Email is the cornerstone of contemporary sales communication: it’s the platform where deals progress, follow-ups occur, and relationships flourish.

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

While both Streak and Close CRM feature built-in email workflows, their depth, usability, and influence on daily sales activities vary significantly. For teams that prioritize simplicity and seek quick, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the most intuitive and powerful email integrations in any CRM—facilitating seamless sending, tracking, and automation of outreach right from your workspace.

Why is Email Integration Important?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a comprehensive communication hub. Rather than toggling between tabs or depending on disparate tools, representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all in one place.

• Centralized communication. Automatically sync all emails—sent or received—to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at optimal moments without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Open rates, clicks, and replies integrate directly into the CRM to inform subsequent actions.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enhance contact profiles with valuable context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates ensure consistency and save time for teams.
• Outreach automation. Dispatch bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stage or contact activity.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, reps can stop juggling tools and concentrate on conversations that generate revenue. That’s the distinction between an average CRM and one that truly accelerates sales!

What is Streak?

Streak is a streamlined CRM seamlessly integrated into Gmail, transforming your inbox into a collaborative pipeline for sales, support, and account management. Users can manage deals, track stages, and collaborate on discussions without switching tabs, all from the familiar Gmail interface. At its core, email drives the platform, enhanced with real-time tracking and pipeline views overlaying your current Gmail conversations.

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a powerful sales platform designed for high-velocity inside sales teams, featuring integrated calling, SMS, and email functionalities. With its built-in two-way email sync, sales reps can send, receive, and track messages directly within Close, automatically linking every conversation to the relevant contact and opportunity. Tools for bulk emails, sequences, and performance reporting transform email into a structured outreach channel rather than just an isolated inbox.

Feature comparison of Streak and Close CRM

Integration Capabilities

Streak seamlessly integrates within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a comprehensive CRM without the need for additional windows or applications. Every email you send or receive is automatically recorded in the appropriate pipeline and shared across your team’s workspace, providing you with a real-time overview of each deal without the hassle of manual bcc’ing.

Close offers a straightforward email integration: simply link your Gmail or Outlook account, authenticate through OAuth, and every message from a matched contact will automatically populate in Close’s timeline. Although Close doesn’t directly sync calendar events, you can connect meetings back to the CRM using Zapier or Google Calendar integration, ensuring your schedule stays in sync with your sales pipeline.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Streak ensures real-time email synchronization as it operates within Gmail’s infrastructure. When you send or receive a message, Streak instantly logs it into the appropriate pipeline, allowing your team to view the latest activity without any delay. There’s almost no lag or queuing—messages and thread updates appear immediately in your inbox and within Streak’s interface. By connecting directly to Gmail, you gain the advantage of Google’s exceptional uptime and reliability.

Close offers seamless two-way email integration through OAuth-based connections with Gmail and Outlook. When you receive an email from a contact, Close captures it instantly—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 the same applies to incoming messages. For calendar events, you can connect your Google Calendar via Zapier for automatic updates, though these triggers will run every few minutes based on your Zapier plan.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is embedded directly within Gmail, enabling you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in under two minutes—no need for CSV imports or third-party applications. Easily insert custom variables like first name, company, and deal data directly from your pipelines, schedule automatic follow-up sequences on the same thread, and even A/B test subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every message and follow-up is logged seamlessly in your Streak timeline, ensuring you can track who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, be aware that Streak’s campaign features lack advanced analytics dashboards; thus, you won’t receive detailed reports on unsubscribes or bounce handling without integrating additional tools.

Close offers 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 in real-time, linking threads to the appropriate contact without the need for manual BCCs. While Close doesn’t natively sync calendar events, its “Emailing” setup indicates that you can synchronize both your work email and calendar.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

Streak’s Mail Merge tool integrates seamlessly with Gmail, allowing you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in under two minutes—no CSV imports or third-party applications needed. You can easily insert custom variables such as first names, company details, and deal data from your pipelines, schedule automatic follow-up sequences within the same thread, and even conduct A/B tests on subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every sent message and follow-up is logged in your Streak timeline, ensuring you maintain visibility on who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, Streak’s campaign features lack advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you won't receive in-depth reports on unsubscribes or bounce handling without incorporating an additional tool.

Close does not provide a traditional mail merge interface; instead, it allows you to create multi-step drip campaigns through its Workflows engine, integrating emails, calls, and SMS within a single sequence. You can enroll leads, personalize messages using templates, and let Close automatically dispatch steps at your preferred cadence, while recording every interaction in its unified Inbox. Nonetheless, Close is missing a visual campaign builder and comprehensive email campaign analytics, so you won't have access to open-rate trends or A/B testing insights within the UI.

Open and Click Tracking

Streak seamlessly integrates a small tracking pixel and link tracker into Gmail, allowing you to view real-time “eye” icons that indicate when an email is opened or a link is clicked within a specific thread. Simply hover over the green eye to access timestamps, locations, and individual link click data—all without leaving your inbox. Since it operates entirely on Gmail’s API, setup is minimal and feedback is instantaneous; however, it lacks aggregated campaign dashboards or multi-link heat-mapping beyond individual message views.

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

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, providing comprehensive CRM features—such as pipelines, contact details, and email logging—without requiring you to leave your inbox. The sidebar displays deal stages, custom fields, and shared notes next to every email thread, ensuring you have context readily available. You can easily drag and drop emails into various pipelines or adjust statuses on the spot, blending the functionalities of your inbox and CRM seamlessly. However, as Streak is exclusive to Gmail, this integrated experience won't carry over if you transition to Outlook or another email client.

Close lacks a native sidebar in Gmail or Outlook, but you can connect through the Missive integration to manage contacts, leads, and opportunities directly from your inbox. Emails sent or received in your mail client automatically populate Close’s unified activity stream without the need for manual BCCs, maintaining context. However, you'll still have to switch tabs to view pipeline overviews or dashboards, making it more of a closely synced companion than a 100% in-inbox CRM.

folk CRM: The Ultimate Email CRM

folk provides teams with a seamless, connected email workflow they’ve long desired. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing, all within a clean and user-friendly CRM. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk distinguishes itself as one of the top 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 Insights from Emails

One of folk’s standout features is its ability to centralize communication, transforming every email and call into actionable data through native email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook, along with AI-driven analysis. Teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations with a single click using folk's Recap assistant, which gathers insights from emails and notes to generate a summary, enabling you to grasp the context in seconds.
• Follow up at the optimal time, as AI scans conversations to alert you when a follow-up is needed and even drafts replies for you.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine simplifies the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can develop multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and ensure every interaction is automatically logged. Whether nurturing leads, executing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging with dormant deals, folk offers a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for additional tools.

Define conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically trigger emails, such as when a deal closes or when a new lead is added.

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 responded, highlights conversations that have cooled off, and pinpoints the ideal moment to re-engage. It functions like a built-in assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline progressing—no manual tracking needed.

folk starts at an affordable $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, Streak excels with its seamless Gmail integration and real-time tracking for users who thrive within their inbox. Close CRM shines with its robust multi-channel capabilities, ideal for high-velocity sales teams. However, for teams prioritizing email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the best choice. It provides a user-friendly interface, powerful automation tools, and AI-driven insights, all aimed at enhancing email workflows and boosting productivity, making it the go-to CRM for email-centric teams.

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