The 7 Best CRM Software In Australia For 2023

Before we dive headfirst into the seven best CRM software systems, let’s take a minute to diagnose our problem and orient ourselves to what we actually need.

The internet is saturated with so many fast-talking marketing sharks and con-trepreneurs that are ready to lure you into costly monthly subscriptions for their CRM solutions. I see it all the time, and I want to help you steer well clear of those and bring to your attention the reputable ones.

Most of you here belong to one of two camps:

The good news is that some awesome CRM solutions are out there to help you with either (or both) of these problems.

Russell Brunson, the founder of ClickFunnels, said in his New York Times bestselling book Traffic Secrets, “Until you own the traffic, you’re always left to the whims of the network [Google, Facebook, etc.].”

It’s akin to handling all your money without a bank account; you’d have loose change falling out of your pockets… so much would go unaccounted for… so many missed opportunities.

If this is how you’re currently managing customer relationships, you’re not alone.

1. HubSpot CRM.

Best overall CRM for Australian Small Businesses.

I’m a big-time HubSpot fanboy (although, I’m well into my thirties now, so does that make me a fanman?).

I got hooked on HubSpot CRM because of its ease of use.

I distinctly remember being pleasantly surprised when navigating the intuitive interface and tinkering with the platform for the first time.

Even novices won’t need to seek assistance in forums and on YouTube for the most basic tasks.

From the main dashboard, the toolbar has clearly labelled drop-down menus, and you can easily navigate between the five different “hubs” (which are separate products in their own right):

Best of all, you can sign up for free and experiment with these features to really get the feel for them. And not just a free trial; I mean there’s actually a free basic account.

Don’t like the platform? Nothing lost.

As the sagacious philosopher Ariana Grande once said… “Thank you, next.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; their paid plans are enriched with some outstanding marketing automation features that will save you time and money when carrying out repeatable tasks.

Everything, including your social media, website, forms, and emails can be accessed from one place, and it makes managing your customer interactions incredibly easy.

These are essentially other apps you’re using (Gmail, Facebook Ads, MailChimp, WhatsApp, Calendly, Zoom, etc.).

And if you can’t find a particular app in the HubSpot library, you can always connect to other IT tools such as Zapier or HubSpot’s open API – so there’s always a workaround.

Who It’s For.

In terms of its ease of use, it’s a great tool for those planning to roll out the CRM platform across different functions, especially if those functions include those who typically lack technical expertise.

Since a system is only as good as its weakest link, given the barrier for entry is much lower than other platforms, HubSpot is the perfect candidate.

As for purpose, HubSpot is home to a suite of tools that are designed to help you sell more efficiently to your existing customers and new leads.

I’d literally need a whole article to discuss each of those in detail, but one feature, for example, is the calendar link in your email signature which lets recipients easily schedule meetings without the needless emailing back and forth.

I use these to send automated emails to my current customers to stay front of mind. Sending free content such as blogs and eBooks works best as they tend to let their guard down (most hate being sold to).

I wouldn’t have the time to fire out these emails manually, and I’d most likely forget!

So if you’re a bootstrapped start-up with a low budget and you can’t afford cost-effective remote support from agencies on Upwork or Fiverr, you should definitely explore building email marketing sequences for scaling your business.

This is a lesser-known package that only the thrifty searchers will stumble across in their research. Don’t pay for these individually!

Pricing.

For Marketing Hub:

For Sales Hub:

*When billed annually (yes, even the Enterprise Marketing Hub).

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

HubSpot CRM Scoring Criteria	Score
Single Source Of Truth	5/5
Support	5/5
Business Management Tools	5/5
Ease Of Use	5/5
Cost	4/5
TOTAL	4.8/5

2. Monday.com.

Best CRM for teams running complex projects.

Monday.com is hands-down the best if you sell services that require a heavy focus on project management.

It’s a platform in which your sales team and your operational team will all be singing from the same hymn sheet.

The transparency you get with Monday.com means you’ll have complete visibility over the statuses of all projects on your radar.

It’s all there in black and white (well, in colour actually, but you know what I mean). You have access to the entire comment history and subsequent replies.

There’s a comprehensive record of what has and hasn’t been achieved, and you’ll never need to get lost in a chain of emails again.

Not only that, but Monday.com’s notification system is a well-oiled machine.

When a task is completed, it automatically lets the next person in the process know so they can start their work. How amazing is that? It takes away the pain and emotion of having to delegate endless tasks.

(Related: 7 Best E-Commerce Platforms).

Who It’s For.

