What is a lead management system?
Lead management software enables you to track and score leads, view lead information, segment and nurture leads, and streamline outreach. Best lead management CRM also allows you to manage all of your leads in one database.
You can also benefit from these CRM systems:
Simple lead management software handles lead generation, organization, and tracking, while more complex ones help you grow your database and customize your strategy for each lead.
What is the difference between lead management software and CRM?
Although the majority of the popular business tools in this list can work as both a CRM and a lead management platform, they are not the same. These terms are frequently used interchangeably because there’s a lot of overlap during the customer life cycle.
Lead management software helps you close deals and nurture prospects who aren't quite ready to buy by tracking them in a single database and keeping track of their activities and interests.
Customer relationship management systems can perform all of these tasks and more. You can use it to manage every stage of the customer lifecycle—way beyond acquisition and focus on retention instead.
How to pick the best lead management system?
How to choose the best CRM software for lead management for your company? Here’s what to look for:
- Ease of use: Is the platform simple to use, or are the processes complicated?
- Ease of setup: Does it take days or months to onboard, or is it simple?
- Customization: Is it possible to design custom dashboards, views, and filters?
- Support and training: Does the company provide both free (or paid) support and training?
- Automation: Can automation speed up time-consuming tasks for you?
- Scalable: Can it scale with the growth of your company?
- Integrations: Will it integrate with all the other apps you now use?
When you`re looking for the top lead management software, make sure you test their customer service and don't forget to use their free trial to understand if it fits your business needs.
10 best software for lead management
1. Pipedrive - Easy-to-use lead management CRM software
You can boost the number of deals in your pipeline, increase the average deal value, and reduce the time it takes to close deals with the help of Pipedrive's CRM and lead management software.
Along with the necessary features, this lead management tool also provides a chatbot that you can customize and use to gather leads, the option to create a product catalog, and the ability to create custom filters that you can share with the team. This lead management CRM is a well-liked and very efficient tool for small and medium-sized businesses. The program manages sales and gives a comprehensive and clear picture of their recent and current deals.
Features:
- Leads inbox.
- Chat.
- Pipeline management.
- Web forms.
- Smart contact data.
- Fully customizable.
- Goal setting and reporting.
- Multi-language.
- Multi-currency.
- Email integration.
- Powerful API.
- Timeline views.
- Mobile apps.
- Google Calendar integration.
- Google Maps integration.
Pros:
- Easy to use, so you don’t waste a lot of time onboarding to the platform.
- The email tracking tool is very powerful and helpful.
- Salespeople have better ways to stay in touch with leads during the sales process due to effective tools like calling, chatbot, and live chat.
- It offers Customer Life Cycle & Measures Sales Performance.
Cons:
- Slack or Zapier integration is necessary for notifications.
- It does not offer many powerful features to run a customer service department.
Pricing:
- Essential: €12.50 per user per month, billed annually.
- Advanced: €24.90 per user per month, billed annually.
- Professional: €49.90 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: €74.90 per user per month, billed annually.
2. monday sales CRM - Customizable lead management CRM
Monday is another well-known company in the areas of customer relationship management (CRM), lead generation, and project management. This CRM software will assist you in managing customer information, interactions, and processes.
You can create and customize the dashboard to suit your needs. This CRM system provides automation capabilities to help you with repetitive tasks. It includes all the features and capabilities needed to help your business generate and close high-quality leads. This lead management software can automatically insert leads that are gathered on any other form. Also, you can import the leads from different tools and then insert them.
Features:
- Lead capturing.
- Project management.
- Activity management.
- Task management.
- Sales forecasting.
- Collaboration with team members.
- Custom notifications.
- Document management.
- Email updates.
- Quick onboarding.
- Real-time comments on visuals.
- User permissions on specific data.
- Sync with Outlook and Gmail.
Pros:
- The dashboard will allow you to quickly obtain data and get a comprehensive picture of sales, processes, and performance.
- You can set automatic reminders, due-date notifications, and task assignments for teammates.
- You can automate your entire sales pipeline by putting tedious tasks on autopilot.
- Leads can be gathered online via the integrated contact form.
Cons:
- There is a limited set number of actions that can be automated per month.
Pricing:
- Individual: free forever up to 2 seats.
- Basic: €8 per user per month, billed annually.
- Standard: €10 per user per month, billed annually.
- Pro: €16 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: contact the sales team.
3. Zendesk Sell - Innovative CRM for lead management
Zendesk Sell is a robust CRM software packed with features that make lead management easier. It has features like "Funnel Tracking" that let you know how much revenue a marketing campaign is likely to generate. Also, its built-in "Pipeline Conversion Report" tool enables users to identify problems with the sales cycle.
In addition, this lead management CRM offers users a customizable Lead Smart list, which they can use to get quick access to only the top prospects for their company. Another feature of Zendesk is its ability to automatically log calls and emails, ensuring that quality leads aren’t lost while shuffling through a wide range of prospects.
Features:
- Prospecting.
- Account management.
- Email Intelligence.
