send advanced email marketing campaigns (14-day free trial)
Zoho CRM: Best CRM for tracking and converting marketing leads (free starting price)
Salesforce Essentials: Best CRM for long or complex sales cycles (30-day free trial)
Insightly: Best Outlook CRM for project management features (free starting price)
Dynamics 365 Sales: Best for simple, native Outlook integration (30-day free trial)

HubSpot CRM ranks at the top of our list for best Outlook CRM software, based on our scoring process. This is mainly based on its overall level of integration and interactivity with Outlook as well as its robust free tier. For more detailed information on HubSpot CRM and all of our top options, read our full evaluation below.

Note: All per-user prices require a one-year commitment unless otherwise noted.

HubSpot CRM: Best Overall Outlook CRM

Provides an easy way to access email templates, import lead and customer info into emails, track email activity, and more.

Price Range: Free to $1,200 per month (Sales Hub)

Overall Rating

4.2

Outlook Integration

4.3

Core Features

4.3

Pricing

4.1

Ease of Use

4.5

Expert Score

4.2

Customization

3.6

Pros

Free version available
Useful HubSpot sidebar
Automated daily reporting

Cons

Requires Office 365 subscription
Intermittent downtime
Mobile features are limited

HubSpot CRM is a full-scale CRM solution offering plug-and-play access to Outlook in all tiers, including the robust free plan. After integrating, you can see contact records directly next to your email conversations, access a template library and meeting scheduler link, autotrigger email campaigns and monitor their performance, and more. Start with the free plan for unlimited users, then upgrade to Sales Hub for advanced tools like conversation routing as you grow.

HubSpot CRM is great for companies needing a strong free platform, but upgrades are pricey for small teams that won't use the additional users included in paid tiers. For a free CRM with sales and marketing features, Outlook integration, and affordable paid plans, check out Zoho CRM.

HubSpot CRM Pricing

Free Plan: Support for unlimited users
Sales Hub Starter: $45 per month for 2 users
Sales Hub Professional: $450 per month for 5 paid users
Sales Hub Enterprise: $1,200 per month for 10 paid users
Additional users can be purchased for extra
Integration with HubSpot's free marketing, service, and operation platform tiers

HubSpot CRM Key Features

HubSpot Sidebar: View detailed contact and lead info without leaving your Outlook inbox.
Email Tracking: Easily log and track Outlook emails via the HubSpot CRM platform.
Email Sequencing: Establish email sequences triggered by certain criteria or time periods.
Email Templates: Streamline communications via email templates and canned snippets.

Pipedrive: Best for Email Marketing Campaigns

Helps users sync data between their Outlook and Pipedrive accounts and send advanced email campaigns to leads.

Price Range: $14 to $99 per user, per month (14-day trial)

Overall Rating

4.1

Outlook Integration

4.1

Core Features

4.5

Pricing

4.0

Ease of Use

4.1

Expert Score

4.0

Customization

4.0

Pros

Stable, reliable platform
Great mobile functionality
Voice recording & phone access

Cons

Could be more customizable
Reporting needs improvement
Steep learning curve

Pipedrive is a sales CRM with a visual UI and advanced add-on features. One such add-on is Campaigns, which makes Pipedrive the top email marketing CRM. When you buy Campaigns and integrate with Outlook, you can create templates, send drip emails to segmented lists with your company Outlook email as the sender, email with leads who answer your campaign, and measure your emails' performance, all while keeping both platforms up to date.

Pipedrive's Campaigns add-on turns the sales CRM into an email marketing tool, but some users want to pay a flat fee rather than paying extra. If this is you, look into Zoho CRM, which is also great for email marketing but doesn't require any additional tools outside of its tiers.

Pipedrive Pricing

Essential:$14 per user, per month
Advanced: $29 per user, per month
Professional: $49 per user, per month
Power: $64 per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 per user, per month (minimum 10 users)
Free Trial: 14 days for all plans
Pay for sales and marketing add-ons: Campaigns, LeadBooster, Web Visitors, or Smart Docs

Pipedrive Key Features

Two-Way Sync: Schedule automatic data syncs between Pipedrive and Microsoft Outlook.
Smart Email BCC: Auto-direct incoming emails to records within Pipedrive via BCC.
Activity Scheduling: Schedule actions and auto-link email contacts with deals and offers.
Data Control: Maintain full control over your data by regulating team members' access.

