08/15/2022

Top Softwares For Contact Management

Insights

35 min remaining

Your life when it comes to managing leads will be easier after today. We spent more than 40 hours reviewing software and describing how to do it. HubSpot is our favorite. HubSpot is a powerful contact management system that comes at a low price. It’s almost non-existent. This is especially useful for those on a budget. HubSpot offers a low-risk, free way to get started with their CRM.

HubSpot CRM

Best for the Most

HubSpot’s forever contact management software is a complete solution for sales, and marketing services in Phoenix and customer service. It is easy to automate workflows and manage contacts on a large scale without spending a penny.

The Best Contact Management Software for Most

HubSpot, an industry-leading CRM platform, is designed for all businesses. You want a simple way for contacts to be stored and managed, while also building business relationships. HubSpot is our top choice.

The best thing about this software is that you get all the features you need for contact management, sales, support, and operations, without paying a penny.

These are the 5 Best Contact Management Software Choices to Consider

  1. HubSpot is the best contact management software available.
  2. Begin Best if you are currently using spreadsheets to manage contacts
  3. Streak – Use this to transform your Gmail into a lightweight CRM
  4. Monday.com is Best for freelancers and small groups
  5. Covve is best if you have trouble staying in touch with your network

It makes sense to invest in contact management software

Software for managing contacts offers a central place to store information about leads, customers, and suppliers.

It may be possible to take notes, automate repetitive tasks and monitor interactions.

Contact management tools are not full-fledged CRMs. They focus on simplicity, ease of use, affordability, and accessibility for solo users and small teams looking for a better way of managing their contacts.

Contact management software automates the process, allowing you to get more done with less staff or offering lower-quality experiences.

You won’t have the ability to keep up with your growing contact list.

It’s the perfect compromise between spreadsheets and other manual processes, as well as enterprise-grade tools that can take months to learn (and cost hundreds per month).

#1 – HubSpot — The Best Call Management Software for Most

HubSpot CRM

Best for the Most

HubSpot’s forever contact management software is a complete solution for sales, and marketing services in Phoenix and customer service. It is easy to automate workflows and manage contacts on a large scale without spending a penny.

HubSpot CRM software is the best because it provides a complete feature set that includes support and sales.

This CRM has everything you need for a seamless contact management system across your entire company. It is far superior to any other free CRM (and many paid CRMs) and it comes with a robust free tier.

This is not a limited free trial. You can stay on the free plan for many years, or even forever, without exhausting all it has to offer.

Contact information can be stored for up to 1 million people. HubSpot offers unlimited user seats, so your entire team can be onboarded along with anyone else you hire.

Once you learn how to use it, it is easy to use. You’ll be able to join HubSpot, despite its flexibility and power.

This option will take longer to start than the other options, but it is well worth it if it offers lots of growth potential and advanced features that you don’t need to pay.

HubSpot’s ability to label contacts “marketing” and “non-marketing” is one of our favorite features. Non-marketing contacts, such as vendors, freelancers, and partners, are treated differently from those who you’re actively marketing.

It doesn’t matter if you send a mass email to a vendor or sales contact from the other side.

HubSpot also pulls enriched information automatically about your contacts, such as where they work and their position within the company. This makes it easy to understand who these people are and how to approach them.

All plans include the option of adding VoIP services to make calls, record calls and attach them directly to your contact records.

This allows you to always go back to your calls and remember what happened. These can be used for training and to make sure your team does a great job in dealing with potential and existing customers.

Free minutes are available for 15 users per month. You can purchase additional minutes or integrate your existing VoIP system to get more.

Although the workflow builder is not available with the free plan you can still create simple automation that will make your life easier, let you do more work, and save time without having to hire someone.

Dynamic lists can be created (the free plan has five). These dynamic lists will automatically sort and update based on the information you have about your contacts.

For example, if you own a brick-and-mortar, you might set up a dynamic contact list that includes only people who are close to you. This will allow you to speak with these contacts in a different way than someone who lives in a different state.

