The 8 Best CRMs for Designers and Creative Agencies (Free & Paid)

Are you looking for the best CRM software for designers? If yes, you will find many designers asking for the same. However, it depends on the requirement of each designer. In the same way, the requirement would also differ from one agency to another. If you require a CRM for both, you must opt for the CRMs for designers and creative agencies. The best CRM in graphic design is the one that features you with a visual and well-designed CRM, intuitive UI, easy setup, customization, and activity notifications. The CRM for graphic and web design also reduces your admin work, unifies your tools, and customizes the sales management system and user-friendliness. Are you looking for a great user experience? Check for the list of top CRM software for creatives, web designers, and graphic designers now!

best-crm-for-designers

Our Score98/100
  • Pipedrive
  • United Kingdom
  • $14.90/month/user
  • Yes

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Our Score98/100
  • Salesforce
  • United States
  • Not provided by vendor
  • Yes

Visit Website

Our Score98/100
  • HubSpot
  • United States
  • Not provided by vendor
  • Yes

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What are the Best CRM Software for Designers 2023?

» Our score is based on user satisfaction (reviews & ratings), social media buzz, online presence, and other relevant information. If your software is part of this list, use this badge on your website and social media to let your readers know about your success.

List of Top CRM Software for Creatives, Web Designers and Graphic Designers Review

Pipedrive-best-crm-logo

1. Pipedrive – Well-designed CRM for designers

Our Score 98/100

About Pipedrive: Pipedrive is the best CRM software for any sized business. With a clear dashboard, easy-to-use features, and an expansive library of integrations with other apps, it’s the perfect CRM for anyone who wants to be more productive with their business strategies. Pipedrive provides the easiest way to manage your business and customer relationships. With its intuitive interface, advanced filtering tools, and powerful reporting capabilities, this CRM eliminates a lot of the hassles that come with keeping up with current opportunities.

Pipedrive Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“Using Pipedrive’s CRM is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We’ve seen our annual revenue explode, and the outlook just keeps getting sunnier” – Mitchell Workman

Pipedrive Reviews

Pipedrive

United Kingdom

501 – 1000

2010

$14.90/month/user

Yes

4.5

2400+ Reviews

4.2

1500+ Reviews

Salesforce CRM - Top CRM for Designers

2. Salesforce CRM – Top CRM for Graphic Designing Agencies

Our Score 98/100

About Salesforce CRM: Salesforce CRM is a software company that offers cloud-based customer relationship management solutions for small, medium and large businesses. Salesforce CRM manages the company’s relationships with current customers as well as potential customers and partners. Salesforce offers a range of features including phone, email, chat, social media monitoring and enterprise content management. The solution is available in numerous languages and offers thousands of plugins, including those that extend the system’s functionality beyond basic CRM to business analytics, email management and marketing.

Salesforce CRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“With Salesforce, we’re building a unified information source to help us reimagine collaboration across our entire platform. This will enable NBCUniversal to continue delivering the highest level of transparency, insights, and results for our customers.” – Linda Yaccarino

Salesforce CRM Reviews

Salesforce

United States

10000+

2003

Not provided by vendor

Yes

4.4

17000+ Reviews

4.3

12900+ Reviews

HubSpot CRM - Best CRM for Creatives & Web Designers

3. HubSpot CRM – CRM Solution for Graphic & Web Designers

Our Score 98/100

About HubSpot CRM: HubSpot CRM is a software application that primarily focuses on managing your business’s online presence and online marketing practices. The HubSpot CRM software is the backbone of every company’s website; it allows for managing and monitoring web traffic, tracking analytics, creating content for social media, and measuring success. Having access to HubSpot CRM can give you more insight into your customer’s behavior and customer relationship, which ultimately can help improve your company’s bottom line.

HubSpot CRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“One of the most dangerous things a software company can do is remain static, HubSpot does a great job of listening to its customers and keeping up with the shifting world of technology. It’s a trustworthy platform that will keep pace with whatever the future brings.” – Haley Irwin

HubSpot CRM Reviews

HubSpot

United States

1001 – 5000

2012

Not provided by vendor

Yes

4.5

3400+ Reviews

4.4

9500+ Reviews

Zoho CRM - Best CRM For Designers

4. Zoho CRM – Grow your business with Zoho CRM

Our Score 97/100

About Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM is a cloud-based platform that helps you organize your business and track your projects. It comes with a variety of features; this CRM has made it possible for anyone, regardless of their experience or level in their field, to manage their business effectively without having to worry about anything else. Zoho CRM offers numerous features to manage sales and business where you can find process management, sales enablement, sales forecasting, marketing automation, customization, team collaboration, etc.