Monday.com is superb for project managers and team managers. If all this is new to you, you’re going to wonder how you ever coped without it in the first place.

If you’re managing multiple projects and dealing with multiple teams simultaneously, you’ll appreciate being able to see the flow of your projects and the status of delivery at each stage.

And that’s exactly why Monday.com is great, as it makes it harder for the free-riders to piggyback on the back of a team’s successes.

Look, I know some out there will argue that we should trust employees, but keeping an eye on employees doesn’t mean to say we’re living in some sort of Orwellian surveillance state.

Monday.com’s mobile app could do with some improvement – one example being the inability to add filters to see what tasks need to be completed by whom and by when.

So, if you travel a lot when working and manage your team’s workload via mobile, you might find it harder to keep track of what’s going on.

Also, setting up recurring tasks also requires some legwork in automations, whereas other CRM systems allow you to set up recurring tasks in a matter of clicks.

Pricing.

*When billed annually.

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

Monday.com CRM Scoring Criteria	Score
Single Source Of Truth	5/5
Support	5/5
Business Management Tools	4/5
Ease Of Use	4/5
Cost	4/5
TOTAL	4.4/5

3. Pipedrive.

Best simple and inexpensive CRM.

Pipedrive is a CRM platform built by salespeople for salespeople. The focus is very much on organising your sales pipeline, and it does this by keeping things simple.

It makes effective use of Kanban-style drag-and-drop pipelines.

While other CRM solutions include automation, with Pipedrive, you can automate just about any workflow in your sales process, such as qualifying leads, creating quotes, sending invoices, and triggering a sequence of personalised emails (drip campaigns), chatbot responses, and revenue forecasting.

At one click of a button, this feature scrapes data from public sources like LinkedIn, Google, and Twitter and estimates how “hot” your leads are.

It’s frightening how accurate this is!

Pipedrive stands out from other CRM tools due to the freedom of unlimited contacts, sales pipelines, and custom fields that are included in the most basic package.

Despite its library of third-party integrations being smaller (250+), it makes use of open API, meaning you can connect any system or app in your technology stack.

Who It’s For.

Pipedrive’s singular goal is to help sales teams sell. You won’t find many gimmicky marketing or service features.

If you don’t need all the bells and whistles that other all-in-one platforms provide, consider a laser-focused system that does just one function amazingly.

You don’t have access to project management or email marketing tools, and you’ll need to pay extra for web forms and chatbots that help you generate new leads.

If you need more features and want to scale your entire organisation (not just your sales team), then you might want to consider an all-in-one CRM solution.

For most sales teams, it provides a repository of data and intelligence without all the extra fluff that usually comes with analytics.

Data nerds may prefer more sophisticated platforms where the reporting capability is more advanced and offers more granular detail.

Pricing.

*When billed annually.

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

Pipedrive CRM Scoring Criteria	Score
Single Source Of Truth	3/5
Support	4/5
Business Management Tools	3/5
Ease Of Use	5/5
Cost	5/5
TOTAL	4/5

4. Salesforce Customer 360.

Best CRM system for larger companies.

Salesforce, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is big, expensive, data-driven piece of CRM software with more tools, add-ons, and service packages than you can shake a stick at.

It’s known for its specialised software and being able to adapt to your needs.

From a reputation and functionality perspective, it can be regarded as the Microsoft Word of CRMs in the sense that it’s safe and trustworthy.

Salesforce Sales Cloud is also referred to as Customer 360, but what does that actually mean? Is 360 just sales hyperbole?

Sniff around enough CRM web pages, and you’ll notice some mention of it on almost everyone. As for Salesforce, they’re the OG, and most are cheap imitations.

They back up their claim of a 360-degree view of customers, giving you the ability to store, track, and analyse customer and prospect information in a central location.

The integrated CRM software means everyone in your organisation has a single, shared view of each customer in the entire Salesforce ecosystem.

There’s a slew of third-party integrations, and I’d need to write a book to cover all 8,700+ mission-critical partner apps and services. But I’ll mention a few which I’ve found useful and have wide application.

You can also build apps without coding expertise; Lightning Data cleans leads and contacts; Pardot offers marketing automations; Chatter is the social network. The list goes on…

Who It’s For.

You can be forgiven for thinking that Salesforce is aimed exclusively at big businesses because of corporate clients (Walmart, Amazon, American Express, Toyota, and Spotify). But the reality is that most are small businesses:

While the bespoke and adaptive nature of the platform means it appeals to any organisation whose departments are currently working in silos, where Salesforce Sales Cloud really shines is for enterprise customers.

It’s the bridge that brings everything together for effective sales and operational planning (S&OP).