You can also set up an autoresponder to instantly send an email whenever someone fills in a form on the site.

Although you won’t be able to create custom automation, there are many pre-built functions that can take repetitive tasks off your plate.

HubSpot has 252 integrations that connect to other business tools and your contact management software. The most popular are:

  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Multiple calendars
  • Zahlreiches of payment gateways
  • SMS tools
  • Slack
  • Zoom

HubSpot’s CRM is free and will allow you to connect all your tools to the best feature set, without having to pay a dime.

Pricing starts at $68 per month if you require more functionality or need to upgrade. You can have as many users as you like on the free plan, even if you decide to upgrade. This means that you don’t need to upgrade everyone in your business.

The biggest problems are the confusing pricing plans, usage limits that vary widely from one plan, and features that flow from one hub to another. It’s not easy.

It won’t impact the free plan so don’t worry. Keep this in mind if your upgrade plans change.

#2 – BIGIN — The Best If You Are Currently Using Spreadsheets To Manage Your Contacts

Bigin

Spreadsheets are best if you’re using them currently

Bigin is the first lightweight CRM in the industry, and it’s priced right for small businesses that want to improve their ability to manage contact lists without all the extra features they don’t need. You can be up and running within 30 minutes, it’s guaranteed.

Bigin contact management software can be installed in as little as 30 minutes.

Bigin is simple and refreshing. It allows you to keep track of all your contacts and their most important information in one place.

All the information you need is at your fingertips. You won’t be overwhelmed by a multitude of features that you will never use.

It was designed for small businesses that are looking for a lightweight CRM. You can enjoy a simple interface with all the features you need, and nothing you don’t, at a cost-friendly price.

Don’t let the minimal interface or absence of fancy features fool your eyes.

Bigin is a force to reckon with when it comes to gathering leads, improving customer relations, and closing more sales.

You can begin by using the drag-and-drop form builder to create embedded forms with custom fields. This will allow you to start collecting the information you need right away.

You can then create fully customizable pipelines that track every contact through your business. The paid plan allows you to have as many pipelines and as many ways as you like.

Bigin’s Pipelines are fully customizable, and you can add as many stages as you want. They are 100% drag-and-drop, making it simple to move contacts between stages. Or you can create an automation that does it for you.

When you are ready to pass on a contact from one function (e.g., sales to marketing), you can @mention them and assign tasks.

Users can filter and view tasks, contacts, or pipelines however they wish so that they are always aware of the most important details.

This level of visibility allows you to identify and fix any weaknesses or bottlenecks in your process so that you can make better decisions and analyze your performance.

Although Bigin is marketed as a sales tool, the interface can be used for marketing, recruiting, supplier onboarding, and customer service. You can streamline many processes with your new software.

The software also includes a workflow creator that makes automating repetitive tasks easier than ever.

You can set up custom workflows with basic logic if you know how to use it. This three-step process includes a trigger, condition, and desired action.

You need to send an automatic welcome email after someone completes a form on your website. You can set up an automatic reminder to follow up with someone who has opened your email but not replied within five days. Perhaps you need to move someone from one stage of your pipeline to another. It takes only a few clicks.

You can also set up packages and products so that you can associate people with the products they have purchased from you.

Bigin’s Signals feature will send you an automatic notification if you miss a phone call, someone opens your mail, a contact publishes new tweets, or you receive a new email to help you capitalize on the right opportunities.

You can also use the built-in telephony functions to make calls, buy numbers, and attach logs or recordings to your contacts records without leaving the platform.

For complete context, you can view all your interactions in a timeline view. This includes calls, emails, and tweets.

There are seven integrations available that allow you to connect your business tools to Bigin.

With no additional hardware required or knowledge, you can also connect with over 50 VoIP and Telephony providers.

Although the integrations can be done in one click, there are many pre-built Zaps available that will make it much easier to connect everything via Zapier.

