Best CRM for SaaS startups

In a SaaS startup, growth moves fast—and so do your leads. To keep up, you need a streamlined system that helps you manage relationships, track your pipeline, and scale without chaos. That’s where the right sales stack comes in. A smart CRM lets you centralize customer data, automate follow-ups, and stay on top of every opportunity. In this post, we’ll break down the best CRM for SaaS startups, focusing on tools built to boost efficiency, support your growth, and keep your sales engine running strong.

Why you need a CRM

In the fast-paced world of SaaS startups, managing customer relationships and data effectively is crucial for growth and success. A CRM system can streamline these processes, providing a competitive edge.

Challenges without a CRM

Managing a SaaS startup without the right CRM in your tech stack can lead to a lot of headaches.

• Disorganization: Without a centralized system, keeping track of customer interactions and data becomes chaotic.
• Missed opportunities: Important follow-ups and leads can slip through the cracks, impacting revenue.
• Inefficient processes: Manual data entry and fragmented workflows slow down operations.
• Lack of insight: Inadequate data analysis makes it hard to make informed business decisions.
• Inconsistent communication: Without a unified platform, maintaining consistent communication with customers is challenging.

Benefits of a CRM

Fortunately, the right CRM system can help you address these challenges and provide extra benefits.

• Centralized information: All customer data is stored in one place, making it easily accessible.
• Enhanced efficiency: Automated processes reduce manual tasks, freeing up time for strategic initiatives.
• Improved customer relationships: Better data management leads to more personalized and effective customer interactions.
• Better decision-making: Comprehensive data analysis helps in making informed business decisions.
• Increased sales: Streamlined processes and better lead management boost sales performance.
• Consistent communication: A unified platform ensures all team members are on the same page, fostering better customer communication
  

How to boost your SaaS startup's efficiency with a CRM

To give you an idea of how a CRM can help, we've put together a high level overview of some ways its features can keep different parts of your sales cycle organized in one place.

1. Mapping your process

At this stage, it's about understanding your internal process and mapping out these stages so that your CRM can reflect it.

• Define key stages: Identify critical stages in your sales funnel, from lead generation to customer retention.
• Use customizable pipelines: Use CRM tools that allow you to customize pipelines to match your unique SaaS sales process.
• Automate workflow: Implement automation to track and move leads through stages without manual intervention.

2. Lead qualification

If you have certain criteria your team needs to follow to qualify leads, you can also use your CRM to make sure everyone is on the same page so the prospect list is accurate and stays organized.

• Scoring criteria: Establish criteria to score leads based on behavior, engagement, and fit.
• Segmentation: Use CRM features to segment leads, investors, and customers for targeted outreach.
• Data enrichment: Integrate third-party tools to enrich lead data for more accurate qualification.

3. Outreach and follow-up

Next, instead of manually following-up with contacts – which can take up a lot of time. You can use your CRM to automate this process.

• Email automation: Set up automated email sequences for onboarding, follow-ups, and nurturing.
• LinkedIn campaigns: Use LinkedIn automation tools to connect and engage with potential investors and customers.
• Personalization: Personalize outreach based on lead behavior and preferences to increase engagement rates.

4. Nurture existing client and investor relationships

Finally, you can also use your CRM to nurture your existing business relationships and create strategies for upselling and cross-selling.

• Targeted campaigns: Create campaigns focused on upselling and cross-selling to existing customers.
• Customer feedback: Use CRM to collect and analyze customer feedback to identify upsell opportunities.
• Loyalty programs: Implement loyalty programs to incentivize repeat purchases and long-term engagement.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM

With a lot of CRMs on the market to choose from, it can be hard to figure out which one fits your business needs and goals. And, will be easy for your team to use. To help you out with your decision making process, we've put together the basics of what you should expect at each stage.

1. Define your requirements

You can't start a search without being clear on exactly what you need. For SaaS startups, identifying the key features that align with your goals is crucial. Look for CRM tools that offer automation, lead management, and integration with other SaaS tools you use. Features like customer segmentation, lifecycle tracking, and analytics are essential for understanding and nurturing your customer base effectively. Ensure the CRM supports scalability to grow alongside your startup.

