Close is one of the fast-growing CRMs focused on enhancing your sales representative's productivity. Formerly known as close.io, today, Close.com offers a hassle-free interface that helps businesses scale their sales teams and grow revenue. But that's what every CRM does, isn't it? We understand where you are coming from, so we have researched and evaluated the product. Here's a detailed review of the features, use cases and advantages that can help you realize if Close CRM is the one for you. We will also detail the pricing plans to realize the affordability. So, are you ready to dive deep into this CRM with us and see how it fares from the others in the category?
What is Close CRM?
Close CRM is for sales reps and growing teams in small and medium-sized businesses. It can help sales teams manage their leads and contacts, prioritise them and work them towards conversion. Several automation features in the CRM can help businesses create a sales pipeline, build the funnel for specific clusters and improve the response rates for each campaign.
Using this CRM, you can onboard your sales teams in minutes and get them to work for the shared vision. Whether you want to optimize the sales pipelines, analyse the effectiveness of the workflows or monitor the KPIs, you work with a single dashboard.
The extensive productivity tools available with Close CRM ensures small-to-medium sized businesses can manage their sale and close deals faster. As a sales representative, you are more focused on selling, which allows you to reach a wider target market and convert faster. You can take a 14-day trial to determine if the CRM fits your requirements.
Who Uses Close CRM?
Close CRM offers extensive sales automation solutions to small-to-medium-sized businesses. The typical customers of Close CRM include freelancers, small-sized businesses, medium-sized organizations and non-profit establishments.
The Language Close CRM Supports
The Close CRM supports only the English language. Businesses that offer multi-lingual support may not find this CRM suitable, as it cannot translate or operate in any other language except English.
Does Close CRM Support Mobile Devices?
The Close CRM has a desktop app that you can open on a mobile device. However, according to our research, this product doesn't come with a separate mobile application. If your business has on-the-go sales teams, they may be impacted.
Does Close CRM Offer API?
Close.com offers REST API to strengthen app integrations and assure more value from the product. According to our detailed research, the product has included the highest protocols and best practices to define the REST conventions for the best API services.
The Integration of Close CRM with Other Apps
We have assessed the Close CRM, and it checked the box for integrations with several tools that can bolster your sales and conversions. It can easily integrate with top tools like Airtable, ActiveCampaign, Calendly, HubSpot Marketing, Drift, Clearbit, Gong.io, QuotaPAth, Make, Dropbox Sign, Driftrock, Zapier, Zoom Meetings, Help Scout, Gmail, Stripe and Docu Sign. If you want to learn about the possible integrations with Close CRM, please visit Close CRM Integration page.
Is Close CRM the Right Choice for Businesses?
According to our research, Close CRM is extremely efficient for all small and medium-sized businesses. In fact, if you are a one-person army, you can use the CRM to manage your sales pitches, improve your workflow and be more productive.
As the Close CRM suggests, they handle all the backend processes, including pipeline health management and effectiveness, while the salesperson is only responsible for managing the sales. We have noted that it offers a highly usable interface, which helps the sales team handle the movements through the application easily.
The multiple communication channels such as SMS, Email, Call, Zoom and Gmail calendar help the salesperson stay at the helm of the pipeline. These tools help identify the most crucial lead for the business, know which ones to follow through, and the leads that can be stalled for a bit. It will help improve workflow creation and outcomes for the sales teams. According to us, the smart views feature is an effective way of segmenting and creating small clusters for email or sms marketing.
A low learning curve and improved workflow automation can help the users of the CRM to improve their re-engagement and referral opportunities. As part of the automation, we noticed that the CRM offers exclusive integrations with top-notch tools such as HubSpot, Zapier and a few others. These integrations and communication are available across pricing plans, meaning you might get all the useful features in the lowest plan.
Like every CRM, we observed a few issues with Close CRM too. It doesn't come with a mobile application, which limits its usability in the offline and on-the-go states. You have customization possibilities but only with a specific high-end plan, which can limit the personalization options. Lastly, it doesn't offer multi-lingual support, as it is only available for English. If you are a core English-speaking country or have customers who speak English, this is your go-to CRM.
Close CRM: Is it Easy or Difficult?
We identify Close as a highly usable and accessible CRM. It is very easy for users to get started with and operate the different features of the CRM. The quick onboarding, ease of using simple yet multiple communication channels and quick-view dashboard make it an intuitive CRM. It comes with a smart search and view option, making it easy to search the tools or people within pipelines.
Close CRM Pricing Review
While researching Close CRM's pricing thoroughly, we discovered it offers three different plans. You need to spend anywhere between $99 and $699 per month to access the features of this software. We saw that each of these plans is billed annually.