There are three pricing options available:

  • Free – One user is allowed to use the free plan. You can however store up to 500 records, and create three workflows, and one pipeline.
  • Express – This plan is $7 per user per month. You can create as many as 50,000 records and ten workflows. There are also three pipelines.
  • Premier – This package costs $12 per month and can store 100,000 records, 30 workflows, and ten pipelines.

These prices are based upon an annual billing. You can also choose to pay month-to-month. Annual billing is an excellent option, as it allows you to save 20%.

If you are just starting or want to test it before you decide to invest, the free plan is a great place to start. The paid plan is however the most affordable option available, making it an excellent choice for anyone who wants a lightweight, but powerful CRM.

#3 – Streak — The Best Way to Turn Your Gmail Inbox Into a Lightweight CRM

Streak

Best for Gmail Users

You don’t need to add another tool to your tech stack. Streak works within Gmail so you don’t need to switch between tools or learn a new interface. In 30 seconds, turn your Gmail inbox into a lightweight CRM!

Streak will be your best option if you are a heavy Gmail user.

This Chrome extension works in your inbox directly, so it is different from the other tools.

You get tons of flexibility when you use this tool and set it up in your business. It takes only 30 seconds to install.

It’s still very easy to use. It combines Gmail and Google Sheets into one tool. Streak is easy to use if you are familiar with both Google Sheets and Gmail.

It’s easy to use and you won’t need to switch between different tools to view all the information you need.

All the information you need is in your inbox.

All of the important information about the contact can be viewed immediately without leaving the email composer.

It will also tell you where they are in the pipeline so that your messages can be tailored accordingly.

You’ll also know the details of your last interaction with them. This includes how long ago it has been since they last spoke to you, when they opened their last email, what their role is, and any other custom data that you have.

You can customize all of the data and how it is organized so that you always have the information you need at a glance.

You can view all your interactions in a timeline view regardless of who spoke to them the most, including email, call logs, and files.

It’s now easier than ever for someone to pick up the pieces left by another person.

Streak allows you to set up custom and color-coded stages in your pipelines so that you can easily track contacts as they move through your funnels.

A pipeline could be set up for each project. One for each type of service, warm and cold leads, or high priority support inquiries.

The user can see the entire pipeline from their computer, without having to leave their inbox. You can also create custom views to ensure you always have the right data at your fingertips without having to go through tons of irrelevant information.

Streak works within your email inbox so it has a few extra features that aren’t available with other options. Mail merge allows you to send mass emails with customized fields like name, company, and any other information you may have.

It allows you to follow up with many contacts at once, send out marketing messages to several contacts or create templates that your entire team can use from Gmail.

A shared library of reusable bits that your entire team can access at any time is another highlight. This allows for consistent messaging, regardless of who is writing them.

You can also give your team access to all of your pipelines via their smartphones. They can take notes and send contacts to their phones with one click.

Users can’t edit or make any changes to the app, and it is quite limited in comparison to other options.

One-click integrations are not possible for Gmail or your phone. Zapier allows you to access more than 1,000 tools and provides an API that can be used to boost your inbox even further.

Streak’s greatest drawback is the absence of a workflow builder to automate.

It’s an excellent option if you don’t mind wasting your time adding additional software to your Gmail inbox.

There are four pricing options to choose from:

  • Individuals who wish to give it a try are eligible for a free trial
  • Solo – $15 per month per user for up to 5K contacts
  • Pro – $49 per user per month for unlimited contacts
  • Enterprise – $129/user per month for data validation, priority support

If you are a single user with less than 500 contacts, the free plan is a great option. If you are looking to test it before investing, this is a great place to start.

Take Streak for a spin today by signing up for the free-forever plan 

#4 – Monday.com – The Best Website for Project-Based Freelancers & Small Teams

Monday.com

Ideal for project-based teams

Monday.com is a flexible project management tool that you can use to manage both projects and contacts all in one place. You can track contacts and manage projects easily without having to pay for two monthly subscriptions.

Monday.com essentially is project management software. It is affordable, has pre-built templates for contact management, and offers the flexibility to be an excellent lightweight CRM, which works well for project and contact management.

Monday.com offers more than just task management tools.