Key features of a CRM for SaaS startups

• Automated processes: Streamlines tasks by automating repetitive workflows.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds Leads, Investors, Customers email addresses and contact information, enhancing efficiency.
• Structured pipeline: Tracks Leads, Investors, Customers through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness.
• Email sequences: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences.
• LinkedIn connection: Seamlessly imports Leads, Investors, Customers from LinkedIn and tracks conversations within the CRM.
• Analytics: Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning.

2. Budget considerations

Balancing cost and return on investment is vital for SaaS startups. While it's tempting to opt for the most affordable CRM, consider the long-term value it brings. Look for CRMs that offer flexible pricing plans, free trials, or freemium models. Assess the potential return on investment by evaluating how the CRM can streamline your processes, improve customer retention, and drive sales growth.

3. Selection process

Researching and choosing the right CRM vendor involves a lot of work. Start by reading reviews and case studies relevant to SaaS startups. Shortlist CRMs that have a proven track record in the SaaS industry. Engage with their sales teams to understand their offerings better. Request demos to see the CRM in action and ask for references from similar businesses to gauge their satisfaction.

4. Get a demo

It's not enough to understand what a CRM can do on paper. Trying and comparing different CRM platforms is important. Use free trials to test the usability, feature set, and integration capabilities of each CRM. Create a checklist of must-have features and evaluate each platform against it. Gather feedback from your team to ensure the chosen CRM meets everyone's needs. Finally, consider the vendor's customer support and training resources to ensure a smooth implementation. Get started with a demo of folk to see how it can help your SaaS startup grow and support you across sales, marketing, recruitment and more.

3 tips for implementing a CRM

At this stage, it's more about introducing your new CRM to your team and tech stack. We suggest making the most of the implementation stage by keeping these three things front of mind.

1. Import your data in your new CRM

Transitioning to a new CRM can be seamless if you properly import your existing data. Start by exporting your data as a CSV file from your current CRM. Once you have your data in CSV format, you can easily upload it to your new CRM without having to manually add new contacts.

2. Create your first pipeline

Setting up your first pipeline can be challenging. For SaaS startups, you might need to create multiple pipelines. This might include stages like lead generation, product demo, trial period, conversion, and customer success. Tailoring your pipeline to reflect your sales and customer journey ensures that your team can track progress and focus on the right tasks at each stage.

3. Onboard your team

After setting up your CRM, it’s essential to onboard your team effectively. Make sure you provide training sessions to familiarize them with the new system, ensuring they understand how to use it to its full potential. This not only boosts productivity but also ensures everyone is aligned with your startup’s sales and customer management processes.

The 5 best CRMs for SaaS startups

1. folk

folk is a modern CRM platform for managing contacts, workflows, and relationships, offering customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and integrations to enhance deal management and prospecting.

Key features

• All-in-one: folk streamlines your workflow across marketing, sales, recruitment, investing and more allowing your teams to collaborate from one source of truth.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs, enabling efficient outreach without manual data entry or additional costs for email services.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, X and more to track contacts and leverage your network within folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Full email sync compatible with Gmail and Outlook with access to templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• AI-powered features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions to improve productivity and personalization of campaigns based on variables you can create.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Pros

• Ease of use: folk is praised for its intuitive interface, making it accessible even to non-technical users with quick onboarding and a minimal learning curve.
• LinkedIn integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, track conversations within Folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Full personalization: Custom fields, pipelines, dashboards, automation and workflows.
• Integrations: Folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Cons

• Reporting: Currently lacks reporting features, but there are plans for future implementation.

Price and plans

You can try folk for free with a 14-day free trial. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month.

2. HubSpot

Hubspot CRM is a user-friendly, scalable platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations efficiently.

