Gmail CRM tools are a great way to power-up your sales process. In this article, I review the best Gmail CRM tools.
If you have a Gmail account, then here is some good news for you. You already have access to one of the best CRM tools out there, Gmail!
You can’t run a business without a CRM tool. While you can certainly use Gmail as a CRM, there are a few Gmail extensions that transform Gmail into an even more powerful CRM.
All of these tools have full integration with Gmail and will help you manage your leads, prospects and customer data.
Streak, launched in 2011, is an extension that lives directly inside your Gmail. Like other Gmail CRM tools, you can install it as a Chrome extension. But what sets it apart from other Gmail CRM tools is that it also works with Safari.
Streak is considered to be “fully integrated” inside of Gmail because it is installed inside of Gmail and overlays its user interface on top of Gmail and replaces it with the CRM.
In this example you can see what your Gmail would look like with Streak installed. The biggest change is that you can see a pipeline view of your contacts.
Pros
- Has a 100% free option
- Works with Safari
- Track email opens and stats
- Pipelines feature
- Simple, easy interface
- Create templates
Cons
- Desktop is better than mobile
- Might be a little slow to sync
- Can take time to learn the system
- If you’re not always selling, can be cumbersome.
Pricing
- Free for 500 contacts, $15/mo for annual plan
Yesware was the very first simple CRM with Gmail integration that I tried when they launched in 2010. I loved that it worked straight out of my inbox and that I was able to track customers and any data related to the sale and project I was working on.
Over the years, Yesware has made countless improvements. The Pro plan (at $35/mo) gives you the ability to run decent email campaigns. This is a great way to ease into email marketing. Another wonderful feature — especially if you do a lot of your prospecting from customers over LinkedIn is the integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This makes it a breeze to follow-up with those connections.
Pros
- Plays nice with Microsoft Outlook.
- Has a meeting scheduler.
- Email templates.
- Campaign management and sales automation.
- Team members can share templates.
Cons
- Can skew data because it tracks statistics for emails opened by co-workers.
- You have to attach files one at a time.
- Syncing can be difficult.
Pricing
Back in 2009, Jon Ferrara, the founder of Goldmine, one of the first CRMs in the space, noticed two big problems with existing CRM technology; sales people weren’t using them because they hated entering contact information and existing CRM tools were more focused on the tool rather than the purpose of building and developing relationships with customers.
Nimble started out as a “Social CRM” because of its unique ability to automatically capture contact information from LinkedIn, Twitter and Google searches. Nimble was the first company to make this feature available as a CRM at a price point small business owners can easily afford.
Pros
- Automatically grabs contact information and fills it in
- Gives you the ability to start conversations with people you are loosely connected with.
- Ability to work inside of Gmail or inside the Nimble platform.
- One-to-One bulk marketing campaigns.
- Ability to created branded templates
- Simple but relevant email statistics
- Fully integrated with Microsoft 360, G Suite
Cons
- Doesn’t run complex automated email campaigns
- There are limits on group messages
- Not very customizable
If you build most of your relationships online and via social media, Nimble is the ideal choice for you. By far, the best feature is having the ability to automatically capture important information from contacts.
Related Questions
What are some other Gmail CRM tools?
Hubspot: A top-of-the-line full service customer management tool. It includes everything from a basic CRM and email marketing tool to an entire blogging platform. If you aren’t using anything and want a fully integrated system,
Copper: Launched in 2011, Copper sells itself as an easy to use gmail integrated CRM. This tool is focused on basic CRM and email.
Nethunt: While other tools are sales or opportunity focused, NetHunt is more agnostic and offers more flexibility for professionals who simply want to stay connected and manage client projects.
Zoho CRM: First check out the features and if you like it, grab it via the Zoho One suite, Zoho CRM is one of the original online CRM platforms that is extremely popular and low cost. The main CRM platform is overkill, but the Gmail integration is a way to ease into a powerful CRM. Only comes with a Chrome extension.
Ease Into CRM with Gmail
You’ve been living in Gmail for years, but now it’s time to up your game and start building and managing your customer relationships. Instead of learning a completely new CRM tool, you can ease into the whole customer relationship management process by simply adding on to your existing Gmail. I’ve shared the top three CRM add-ons for Gail that you and your team can use.