Email is the cornerstone of contemporary sales communication; it's where deals progress, follow-ups are initiated, and relationships flourish.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and precise tracking, CRMs are vying for dominance based on the robustness of their native email integrations.

While both HubSpot and Close CRM feature built-in email workflows, their effectiveness, usability, and impact on daily sales activities vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and swift, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most robust email integrations within any CRM—facilitating effortless sending, tracking, and automation of outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Robust email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a cohesive communication hub. Instead of toggling between tabs or relying on disparate tools, sales representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from one location.

• Centralized communication. All emails—both sent and received—automatically sync to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at the optimal moment without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Open rates, clicks, and replies are directly fed into the CRM to inform subsequent actions.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enrich contact profiles with context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates help teams maintain consistency and save time.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stages or contact activities.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, sales representatives can shift their focus from juggling tools to engaging in conversations that drive revenue. This distinction is what separates a good CRM from one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform that integrates marketing, sales, and customer service into a single contact database. Its email integration allows representatives to connect their personal Gmail and Outlook inboxes, enabling them to send one-on-one emails, log replies, and initiate sequences directly within the CRM or their inbox. Features like open and click tracking, templates, and shared timelines enhance visibility of email interactions across the entire revenue team.

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a sales platform designed for high-velocity inside sales teams, featuring integrated calling, SMS, and email. The built-in two-way email sync allows representatives to send, receive, and track messages seamlessly within Close, automatically linking every conversation to the appropriate contact and opportunity. With bulk emails, sequences, and performance reporting, email transforms into a structured outreach channel rather than remaining an isolated inbox.

Feature comparison of HubSpot and Close CRM

Integration Capabilities

HubSpot provides seamless two-way email integration with Gmail, Outlook, and any IMAP-compatible provider, allowing you to send one-to-one emails directly from contact records while automatically logging every reply in your CRM timeline. Its native scheduling feature writes meeting events back into Google Calendar or Office 365, complete with automatic guest invites and timeline entries for comprehensive visibility.

Close simplifies email integration: simply connect your Gmail or Outlook account, authenticate via OAuth, and any message linked to a contact will automatically appear in Close’s timeline. Although Close doesn’t natively sync calendar events, you can easily bridge meetings back into the CRM using Zapier or Google Calendar integration, ensuring your schedule stays in sync with your sales pipeline.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

HubSpot’s email synchronization functions almost in real-time with Gmail and Outlook, usually reflecting updates within seconds to a minute. After connecting your account, HubSpot establishes a continuous connection through OAuth, ensuring message data is consistently pushed and pulled so your CRM timeline remains current. This reliability is further enhanced by HubSpot’s global cloud infrastructure, which offers an impressive 99.99% uptime for its core services.

Close’s email integration delivers immediate two-way sync by utilizing OAuth-based connections to Gmail and Outlook. When a contact emails you, Close instantly logs it—eliminating the need for polling intervals or manual BCC. Outbound emails sent from Close are reflected in your email provider in real time, and this synchronization works both ways. For calendar events, you can connect a Google Calendar via Zapier for automatic updates, though these triggers run every few minutes based on your Zapier plan.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer powerful one-to-one sequences, allowing you to enroll up to 50 contacts simultaneously and send hundreds of personalized emails per user each day. Its intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder simplifies template creation, manages delays, and detects replies. Meanwhile, Marketing Hub can scale your campaigns to thousands of recipients, featuring segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, with the most advanced campaign features residing in Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users who lack this add-on encounter limitations on total sends and only basic reporting.

Close delivers seamless two-way email integration through IMAP/SMTP. Once you authenticate your Gmail, Google Apps, or Microsoft account, Close automatically logs every sent and received email, linking threads to the appropriate contact without needing manual BCCs. Although Close does not directly sync calendar events, its “Emailing” setup indicates that you can integrate both your work email and calendar.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer powerful one-to-one sequences, allowing you to enroll up to 50 contacts at once and send hundreds of personalized emails per user each day. With its intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder, you can easily create templates, set delays, and detect replies. Meanwhile, Marketing Hub can handle campaigns for thousands of recipients, featuring segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, since the most advanced campaign features are exclusive to Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users without this add-on may encounter limitations on total sends and less detailed reporting.

