Email remains the cornerstone of contemporary sales communication, serving as the platform where deals advance, follow-ups occur, and relationships flourish.

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

While both Pipedrive and Monday CRM offer built-in email workflows, their effectiveness, usability, and influence on daily sales activities vary significantly. For teams that prioritize simplicity and seek swift, dependable email execution, folk stands out with one of the most streamlined and robust email integrations available in any CRM, facilitating seamless sending, tracking, and automation of outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Does Email Integration Matter?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a basic database to a comprehensive communication hub. Instead of toggling between tabs or using disjointed tools, sales representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from a single platform.

• Centralized communication. All emails—whether sent or received—automatically sync with the appropriate contact or deal.
• Intelligent follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at optimal times without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Metrics such as open rates, clicks, and replies are integrated into the CRM, informing subsequent actions.
• Enhanced data quality. Emails instantly enrich contact profiles with context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Customizable, reusable templates help teams maintain consistency while saving time.
• Outreach automation. Automate bulk emails, sequences, or trigger messages based on deal stages or contact activities.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, representatives can stop juggling multiple tools and concentrate on conversations that drive revenue. This distinction is what sets a good CRM apart from one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is Pipedrive?

Pipedrive is a sales-centric CRM designed around a visual pipeline that assists representatives in tracking deals from initial contact to final closure. Its email synchronization integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and other IMAP providers, ensuring every message is automatically logged to the appropriate contact and deal. With a built-in sales inbox, tracking capabilities, and basic campaign features, teams can streamline outreach and pipeline updates without juggling multiple tools.

What is Monday CRM?

Monday sales CRM is built on the monday.com work management platform, providing teams with a visual approach to managing pipelines alongside their projects. The Emails & Activities app allows integration with Gmail and Outlook, enabling users to send, receive, and log emails directly from their boards, while also tracking opens and replies seamlessly. With templates and automations, follow-ups are standardized, keeping lead statuses, tasks, and email history synchronized.

Feature comparison of Pipedrive and Monday CRM

Integration Capabilities

Pipedrive seamlessly integrates with Gmail and Outlook, utilizing IMAP fallback for other providers to capture every inbound and outbound message against the appropriate contact or deal record. With the Smart Email BCC address feature, there's no need to leave your email client to log messages—simply add the dynamic BCC, and Pipedrive handles the rest. Additionally, native calendar integration with Google and Microsoft calendars ensures that all your meetings automatically appear on contact timelines, providing a comprehensive view of every customer interaction.

Monday CRM’s Emails & Activities app allows you to connect up to six Gmail or Outlook accounts for two-way sync, ensuring that sent or received emails appear as items on your boards alongside calls and tasks. Although it lacks native in-CRM calendar syncing, you can create simple automations or utilize Monday’s Calendar view to visualize scheduled events.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Pipedrive’s email sync with Gmail and Outlook operates every few minutes, striking a balance between speed and system performance. Both outbound and inbound messages are captured and matched to contacts or deals in under five minutes, minimizing the chances of missing or delayed logs. The IMAP fallback adheres to standard IMAP IDLE protocols for push notifications, providing near-instant updates for compatible providers.

Monday CRM’s Emails & Activities app syncs your inbox by default every few minutes, checking Gmail and Outlook for new messages to convert into board items. While this may result in a slight delay compared to push-based systems, updates typically appear within two to three minutes. If you require sub-minute responsiveness, you can adjust polling intervals or implement custom webhooks for quicker updates.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

With Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing feature allows you to select up to 100 contacts from any list, enabling bulk messages that incorporate 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, ensuring that all replies are automatically linked to the right deal or contact. However, it’s important to note that the Campaigns add-on comes at an extra cost, and its reporting capabilities are more limited compared to standalone email marketing platforms.