The minimum number of users you can add to the system is three; the maximum is five, and you get it with the highest plan. On evaluation, we noticed that the CRM doesn't offer a forever-free plan. You can, however, take a 14-day free trial to see if it fits your organization. At the end of the 14 days, you need to upgrade to a premium plan.
Here's our detailed review of the pricing. We have listed the features of each plan and then compared the plans for a better understanding.
The Startup Plan
This is the most affordable plan of the three available for Close CRM. It is billed at $99 per month annually. You can add up to three users in a single plan. If you want to add more users, you must pay $29 per user.
The core features of the plan include Email and calendar sync for workflow productivity. Let's look at some of the features available with this starter plan.
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- You will get all the SMS, Email and other communication channels with this plan
- You can use smart views for better segmentation; this plan also offers excellent task management
- All types of integrations are available with this plan
- You can create only one sales pipeline with this plan. The plan allows you to include up to 25 custom fields
- The custom activity instances are limited to 250 per month for this plan
- If you want to use pre-built templates; only ten are available in this plan
- According to our evaluation, you can create up to 3 sequences for automation outreach activities
- The call recording allows you to retain the data for up to 10 days
The Professional Plan
It is billed at $299 per month annually. You can add up to 3 users for this plan. In case you want to add more users, you must pay $99 per month for each user. This plan includes all the features that are available in the starter plan. Additionally, you will get some extra features and points that help you manage the users. This plan allows you to create up to three multiple opportunity pipelines for sales activities. It also offers a power dialer unavailable in the starter plan. Here is a detailed feature view of the Close CRM professional plan.
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- You can create up to 250 custom fields with this plan for your workflow automation
- You can create up to five custom activities that can record the sales processes
- You will get unlimited pre-built templates for email marketing
- You get to build 10 sequences for automated workflows that can enhance productivity
- You get features such as Email and domain filtering along with Send As to make your email marketing personal
- This plan ensures you can retain the call records for 30 days
- While you get a power dialer with this plan, you may not get a predictive dialer and other important call automation features
- You can compare the users for their performance using the leaderboard, thus making it easier for you to assess.
The Enterprise Plan
This plan is billed at $699 per month annually. You get to add up to 5 users with this single plan. In case you wish to add more users, you must pay $139 per month per user.
This plan extends a feature that allows you to add custom objects, which is not available with any other plan. You can also implement custom graphs with this plan, another feature not available with the other plans.
In this plan, you can also define custom roles, permissions, and SLA for email communication. Here is a detailed look at the features available with this plan.
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- You can create 100 sequences for automation using this plan
- You get a predictive dialer in this plan
- Custom roles/permissions and objects are also part of this feature
- You can store unlimited contacts and leads
- You can create up to 10 sales pipelines for your business
- The enterprise plan ensures you can store the call records for as long as you want them
Close Pricing Review
The Close CRM plans are billed annually. You have a limited number of users for each plan. Here's a detailed comparison of the three pricing plans with the verdict.
| Factor | Starter | Professional | Enterprise |
| Customization | You cannot create custom objects with this plan | The professional plan does not allow custom objects creation | You can create as many custom objects as you want with this plan |
| Users | Three users per plan | Three users per plan | Five users per plan |
| Communication | SMS, Email and Call facility available | SMS, Email and Call facility available | SMS, Email and Call facility available |
| Call Recording | Retains up to 7 days | Retains up to 30 days | Retains forever |
| Automated Sequence Creation | Create up to 3 sequences in a single plan | Create up to 25 sequences in a single plan | Create up to 100 sequences in a single plan |
| Predictive Dialer | Not available with this plan | Not available with this plan | Available with this plan |
| Power Dialer | Not available with this plan | Available with this plan | Available with this plan |
| Meetings | You can schedule meetings and share them in your calendar easily | You can schedule meetings and share them in your calendar easily | You can schedule meetings and share them in your calendar easily |
Based on our evaluation of the pricing sheet, we believe Close CRM may not be completely cost-effective for your business. There is no free version, so you must choose a paid plan after your 14-day trial. We believe the starter plan could be useful to small businesses. However, the missing templates, customization options, and even the limit of sequences/recordings make it slightly expensive.
The enterprise plan covers all your needs; however, you can use the plan for only five people. If you are a medium-sized business, you might have more sales reps than five. This can add to the overall cost of managing the sales CRM for your business.
It is a good idea to check the product using the 14-day trial before you choose to upgrade.
Close CRM Features Review
Close offers almost all the fundamental features sales teams need to be more productive, manage their leads and automate the pipeline for increased conversions.
› Lead Management: The CRM allows you to store up to 25000 leads. If you go with the enterprise plan, you can store unlimited leads. Smart Views enable you to find and prioritize the leads according to their conversion potential.
