Effective lead management is paramount for driving growth and achieving sales success in any industry and any type of sales organization. Thankfully, lead management software has become a readily available tool that can help businesses streamline their lead tracking processes and maximize their conversion rates.
But with so many options available on the market today, trying to find the perfect lead management software solution for your company might be a complicated task. To help you on this journey, here’s a curated list of the best lead management software available right now.
Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, these platforms offer robust features and functionalities to help you capture, organize, and nurture leads, ultimately boosting your sales pipeline.
What is Lead Management Software?
Lead management software is a tool that helps organizations qualify, analyze, and nurture leads with the goal of converting them into new business opportunities.
So why is lead management important?
A study from the Harvard Business Review found that, “Nonetheless, our research indicates that many firms are too slow to follow up on these leads. We audited 2,241 U.S. companies, measuring how long each took to respond to a web-generated test lead. Although 37% responded to their lead within an hour, and 16% responded within one to 24 hours, 24% took more than 24 hours—and 23% of the companies never responded at all. The average response time, among companies that responded within 30 days, was 42 hours.”
However, with the right lead management software your team can stay on top of leads by, improving response time, lead capturing, and more.
What to Look for in Lead Management Tools
When choosing a lead management software solution for your business, it’s essential to consider several key factors that align with your organization’s unique requirements, including:
- Lead capture and tracking: Look for tracking software that provides seamless lead capture from various sources and allows comprehensive tracking of lead activities throughout the sales process
- Lead segmentation and scoring: Ensure the lead management system offers advanced lead segmentation capabilities. This enables you to categorize leads based on specific criteria. Lead scoring functionalities help you to prioritize and focus on high-quality prospects
- Integration capabilities: Check if the lead management software integrates seamlessly with your existing CRM, email marketing, and other relevant tools to ensure smooth data transfer and efficient workflow
- Automation and workflow management: Opt for software that automates repetitive tasks, such as lead assignment and follow-up reminders, to enhance productivity and optimize lead management processes
- Analytics and reporting: Look for robust analytics and reporting features that provide insights into lead performance, conversion rates, and overall sales process and pipeline, enabling data-driven decision-making
The 10 Best Lead Management Software to Use in 2023 (Free & Paid)
1. ClickUp
When businesses are looking for lead management software today, they are really looking for one of the following: a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that has lead management features or lead management software that easily integrates with their customer relationship management software.
ClickUp is a project management platform that’s so versatile that it can easily act as a CRM or a lead management system if that’s what you need it to do. It’s a valid alternative for any CRM software, lets you easily set up CRM workflows, offers CRM templates, and is the perfect example of what a modern CRM solution can look like—flexible and completely customizable.
ClickUp can be used to manage your entire sales process and team and allow them to easily collaborate with marketing, product, and every other team that plays a role in acquiring and converting leads. This lead management system is ideal to connect all your teams in one platform.
ClickUp best features
- Automation options that make data entry simple and fast so that you can increase the speed at which leads move through your pipeline. You can automatically assign tasks based on the funnel stage, trigger status updates for specific customer activities, and more
- A flexible CRM experience that allows you to design your workflows and team structures any way you’d like. ClickUp works as a flexible CRM that allows you to customize your workflow and visualize your entire pipeline for tracking leads
- ClickUp Formsthat allows your team to streamline the lead intake process, organize data the way you want, and automatically create tasks directly from branded forms
- Tailored dashboards that make it easy for your team to track deals and see how your team is doing. ClickUp can simultaneously be used as a lead management and team performance management tool at the same time
- A constantly growing number of templates for CRMs, commission tracking, sales reports, and more
ClickUp limitations
- Might be too full-featured for some. Small teams or individuals looking for a very simple lead management tool that doesn’t do anything else might be overwhelmed by ClickUp
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (8,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,500+ reviews)
Managing leads in ClickUp’s CRM Template allows your to organize your active, lost, and past leads into different lists for easy tracking. This template is designed to help you keep tabs on customers and sales leads, with custom statuses that allow you to mark the progress of each task.
