Who this guide is for

As a design agency with 20–50 team members, managing client relationships, tracking projects, and staying organized across multiple creative teams can be a complex challenge.

A powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system tailored for mid-sized design agencies can help you streamline your workflows, keep track of client communications, manage project timelines, and automate follow-ups across your growing team.

The right CRM allows your 20-50 person agency to focus on delivering exceptional creative work while ensuring smooth operations and strong client relationships at scale.

In this blog post, we'll explore the best CRM options for design agencies like yours, highlighting tools that will help you boost efficiency, improve collaboration across departments, and manage growth as you scale from a small studio to a substantial creative powerhouse.

Why you need a CRM

Without the right CRM in your tech stack, your priorities get misdirected across your 20-50 person team. Things that should take minutes end up taking hours when multiple team members have to manually update everything across different departments. And mistakes happen when coordination becomes complex at your agency's size.

Challenges without a CRM

There's a big chance your mid-sized design agency might already be experiencing these challenges without realising it.

• Disorganization: Managing client information and project details across multiple platforms with 20-50 team members leads to chaos and miscommunication.
• Missed opportunities: Lack of a unified system results in overlooked follow-ups and lost business as your agency handles dozens of concurrent projects.
• Inefficient processes: Manual tracking of tasks and communications wastes valuable time across departments, from account management to creative teams.
• Lack of insight: Without centralized data, making informed decisions about resource allocation and client priorities becomes challenging for leadership.
• Inconsistent communication: Disjointed communication channels can confuse clients and team members when multiple people are involved in each project.

Benefits of a CRM

Fortunately, with the right CRM – there are a lot of benefits you can expect which will have a direct impact on your daily operations across your 20-50 person agency.

• Centralized information: All client and project data in one place for easy access by your entire team, from junior designers to senior account managers.
• Enhanced efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks across departments, freeing up time for creative work and strategic planning.
• Improved customer relationships: Track interactions consistently across team members and provide personalized service at scale.
• Better decision-making: Data-driven insights to guide business strategies and resource allocation for your growing agency.
• Increased sales: Streamlined sales pipeline to close deals faster and manage higher volumes of prospects effectively.
• Consistent communication: Unified messaging ensures everyone across your 20-50 person team is on the same page.
  
  

How to streamline your design agency's workflow with a CRM

Creating a single source of truth for your entire 20-50 person team to depend on isn't easy. But there are ways you can use a CRM to create processes that are easy to follow, create consistency across departments, and help save time as your agency scales.

1. Map your process

Defining and tracking the stages of your design process is crucial for efficiency and helps everyone across your 20-50 person agency make sure they're on the same page. A CRM can help you map out these stages clearly, from initial client contact to project completion, ensuring consistency across multiple account managers and project leads. This allows you to visualize your workflow, identify bottlenecks across departments, and ensure that every project progresses smoothly regardless of which team members are involved. With a CRM, you can set milestones, assign tasks across your agency, and monitor progress in real-time, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks as you manage dozens of concurrent projects.

2. Lead qualification

Assessing and qualifying leads becomes critical when your 20-50 person agency is handling high volumes of potential clients. A CRM for design agencies can automate lead scoring based on criteria such as project budget, timeline, and client needs, helping your business development team prioritize effectively. This helps you allocate resources more strategically across your departments and ensure senior talent focuses on the highest-value opportunities. By integrating your CRM with your website and social media platforms, you can capture leads directly and qualify them using predefined parameters, ensuring that your sales team focuses on the most promising opportunities while junior staff handle initial screening.

3. Outreach and follow-up

Automated email and LinkedIn campaigns become essential when your 20-50 person agency is managing hundreds of prospects and clients simultaneously. A CRM can help you create personalized email templates and schedule follow-ups across team members, keeping your prospects engaged without manual effort from busy account managers. For example, you can set up a series of welcome emails for new leads or reminders for ongoing projects that automatically route to the appropriate team member. LinkedIn integrations allow multiple business development staff to connect with potential clients, share your portfolio, and nurture relationships through targeted content, all coordinated within your CRM.

4. Nurture existing leads and clients

Upselling and cross-selling are vital for maximizing revenue from existing clients, especially important for agencies with 20-50 team members who need consistent revenue growth. A CRM enables you to track client interactions across your entire team and identify opportunities for additional services systematically. For instance, if a client has previously hired you for branding, you can suggest web design or marketing services, with automated workflows ensuring the right specialist follows up. Automated workflows can send personalized recommendations based on past projects, ensuring that you stay top-of-mind and continuously add value to your clients while coordinating efforts across your growing team.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM

1. Define your requirements

As a design agency founder managing 20-50 team members, it's crucial to identify the key features that will streamline your workflow and enhance client relationships across multiple departments. Look for a CRM that offers project management capabilities, client communication tools, and integration with design software that your entire team uses. Features like customizable dashboards, task automation, file sharing, and multi-user collaboration are essential for keeping your design projects on track and ensuring seamless collaboration within your growing agency.