› Contact Management: You can store up to 50k contacts with the starter plan. The professional plan allows you to store 5 lakh contacts, while you can store unlimited contacts with the enterprise plan. Contacts are the information about the lead.
› Sales Pipeline Management: Get a complete view of the sales pipeline from a single place. Know the profits you will likely earn, the total value expected from a single opportunity and other revenue/conversion details. Customize the pipelines for specific product/customer/sales rep categories
› Task Management: Easy and effective way to assign and manage tasks from a single place. You can create different sales-related jobs, assign them to the sales rep and check the progress.
› SMS Feature: In-app texting and pre-built templates allow you to design SMS customized to your leads and send messages without getting your phone out. You can manage all your texts from a single dashboard.
› Phone Call Feature: The phone tools like power dialer and predictive dialer allow you to improve cold calling and enhance lead conversion. The power dialer skims through your contact list and dials the leads automatically. A predictive dialer lets you call multiple numbers simultaneously until someone picks up.
› Email Templates: Pre-built email templates are available with all the plans. It makes choosing the design and creating your emailer easy and effective.
› Email Tracking and Scheduling: The Email tracking feature allows you to know if the user has opened the email and taken the action. With Email scheduling, you can schedule the Email to be sent on a particular date and time.
› Reporting and Analytics: Determine the health of your sales pipeline, fix the issues and design custom fields that can improve sales processes. Check the leaderboards to determine the high-performing sales rep in your team.
› Third-party Integrations: If you want to add other functionality to increase your organization's performance, you can integrate with multiple products, including HubSpot and Zapier.
Close CRM Support Review
Close CRM offers an extensive knowledge base covering most query topics. You can use the search bar to look for topics and solutions to your issues. It is an excellent self-serve product, which enables the user to work through the issues. In case you are unable to find resolutions in the knowledge base, you can email the support team.
Close doesn't offer SMS or phone support. It is limited to knowledge base and Email, which can make the wait a little longer. However, the best part of it being self-serve is that most of the queries are already identified and resolved.
Close Offers Support to Customers via:
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- Knowledge Base
- FAQs
Check out All the Industries that Use Close CRM
The Close CRM supports small-to-medium-sized businesses. It is also suited for freelancers and startups. Here is a list of all the industries supported by Close CRM
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- Finance Industry
- Manufacturing Industry
- Software and Technology Industry
- Education Industry
- eCommerce Industry
- Healthcare Industry
- Telehealth Industry
Close CRM Pros and Cons
Whether starting out or having a medium-sized business, Close CRM can help you manage and scale your sales team towards productivity. It has extensive features and a wide range of solutions that can help you convert faster. Let's look at some of the pros and cons of the CRM.
Pros
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- It is easy to get started and use
- You get multi-channel communication with all the plans
- A single dashboard to manage all your communication
- Assign tasks to the different sales reps from within the tool, thus boosting productivity
- Import your leads and manage them effectively
- VoIP calling is available for all plans
- Check the pipeline's health and fix the leaks for efficient pipeline management
Cons
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- No free plan is available
- There is a limit on the number of users in each plan
- The support comprises Email only; there is no phone/live chat option in the product.
Top Close CRM Alternatives
Close CRM is one of the finest products for small and medium-sized businesses. However, if you wish to browse and compare it with some of the powerful alternatives, we have them listed for you. Here are the top 10 CRM solutions that you can check and compare with Close CRM before concluding your choice.
Close CRM Technical Details
As we deep-dived into Close CRM, we got our hands on the technical details that can help you implement the solution. It will also help in decision-making.
Deployment
According to our research, you can deploy the Close CRM in multiple ways. Here's a list of all the deployment methods:
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- Cloud
- SaaS
- Web-based
- Desktop-Mac
- Desktop-Windows
Note: It doesn't offer mobile app deployment.
Training
If you want to get trained in using the Close CRM, here are all the possible methods:
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- Live Online
- Webinar
- Documentation
- Videos
Our Honest Opinion: Is Close CRM for You?
We conducted thorough research, deep-dived into the product and explored several resources to conclude Close CRM is one of the most usable, accessible and efficient CRM software. The extensive features such as pipeline management, task management and multi-channel communication help small and medium-sized businesses manage workflows and scale businesses efficiently.
This CRM software offers a 14-day free trial. You can switch to a premium plan once your trial version is over to keep your pipelines and sales. However, you don't have a forever-free plan with this CRM. Moreover, customer support is restricted to Email; you don't have Chat or Phone support available. Deployment doesn't cover mobile applications, which can be seen as a limitation by a few organizations.
Despite these limitations, Close CRM offers a definitive solution to small and medium-sized businesses. Even freelancers with a restricted budget and minimal requirements can benefit from this solution.