Zoho CRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“With Zoho CRM, we experienced a 65% increase in our sales pipeline. We also managed to reduce our lead to real prospect time by 60%, which is huge. I would definitely recommend Zoho CRM to companies that are experiencing complexity with sales and marketing and witnessing rapid growth.” – K.C Watson

Zoho CRM Reviews

Zoho

United States

5001 – 10000

1996

Not provided by vendor

Yes

4.3

5900+ Reviews

4.0

2200+ Reviews

HoneyBook - Best Sales CRM for Designers and Creative Agencies

5. HoneyBook – Run your entire graphic design business on-the-go

Our Score 97/100

About HoneyBook: Honeybook is a fully-featured client and financial management software designed to serve small businesses. The software helps users simplify their business by providing tools like billing, contracts, and client communication that streamline the payment process in one place. In addition, automated payment and task reminders can be created based on the project.

HoneyBook CRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“There haven’t been tools as comprehensive as HoneyBook. It opened up the possibilities for me. Things change all the time and you need something dynamic that you can change on the fly. HoneyBook really replaces a need to have any physical documents and is way more interactive.” – Jennifer Domenick

HoneyBook Reviews

HoneyBook

United States

51 – 200

2013

$39.00 /month

Yes

4.8

500+ Reviews

4.5

80+ Reviews

Bonsai - Best Freelance CRM for Graphic Designers

6. Bonsai – Freelance CRM for Graphic Designers

Our Score 97/100

About Bonsai: Are you a freelance business owner who struggles to maintain an organized digital workspace and client list? Then, at Bonsai, your struggles will come to an end. Bonsai offers a variety of tools to help you manage everything from prospects to projects to contracts to payments. CRM software for freelancers includes client management, project organization, and collaboration with other companies.

Bonsai Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“I’ve been a Bonsai user for years. It has allowed me to grow my career as a fulltime freelancer especially with the ease of making contracts and collecting payments. Thanks, Bonsai for understanding what freelancers need at every stage of their freelance career.” – Diane Serra

Bonsai Reviews

Bonsai

United States

11 – 50

2015

Not provided by vendor

No

4.2

10+ Reviews

4.8

50+ Reviews

OnePageCRM - Best CRM Software for Design Agencies

7. OnePageCRM – A Well Designed CRM That Designers Love

Our Score 97/100

About OnePageCRM: OnePageCRM is a free and open-source web-based cloud application that allows users to create diagrams of their contact networks. Individuals can map the relationships in their personal or business life as well as track activities that involve multiple parties. With OnePageCRM, users can provide a list of other contacts for each person in order to get a clearer picture of who knows whom better and who is more connected overall. OnePageCRM’s updates are also automatically pushed to users real-time, meaning that users do not have to refresh data in order to utilize the most current information.

OnePageCRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“The process goes like this. We create a deal, send the quote, discuss it with a client, and then follow the Next Actions that start to organically unfold. That process keeps me focused on what needs to be done next. I would recommend OnePageCRM to any small business that want to grow their business. It’s a fantastic tool” – Quint Boa

OnePageCRM Reviews

OnePageCRM

Ireland

11 – 50

2010

$29.00 /month /user

Yes

4.8

60+ Reviews

4.7

50+ Reviews

Bigin by Zoho CRM - Best CRM Software for Graphic Designers and Web Agencies

8. Bigin by Zoho CRM – Best CRM System for Graphic Designers

Our Score 96/100

About Bigin by Zoho CRM: Bigin By Zoho CRM is a one-stop solution to manage and boost customer relationships. With the help of bigin, you can easily automate your workflow by sending personalized emails and tracking multiple projects with the help of various pipelines. A unique feature of this CRM is the stage transition rules, which makes it helpful in meeting the requirements of a project undertaken by your company. You can easily automate repetitive tasks and track progress with the customizable dashboard.

Bigin by Zoho CRM Features: Workflow Automation, Task Management, Project Tracking, Campaign Management, Communication, Productivity, Lead Capture, Proposal Management, Contracts Management, Questionnaires, Reporting & Analytics

“With Bigin I put the process in place just once, saving me 5 minutes per lead. Earlier I had to write the contact and company, and look up the company website. Now, I’m really happy about the automation. It’s a huge time saver.” – Lennard Timm

Bigin by Zoho CRM Reviews

Zoho

United States

51 – 200

1996

Not provided by vendor

Yes

4.6

120+ Reviews

4.6

80+ Reviews

Designers CRM Software Buyer’s Guide

» What is CRM Software for Designers?

CRM software for designers is a robust software for managing client-related activities with your designs, and it can also be used to manage design bookings. A CRM system for designers helps in tracking, organizing, and analyzing prospects, making management decisions, managing services or products, and providing customer service.