Key features of a CRM for design agencies

• Automated processes: Streamlines tasks by automating repetitive workflows across your 20-50 person team, reducing manual coordination.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds leads and customers' email addresses and contact information, enhancing efficiency for your business development team.
• Structured pipeline: Tracks leads and customers through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness across multiple account managers.
• Email sequences: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences that work consistently across your team.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly imports contacts and leads from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, X and more to leverage your network within the CRM across departments.
• Analytics Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning and resource allocation across your 20-50 person agency.

2. Budget considerations

For agencies with 20-50 team members, it's worth making sure you balance cost with the return on investment across your entire organization. Consider the long-term benefits of improved client management, increased productivity, and enhanced project tracking when multiplied across your growing team. While some CRMs may have a higher upfront cost, they can ultimately save you significant time and money by reducing manual tasks and improving client satisfaction at scale. Look for scalable solutions that can grow with your agency from 20 to 50+ employees without breaking the bank or requiring complete system overhauls.

3. Selection process

Choosing the right CRM vendor for your mid-sized agency involves thorough research and careful consideration of multi-user functionality. Start by reading reviews and testimonials from other design agencies with similar team sizes to understand their experiences with scaling. Request demos or trial versions to get a hands-on feel of the CRM's user interface and features across different user roles in your organization. Evaluate the vendor's customer support and training resources to ensure you have the help you need during implementation and beyond for your 20-50 person team. Prioritize vendors with a strong track record in serving growing design agencies.

4. Get a demo

Once you've shortlisted potential CRM platforms, it's time to trial and compare them with multiple team members from different departments. Use the trial period to test how well the CRM integrates with your existing tools and processes across your 20-50 person agency. Pay attention to user-friendliness, customization options, and reporting capabilities that work for both individual contributors and management. Gather feedback from your team leads to ensure the CRM meets everyone's needs across creative, account management, and leadership roles. Finally, compare pricing plans and contract terms to make an informed decision that aligns with your agency's goals and budget. Start by getting a demo of folk to see if it's the right fit for your growing team.

👉🏼 Try folk now to manage contact-based reminders with your team

3 tips for implementing a CRM

1. Import Your Data in Your New CRM

Migrating your existing data is a critical step in the CRM implementation process for your 20-50 person agency, as you likely have substantial client and project data accumulated. Start by exporting your data as a CSV file from your current CRM or spreadsheet system. If you're using HubSpot, you can follow the instructions here. For Pipedrive users, detailed export steps are available here. Proper data migration ensures a smooth transition and helps maintain continuity in your client relationships across all team members, preventing any disruption to ongoing projects during the switch.

2. Create your first pipeline

Design agencies with 20-50 team members often have complex project workflows that need to accommodate multiple disciplines and approval stages. Start by creating stages that correspond to your typical project phases, such as 'Initial Consultation,' 'Proposal Development,' 'Design Concepts,' 'Client Review,' 'Revisions,' 'Final Approval,' and 'Project Delivery.' This tailored pipeline should reflect how work flows between your different departments and team leads, helping you track progress and manage tasks more efficiently across your growing organization while maintaining consistency regardless of which team members are handling specific accounts.

3. Onboard your team

Successful CRM implementation for a 20-50 person agency hinges on comprehensive team adoption across all departments. Conduct role-specific training sessions to familiarize different team members with the new system, from creative directors to account managers to project coordinators. Highlight its benefits, such as improved client management and streamlined project tracking, to encourage buy-in across your organization. Ensure that team leads in each department understand how to use the CRM effectively and can train their direct reports, creating a cascading effect that maximizes adoption and productivity gains throughout your agency.

The 5 best CRMs for design agencies

1. folk

folk is the ideal CRM platform for design agencies with 20-50 team members, offering customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and seamless integrations that perfectly scale with growing creative teams while maintaining simplicity and efficiency.

Key features

• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs, enabling efficient outreach across your 20-50 person team without manual data entry or additional costs.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, X and more, allowing multiple team members to leverage your network within folk with streamlined communication templates.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Full email sync supporting Gmail and Outlook, with templates and tracking features perfect for coordinating communications across departments.
• AI-powered features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions that scale perfectly for agencies with 20-50 team members.
• Multiple pipelines: Customize dashboards into Kanban-boards or list views, perfect for managing different service lines and team workflows simultaneously across your growing agency.