Close does not provide a traditional mail merge interface but enables you to create multi-step drip campaigns through its Workflows engine, seamlessly integrating emails, calls, and SMS within a single sequence. You can enroll leads, customize messages with templates, and let Close automatically dispatch steps at your preferred pace, logging every interaction in its unified Inbox. However, Close lacks a visual campaign builder and in-depth email campaign analytics, meaning you won't have access to open-rate trends or A/B testing insights within the interface.

Open and Click Tracking

HubSpot Sales monitors opens and clicks for every one-to-one email sent from contact records or through the Sales extension. It provides real-time desktop notifications and logs each event on the timeline. While click tracking requires a paid Sales Hub seat—free users can only see opens—you can easily check the total clicks per link in the email activity feed. For advanced attribution features, such as multi-variant link analysis across campaigns, you'll need Marketing Hub, as pure Sales Hub users won't access enterprise-level click analytics without the add-on.

Close automatically tracks opens for all emails sent from its unified Inbox, displaying open counts and timestamps beneath each message.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

With the HubSpot Sales extension installed, you can seamlessly view and edit HubSpot records—such as contacts, companies, and deals—directly within Gmail or Outlook. You can easily enroll contacts in sequences and log emails with just one click. A user-friendly CRM sidebar appears alongside your inbox, allowing you to create tasks, send template replies, and review recent interactions without switching between apps. It even displays lead scores and deal forecasts inline, ensuring that every action you take in your email feeds directly into your pipeline. However, if you don’t have a paid Sales or Service Hub seat, some features—like sequences and call logging—remain locked behind a paywall.

Close does not offer a native sidebar in Gmail or Outlook, but you can integrate it via Missive to manage contacts, leads, and opportunities right from your inbox. Emails sent or received in your mail client automatically populate Close’s unified activity stream, eliminating the need for manual BCCs and preserving context. However, you will still need to switch tabs to view pipeline overviews or dashboards, so while it’s not a fully in-inbox CRM, it serves as a well-synced companion.

folk CRM: The Ultimate Email CRM

folk empowers teams with a seamless, connected email workflow they’ve long desired. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing—all within a clean and user-friendly CRM platform. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top lightweight CRMs tailored for modern sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50, folk streamlines email operations to make them efficient rather than overwhelming.

Extract Intelligence from Emails

One of folk’s standout features is its ability to centralize communication and convert every email and call into actionable insights, thanks to native email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook, alongside AI-driven analysis. Teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations with a single click using folk's Recap assistant, which synthesizes information from emails and notes, providing context in seconds.
• Time follow-ups perfectly, as AI scans conversations to alert you when to reach out again and even drafts your responses.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine simplifies the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can develop multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and ensure every interaction is automatically recorded. Whether nurturing leads, conducting outbound campaigns, or re-engaging dormant opportunities, folk offers a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for additional tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically trigger emails, whether a deal closes or a new lead emerges.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

The AI Follow-Up feature in folk guarantees that no conversation gets overlooked. By analyzing your email history, it notifies you when a contact hasn’t responded, highlights stale conversations, and pinpoints the ideal moment for re-engagement. Acting as an integrated assistant, it keeps your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without requiring any manual tracking.

folk is available starting at $20 per user per month, featuring native email integration and sequencing, plus a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

To conclude, HubSpot excels with its comprehensive features and strong analytics, making it ideal for larger teams focused on detailed reporting and multi-channel engagement. Close CRM is tailored for high-velocity sales, offering seamless email tracking and bulk outreach capabilities. However, for teams that prioritize email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the best alternative. Its user-friendly interface, AI follow-up reminders, and robust email workflows ensure that email is not just a function but the heart of your sales operations.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.