This tool can track sales, manage support inquiries, streamline new hire onboarding, manage marketing contacts, and store vendor information.

It’s easy to use and will be appreciated by freelancers and small teams. Plus, there’s lots of room for growth as your business grows.

Monday.com’s flexibility also allows you to use it across departments to match workflows and keep contact information in one place.

You can track leads as they move from warm leads to paying customers. As your team completes tasks, you can track the status of the projects.

You can also track them via post-project processes.

Although the flexibility can be daunting, Monday.com has many pre-built templates for contact management that are suitable for various industries.

You don’t need to be an expert in contact management or know how to use it. You just need to choose the template that you would like to use and you are good to go.

Monday.com templates can all be customized, so you don’t have to start over.

Monday.com’s UI is better than most of the others on our list.

It won’t take long to learn how to use drag-and-drop tools and build spreadsheets to manage your contacts.

All plans, even the free ones, include shareable web forms that you can use for contact information. These forms are great for managing incoming leads or support inquiries.

They connect automatically to your boards within Monday.com so that you don’t have to enter contact information again.

The platform supports more than 20 columns, so you can store and track all information about your contacts. Filtering and organizing contacts become easy with all that information.

You have unlimited boards with the free plan, so you can play with things and arrange them how you like. Unlimited visual pipelines, custom fields, contacts, and boards are included in the entry-level paid plan. This gives you complete control over every contact-facing activity across your entire business.

Monday.com’s visual pipe builder is a Kanban-style drag-and-drop interface. It makes it easy to color-code projects and create stages that fit your business.

Automated tasks can be set up on the Standard plan and higher. These are very simple and require only a little logic to set up.

You only need to set a trigger, condition, and desired action.

They are simple to set up and can automate hundreds of repetitive tasks in your business. You might want to send an automatic follow-up email to someone who hasn’t replied within two weeks. You might also want to create a new contact record for each incoming email.

You can create custom notifications, move contacts from one stage to another, or send a celebratory message via Slack after closing a deal.

Monday.com is also the most highly rated mobile app, with thousands of 5-star reviews across Google Play as well as The App Store. It allows you to do almost everything that you can on a desktop using your phone.

You have five pricing options to choose from:

  • Up to 2 Users Free
  • Basic – $8 per user per month
  • Standard – $10 per user per month
  • Pro – $16 per user per month
  • Enterprise pricing is only available

Freelancers just starting or those who want to give it a try before investing. All Monday.com plans are affordable and can be scaled as you grow.

#5 – Covve — The Best If You Struggle To Stay in Touch With Your Network

Covve

It’s best to struggle with follow-ups

Are you having trouble staying in touch with your contacts? Covve, a mobile app, is designed to replace your phone’s built-in contact app. It offers intelligent, automated follow-up reminders and relevant news articles.

Covve is an excellent choice if you are looking for something simpler than the others on this list.

Although it has very few features, it is the most user-friendly and ideal for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small businesses, and professionals looking to keep in touch with their professional networks.

Covve was originally a mobile app that could scan business cards.

It has evolved into a contact management tool that is lightweight but powerful enough to take down your phone’s call app.

It is easy to use and familiar with your phone’s built-in contact app. Additional intelligent automated reminders are sent out when it is time to reach out to your professional network.

Even if you are extremely busy, it is not necessary to remind yourself to follow up on important contacts.

For each contact on your mailing list, you can choose between weekly, monthly, or quarterly reminders. You have full control over the reminders and notifications you receive.

It includes reminders for important dates such as anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, and so on.

You can also set up scheduled reminders if none of these options work. You can easily schedule a reminder after you have interacted with someone. You can remind yourself to contact me in three weeks. It’s easy with Covve.

You can view all your follow-ups within the app so you are always aware of what’s happening and that your contacts don’t get too cold.

It’s easy to keep track of all your interactions, aside from the reminders. It is important to remember that the app only records interactions initiated via the app. This includes calls, texts, and emails.