2. Salesflare
Salesflare is a good CRM and lead management system for small sales teams that offers flexible pricing. It makes this list of the best lead management software solutions because it offers strong CRM automation capabilities and can help sales teams improve their workflows considerably.
Salesflare best features
- Excellent automation features enable you to quickly gather data, log phone calls and meetings, and send personalized email campaigns very easily
- The email finding tool helps you uncover the email addresses of leads that you’ve come in contact with but weren’t able to get an email from.
- Salesflare’s sign-up process is fast and easy, thanks to email integration
Salesflare limitations
- The user interface (UI) was made to be simple and easy to use, but sometimes it’s too simplistic and makes it hard to view all of the information you need at once on the screen
Salesflare pricing
- Growth: 35/month per user
- Pro: $55/month per user
- Enterprise: $99/month per user
Salesflare ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 (230 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (130 reviews)
Bonus: Construction CRM!
3. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a very popular tool withs excellent features available for pipeline management, sales reporting and forecasting, data import and export, and email integration.
It’s a very good lead management tool for small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for software to help them manage sales and give them a clear picture of their sales funnel at all times.
Pipedrive best features
- Easy-to-use and intuitive features
- Easily customizable dashboard options for resource management
- Clear and well-formatted sales performance reporting
Pipedrive limitations
- The mobile app can be a little unintuitive
Pipedrive pricing
- Essential: $9.90/month per user
- Advanced: $19.90/month per user
- Professional: $39.90/month per user
- Power: $49.90/month per user
- Enterprise: $59.90/month per user
Pipedrive ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (2,800+ reviews)
4. BizConnect
BizConnect is not your typical CRM or lead management software. It’s actually software that’s used to scan business cards and manage a database of business contacts.
It’s a great tool for people who attend conferences regularly and trade business cards with other business people. BizConnect makes it easy to scan cards and create and manage a list of prospects that way.
BizConnect best features
- Very accurate scanning and storage of business cards
- Easy to manage, group, and share contact lists with other team members
- Managers can create tasks and daily checklists through BizConnect
- Lists can be easily exported to Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel
BizConnect limitations
- Doesn’t have many of the features that top lead management software and CRMs have
- Scanning is very accurate, but sometimes slow
BizConnect pricing
- Free version
- Premium: $9.99/month
BizConnect ratings and reviews
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (25 reviews)
- GetApp: 4.6/5 (25 reviews)
5. noCRM.io
noCRM.io is well-known lead management software that can help sales teams keep better track of their pipelines and the customers that they have converted.
It makes it a breeze for sales teams to quickly create leads (with lead scoring) from a variety of sources—from Linkedin to business cards. It’s a tool that’s specifically built to cater to sales teams and help them eliminate manual data entry in order to focus on conversions.
noCRM.io best features
- Offers a sales script generator that makes it easy to qualify leads
- Robust email integrations
- Excellent reporting
- Very easy-to-use and intuitive lead scoring options
- Solid mobile app
noCRM.io limitations
- Integrations outside of email tools are fairly limited
- Dashboard customization isn’t very flexible
noCRM.io pricing
- Starter kit: €10/month per user
- Sales experts: €19/month per user
- Dream team: €29/month per user
noCRM.io ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (80 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (340+ reviews
6. Freshsales
Freshsales is a great lead management solution for small and medium-sized businesses that are looking to automate their lead review workflows.
It’s part of a larger suite of tools from Freshworks that offers affordable plans for small teams with excellent AI-powered contact and deal-scoring features to track the sales pipeline.
Freshsales best features
- Above-average mobile app
- Intuitive campaign management
- Easy import and export of data
- AI-powered lead scoring
Freshsales limitations
- Fairly complicated integrations with other tools
- Slight learning curve for teams that have little experience with CRMs
Freshsales pricing
- Growth: $18/month per user
- Pro: $47/month per user
- Enterprise: $83/month per user
Freshsales ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (1,600 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (340+ reviews
7. Apptivo
Apptivo is a bit different because it’s not specifically lead management software. It’s a cloud CRM software and platform that has a bunch of different apps that help manage different business processes like marketing, sales, project management, invoicing, and more.
