Features
Top Performing Features
Customer data management / contact management
The software acts as a single source for all customer data and enables users to access that data efficiently.
Category average: 8.6
Custom fields
Users can create custom fields to store additional information on standard and custom objects.
Category average: 8.4
Opportunity management
Users can track deals and create quotes.
Category average: 8.5
Social engagement
The software can facilitate and track engagement with customers via social channels.
Category average: 8
Sales Force Automation
This is the technique of using software to automate certain sales-related tasks.
Customer data management / contact management
The software acts as a single source for all customer data and enables users to access that data efficiently.
Category average: 8.6
Workflow management
The software helps automate parts of the sales process, such as sending emails, updating contact records, and following approval processes.
Category average: 8.2
Territory management
Users can defines salesperson territories based on customer or market characteristics.
Category average: 7.3
Opportunity management
Users can track deals and create quotes.
Category average: 8.5
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)
Users can perform tasks within their inbox, such as logging emails, creating contacts, and creating events.
Category average: 8.3
Contract management
Users can manage contracts, with features such as digital signatures, automated alerts, invoicing, and automated workflow for contract review and approvals.
Category average: 7.9
Quote & order management
Users can create, process and fulfill price quotations and sales transactions.
Category average: 8
Interaction tracking
Users can log and track all customer interactions through any channel, including social, email, phone and in-person.
Category average: 8.3
Channel / partner relationship management
The software allows for sales, territory, lead, order and account management for partners or OEM relationships.
Category average: 8
Customer Service & Support
This component of CRM software automates help desk, call center and field service management.
Case management
This includes incident/ticket creation, routing, escalation, and resolution.
Category average: 8.3
Call center management
This includes features such as call routing, recording and monitoring; call list management; autodialing; and scripting.
Category average: 7.7
Help desk management
This includes trouble ticketing, knowledge base, self-service, and service level agreement (SLA) management.
Category average: 8
Marketing Automation
This component of CRM software helps to automate and scale marketing tasks and the subsequent analysis of those efforts.
Lead management
This includes lead generation, scoring, qualification, routing, and nurturing.
Category average: 8.3
Email marketing
This involves the ability to send mass email to groups of people based on particular qualifications.
Category average: 8.2
CRM Project Management
This component of CRM software helps users initiate, plan, collaborate on, execute, track, and close projects.
Task management
This includes the ability to plan, track, collaborate and report on tasks.
Category average: 8.2
Billing and invoicing management
This includes automated invoice creation and billing.
Category average: 7.8
Reporting
Software provides a broad range of standard and the ability to build custom reports.
Category average: 8.1
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Reporting and analytics in CRM software includes sales forecasting, pipeline analysis, and automated dashboards.
Forecasting
The software helps users accurately forecast sales based on volume and conversion metrics.
Category average: 7.9
Pipeline visualization
Users can visualize the entire sales pipeline to identify trends, determine the effectiveness of the sales funnel, and optimize.
Category average: 8.3
Customizable reports
Users can create reports and dashboards unique to their needs.
Category average: 8.1
Customization
This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.
Custom fields
Users can create custom fields to store additional information on standard and custom objects.
Category average: 8.4
Custom objects
Users can create custom record types that allow them to store information unique to their organization, and link them to standard and other custom objects.
Category average: 8.2
Scripting environment
Technical users can write, run, and test scripts that automate common tasks or business rules via a standard or vendor custom programming language.
Category average: 7.5
API for custom integration
An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.
Category average: 8.1
Security
This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.
Single sign-on capability
The software system supports a centralized authentication mechanism allowing the user to access multiple systems with a single, centrally managed password.
Category average: 8.7
Role-based user permissions
Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
Category average: 8.6
Social CRM
This component of CRM software helps companies leverage social media in engaging with customers.
Social data
The software can integrate data and conversation histories from customers’ social profiles. This may also involve enhanced listening features such as sentiment tracking.
Category average: 7.8
Social engagement
The software can facilitate and track engagement with customers via social channels.
Category average: 8
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
This involves the CRM software’s ability to integrate with other systems, whether external or homegrown.
Marketing automation
The software can integrate with marketing automation software such as Eloqua, Marketo or Pardot.
Category average: 8.2
Compensation management
The software can integrate with compensation management software or sales commission software such as Xactly Incent or IBM’s Varicent.
Category average: 7.9
Platform
Mobile access
Users can access the CRM system via mobile or tablet device, and potentially leverage the unique capabilities of mobile devices, such as GPS and voice.
Category average: 7.8