Zoho CRM: Best to Track Marketing Leads

Helps you segment and email marketing contacts and then track and convert them within Outlook.

Price Range: Free to $52 per user, per month (15- to 30-day free trial)

Overall Rating

4.0

Outlook Integration

3.7

Core Features

4.3

Pricing

4.1

Ease of Use

3.7

Expert Score

4.0

Customization

4.3

Pros

Lead management via Outlook
Highly customizable
Integrate Office or just Outlook

Cons

Some users report integration issues
Full Office integration only in high tiers
Steep learning curve

Zoho CRM is a marketing-heavy CRM good for companies that attract inbound leads and nurture them via email. When you capture leads into your CRM, you can segment them into lists, send relevant emails via the Outlook add-in or full Office integration, then track their activity. Crucially, when these marketing leads indicate interest in your offering or agree to work with you, you can convert them into a prospect or customer and attach a deal, all from Outlook.

Zoho CRM is a quality option, but its add-in recently replaced the Outlook plug-in and is confusing to some users, and full Office integration is only available in Enterprise. Consider trying HubSpot CRM for sales and marketing features and established integration with Outlook.

Zoho CRM Pricing

Free Version: Supports up to 3 users (full Office integration not available)
Standard: $14 per user, per month (full Office integration not available)
Professional: $23 per user, per month (full Office integration not available)
Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
Free Trial: 15 to 30 days for all paid plans

Zoho CRM Key Features

Sync Leads: Connect inbound or outbound emails with specific leads within Outlook.
Email Marketing: Segment leads into lists in Zoho CRM, then use Outlook to email them.
Case Conversion: Use emails to create new Zoho cases for leads or add to existing ones.
Lead Conversion: In Outlook, convert marketing leads into prospects or customers.

Salesforce Essentials: Best for Long or Complex Sales Cycles

Built for small businesses with big-ticket items, especially those that focus heavily on email nurturing.

Price Range: $25 per user, per month (30-day free trial)

Overall Rating

3.9

Outlook Integration

3.8

Core Features

4.2

Pricing

3.9

Ease of Use

3.5

Expert Score

3.9

Customization

4.2

Pros

Easily sort & filter contacts
Pipelines for leads & opportunities
Advanced custom reports

Cons

Customer support could be better
Difficult to set up & learn
Many tools only available via upgrades

Salesforce Essentials is a small business CRM offering email templates, campaigns, and Outlook integration. It also comes with tools made for companies with long or complex sales cycles, like separate pipelines for leads and opportunities plus custom reports and dashboards. When you nurture a lead or customer via Outlook and they respond, you can auto-update their record in Essentials, including where they sit within your pipelines, and then reflect that info in reports.

Essentials is the most affordable tier within the Salesforce Sales Cloud platform, but it doesn't offer a free version, and its best features and Outlook integrations require upgrades. If affordable, useful features are a priority for your team, consider trying out HubSpot CRM.

Salesforce Essentials Pricing

Essentials: $25 per user, per month
Free Trial: 30 days

Salesforce Essentials Key Features

Salesforce Files: Collaborate with your team on deal documents, presentations, and more.
Sales Cloud Scalability: Upgrade to higher tiers as you need Einstein or other features.
Communication Tools: In addition to email, speak with clients via live chat or the dialer.
Custom Reporting: Create custom reports and dashboards that show email performance.

Insightly: Best CRM for Project Management

Helps you manage and connect emails with leads, customers, and projects within Outlook, which is reflected in the CRM.

Price Range: Free to $99 per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating

3.8

Outlook Integration

4.1

Core Features

4.1

Pricing

4.0

Ease of Use

3.4

Expert Score

3.6

Customization

3.6

Pros

Easily import & export data
Team prioritization & assignments
Integrated project management

Cons

More rigid platform than others
Must use Insightly sidebar
Lacks direct data synchronization

Insightly CRM is a project management and sales platform great for teams that work with many different projects or contacts. Integrate with Outlook, then add the Insightly sidebar next to emails, which allows you to see project details, connect emails to projects, insert project-related templates, or even add a new project directly from Outlook and associate a sent or received email with it. This helps you keep all project-related communications organized within the CRM.