It is possible to enhance the information by attaching notes to each contact record. This allows you to pick up where you left off and remind yourself of what worked. You can also use these notes to personalize your communications. Is there a team that they love to talk about? Perhaps they have a hobby or an interest that you can learn about ahead of time.

Reading headlines and articles that relate to your contact’s interests can give you a personal touch to your interactions.

The app also provides weather information and news updates based on the location of your contacts and their business.

Custom tags are another useful feature. You can create as many custom tags as you like and then use them to segment your contacts with one click. You can search for all tags and search by multiple tags.

The app was originally designed to scan business cards. You still have that ability. It is intuitive and much easier than ever for you to digitize the huge stack of business cards that you have in your purse, wallet, or junk drawer.

It can even detect things such as name, number, and email automatically so that you don’t need to enter anything.

You can also add notes, tags, and locations to your contacts so that you can keep track of all the important information without having to remember it all.

Full two-way sync is available with the app’s contact list. If you prefer to keep both apps separate, you can turn them off.

This feature has one major drawback. You can’t choose which contacts you want to sync. It’s either all of it or nothing.

You have two options:

  • It’s free for all new users.
  • Covve Pro – $9.99 per Month with all Features

The Pro plan offers custom reminders, unlimited business card scans, digital business card scanning, contact backups, and contact export.

Each plan has a maximum of 8,000 contacts. However, the team is constantly working to increase this number or get rid of it completely without compromising the app’s usability. The desktop version is not yet available, however developers claim it will soon be.

Although the tool is not perfect, it is excellent at what it does.

Methodology to Choose the Best Contact Management Software

We looked at the top 37 CRM and contact management tools available to help you choose the right tool for your company. Then we narrowed down the top 37 tools to make our top five recommendations.

In just two clicks, access your most important info

Contact management tools are not usually available as standalone software. They are instead integrated into tools that perform contact management, and many other functions. Most commonly they are part of customer relationship management (CRM)software.

The biggest problem with CRM software, however, is its complexity and high price.

Many businesses don’t require hundreds of features or want to spend hundreds per month for the functionality they need.

We filtered through hundreds of tools to find the best ones.

You don’t want a tool that does everything, but you want something simple to use.

We didn’t want to give you a long list of complicated tools that can be difficult to use, but we concentrated on lightweight CRMs that have essential features that allow beginners or small businesses to move from manual contact management to something more powerful.

We mean essential features when we refer to:

  • Ability to add notes to contact records
  • Segmenting and sorting your data to get the information you are looking for
  • Views of the Foundational List that prioritize the most important information
  • Tagging and categorization are two ways to organize your contacts
  • Contact information that can be easily updated if things change
  • You need to be able to manage basic tasks so that nothing slips through the cracks

These features are available in all CRM tools. They feel too complicated and don’t want to make these features as good as possible. They instead focus on creating advanced features that only enterprises can use.

They don’t consider small businesses, rendering these tools almost unusable for basic contact management.

We made sure you have easy access to the data that you are most concerned about and only used essential features to eliminate any overly complicated tools that don’t work.

You don’t need to spend more than two clicks to find the information you are looking for with lightweight tools such as the ones we have listed.

It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a contact to add a note to their record, locate your top contacts within a particular city, or create a list to follow up with contacts.

Streak and Covve do the best job of getting your information where it is needed, right within your Gmail Inbox or on your smartphone.

You don’t even need to open another tool to find the information you are looking for.

If that’s not what you’re looking for, Bigin or Monday.com are lightweight and incredibly simple to use. They prioritize your most important information. If you need a separate tool, they are the best choice.

HubSpot is last due to the incredible number of features available on its entry-level and free plans.

Its focus on basic functionality is what makes it so worthy of its place on this list.

Although it may seem like too much, the core features that you get for free are better than many paid tools. There are many ways to automate and streamline contact management.

It’s an excellent choice if you’re looking for more functionality as you grow (and don’t have extra to pay).

It won’t be as simple or clutter-free as other options.