Key features

• Marketing Hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools, essential for attracting and nurturing leads.
• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting, crucial for managing investor relations and closing deals efficiently.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, and knowledge bases, ensuring a high level of support for your customers.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency and focus on high-potential opportunities.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems, streamlining operations and ensuring seamless data flow.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: HubSpot's intuitive design makes it accessible for users of all skill levels, perfect for startup teams.
• Comprehensive free plan: Offers a robust free version with essential CRM features, ideal for early-stage SaaS startups.
• Seamless integration with marketing tools: Integrates smoothly with marketing, sales, and service hubs, creating a unified platform for managing leads, investors, and customers.
• Automation capabilities: Provides powerful automation tools for tasks like email marketing and lead nurturing, helping startups save time and improve efficiency.
• Scalability: Highly scalable, offering different tiers that cater to growing businesses, from small startups to large enterprises.

Cons

• High cost at higher tiers: Pricing can become expensive as you move to higher tiers, which may be prohibitive for small businesses as they scale.
• Limited customization in free plan: The free plan has limited customization options, restricting flexibility for growing startups.
• Complexity in advanced features: Some advanced features have a steep learning curve and may require additional training.
• Email marketing limits: The free plan restricts the number of emails you can send, which can be a drawback for businesses with larger lists.
• Additional costs for add-ons: Many useful features come as paid add-ons, increasing the overall cost.

Price and plans

HubSpot has a free forever plan, and a few separate plans to choose from depending on your requirements. On an annual subscription basis, their CRM suite is as follows.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $450 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

3. Zoho

Zoho is a CRM system with a strong sales focus. It has journey orchestration, sales process management, and workflow automation features. There's also something for marketing teams, including event management and customer segmentation.

Key features

• Sales automation: Automates sales tasks like lead management, deal tracking, and follow-up actions, crucial for managing SaaS leads and customer acquisition.
• Customizable dashboards and reports: Allows users to create and customize dashboards and reports for in-depth analytics, helping SaaS startups track investor metrics and customer engagement.
• Lead and contact management: Manages customer information, tracks interactions, and segments contacts for targeted campaigns, essential for nurturing leads and maintaining investor relations.
• Workflow automation: Automates routine tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort, streamlining operations for SaaS startups.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates with email, phone, social media, and live chat to manage customer interactions, ensuring seamless communication with leads, investors, and customers.

Pros

• Affordability: Zoho CRM offers competitive pricing with various tiers, making it accessible to SaaS startups with limited budgets.
• Customization: Extensive customization options allow SaaS businesses to tailor the CRM to their specific needs, including custom fields, modules, and workflows.
• Integration with Zoho suite: Seamless integration with other Zoho products (like Zoho Books and Zoho Projects) creates a comprehensive ecosystem for managing different business functions.
• AI-powered features: Zia, the AI assistant, provides intelligent insights, predictive analytics, and task automation, helping to improve sales and marketing efficiency for SaaS startups.
• Mobile accessibility: Zoho CRM offers a robust mobile app, allowing users to manage customer relationships and access data on the go, with offline capabilities.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: The extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users, requiring a significant time investment to master the platform.
• Complex setup: Initial setup and configuration can be complex, particularly for SaaS startups without technical expertise or dedicated IT resources.
• User interface: Some users find the interface to be outdated or cluttered compared to other modern CRM platforms, which can affect usability.
• Performance issues: Occasional reports of slow performance, especially with large datasets or complex operations, can hinder productivity.
• Limited third-party integrations: While Zoho integrates well with its own suite of products, integration with third-party applications can be limited or require additional effort.

Price and plans

Zoho's free plan is limited to three users. After that, for more features or seats an annual subscription plan is as follows.

