Email remains the foundation of modern sales communication—it’s where deals progress, follow-ups occur, and relationships flourish.

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

While both Freshsales and Close CRM provide built-in email workflows, their functionality, usability, and influence on daily sales operations vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and desiring quick, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most robust email integrations available in any CRM, streamlining the process of sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a basic database to a cohesive communication hub. Rather than toggling between tabs or using disparate tools, representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement—all from one place.

• Centralized communication. Every email—whether sent or received—automatically syncs to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at the optimal time without any manual effort.
• Real-time tracking. Metrics like open rates, clicks, and replies are fed directly into the CRM, helping inform subsequent steps.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enrich contact profiles with valuable context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Customizable, reusable templates allow teams to maintain consistency while saving time.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stages or contact activities.

When a CRM seamlessly manages email, representatives can concentrate on meaningful conversations that drive revenue—this distinction sets a good CRM apart from one that truly accelerates sales!

What is Freshsales?

Freshsales is Freshworks' sales CRM tailored for small to mid-sized teams seeking a user-friendly interface with robust automation features. Users can easily integrate Gmail or Microsoft 365, opting for either one-way or two-way sync to ensure seamless alignment between their mailbox and the CRM. Coupled with templates, bulk emailing, and activity timelines, email becomes an essential tool for reps managing leads and opportunities.

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a sales platform designed for high-velocity inside sales teams, featuring integrated calling, SMS, and email capabilities. With built-in two-way email sync, representatives can send, receive, and track messages directly within Close, ensuring every conversation is automatically connected to the appropriate contact and opportunity. Features like bulk emailing, sequences, and performance reporting transform email into a structured outreach tool rather than just an isolated inbox.

Feature comparison of Freshsales and Close CRM

Integration Capabilities

Freshsales provides native plugins for Gmail and Outlook, allowing you to view email threads, scheduling tools, and relevant contact information directly in your inbox. Upon connection, Freshsales automatically scans incoming emails for recognized contact addresses and logs conversations, minimizing clutter by letting you select which folders to sync.

Close simplifies email integration: just connect your Gmail or Outlook account and authenticate via OAuth, and every message from a matched contact will automatically populate Close’s timeline. Although Close doesn’t sync calendar events natively, you can use Zapier or Google Calendar integration to align your meetings with your sales pipeline.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Freshsales seamlessly integrates with your Gmail or Outlook account through native plugins, ensuring a constant link that syncs email and calendar events in real time. Incoming messages from known leads appear within seconds, while any outgoing emails logged from the CRM are instantly reflected in your email thread. Calendar events are updated immediately, guaranteeing that meetings scheduled in Freshsales show up in your personal calendar without delay.

Close offers swift two-way email sync by utilizing OAuth-based connections to Gmail and Outlook. When you receive an email from a contact, Close logs it immediately—there’s no need for polling intervals or manual BCC. Outbound emails sent from Close are reflected in your email provider in real time, and vice versa. For calendar events, you can link your Google Calendar through Zapier for automatic updates, although these triggers may run every few minutes depending on your Zapier plan.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

Freshsales features a comprehensive Marketing Campaigns module—simply go to Campaigns > Email to launch email blasts or automated Journeys based on user behaviors. With drag-and-drop templates, dynamic segments, and analytics dashboards, you can monitor delivery rates, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Additionally, built-in retry logic and ISP throttling enhance deliverability. However, keep in mind that more sophisticated features like heat-map click analysis and AI-driven send-time optimization are available only with an upgrade to Freshmarketer.

Close offers seamless two-way email integration using IMAP/SMTP. Once you authenticate your Gmail, Google Apps, or Microsoft account, Close automatically logs every email sent and received, associating threads with the appropriate contact without the need for manual BCCs. Although Close doesn’t directly sync calendar events, its 'Emailing' setup allows you to connect both your work email and calendar.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

Freshsales features a comprehensive Marketing Campaigns module—simply navigate to Campaigns > Email to create bulk emails or automated Journeys based on user behaviors. With drag-and-drop templates, dynamic segments, and analytics dashboards, you can monitor delivery rates, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Built-in retry logic and ISP throttling enhance deliverability. However, note that more advanced functionalities like heat-map click analysis and AI-driven send-time optimization require an upgrade to Freshmarketer.

Close does not provide a traditional mail merge interface, but it allows you to create multi-step drip campaigns through its Workflows engine, integrating email, calls, and SMS into a single sequence. You can enroll leads, personalize messages using templates, and let Close automatically send steps at your preferred cadence, while logging every interaction in its unified Inbox. Nevertheless, Close lacks a visual campaign builder and detailed email campaign analytics, meaning you won’t have access to open-rate trends or A/B testing insights in the UI.

Open and Click Tracking

Freshsales allows you to enable “Track opens and clicks” in Settings > Email Settings, ensuring that every email sent through the native plugin logs open events and link clicks in the contact timeline. You'll find delivery, open, and click metrics displayed in both the Deal dashboard and Campaigns module. Keep in mind that open tracking depends on image-based pixels—if a recipient blocks images or views links in preview panes, the statistics may be underreported.

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

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Freshsales offers native Gmail and Outlook plugins that seamlessly embed your CRM sidebar in your inbox, providing quick access to lead profiles, deal values, and previous email threads while you compose or read messages. You can easily log emails, schedule meetings, and initiate sequences with a simple one-click sync back to Freshsales. By integrating calendar events into this view, you enjoy a smooth combination of messages and appointments. However, if you prefer using a different email client, you'll need to rely on IMAP sync instead of the full plugin experience.

While Close lacks a native sidebar in Gmail or Outlook, it does allow you to connect through the Missive integration, enabling you to manage contacts, leads, and opportunities directly from your inbox. Emails sent or received in your mail client automatically appear in Close’s unified activity stream without the hassle of manual BCCs, maintaining context. However, you'll still need to switch tabs to access pipeline overviews or dashboards, which means it’s not a fully in-inbox CRM—just a well-synchronized companion.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk provides teams with a seamless and connected email workflow that enhances 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 lightweight CRMs for modern sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and scaling sales teams of 20-50, folk makes email operations smooth and manageable.

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 to Gmail and Outlook and AI-driven analysis, teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations with just a click using folk's Recap assistant. It consolidates intel from emails and notes to create a summary, giving you context in seconds.
• Follow up at the optimal moment, as AI scans conversations to remind you when to follow up and can draft responses for you.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine simplifies the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can design multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM data, and automatically log every interaction. Whether you’re nurturing leads, executing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging inactive deals, folk offers a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow without the need for additional tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to trigger automatic email sends, such as when a deal is closed or a new lead is acquired.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

The AI Follow-Up feature ensures that no conversation slips through the cracks. By analyzing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn’t responded, highlights cold conversations, and pinpoints the ideal time to reconnect. It functions like a personal assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without the hassle of manual tracking.

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

Conclusion

Freshsales excels with its user-friendly interface and robust automation tools, ideal for small to mid-sized teams. Close CRM shines in high-velocity sales environments with its integrated communication features.

For teams that prioritize seamless email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the top choice. With its clean workflow, AI-driven follow-up reminders, and native email capabilities, folk transforms email management into a strategic advantage, ensuring that every interaction drives revenue effectively.

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