Pros

• Ease of use: folk is specifically designed for teams like yours, with an intuitive interface that requires minimal training across your 20-50 person agency, ensuring quick adoption from creative teams to account management.
• All-in-one solution: folk eliminates the need for multiple tools by allowing you to import contacts from LinkedIn, automatically find emails, create email sequences, and track interactions in pipelines—saving significant time and money for growing agencies.
• Perfect scalability: Custom fields, pipelines, automation, and workflows that grow seamlessly from 20 to 50+ team members without system overhauls or complexity increases.
• Extensive integrations: With over 6,000 app integrations including design tools, folk centralizes your workflow and reduces manual data entry across departments, perfect for creative agencies with diverse tech stacks.

Cons

• Reporting and analytics: folk includes advanced analytics such as pipeline/deal-stage insights, weighted revenue forecasting, and performance breakdowns by owner, channel, region, and custom fields.

Price and plans

folk offers exceptional value for design agencies with 20-50 team members, with transparent pricing that scales predictably as you grow.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month - ideal for growing agencies.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month - perfect for established 20-50 person teams.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month - for agencies with advanced needs.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot CRM is a comprehensive platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations, though it can become complex and expensive for mid-sized design agencies.

Key features

• Marketing Hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools, though it can be overwhelming for design agencies focused on client work.
• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting, essential for managing client projects and closing deals efficiently.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, and knowledge bases, ensuring client support and satisfaction.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems, though it may be more complex than needed for most design agencies.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency for agencies managing multiple prospects.

Pros

• Comprehensive platform: All-in-one solution with marketing, sales, and service tools, though this breadth can be excessive for design-focused agencies.
• Free tier available: Offers a robust free version that includes essential CRM features, suitable for smaller teams within your range.
• Strong automation: Provides powerful automation tools for marketing and sales workflows, beneficial for agencies managing high lead volumes.
• Extensive reporting: Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, though they may be more complex than most design agencies need.
• Large ecosystem: Wide range of integrations and a large user community, providing extensive resources and support.

Cons

• Cost escalation: Pricing becomes very expensive for agencies with 20-50 team members, often exceeding budgets as you add users and features.
• Complexity overhead: Many features designed for large enterprises that design agencies don't need, creating unnecessary complexity for creative teams.
• Learning curve: Advanced features require significant training time, which can be challenging for busy design professionals focused on client work.
• Feature limitations: Many essential features require expensive upgrades, making the total cost of ownership high for growing agencies.
• Over-engineered: Built for large corporations rather than creative agencies, leading to unused features and complicated workflows.

Price and plans

HubSpot's pricing can become prohibitive for 20-50 person design agencies on an annual subscription.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $450 per user, per month (extremely expensive for most design agencies).
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month (cost-prohibitive for creative teams).

3. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM for small businesses, offering lead management, automation, and pipeline visualization, though it lacks some advanced features needed by growing design agencies.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Basic tools to manage customer data and sales pipelines, suitable for straightforward sales processes.
• Sales automation: Limited workflow automation compared to more advanced platforms, which may not meet the needs of complex design agency workflows.
• Email integration: Standard email sync and templates, though lacking the advanced sequencing capabilities that growing agencies need.
• Basic reporting: Standard analytics and reporting tools, but not as comprehensive as solutions designed for agencies with 20-50 team members.
• Simple customization: Limited customization options compared to more flexible platforms like folk CRM.

Pros

• Visual pipeline: Clean, visual approach to managing sales pipelines that's easy to understand for design teams.
• Affordable entry point: Lower initial costs compared to enterprise solutions, though features are more limited.
• User-friendly: Simple interface that's relatively easy to learn and implement across teams.
• Sales focus: Specifically designed for sales management with straightforward deal tracking.
• Mobile app: Good mobile functionality for teams that need access on the go.

Cons

• Limited scalability: Features and customization options don't scale well for growing design agencies with 20-50 team members.
• Basic automation: Automation capabilities are limited compared to more advanced platforms, requiring more manual work.
• No marketing features: Lacks integrated marketing tools that design agencies need for lead generation and nurturing.
• Limited integrations: Fewer third-party integrations compared to more comprehensive platforms like folk CRM.
• Reporting limitations: Basic reporting features that may not provide the insights growing agencies need for strategic planning.

Price and plans

Pipedrive's pricing on an annual subscription basis, though costs add up quickly for larger teams.

• Essential plan: Starts from $24 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $44 per user, per month.
• Power plan: Starts from $79 per user, per month.
• Enterprise plan: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

4. Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM is a simple customer relationship management platform designed for small businesses, though it may lack the advanced features and scalability needed by design agencies with 20-50 team members.