Meanwhile, Monday’s Emails & Activities app offers seamless two-way email sync for Gmail and Outlook through easy integration recipes—new messages and replies automatically transform into pulses on your boards, making your communications easily trackable alongside your deals. Calendar items are synced via Monday’s Calendar Sync feature, where date or timeline columns are connected to Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal, or any external calendar, ensuring that events appear on both your board and calendar within minutes.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

With Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing allows you to choose up to 100 contacts from any list to send bulk messages featuring merge tags and reply tracking. The Pipedrive Campaigns add-on offers a dedicated module for creating email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates. All replies are automatically linked to the correct deal or contact. However, it's important to note that the Campaigns add-on comes with an additional cost, and its reporting capabilities are more limited compared to standalone email marketing platforms.

Monday CRM’s Emails & Activities app seamlessly syncs with up to six Gmail or Outlook accounts, and it features a Group Emailing action that dispatches bulk messages to board items and contact lists. You can automate follow-ups using monday.com automations or integrate with Mailchimp for comprehensive email marketing features. Do keep in mind that without Mailchimp or a similar add-on, you won’t have access to native campaign analytics beyond basic send logs on your boards.

Open and Click Tracking

Pipedrive’s “Track email opening” and “Track link opening” options ensure that every email you send captures both opens and clicks, along with detailed counts and timestamps in the Mail tab. You have the flexibility to enable or disable tracking for each email and can see precisely who clicked which link directly within the deal view. However, it's worth noting that Pipedrive’s reporting is somewhat basic, focusing solely on open and click rates—there’s no built-in funnel visualization or heat-map insights unless you export your data to a BI tool.

On the other hand, Monday’s Emails & Activities app records message opens when you send emails directly through the board interface, but it lacks native tracking for which links were clicked. To gather click-through rates, you’ll need to embed links with UTM parameters and pull the data into your board using automations or by integrating a marketing tool like Mailchimp.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Pipedrive’s Gmail Add-on seamlessly introduces a side panel to your inbox, allowing you to view contact and deal information, update stages, and add activities directly from Gmail. You gain instant access to Smart Email BCC, templates, and tracking toggles without having to leave your inbox, and can create new leads or deals with just one click. It effectively transforms your mailbox into a Pipedrive cockpit. However, this in-inbox functionality is limited to Chrome or Edge, as there is no corresponding add-on for desktop Outlook.

On the other hand, monday.com’s Emails & Activities app is integrated into your boards rather than your inbox. When you connect Gmail or Outlook, emails become pulses linked to relevant items, enabling you to reply or add notes right from monday.com. This setup is ideal for visual teams that operate on boards, but it doesn’t offer a true in-inbox sidebar; instead, you engage with monday.com rather than your email client.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk provides teams with the seamless, interconnected email workflow they've been missing. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing, all within a clean and user-friendly CRM. With a 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top-rated lightweight CRMs for contemporary sales and partnership teams.

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

Extract Intel from Emails

One of folk’s standout features is its ability to centralize communication, turning every email and call into actionable insights. With native email synchronization for Gmail and Outlook, along with AI-driven analysis, teams can:

• Easily recap past conversations with a single click using folk's Recap assistant. It extracts insights from emails and notes to create a summary, providing context in seconds.
• Follow up at the ideal time, as the AI scans conversations to alert you when follow-ups are needed and even drafts replies.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s integrated sequencing engine allows you to easily create automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. Build multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and automatically log every interaction. Whether you're nurturing leads, running outbound campaigns, or re-engaging inactive deals, folk provides an effective yet straightforward sequencing workflow without the need for additional tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically send emails, such as when a deal closes or when you acquire 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 alerts you when a contact hasn't responded, highlights conversations that have cooled off, and identifies the ideal times to re-engage. It functions as a built-in assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline advancing—without any manual effort.

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

Conclusion

In summary, Pipedrive excels with its visual pipeline and strong email sync, ideal for sales teams seeking streamlined deal tracking. Meanwhile, Monday CRM offers a visual approach to managing emails alongside projects, perfect for teams that prioritize workflow integration. However, for email-centric teams focused on automation, sequencing, and seamless integration, folk emerges as the superior choice. With its user-friendly interface and advanced AI-driven features, folk transforms email into a powerful engine for driving sales, making it the best alternative for modern sales teams.

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