Freshworks Review :CRM Marketing Cloud - A Guide Before You Buy

What Is Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud?

The tool I’ll be reviewing here is the email marketing branch of the Freshworks CRM product, which comes as part of the overall Freshworks family. Although it does come as its own tool with individual pricing, there’s also the option there to include other products in their suite.

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Pros & Cons

Pros

• Freshworks suite integration - Freshworks offers a total of eight different products, each with their own specific purpose relating to different business needs. As they all belong to the same family, this means that they’re easy to integrate with each other to form one big business management powerhouse

• Flexible, scalable products - An array of different products and a range of price plans for each gives you the benefit of accessing a fully integrated platform. What’s more, this allows you to pick and choose which parts you need specifically. If you want to add more functionality and integrate more processes, you can here easily

• Personalized emails - Sending emails tailored specifically to a customer is a tried and tested way of improving engagement. The integration between sales and marketing enables targeted campaigns, while advanced automation allows you to create branched campaigns that vary based on how each individual interacts

Cons

• No free plan - Free plans can be a really useful way of getting familiar with a product before taking that final step and handing over your money. Unfortunately, you don’t get that option here. While they do offer a 21 day free trial, this might not be enough time to get a solid grasp of all that’s on offer

• Expensive for bulk emailing - Prices start at $25 per month for 500 contacts and just 1,500 emails on the lowest Growth plan. If you want to add more contacts (more contacts = more emails), prices start at $100 for an additional 5,000, which gives you 15,000 emails. A massive leap in price

Who Is Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Recommended For?

The advanced automation features on display here, when combined with the depth of customer management, results in a powerful tool for companies involved in sales or ecommerce. 

If you have a smaller number of contacts, you can get a solid CRM with email marketing here for a relatively low price.

Who Is Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Not Recommended For?

If you’re a small business with a large contact list, you’ll find the prices can go up very fast! 

On the flip side, if you’re wanting to use the full CRM product, be aware that prices are per user. For large teams that require all members having access to the platform, this could also end up costing you a pretty penny.

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Pricing

The three main plans give you an increasing access to advanced features as you progress upwards, and an increased email sending limit. The sending limit is calculated based on how many contacts you have and which plan you’re on. Basic = 3x no. of contacts, Growth 5x and Enterprise 10x. You start each plan at 500 contacts, but have the option to increase this number starting at $100 for 5,000 more.

The above prices are per month, but there’s also an option for discounted annual subscriptions. 

Cancellation / Refund Policies

Freshworks has a no-refund policy for any fees paid to them unless the software becomes unusable due to a fault out of your control. Your subscription will renew automatically at the end of every billing period, but you’re free to cancel at any time from within your user account.

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Features

Freshworks as a platform gives you a ridiculous amount of features across its eight main products. Here, I’ll be zoning in specifically on what you’ll get with the Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud product.

·      Ease of Use

Ok so getting your head around all the products, sub-products and price plans can initially feel like a bit of a maze. But once you’re up, you’re safe knowing that you’ll have absolutely no trouble integrating new products into your current subscriptions. 24/5 multi-channel support and the option of a dedicated accounts manager are also available if you need help.

·      Freddy AI

This handy little bot can take some of the work off your back. It’s capable of scoring your leads based on predictions and behaviors, cleaning your contact lists to remove duplicates and answering simple questions or onboarding new contacts through a chat interface. Good bot!

·      Resources Center

Freshworks comes with their own resource centers with the tools to make you proficient in a wide range of areas through free courses, certifications and regular blog posts. It offers so many services it can be difficult to get your head around it all, but the fact that they give you all the information you need for free is a big plus.

·      Marketplace

An integrated marketplace gives you quick access to hundreds of different apps created by developers and companies to make the most out of your Freshworks platform. With one single click, you’re able to download the plugin you want and it’ll integrate seamlessly with all your Freshworks products.

·      Custom Domains

Having multiple domains associated with just one CRM platform is an essential feature for companies with multiple brands, products and services. It allows you to control your email marketing campaigns across different brands, all in one place.

·      Personalized Emails

Running a system that funnels your sales information into your marketing tool means you can compose emails tailored specifically to individuals. Address people personally, thank them for buying a specific product, then suggest some similar items to increase the chances of return sales.

·      Email Designer

A built-in drag-and-drop email designer makes life easier for you when designing your email campaigns. There’s a library with 200+ premade templates for a range of different uses and preview options for desktop, mobile and tablet to make sure your campaigns look fresh no matter what device they’re viewed on.

FEATURES SCORE: 4.5/5

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Automation Features

With their automation campaign builder, you can make new campaigns with multiple outcome possibilities based on how a contact engages. Contact information integrates with sales habits so you can put customers through funnels and trigger campaigns at the right time. All this means is that in just one campaign, you can welcome a new customer, add them to specific lists, recommend some products, encourage a purchase, chase up an abandoned cart, and confirm a purchase.

Automatic list cleanup will remove duplicates, but you’ll have to clean up those unsubscribers and bounced addresses yourself. Your account will be blocked if your bounce rate goes above 10%, so keep on top of this!

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Software Integration

The integration of data between sales and marketing means you can use sales data to influence marketing decisions. With the range of products in the Freshworks catalog and the ability to pick and choose, you’ll be able to connect your Freshworks CRM platform with other services. They offer other products for customer experience, IT and HR management, and reporting and monitoring, so you’re pretty much covered on all grounds.

An appstore for other developer plugins gives you the possibility of also integrating with external services. Some other all-in-one platforms like this only integrate internally, so this is a big plus.

Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud Alternative Brands

HubSpot - For another platform that’ll give you access to a range of different products covering many areas of business, HubSpot really is a jack of all trades. In one platform, you’ll get different “hubs” for CRM, Marketing, Sales, CMS Hub, and Service.

Sendinblue - A cloud-based email marketing platform for small-medium businesses. With this tool, you’re able to control your email marketing, automations, chats, CRM and social media ads all from one place. A powerful bit of kit for a range of different needs.

Constant Contact - Another tool that’ll help you run your sales and marketing departments fluidly is Constant Contact. With a focus on giving small businesses and individuals all the tools they’ll need to drive an effective email marketing campaign, you could be reaping the benefits in no time.

Conclusion

With this platform, you’ll get an affordable email marketing CRM for companies with smaller subscriber lists. Although it might start getting expensive for bulk sending, you get a whole lot of features for the money you’re paying, making it a solid choice for companies with smaller subscriber lists wanting a powerful CRM.