Although Insightly's sales and project management tools are useful, the platform is too rigid and clunky for some users. For a more user-friendly interface and strong tools for managing leads and new customers, consider HubSpot CRM.

Insightly Pricing

Free Plan: Support for 2 users
Plus: $29 per user, per month
Professional: $49 per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
Free Trial: 14 days for all paid plans

Insightly Key Features

Contact Deal History: Track and view your past deals on a per-contact basis.
Save and Link Emails: Save emails and link them to individual contacts with one click.
Task Assignment: Prioritize assignments and assign various tasks to your team members.
Project Management Tools: Close a deal, then convert it to a project for next steps.

Dynamics 365 Sales: Best for Native Outlook Integration

Ideal for current Microsoft users who want a simple way to connect and make the most of their Outlook account.

Price Range: $65 to $162 per user, per month

Overall Rating

3.7

Outlook Integration

4.9

Core Features

3.5

Pricing

3.0

Ease of Use

3.3

Expert Score

3.4

Customization

4.0

Pros

Web, desktop, & mobile versions
PC & Mac compatibility
Customizable to meet your needs

Cons

Lack of third-party integrations
Frequent performance issues
Steep learning curve

Dynamics 365 Sales is a Microsoft CRM with native Outlook integration, so it's a solid option for teams that heavily use Microsoft 365 programs and want a seamless way to connect them with a CRM. Attach emails plus appointments and meetings to contact records when using Outlook on web, mobile, or desktop, and insert a template, info article, or sales literature into a draft email from within the CRM. Upgrade for advanced customization, AI, and more.

While Dynamics 365 Sales is an easy button for teams embedded in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and looking for an simple way to tie their programs together, it's not as useful for those using tools outside of Microsoft's offerings. In this case, HubSpot CRM is a better choice.

Dynamics 365 Sales Pricing

Professional: $65 per user, per month
Enterprise: $95 per user, per month
Premium: $135 per user, per month
Microsoft Relationship Sales: $162 per user, per month; 10-user minimum

Dynamics 365 Sales Key Features

CRM App for Outlook: From your inbox, view contact and lead info or add new records.
Folder Tracking: Drag emails to Outlook folders for auto-tracking of all future interactions.
Global Search: Find specific records, keywords, or names within all Outlook and CRM data.
Server/Server-Side Sync: Data is always synced on the server to avoid losing key info.

How We Evaluated the Best Outlook CRM Software

In our evaluation of the top Outlook CRM software, we first split our criteria into six weighted categories, each containing more detailed subcriteria. From there, we gave all of our CRM options category scores out of five, which ultimately gave us a frontrunner in each category. We totaled the category scores to determine an overall winner for the best Outlook CRM, then we assigned primary use cases based on our findings.

Evaluation Criteria

We first looked at overall Outlook integration, then we considered the core features offered by each CRM and its monthly cost. We measured ease of use to ensure these options are user-friendly, then gave each solution an expert score, combining our opinion with the public’s. Finally, we covered customization for each entry to ensure that it can be tailored to users' unique needs.

Methodology weights

Outlook Integration 25%

Core Features 20%

Pricing 20%

Ease of Use 15%

Expert Score 10%

Customization 10%

Bottom Line: Best Outlook CRM Software

If you’re running email marketing campaigns with Microsoft Outlook or you nurture your customers via individual emails, you need a full-scale CRM software solution that helps you stay productive and organized. Finding one that works hand-in-hand with Outlook can help drive your efforts further and reach your sales goals faster. We’re confident one of these options will work for you according to your business goals; identify the one you think will serve you best, then try it out.

J.R. Johnivan

JR Johnivan is a contributing writer for Selling Signals and a self-identifying tech nerd with a background in programming and hardware. He uses his understanding of tech to help people make SaaS- and software-related decisions through comparative guides. For Selling Signals, JR writes about CRMs and related software to help readers choose the best option for their business.

6 Best Outlook CRM Software & Integrations 2022

How We Evaluated the Best Outlook CRM Software

Evaluation Criteria

Bottom Line: Best Outlook CRM Software

J.R. Johnivan

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