Apptivo’s “Lead App” is used to help manage sales leads throughout the entire pipeline.
Apptivo best features
- Easy to assign leads to team members
- You can add notes and personal information for each contact in your pipeline
- The entire platform is cloud-based so you don’t have to install anything locally
Apptivo limitations
- CRM software and interface are somewhat clunky
- Has more apps and features than most sales teams need
Apptivo pricing
- Lite: $10/month per user
- Premium: $15/month per user
- Ultimate: $25/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for price
Apptivo ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (135 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (695 reviews
8. Creatio
Similar to Apptivo, Creatio is another platform that has several different CRM applications within it. One of the applications is dedicated sales. Sales Creatio is a platform all types of teams can use to automate their lead management process.
Creatio also prides itself in the fact that no coding knowledge is needed to customize the way your team uses the platform.
Creatio best features
- Highly customizable dashboard to assign leads or use as pipeline management
- Custom workflows and processes are easy to create
- Can be easily integrated with other Creatio CRM software like Marketing
Creatio limitations
- Might be best suited for large companies that need an all-in-one platform that handles more than sales
Creatio pricing
- Team: $30/month per user
- Commerce: $35/month per user
- Enterprise: $60/month per user
Creatio ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (225 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (95 reviews)
9. Keap
Keap is an excellent CRM platform for sales teams that need high-quality email and SMS marketing capabilities. Their automation is very good and the lead-tracking software enables you to create numerous pipelines easily and nurture relationships with customers through automated communications.
Keap best features
- Great payments integrations that make the online payment process swift and easy
- A large number of integrations with popular sales tools
Keap limitations
- A slight lack of customization options in sales reports and managing qualified leads
- Getting rid of duplicate leads and managing customer data is sometimes difficult
- Fairly expensive compared to other CRMs
Keap pricing
- Pro: $199/month for two users
- Max: $289/month for three users
- Max Classic: Contact for pricing
Keap ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,445 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (1,220 reviews)
Bonus: Check out our list of the top alternatives to Keap
10. Marketo Engage
Adobe’s Marketo Engage is a platform that helps businesses drive demand and increase conversions by providing personalized experiences for all prospects.
The platform brings together customer data, automation, and analytics to help both marketing and sales teams engage better with potential customers at each touchpoint.
Marketo Engage best features
- Excellent scoring system that can be easily customized to fit what your sales team deems important
- Allows you to build customized buyer journeys
- Integrates with all leading CRMs and many other popular business tools
- Strong security features
Marketo Engage limitations
- Complex. Extensive training is required to use it
- No native reports and templates. You need to create them all from scratch
Marketo Engage pricing
- Contact for pricing
Marketo Engage ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (2,300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (660 reviews)
How to Use Lead Management Software?
Here are a few tips to help you use lead management software effectively:
- Set up detailed profiles for each lead with key information such as contact information, demographics, interests, and purchase history.
- Create campaigns that target the right leads at the right time so you don’t waste resources on prospects who may not be interested in your product or service.
- Automate mundane tasks like follow-ups to save time and energy.
- Monitor lead performance to identify areas of improvement in your sales and marketing strategies.
- Implement lead scoring systems so you can prioritize the best leads for conversion.
- Use analytics tools to track key metrics like open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.
- Design a customer feedback loop that helps you collect valuable data from customers to inform future campaigns.
- Track leads from all your different marketing channels so you can identify which sources are most effective for generating conversions.
- Set up triggers to notify sales reps when new leads come in or updates have been made so they can take action immediately.
- Utilize customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage contact information and lead progress.
ClickUp: The Best Lead Management System for Your Team
After taking a look at all these great lead management tools, it is evident that they offer numerous powerful features that can streamline lead tracking and nurturing processes.
What’s most important is how the software fits the specific needs of you and your team. ClickUp stands out as a top choice because it’s incredibly flexible. It’s not just a lead management tool—every team within your organization can use ClickUp. When everyone uses one platform, syncing and keeping every team on the same page is infinitely easier.
Not convinced? Sign up for a free ClickUp account today and see how it can help your sales team (and your business as a whole) step up their game.
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