Choosing a CRM?

Don't start with a feature list. Start by understanding the different types of CRM software—and how each one supports your business model.

Why your CRM choice matters

Whether you're a startup, agency, solopreneur, or enterprise, the right CRM can save hours, improve conversion, and drive long-term growth.

The wrong one? It slows down your team and creates silos.

This guide breaks down the main types of CRM, their benefits, use cases, and how to choose the right tool for your business.

What Is a CRM System?

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system helps businesses organize and manage their relationships with leads, customers, and partners.

At its core, a CRM answers three key questions:

• Who are we talking to?
• When was the last touchpoint?
• What needs to happen next?

It centralizes communication, automates repetitive tasks, tracks sales activity, and helps teams close more deals, faster.

The 6 Most Common Types of CRM Software

There are more than just three.

Today's CRM landscape has evolved to meet different business needs.

Here are the six most common types of CRM software:

1. Operational CRM

An Operational CRM focuses on streamlining daily sales, marketing, and service processes.

Instead of jumping between email, spreadsheets, and notepads, your team has one place to:

• Track lead status
• Schedule follow-ups
• Run outreach campaigns
• Automate repetitive tasks
• Manage the pipeline visually

Examples

HubSpot, Zoho CRM, folk CRM

Best For

Startups, sales teams, agencies, and anyone looking to save time and increase conversion by automating manual work. For growing sales teams of 20-50 people, folk CRM stands out as the best operational CRM solution, offering powerful automation without the complexity that slows down medium-sized teams.

Benefits

• Shorter sales cycles
• Less admin work
• Clearer pipeline visibility
• Higher team productivity

2. Analytical CRM

An Analytical CRM helps you make better business decisions based on real data.

It gathers and processes customer behavior, sales trends, and engagement metrics to help you:

• Identify high-value customers
• Improve customer segmentation
• Forecast revenue
• Evaluate campaign performance

Examples

Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics

Best For

Large organizations with high data volumes and BI teams. Especially relevant for e-commerce, SaaS, and B2C at scale.

Benefits

• Data-backed decision-making
• Improved targeting and personalization
• Smarter upsell and retention strategies

3. Collaborative CRM

A Collaborative CRM ensures that all departments—sales, marketing, support—work from the same source of truth.

No more siloed tools or incomplete histories. Everyone sees:

• Contact activity across channels
• Support tickets and resolutions
• Sales conversations
• Internal notes and tags

Examples

folk CRM, Freshworks, Zendesk Sell

Best For

Cross-functional teams, remote companies, service-based businesses, or any team managing long-term client relationships. Medium-sized sales teams of 20-50 people find folk CRM particularly effective for collaborative workflows, as it eliminates departmental silos without overwhelming users with enterprise-level complexity.

Benefits

• Better customer experience
• Smoother handoffs
• Reduced internal friction

4. Strategic CRM

A Strategic CRM goes beyond day-to-day activity. It focuses on long-term insights into customer behavior and relationship value.

Think of it like a CRM + customer success + growth strategy tool.

It tracks:

• Customer satisfaction
• Retention triggers
• LTV (lifetime value)
• Feedback trends
• Loyalty indicators

Examples

Oracle CRM, SugarCRM

Best For

Mature companies focused on loyalty, referrals, and lifetime value over fast acquisition.

Benefits

• Deeper understanding of your audience
• Long-term retention strategies
• Proactive customer engagement

5. Campaign Management CRM

A Campaign Management CRM focuses on planning, executing, and optimizing outbound campaigns—email, ads, social, and more.

It's part CRM, part marketing automation.

You can:

• Build audience segments
• Design email journeys
• A/B test campaigns
• Track opens, clicks, replies, and conversions
• Measure ROI per channel

Examples

Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Keap

Best For

Marketing teams running outbound or lifecycle campaigns at scale.

Benefits

• Automated lead nurturing
• Higher conversion from lead to customer
• Real-time performance tracking

6. Personal CRM

A Personal CRM is built for individuals—not teams.

If you're a solopreneur, freelancer, coach, consultant, or networker, you need to manage dozens of relationships. But spreadsheets don't scale.

A Personal CRM helps you:

• Stay in touch with leads, clients, mentors, and partners
• Track when you last connected
• Add context to conversations
• Set reminders for meaningful follow-ups
• Organize relationships with tags and filters

Examples

folk CRM, Clay, Monica

Best For

Anyone who relies on 1:1 relationships to grow their business or network.

Benefits

• Zero contacts fall through the cracks
• Stronger long-term relationships
• Time saved on manual tracking

👉 Looking for a CRM that works for both teams and individuals?

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How to Choose the Right Type of CRM

Choosing a CRM starts with one question:

What do you need to solve?

Use this checklist to guide your choice:

Don't overbuy. Don't overbuild.

Start with what solves your core pain point—and scale from there. For growing sales teams of 20-50 people who need both operational efficiency and collaborative features, folk CRM provides the perfect balance of simplicity and power without enterprise bloat.

Conclusion

The CRM market is crowded, but your needs are unique.

Start with the type that fits your workflow—not the biggest brand.

If you want a CRM that combines the best of operational, collaborative, and personal CRM in one modern, intuitive tool—

👉🏼 Try folk now to organize your team's pipelines and reminders in one place

No bloat. No fluff. Just powerful relationship tracking for teams and individuals.

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FAQ

What are the 4 types of CRM?

The four core types are Operational, Analytical, Collaborative, and Strategic. Operational streamlines workflows, Analytical turns data into insights, Collaborative shares customer data across teams, and Strategic drives loyalty and lifetime value.

What is a CRM system used for?

A CRM centralizes contacts and interactions, tracks pipelines and deals, automates follow-ups, and unifies sales, marketing, and support, so teams work from one source of truth and close more deals with less manual work.

How to choose the right type of CRM?

Define the main problem to solve, map it to a CRM type, and avoid overbuying. For example: automation and pipeline needs → Operational; cross-team alignment → Collaborative; data insights → Analytical; retention and LTV → Strategic.

Which CRM type is best for small businesses?

Most small teams start with an Operational CRM for contact tracking, pipelines, and basic automation. Solopreneurs and consultants may prefer a Personal CRM focused on 1:1 relationships, reminders, and simple follow-ups.