Email is the cornerstone of modern sales communication, facilitating deal progression, follow-ups, and relationship building.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and accurate tracking, CRMs are competing more on the effectiveness of their native email integrations.

While both Pipedrive and Close CRM provide built-in email workflows, their functionality, user experience, and influence on daily sales tasks greatly vary. For teams prioritizing simplicity and swift, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the most streamlined and powerful email integrations available in any CRM, allowing users to send, track, and automate outreach seamlessly from their workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a cohesive communication center. Rather than toggling between tabs or relying on disjointed tools, sales reps can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from a single interface.

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

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, sales reps can shift their focus from juggling tools to engaging in conversations that drive revenue. This distinction is what sets apart an average CRM from one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is Pipedrive?

Pipedrive is a sales-driven CRM designed around a visual pipeline that enables representatives to monitor deals from initial contact through to closure. Its email sync feature integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and other IMAP providers, ensuring that every message is automatically logged to the appropriate contact and deal. With a built-in sales inbox, tracking capabilities, and basic campaign functionalities, teams can centralize their outreach and pipeline updates, eliminating the need to juggle multiple tools.

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a sales platform tailored for high-velocity inside sales teams, integrating calling, SMS, and email functionalities. With its built-in two-way email sync, representatives can send, receive, and track messages directly within Close, with each conversation automatically associated with the correct contact and opportunity. Features such as bulk emails, sequences, and performance reporting transform email into a structured outreach channel rather than an isolated inbox.

Feature comparison of Pipedrive and Close CRM

Integration Capabilities

Pipedrive seamlessly integrates with Gmail and Outlook (with IMAP fallback for other providers), automatically capturing every inbound and outbound message tied to the appropriate contact or deal record. With the Smart Email BCC address, you can log messages without leaving your email client—just add the dynamic BCC, and Pipedrive takes care of the rest. Additionally, native calendar integrations for Google and Microsoft ensure that all your meetings are automatically displayed on contact timelines, providing a comprehensive view of every customer interaction.

Close offers straightforward email integration: simply connect your Gmail or Outlook account, authenticate via OAuth, and every message associated with a matched contact will automatically populate in Close’s timeline. Although Close doesn’t natively sync calendar events, you can easily integrate meetings back into the CRM using Zapier or Google Calendar, guaranteeing that your schedule stays in sync with your sales pipeline.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Pipedrive’s email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook is engineered to operate every few minutes, striking a balance between promptness and system efficiency. It captures both outbound and inbound messages and matches them to contacts or deals in under five minutes, ensuring that you seldom face missing or delayed logs. The IMAP fallback adheres to standard IMAP IDLE protocols for push notifications, providing near-instant updates for compatible providers.

Close’s email integration offers immediate two-way synchronization by utilizing OAuth-based connections to Gmail and Outlook. When a contact sends you an email, Close logs it instantly—eliminating the need for polling intervals or manual BCC. Outbound emails dispatched from Close are reflected in your email provider in real time, and the same applies to incoming emails. For calendar events, you can connect a Google Calendar through Zapier for automatic updates, though the triggers operate every few minutes based on your Zapier plan.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

For users on Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing feature enables you to select up to 100 contacts from any list, allowing you to send bulk messages with merge tags and track replies. Additionally, Pipedrive Campaigns (available as an add-on) offers a specialized module for crafting email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates. All replies are automatically linked to the appropriate deal or contact. However, it's worth noting that the Campaigns add-on comes with an additional cost, and its reporting capabilities are somewhat limited compared to dedicated email marketing platforms.

Close delivers seamless two-way email integration through IMAP/SMTP: after authenticating your Gmail, Google Apps, or Microsoft account, Close automatically logs every sent and received email, linking conversations to the correct contact without the need for manual BCCs. While Close does not natively sync calendar events, its “Emailing” setup indicates that you can synchronize both your work email and calendar.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

For users on Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing feature allows you to select up to 100 contacts from any list to send bulk messages that include merge tags and reply tracking. Additionally, Pipedrive Campaigns (available as an add-on) offers a dedicated module for creating email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates. All replies are automatically linked back to the appropriate deal or contact. However, keep in mind that the Campaigns add-on comes with an extra cost and provides more limited reporting compared to standalone email marketing platforms.

In contrast, Close does not provide a traditional mail merge interface but enables you to create multi-step drip campaigns through its Workflows engine, integrating email, calls, and SMS into a single sequence. You can enroll leads, customize messages with templates, and allow Close to automatically send steps at your preferred pace, with all interactions logged in its unified Inbox. Nonetheless, Close lacks a visual campaign builder and comprehensive email campaign analytics, meaning you won't find open-rate trends or A/B testing insights within the user interface.

Open and Click Tracking

Pipedrive offers the “Track email opening” and “Track link opening” options, ensuring that every sent message records opens and clicks, complete with counts and timestamps available in the Mail tab. You can easily enable or disable tracking for each email and view who clicked which link right in the deal view. However, Pipedrive's reporting is limited to basic open and click rates—there's no built-in funnel visualization or heat-map insights unless you export the data to a BI tool.

In contrast, Close automatically tracks opens for any email sent from its unified Inbox, displaying open counts and timestamps beneath each message.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Pipedrive’s Gmail Add-on seamlessly integrates a side panel into your inbox, allowing you to view contact and deal information, update stages, and add new activities directly from Gmail. With instant access to Smart Email BCC, templates, and tracking options without leaving your inbox, you can create new leads or deals at the click of a button. It effectively transforms your mailbox into a Pipedrive cockpit. However, this in-inbox functionality is limited to Chrome or Edge—there's currently no equivalent add-on for desktop Outlook.

On the other hand, Close doesn’t offer a native sidebar within Gmail or Outlook. Instead, you can utilize the Missive integration to manage contacts, leads, and opportunities directly from your inbox. Emails exchanged in your mail client automatically populate Close’s unified activity stream without the need for manual BCCs, maintaining context. However, you will still need to switch tabs to view pipeline overviews or dashboards, making it a well-synced companion rather than a complete in-inbox CRM.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk delivers the seamless, interconnected email workflow that teams have been seeking. It consolidates communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing—all within a sleek and user-friendly CRM. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top lightweight CRMs for contemporary sales and partnership teams.

Specifically designed for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50 members, folk streamlines email operations without overwhelming users.

Extract Intel from Emails

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

• Quickly recap past conversations with just one click using folk's Recap assistant, which gathers intelligence from emails and notes to generate a summary, providing context in seconds.
• Follow up at the optimal time as AI scans conversations to alert you when it's time to reach out to a contact and even draft a response.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine allows you to effortlessly create automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can design multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and ensure every interaction is logged automatically. Whether nurturing leads, managing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging inactive deals, folk provides a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow, eliminating the need for separate tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically trigger emails, such as when a deal is closed or when you gain a new lead.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk’s AI Follow-Up feature guarantees that no conversation slips through the cracks. By analyzing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn’t replied, highlights conversations that have cooled off, and pinpoints the ideal time to reconnect. It's like having a built-in assistant that keeps your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without any manual tracking.

folk starts at a competitive $20 per user per month, includes native email integration and sequences, and offers a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

Pipedrive excels with its visual pipeline and robust email sync, making it ideal for teams seeking straightforward email management. Close CRM integrates calling and SMS alongside email, catering to high-velocity sales teams with its fast, two-way sync. However, for teams that prioritize email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the superior choice. Its seamless workflows, AI-driven follow-ups, and user-friendly design transform email into a powerful revenue engine, making it the best alternative for modern sales teams.

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