CRM software for designers offers features that help you streamline this process and boost productivity and creative freedom when working on graphic design projects like creating logo concepts or making flyers. CRM is software that helps manage the details of your project and all the phases. This includes managing clients, projects, files, tasks, activities, and communication.

CRM for creatives & web designers keeps track of creative activities like images and texts with a robust database system. You can use this application if you are running your website where you create artwork under different categories. Another essential thing to note is that the CRM system for designers enables you to create an area for sharing your creations with partners or colleagues helping you out on a project. This can be a great way to collaborate with others, better plan your project, and make it a success.

» What Benefits of CRM Software for Designers?

Translating a beautiful idea into a tangible product is a tricky business. From creating the prototype to marketing, sales and conversion, there are many ways to turn that creation into something people want and need. But with so much to worry about in this complex process, it’s hard not to overlook the little things - like CRM software for graphic designers. Here are some benefits:

    • Sales and Production Management

Sales management is one of the most important aspects of bringing a new product to market. And if you have enough confidence in your design, you’ll want to see if there’s any interest in your creation. Designers often use surveys for this purpose. But survey software will ensure you get trustworthy feedback from your potential customers. The survey software will also help you track who’s interested in your product so that you can follow up with the right people.

A common problem for designers is how to keep their team - or even their entire company - informed and updated on the product’s progress. This is where design CRM software comes in. Design CRM software like Salesforce helps you manage the entire sales process from start to finish. From storing important information about your contacts to tracking their interests and needs, designing CRM software will help you increase productivity, reduce costs and ensure the timely delivery of your products.

    • Reports and Analytics

The ability to analyze data is crucial to managing virtually any business. And when it comes to sales, analyzing customer information can tell you a lot about where your business stands and what you need to do next. Design reporting software lets designers quickly collect customer information directly from their feedback forms and surveys.

    • Increased Customer Retention Rates

Design CRM software can be used in several ways to boost customer retention rates. One method is to track who’s coming and going from your product so that you know which customers are turning out to be loyal and which aren’t. Another tool is lead scoring - marketing automation software that lets you segment your database by gender, age, interests, and other factors to send more targeted marketing messages.

    • Creates more effective campaigns

With a CRM, you’ll be able to track your sales and marketing campaigns in real time. This will help you stay on top of things by making changes in a timely fashion. With the proper CRM software for graphic designers, you can make selling your product as easy as making a sale at a used-car lot. By accurately tracking your customer data and watching the activity of your database, sales and production management software will help you to make informed decisions about what’s necessary next.

    • Build stronger relationships

The end goal of using CRM software for graphic designers is to build stronger relationships with your customers and potential customers. By sharing data with your entire team, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about future opportunities and meet the needs of more people.

    • Less time spent on data entry

With production management software, you’ll be able to track every aspect of your business in real time, saving you a lot of time lost on data entry.

    • Better accuracy for reporting purposes

By upgrading your design CRM software, you can ensure that all the information is accurate, including your track record with sales and manufacturing, which increases your credibility among potential clients.

» Features of CRM Software for Designers

If you're a designer, chances are you've considered using design CRM software — but which one should you choose? If a design firm has multiple designers operating in different locations, the answer might be different from if it had just one. Here are some features that your CRM for web designers must have:

    • Collaboration

When starting a design firm, the first question is, "How do we collaborate?" If it's just a couple of people, you might be able to use email or a shared drive system. This works fine, but it becomes an inefficient and confusing system if you end up with ten or more designers. CRM for web designers allows designers in different locations to collaborate on projects, PowerPoint presentations and spreads, detailed designs, etc., all from one central location, which any client can access.

    • Document management

Your clients will no doubt need to see your designs and present them in the final stages of the project. In this situation, all designers must be able to log into their folders and create, update, organize and comment on documents. CRM software for graphic designers comes with a host of features that allow you to store documents, such as CVs, slideshows, presentations, etc., in one central location where any designer can access them. This also allows designers to collaborate on projects as they are in progress — it's a fantastic way of ensuring all parties have access to all the information they need.

    • Project management

The next natural step for a designer is to plan, coordinate and manage the process from beginning to end. There are many aspects to managing a project, and CRM software for designers and design agencies helps you manage all of them — which can be difficult for one person to do quickly. For example, planning, budgeting, and day-to-day task scheduling can all be managed easily with CRM software, so you don't need to contact each designer.