Key features

• Single sales pipeline: Basic pipeline management that may be too simplistic for agencies managing multiple service lines and client types.
• Contact storage: Standard contact management with 30,000 contact limit, which may be adequate for smaller agencies but limiting for growth.
• Basic task management: Simple task assignment and deadline tracking, though lacking the project management features design agencies typically need.
• Limited automation: Basic workflow automation that may not meet the complex needs of growing creative teams.
• Standard integrations: Basic connections with common tools, but fewer options than more comprehensive platforms.

Pros

• Simple interface: Clean and straightforward design that's easy to learn for small teams.
• Affordable pricing: Lower cost entry point compared to enterprise solutions.
• Contact management: Solid basic contact and sales opportunity tracking.
• Quick setup: Fast implementation process for teams wanting to get started quickly.
• British design: Well-designed interface with attention to user experience details.

Cons

• Limited scalability: Features don't grow well with agencies expanding from 20 to 50 team members, lacking advanced collaboration tools.
• Basic feature set: Missing many features that growing design agencies need, such as advanced automation and multi-pipeline management.
• Limited customization: Fewer customization options compared to more flexible platforms like folk CRM.
• Support limitations: Limited customer support options, primarily email-based rather than comprehensive support for growing teams.
• Integration gaps: Fewer integrations with design tools and creative software that agencies typically use.

Price and plans

• Starter plan: Starts from $21 per user, per month.
• Growth plan: Starts from $38 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $60 per user, per month.
• Ultimate plan: Starts from $75 per user, per month.

5. Zoho

Zoho is a comprehensive CRM system with extensive features, though it can be overly complex for design agencies with 20-50 team members who need streamlined, creative-focused workflows.

Key features

• Extensive customization: Highly customizable dashboards and reports, though this complexity can be overwhelming for creative teams focused on design work.
• Lead management: Comprehensive contact and lead tracking, though the interface can be cluttered for design agency workflows.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates with email, phone, social media, and live chat, providing broad communication options.
• Workflow automation: Advanced automation capabilities, though they require significant setup time and technical expertise.
• Enterprise features: Extensive feature set designed for large organizations, which may be more than most design agencies need.

Pros

• Comprehensive suite: Integrates with many Zoho products creating an extensive business ecosystem.
• Customization depth: Extensive customization options for organizations that need highly tailored solutions.
• AI features: Zia AI assistant provides analytics and automation, though it requires training to use effectively.
• Multiple communication channels: Supports various communication methods within a single platform.
• Scalable pricing: Various pricing tiers to accommodate different business sizes.

Cons

• Complexity overhead: Steep learning curve that can overwhelm design agency teams who need to focus on creative work rather than CRM management.
• Setup complexity: Initial configuration requires significant time investment and technical expertise, challenging for creative-focused teams.
• Interface issues: Many users find the interface outdated and cluttered compared to modern, intuitive platforms like folk CRM.
• Performance concerns: Can be slow with large datasets or complex operations, frustrating for busy design teams.
• Integration limitations: While it integrates well within Zoho's ecosystem, connections with design-specific tools can be limited.

Price and plans

Zoho offers a free plan limited to three users. Annual subscription pricing is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Professional: $35 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $50 per user, per month.

Conclusion

Choosing the best CRM for your 20-50 person design agency is crucial for streamlining operations, improving client relationships, and boosting overall efficiency across your growing team. For agencies of your size, folk CRM stands out as the clear winner, offering the perfect balance of powerful features, intuitive design, and scalable pricing that grows with your team. Unlike overly complex enterprise solutions like HubSpot or limited platforms like Capsule, folk CRM provides exactly what growing design agencies need: seamless contact enrichment, social media integration, automated email sequences, and AI-powered tools that work effortlessly across departments. By implementing folk CRM, you can unlock new levels of productivity and client satisfaction while maintaining the creative focus that drives your agency's success.

👉🏼 Try folk now to never miss a follow-up and centralize client workflows

Need a helping hand? Use our free tool to find your perfect CRM match.

FAQ

What is the best CRM system for small businesses?

There is no single best; match features and budget to needs. Options include folk, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho. For design agencies, folk provides pipelines, enrichment, and email sequences. See folk.

Do design agencies need a CRM?

Yes. A CRM centralizes client data, automates follow-ups, tracks pipelines and projects, and aligns communication across teams. This reduces errors, speeds handoffs, and improves retention as the agency scales to 20–50+ people.

How much does a CRM cost for a 20–50 person agency?

Expect $20–$50 per user/month for most. folk: $20–$40; Zoho: $20–$50; Pipedrive: $24–$129. HubSpot can rise quickly with added hubs and seats. Total spend depends on users, features, and billing term.

What features should a CRM for design agencies include?

Look for customizable pipelines, contact enrichment, email sequences, task automation, multi-user collaboration, LinkedIn import, and reporting. Integrations with design and communication tools help keep workflows in one place.