Don’t Worry about Repeated Tasks

The best contact management tools simplify the basics while also allowing you to automate repetitive tasks easily (which you can do on your own).

Full-fledged CRMs automate everything in your business. Contact management tools automate repetitive tasks so that you can spend more time with your clients and less on managing them.

Focusing on sales and providing superior service can help you focus more.

Automation for work are usually very simple to set up. You can create custom triggers, conditions, and desired actions. These triggers will trigger when the conditions are met.

Do you want to move someone automatically from the lead stage to the customer phase of your pipeline after they purchase something? Easy.

You need to give the “consultation booked status” to contact once they have booked a place on your calendar. You might want to send an automatic follow-up email to someone who opened your first email but did not respond within seven days. 

Although the basics of workflow automation are easy to set up on your own, they can be powerful and adaptable.

They can also be used to create follow-up reminders and send out email or SMS notifications. Although setting up workflows is simple enough, certain tools have built-in reminders which make it even easier to set them up in just a few clicks.

Contact management software offers many benefits, not only the ability to automate tasks but also centralizing communication.

You should search for an option that allows you to connect multiple communication channels and pull logs or conversations from email, social networks, phone, chat, and other channels.

You can see the entire timeline of all interactions, including when they occurred, what was discussed, and any subsequent actions.

To provide more context, the tool can automatically pull images, news articles, and other relevant information from different online sources.

You can access all this information in one place so you can pick up where your conversation left off, or pass it on to another person so they can continue the conversation with an understanding of the past.

Automatic duplicate detection is another feature worth looking for.

There is no reason to keep two records for the same person. This can lead to errors and miscommunications, especially if there are other members of your team.

Some contact management software is intelligent enough to recognize duplicates and merge them, so there’s no need for two versions of the same data.

Bigin is the best choice for automation capabilities and features. This makes it an excellent choice if you are serious about automation.

HubSpot and Monday.com both offer workflow builders, but only on entry-level plans. Although you can automate certain tasks on the lower levels, customizable automation aren’t as flexible as we would like with these two.

If you need to set up follow-up reminders, Covve is a great choice. It can only do that and nothing else. The streak was the worst in automation capabilities. It’s great at what they do, but it can’t automate tasks.

A full-fledged CRM is a good choice if you are looking to automate long processes across departments or your entire business.

See our top CRM picks.

Save time with the tools you already use

Even if you have a simple contact management tool, it is important to connect all the software that you use for your business. It makes your life easier and allows you to deliver better experiences with less work.

It is designed to help you save time and consolidate information. It only works if it is compatible with the platforms that you use to communicate with your contacts and manage those connections.

Your contact management software should be able to pull information from all the tools and add it to your contacts. This will eliminate the need to enter data twice or send customers to different places.

It makes it simple for clients and potential customers to integrate their calendars without having to email you back and forth.

A payment gateway could be integrated to request a deposit before anyone can book a place on your schedule.

Deep integrations with email (Gmail and Outlook) allow you to access detailed information directly within your inbox. You can also track conversations in your contact management tool so that all your interactions are centralized.

You might be able even to enable email tracking notifications so that you know whenever someone opens your email but has not replied.

Some of the tools in our list also offer basic email marketing functionality. You won’t however be able to create long, automated emails like you can with email tools. You should make sure that your contact management tool is integrated with your email marketing service in Miami to ensure you keep track of all your leads and interactions from one place.

Integration with your VoIP system allows you to automatically record calls, attach them directly to contacts, and keep track of call logs without extra effort if you spend a lot of time on the phone.

If you don’t have one, some of the options in our list include built-in VoIP features. You will need to purchase phone numbers and pay for minutes.

Customer support teams might want to integrate ticketing and help desk software.

This allows you to attach support questions and ongoing conversations directly into your contact management software so that you have a complete record of each interaction.

Even if someone contacts you from a new contact, your entire team is aware of the context and can provide exceptional customer service without repeating information or asking customers to repeat the same issues.

If you plan to use the software to manage support inquiries or incoming leads, make sure it integrates with your forms.