    • Presentation management

While planning your next project, it's worth noting what your prospects will be looking at first: designs or presentations. All designers will be accustomed to creating high-end presentations using PowerPoint, but they usually function independently rather than collaboratively. Clients are increasingly requesting that the designer make the presentation so they can get a feel for how their finished product will look. As you can see, this requires the designer to know how to create slideshows and other presentations. CRM software for designers and design agencies allows you to create detailed slideshows for your presentations — all you need to do is add images and graphics from your design portfolio and then share them with your client.

    • Branding

When pitching for a new business, you must tell the client how your business will be branded. This can be done using your portfolio and explaining your company name — but a better option would be to show your clients how their new logo will look and function on their website. You could design this presentation yourself, but it's proven that clients prefer it if you don't. It's much better if you create a beautiful logo that uses elements of their existing brand name in the design — then use it in your pitch. The first few meetings with them are crucial because they will form an opinion about you as an individual and about your business before you even get started.

    • Tracking payments

You might be the most talented designer in the world, but you won't be able to eat if clients don't pay you. This means having an efficient and intuitive system for tracking payments is essential. CRM software for designers will help you manage your client database, which is fundamental to getting the work and staying in contact with existing clients. It'll also help you follow up on outstanding payments and track their progress so that you can adequately account for them when they pay.

    • Invoicing

If your client has paid you, it's time to invoice them for the work carried out. This needs to be done efficiently so that you can concentrate on the job. CRM software for designers will already contain a client database, a payment tracking system, and other essential pieces of information. So you'll only need to add a few extra details, such as job name and invoice value. This will save you a substantial amount of time.

    • Third-party integration

There are dozens of third-party web services that can work together with your CRM software.

For example, you could use a booking service from your client's website to help them manage their bookings — or integrate their stream of new clients with other systems like email marketing campaigns and WordPress blogs. These methods enable you to build websites and manage contacts in one place, which removes the requirement for multiple applications and databases.

    • Dependency management

The last point of importance stresses the importance of dependency management: if one system goes down, everything else stops, too — so it's vital to set yourself up so that your systems aren't dependent on any other software applications.

    • Lead Generation

Lastly, suppose you're in the very early stages of starting your business. In that case, it's worth noting that you can combine CRM software for designers with lead generation tools to create a contact database for every client that has ever used your services. This is a great way to grow your business into something much more significant. It allows you to instantly connect with many potential clients without spending countless hours creating new websites and marketing collateral.

» How much does CRM software for Designers Cost?

There are some hidden costs associated with CRM software for designers, and it's not hard to overlook them. For starters, even if you are a solo designer, CRM software will still set you back at least $20-$300 per month. This might seem like no big deal if your business is doing well. Still, because many designers are freelancers without employees or other overhead expenses, this can quickly add up and start cutting into the little profit margin they have.

CRM software is going to require a significant amount of training and getting used to it before you can start using it effectively. That's why the best CRM for graphic designers providers all offer free trial periods so you can make sure the system is customized to your needs. The trial usually lasts for a month or two, but this at least gives you some time to set things up, enter your clients and projects, and start seeing results. Most of the vendors provide extensive training on how to use their products.

If you're starting and have to use the basic package, don't expect to see a lot of ROI for at least a few months. That's why it's so important to get the most out of what you pay, so check out some of the suggestions below on maximizing your investment. The best CRM for graphic designers is only as good as how well it works with your other marketing strategies. Many designers often try to set up their online store and email list without first setting up their CRM system, which can lead to months of wasted time and money if you start misusing it or don't know better.

» How to Choose the Best CRM Software for Designers?

When it comes to picking CRM software, designers have a lot of options. Which one is the best? Well, no one can answer that question for you, but there are some things you can do to decide.

    • Determine the business you want to run

Do you want to run your own business, do freelance work, or do both? If you know this ahead of time, it will help with deciding which software to choose.

    • Check your budget

How much are you willing to spend on CRM software? It's going to depend on what kind of company it is and how much capital they have.

    • Consider time management needs

If time management is a significant concern for the design company, then Salesforce might be an option. In cases where there is a lot of staff turnover or high project turnover, Basecamp is worth looking into because it can accommodate short-term projects and offers increased visibility over sales leads.

    • Check if there’s a free trial available

There are a lot of CRM apps that have free trials, so you can try them out before you make your decision. This can be very helpful in deciding which one to go with.

    • Get employee feedback

If you have staff, then they're the ones who deal with customers more directly, so get their input on their needs and how the CRM software will impact them.

» Conclusion

If you’re not using CRM software, it can be hard to keep track of everything happening with your customers. Your business will lose many potential deals if you don’t have this tool in place. No matter how well you remember your last meetings, you won’t be able to keep track of all the information and details. Therefore, make sure to have the best CRM software for your design agency.