But very few CRM solutions are practical for big businesses. That’s why Salesforce often steals the spotlight.

It allows them to integrate customer data that is typically fragmented and spread across multiple tools and apps.

I love the reporting capabilities, especially the pre-built reports that encompass the many KPIs which are measured in the corporate world, including win ratios, conversion rates, top accounts, and activities.

With Hyperforce, Salesforce apps can be accessed securely and reliably and maintain customer compliance and data residency requirements (great for public sector entities).

Getting started with CRM software can be offputting, particularly when the initial set-up involves a huge infrastructure build and integration, but Salesforce has several pre-built solutions (financial services, nonprofits, retail, public sector, telecommunications, education) to minimise the pain.

Pricing.

Salesforce’s pricing structure is complicated, and it seems as though they have a solution for anyone and everyone. But here are some of their most standardised packages:

(All prices below are per month per user when billed annually, with the exception of Marketing Cloud, which is a flat price for any size team and charged monthly.)

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

Salesforce CRM Scoring Criteria	Score
Single Source Of Truth	5/5
Support	5/5
Business Management Tools	5/5
Ease Of Use	3/5
Cost	4/5
TOTAL	4.4/5

5. Freshsales CRM (AKA Freshworks).

Good budget CRM software.

Freshsales, as the name suggests, is a sales-focused CRM platform specifically built for sales teams. It’s a platform that helps you sell smarter and close deals faster.

(Related: 7 Best Home Business Ideas).

With Freshsales being an off-the-shelf CRM tool, you can get going right out of the blocks without the need to spend endless hours customising and building an ecosystem.

(Music to my bloody ears!)

There’s even a built-in email and phone system to simplify the process. 

Your sales pipeline can be viewed as a table, list, or Kanban board, giving you complete control over how you manipulate and manage leads. This quick access makes performing tasks at scale much simpler.

But Freshsales’ Freddy AI is the companion you’re glad to have by your side.

In that respect, he’s like the AI version of Samwise Gamgee – reliable, supportive, and will save your skin from time to time (though not from giant spiders or orcs).

This guy has you covered with smart suggestions to manage calendars, set up tasks, and prioritise prospects based on positive and negative sentiments.

Freshsales workflows are one of a kind in their ease of setting up and managing. An automatic summary of every rule is created, and each comes with its own audit log to keep track of changes.

When you need to troubleshoot or make changes, you can test them in a sandbox before automatically syncing them to your account.

Who It’s For.

The full-featured mobile app for Android and iOS is something that sales reps and account managers in the field can use to manage their prospects after meetings and phone calls.

The offline mode is especially convenient; you can update and access customer data when your signal or WiFi is down.

Any changes you make will be synced when you’re back online.

You can literally manage your sales pipeline from your phone, and Freshsales is about the most mobile-friendly CRM software on the market.

Basically, if Freshsales and Salesforce were computer games, Freshsales would be Candy Crush and Salesforce would be Minecraft. If you had to play one, which would it be?

Before signing up, it’s worth noting that Freshsales CRM it’s not an all-in-one platform. To achieve synergy across sales, marketing, and services, you’ll need to check out other CRM vendors.

For small businesses, the costs might be hard to swallow when stacking all these add-ons, so the CRM software is more appropriate for midsize businesses.

Pricing.

*When billed annually.

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

6. Oracle NetSuite.

CRM software for enterprise behemoths.

NetSuite is one that’s often overlooked, and that’s likely due to it being way more advanced than your typical CRM software, which helps businesses supercharge their customer relationship management.

It’s both a CRM and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool.

It’s a multifaceted titan that supports the streamlining and automation of processes in finance, manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, human resources, and other core functions.

NetSuite offers a holistic view of your entire business management operations, which facilitates efficient data management and the streamlining of processes. It sheds light on many existing processes and highlights bottlenecks.

Given its vastness, you can quickly feel as though you’re lost and floating in space if you haven’t tethered yourself with some rudimentary knowledge.

Looking at its supply chain capabilities, you can control inbound and outbound logistics, warehouse processes, forecasting, replenishment, and inventory management. It’s so nuanced and like a bottomless pit of tools.

And as items move throughout the supply chain, accurate inventory records are kept, which incorporate barcoding, batch tracking, and serial tracking.

What’s more, historical sales are analysed and optimal reordering points are programmed in for each product.

That’s just one example.

Who It’s For.

You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed tomorrow, and you stick to your current CRM software. You take the red pill – go with NetSuite and see how deep the rabbit hole of ERP functionality goes.

NetSuite is not for the faint-hearted.