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

4. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a web-based CRM for small businesses, offering lead management, automation, email integration, and customizable pipelines to optimize sales.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Centralized tools to manage leads, investors, and customers, along with interactions and sales pipelines, helping teams act quickly on opportunities.
• Sales automation: Workflow automation to handle repetitive tasks, such as lead routing, follow-ups, and email sequences, allowing sales teams to focus on closing deals.
• Email integration: Full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: Real-time data analytics and custom reporting tools to track sales performance, forecast revenue, and gain actionable insights.
• Customization and security: Options to customize pipelines, fields, and user permissions, with robust security measures to protect data.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: The CRM is known for its intuitive and visually appealing interface, making it easy for users to navigate and manage their sales pipelines.
• Sales pipeline focus: Specifically designed for managing sales pipelines, offering a visual approach that helps sales teams track deals and activities effectively.
• Customization: Allows for a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor the platform to their specific sales processes with custom fields and workflows.
• Affordability: Offers competitive pricing, making it accessible to small and medium-sized SaaS businesses without sacrificing essential CRM features.
• Automation features: Includes automation tools that help streamline repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails and moving deals through the pipeline, saving time and boosting productivity.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Lacks some of the more advanced CRM features, such as extensive marketing automation and AI capabilities, which are available in other platforms.
• Basic reporting in lower tiers: The reporting and analytics features in the basic plans are somewhat limited, requiring upgrades to access more in-depth insights.
• No built-in email marketing: Does not include built-in email marketing features, requiring users to integrate with third-party email tools for such functionality.
• Price increases with add-ons: The cost can increase quickly when additional features or integrations are added, making it less cost-effective for businesses with growing needs.
• Limited project management features: Primarily focused on sales, and lacks robust project management features, requiring the use of additional tools for project tracking.

Price and plans

An annual subscription plan basis is as follows.

• 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.

5. Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM is a user-friendly customer relationship management platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a clean, intuitive interface that helps users manage customer relationships, track sales pipelines, and organize tasks and communications efficiently.

Key features

• 1 sales pipeline: Ideal for managing your sales process from lead generation to closing deals.
• 30,000 contacts: Ample space to store information on leads, investors, and customers.
• Activity reporting: Track interactions and activities with your contacts to stay organized and informed.
• Key integrations: Seamlessly connect with tools like G Suite, Microsoft 365, and Mailchimp to streamline your workflow.
• Workflow automation: Automate repetitive tasks to save time and improve efficiency.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: Easy navigation and intuitive design make it perfect for startups without extensive CRM experience.
• Contact and sales management: Robust tools for organizing customer information and tracking sales opportunities.
• Customization options: Customize fields, tags, and pipelines to fit your specific startup needs.
• Integration capabilities: Integrates with popular third-party applications for a seamless workflow.
• Affordability: Competitive pricing with affordable premium options, making it accessible for SaaS startups.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Lacks in-depth analytics and complex reporting capabilities, which might be a limitation for rapidly growing startups.
• Basic email marketing capabilities: Built-in email marketing features are relatively basic, requiring third-party integrations for advanced needs.
• Limited customer support: Primarily offers support through email and an online help center, which may not be sufficient for those needing immediate assistance.
• Scalability concerns: May not be suitable for startups that are rapidly expanding or have more complex CRM requirements.

Price and plans

Capsule's annual subscription plan is as follows.

• 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.

Conclusion

Choosing the right CRM is crucial for the success and growth of your SaaS startup. From managing customer relationships to streamlining processes, a well-suited CRM can make all the difference. Each of the CRMs we've discussed—folk, Hubspot, Zoho, Pipedrive, and Capsule—offers unique features tailored to different needs and budgets. Whether you prioritize ease of use, customization, or advanced automation, there’s a solution out there for you. Take advantage of free trials and demos to find the perfect fit for your team. Ready to elevate your SaaS startup’s efficiency? Try folk for free here.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What do SaaS startups use as a CRM?

SaaS startups often use folk as their go-to CRM due to the way it can support multiple business functions, its customizable pipelines, and AI-driven tools. Other popular choices include Hubspot for its comprehensive suite, Zoho for affordability, Pipedrive for its user-friendly interface, and Capsule CRM for its simplicity and integration capabilities.

Do I need a CRM?

Yes, depending on the complexity of your process. A CRM can significantly streamline your operations, improve customer relationships, and enhance your decision-making capabilities, making it a valuable tool for SaaS startups.

How much does a CRM cost?

CRM pricing varies widely, typically ranging from $20 to $60 per user per month for standard plans. Premium plans with advanced features can go up to $129 per user per month. Always check for free trials or freemium options to find the best fit for your budget.

Does folk’s CRM respond to SaaS startups needs?

Yes, Folk’s CRM is well-suited for SaaS startups. It offers ease of use, customizability, and seamless integration with over 6,000 apps. Its AI-powered features and LinkedIn integration streamline workflows and enhance productivity, making it an all-in-one solution for managing contacts and sales pipelines.