- Voice and text.
- Tasks and activity tracking.
- Integrations and APIs.
- Sales tracking.
- Reporting.
- Mobile app.
Pros:
- Record important details about the lead, including contact information, behavior, and other crucial data.
- A fully customizable CRM dashboard that enables you to track the leads from the point at which they enter the funnel to the moment they become satisfied customers.
- Use activity tracking to monitor a lead's engagement with your business.
- Provides reliable sales reporting and analytics that let you implement data-driven solutions.
- Improve the efficiency of lead generation and sales-related processes by integrating seamlessly with a variety of business apps.
Cons:
- Prospects cannot be added directly from a company domain or email in order to auto-fill information.
Pricing:
- Sell Team: $19 per user per month, billed annually.
- Sell Growth: $49 per user per month, billed annually.
- Sell Professional: $99 per user per month, billed annually.
- Sell Enterprise: starting at $150 per user per month, billed annually.
4. HubSpot - Free CRM for lead management
With the help of HubSpot's lead management and tracking tools, you can track and score prospects, segment lists, and streamline outreach while managing all your leads in one database. In addition to the essential features, this lead management tool also provides email tracking, business insights, and lead ads on Facebook and Instagram.
[Related Article: HubSpot CMS: Everything You Need to Know]
Features:
- Contact & lead management.
- Pipeline management.
- Contact & company insights.
- Personalized Sequences.
- Custom Forms.
- Email tracking.
- Email Templates.
- Contact activity.
- Ad management.
- Conversations inbox.
- Live chats & bots.
Pros:
- Robust free CRM version.
- Intuitive user interface.
- Solid email integration features.
- Tracking hot leads and their progress in the sales process.
- Easy importing and exporting leads.
Cons:
- Unwanted data can get added to the CRM feature of tracking email, and if un-ticked you lose the chance to collect data.
- The dashboard can be made simpler.
- If you start to add additional features, it can get costly.
- Not powerful enough for big sales teams.
Pricing:
- Free tools: available.
- Starter: $18 per month for 2 users. $9 per month per additional user.
- Professional: $450 per month for 5 users. $90 per month per additional user.
- Enterprise: $1,200 per month for 10 paid users. $120 per month per additional user.
5. ActiveCampaign - Robust lead tracking CRM
ActiveCampaign is a sales CRM automation platform that shines in terms of its lead scoring and nurturing capabilities. This one of the best lead tracking software gives you all the robust features you require to generate and nurture qualified leads with a higher chance of conversion.
ActiveCampaign helps you determine how engaged a prospect is by monitoring their activity at each stage of the sales lifecycle. You are immediately notified when a lead’s score is rising so your sales team can approach them with deals that are likely to close.
Features:
- Sales Automation.
- Lead Scoring.
- Pipeline, Account & Deal Management.
- Task Management & Reporting.
- Sales Engagement Automation & One-to-one Email.
- Sentiment Analysis.
- Win Probability.
- Facebook Lead Ads.
- Automations Map.
- Custom Reporting.
- Custom Objects.
- HIPAA Support.
- Uptime SLA.
Pros:
- Lead scoring helps you decide which leads to focus on.
- When leads reach a specific score, automatically send emails to sales teams.
- Automatically update your contact information.
- Get a view of the complete sales pipeline and lead history from the contact record.
Cons:
- This lead management CRM software can sometimes be slow.
- The extensive functionality of the program may take novice users some time to get comfortable with.
- A little bit more visual style would be excellent for the dashboard.=
Pricing:
Sales - CRM & Sales Engagement:
- Plus: $19 per month, billed annually.
- Professional: $49 per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: contact the sales team.
6. Keap - Feature-rich lead management software
Keap is a CRM, sales, and marketing automation platform for companies of all sizes and a wide range of industries. Access lead information from a variety of devices, track progress using dashboards, send quotes and invoices, and automate communication. Keap includes a ton of features, including contact management, email marketing, reporting & insights to help you convert more deals.
Features:
- Lead scoring.
- Contact management.
- Account and company management.
- Marketing automation.
- Invoices & payments.
- Webforms and landing pages.
- Quotes and appointments.
- Sales pipeline management.
- Email marketing.
- Text message marketing.
- Advanced automation for sales and marketing.
- A/B testing.
- Integrations and API.
- Reporting & insights.
Pros:
- It has the tools and capabilities you need to move leads through your sales pipeline efficiently.
- Keap provides comprehensive automation.
- You can use it to create personalized, customized sales and marketing processes.
- To streamline the online payment process, Keap offers native integrations of apps like PayPal, Stripe, etc.
Cons:
- Keap is quite expensive tool.
- It does not include any tools for running your customer service department.
Pricing:
- Pro: $149 per month, billed annually. It includes 1500 contacts and 2 users. Additional users are $29 each.
- Max: $199 per month, billed annually. It includes 2500 contacts and 3 users. Additional users are $29 each.
- Max Classic (formerly Infusionsoft) – contact the sales team.