As with any software, adoption is key to implementation, and if your staff aren’t ready or willing to embrace the challenge, they’ll take shortcuts and only use it for what directly benefits them in the short term.

If you have a team without technical expertise, customer data won’t get sufficiently recorded, project details will be lacking, and account history will be inadequate.

But for the right organisation, it could be the key to unlocking a strategic competitive advantage. Every function of your business will be augmented with more efficient processes.

For instance, its financial tracking automates accounting functions, such as accounts receivable and payable, and there are tonnes of reporting, planning, and billing features too.

For established businesses with many moving parts that seem to be growing arms and legs, an advanced solution like this helps you laser-focus on managing your workstream and focus on your value-adding activities.

Pricing.

NetSuite CRM doesn’t display pricing on its website, as its pricing is tailored according to each company’s needs.

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

7. Zoho CRM.

Good CRM for customisability.

Zoho CRM has an astonishing 90 million users worldwide. That’s some serious accolade right there. Being an all-in-one suite, it’s a CRM app that has mass appeal and is trusted by international and Aussie firms of all sizes.

All your employees can use this CRM, not just your sales team or customer service teams, so take note if you’re looking for a business-wide solution.

Part of the attraction of the platform is the ability to build what you need. The Canvas feature is the star of the show and lets you customise the look and feel of your CRM.

B-e-a-utiful!

I love Zoho’s philosophy.

They don’t show ads inside their Zoho CRM software (not even the free editions), nor do they sell your information to third parties.

Also, they block third-party trackers from operating on their sites, so your data and privacy is fully protected. Your business is nobody else’s business.

With that, you can leverage faster response times and smoother experiences, especially when carrying out intensive administrative tasks. It’s also great for privacy since data is stored on your machine rather than remote servers.

Like Pipedrive, Zoho CRM offers unlimited sales pipelines and dashboards, but it also offers unlimited workflow automation with its standard plan.

Who It’s For.

Attention, calling all tinkerers! Zoho CRM makes building a system pleasurable. If you spend hours upon hours a day looking at this system, the last thing you want is to be looking at something ugly.

This is your virtual reality. Given the choice, I’m sure most would rather live in the virtual equivalent of Mayfair rather than Old Kent Road – so design it according to your personal tastes or brand guidelines.

There is a steep learning curve for Zoho CRM, so it’s perhaps not the best place to start for newbies. That said, its AI-powered sales assistant, Zia, makes life easier.

It has features such as Data Enrichment, which essentially performs a search on the internet for more data when filling out a new lead. If Zia finds any intelligence about a prospect, it will ask if you want to add this to the record.

I find building workflows to be migraine-inducing, and having a system troubleshoot and point out snags (when you can’t see the wood for the trees) is worth its weight in gold.

Pricing.

*When billed annually.

Reasons To Buy.

Reasons To Avoid.

Frequently Asked Questions About CRM Systems.

Business owners who are about to buy a CRM system for their business typically wonder…

What should I look for in CRM software?

CRM platforms come in a variety of different flavours and have many features. So you’ll first need to decide what your actual goal is.

Before taking out any subscription (unless a free trial), you should figure out which of the following are most important to you:

Once you’ve established the major weaknesses and opportunities in your business, you’ll be able to make an informed decision and find the CRM software that best meets your needs.

Once you’ve narrowed down your shortlist, consider other factors such as price, user-friendliness, mobile functionality, tech support, third-party integrations, and customer insights.

What are the 4 types of CRM?

Broadly speaking, there are four different types of CRM software, and each has its own function. In the seven best CRM software described above, you’ll notice many are hybrids of these:

How can I successfully implement a CRM system?

Even if you find the perfect CRM provider, the success of it depends entirely on your implementation and commitment to stick with it. Here are some steps you should take to implement your CRM system:

What Is marketing automation in simple terms?

Marketing automation software eliminates repetitive and tedious tasks, saving you time and effort. Gone are the days when everything needs to be done manually and every action needs to be triggered by a person.

With marketing automation, you can set up your workflows to send email campaigns, segment audiences, monitor website stats, and carry out lead scoring and behavioural analysis. CRM technology is a proven way of increasing customer engagement and driving sales.

Bottom Line On Choosing The Best CRM Software In Australia.

When searching for the best CRM software, getting it right the first time is the most important thing. If you get it wrong, migrating all your data and workflows is costly and disruptive.

Even if this is your second bite at the CRM cherry, you’ll want to do your due diligence to avoid going back to square one again.

You can’t afford to get it wrong when your competitors out there are getting it right.

Tommy