You can also use drag-and-drop tool builders to create new forms you can embed on your site. This connection is important because it allows contact information to seamlessly flow from your website to your contact management software.

You can use Zapier and open APIs for less common integrations.

HubSpot is the clear winner in this section, with thousands of easy integrations. No matter what tool you use, integration with HubSpot is easy.

Bigin is close behind, with seven one-click integrations as well as a Zapier option that allows you to use pre-built Zaps right out of the box.

Both Covve and Streak integrate with your smartphone, but they are severely lacking integrations with other tools. The streak has the best integration with Gmail so that’s a big plus.

Monday.com does not allow integrations to be used on tiers higher than the standard. This is a huge oversight. It came in last because they are not accessible to small businesses that don’t wish to upgrade.

You and your team can board yourself

Some CRM tools are so complicated that it is necessary to receive 1:1 training from the software vendor to get started. There are many features to consider. It is impossible to find the right one on your own.

Good news: Contact management software and lightweight CRMs can be completely different.

It doesn’t matter how you use it or your level of experience, it should be very easy to start. We recommend that you try something else if it isn’t.

The whole point of simplicity is important. Our list cuts out most of the advanced functionality that you won’t need for a solo user or small business. It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to learn the basics.

The tool may be too complex for you if you feel like throwing your laptop out the window or pulling your hair out in frustration.

If you are looking to grow quickly, or if you know that you will need to have more advanced capabilities in the future, it may be worth the steeper learning curve with HubSpot.

HubSpot has many features, and the free plan is not as simple as other plans. There’s a lot of room to grow, something that HubSpot can’t offer with other tools.

Pre-built templates are the best way to get things started quickly. These templates can be customized as you need.

Templates make it easier to build a foundation than build the whole thing from scratch. We recommend that you thoroughly review the templates provided by each provider to ensure that they match your needs.

Configuring your new system takes only a few clicks if you can do so. While some may need to be tweaked to work properly, the rest should be easy.

Configuring your new tool should not feel like you are climbing Everest, even if you start from scratch. It should be easy to understand, intuitive, and take no more than 30 minutes.

Importing your contacts is the next step, regardless of whether you are saying goodbye to manual contact management via sticky notes, notebooks, or spreadsheets.

Pay attention to how it works. Is it possible to upload your spreadsheet and forget about it? Are there any changes you have to make to your spreadsheet for it to work properly? You might need to manually enter data for custom fields or notes that are not standard.

There is no way to import sticky notes and notebooks. You’ll need to take the plunge and manually enter everything.

Before you decide syncing your system with your email or phone, it is worth looking into the options. You may not be able to sync your system with your phone or email account. Others only offer an all or none option while others allow you to choose which contacts you want.

Apart from setting up your system, familiarizing yourself with the UI is a great way to make it easier, especially if you have never used CRM or contact management software.

Many of these feel like using a spreadsheet. If that has worked for you, we recommend staying with HubSpot and Monday.com.

Begin’s system is slightly different but not difficult to learn. It’s much simpler to use than the spreadsheet-esque interface, which is why many people prefer it.

Streak is completely different from Covve’s UI. Streak is a tool that works within Gmail, but it feels more like a spreadsheet.

Only your phone can access Covve. Learning Covve will be easy if you are familiar with how your phone works.

Signing up for a free trial is the best way to discover what works for your needs. Before spending any money, you can play with the program and see if it works for you.

HubSpot CRM

Best for the Most

HubSpot’s forever contact management software is a complete solution for sales, marketing, and customer service. It is easy to automate workflows and manage contacts on a large scale without spending a penny.

Summary

HubSpot is our top choice for contact management software. All you need to manage contacts and their information is included free of charge from one industry leader.

HubSpot might not be the right fit for you. Check out our reviews of other top contact management software to find one that suits your needs. You can also use our methodology considerations to help you conduct your research.

About the author

Kobe Digital is a unified team of performance marketing, design, and video production experts. Our mastery of these disciplines is what makes us effective. Our ability to integrate them seamlessly is what makes us unique.