7. Freshsales - Scalable CRM software for lead management
Freshsales CRM is a contact management and sales tool that is a great choice for startups, small businesses, and other companies looking for a powerful CRM on a budget. It is a great CRM solution for firms looking to grow. This lead management software is solid and reliable. It includes excellent email marketing tools and gamification features.
Features:
- Contact management.
- Account management.
- Automatic contact profile enrichment.
- Advanced CRM customization tools.
- Sales pipeline management.
- Advanced sales force automation.
- Email tools.
- SMS and social media tools.
- AI-driven insights.
- Marketing features.
- Website integration tools.
- Analytics and reports.
- Integrations, add-ons, and API.
- Mobile apps.
Pros:
- It has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate, making it easy for new users to get started quickly.
- This CRM for lead management offers an effective sales pipeline management system that helps businesses track and manage leads throughout the sales process.
- It provides robust contact management features, including the ability to segment contacts, set reminders, and track interactions.
Cons:
- Integrating with other apps is complicated.
- While Freshsales' interface is intuitive, some users may still find the platform complex and require some training.
Pricing:
- Growth: $15 per user per month, billed annually.
- Pro: $39 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: $69 per user per month, billed annually.
8. Apptivo - All-in-one CRM for lead management
With the help of Apptivo CRM, you can efficiently track and manage leads in a centralized database. The software enables you to find leads, gather web leads, and schedule follow-ups with them.
Like Sales Cloud, Apptivo is more than lead management software. However, it is not limited to sales and marketing tools. It has a contact center, invoicing, distribution management, and a ton of other useful tools for businesses.
Features:
- Lead scoring.
- Lead conversions.
- Customizable views.
- Unlimited custom fields.
- Contact management.
- Campaign management.
- Email marketing.
- Project management.
- Opportunity management.
- Invoicing.
- Competitor management.
- Knowledge databases.
- API and integrations.
- Mobile apps.
Pros:
- It is an all-in-one business management platform that includes CRM, project management, invoicing, and other tools in a single interface.
- This CRM for lead management offers a range of pricing plans, making it a cost-effective solution for small businesses.
- The software is divided into individual apps which you can get alone or in bundles.
Cons:
- Less popular among large companies.
- Poor customer support in the Lite plan, but in the most premium plans, customer support is better.
Pricing:
- Lite: $8 per user per month, billed annually.
- Premium: $12 per user per month, billed annually.
- Ultimate: $20 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: contact the sales team.
9. LeadSquared - Multichannel lead management software
LeadSquared is a powerful lead management CRM that enables you to manage the entire customer journey. This lead management tool includes marketing automation tools, a built-in email and landing page builder, and prevents lead leakage. The platform's intelligent automation speeds up the process of turning contacts into leads, leads into qualified prospects, and finally into paying clients.
Features:
- Lead capture.
- Built-in dialer.
- Engagement scoring.
- Lead distribution.
- Quality score.
- Marketing automation.
- Sales automation.
- Analytics and Reporting.
- Mobile app.
- Core systems integration.
Pros:
- It helps you capture leads from various sources, including events, blogs, lead generation sites, chat, online ads, emails, and phone calls.
- The software is highly customizable.
- Real-time lead addition.
- It helps you speed up sales.
- API Integration with other apps.
Cons:
- The software has a steep learning curve.
- The UI of the dashboard could be improved.
- Updating automation is time-consuming.
Pricing:
- Lite: $25 per user per month, billed annually.
- Pro: $50 per user per month, billed annually.
- Super: $100 per user per month, billed annually.
- Ultimate: contact the sales team.
10. Salesforce Sales Cloud - AI-powered CRM system for lead management
Salesforce's Sales Cloud is a lead management software that helps nurture leads, automate the sales process, and track marketing ROI, which together result in a full pipeline and higher close rates.
Reps can save time, gather lead information, nurture leads, and assign tasks to the appropriate people with the help of this software. You can also use sales, marketing, and contact management tools to improve your business.
[Related Article: Salesforce Migration Process: Step-by-Step Guide]
Features:
- Sales Path.
- Lead tracking.
- Automatic lead scoring.
- Automatic routing.
- Track marketing campaigns.
- Marketing automation.
- Email marketing.
- Audience discovery.
- Contact management.
- Opportunity management.
- Workflows.
- Einstein AI.
- Analytics and Reporting.
- Mobile app.
- Salesforce Integrations.
Pros:
- Its email marketing tools are great, especially the templates, which look good and are easy to customize.
- Excellent lead scoring and sales forecasting with Einstein AI.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM integrates with a wide range of third-party applications.
Cons:
- It can be expensive, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, with additional costs for customizations and add-ons.
- It may take time and resources to train users on the platform.
Pricing:
- Essentials: $25 per user per month, billed annually.
- Professional: $75 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: $150 per user per month, billed annually.
- Unlimited: $300 per user per month, billed annually.
Bottom line
In this article, we have listed the best lead management systems to help you compare and select the one that suits you.
You should use one of these lead management solutions because it encourages and enables marketers to connect with prospects and deal like an expert.