Freshsales CRM Review: Is Freshdesk CRM Worth the Pricing?

If you’ve come here looking for a Freshworks CRM review, know firstly that the product is now called Freshsales, which includes sales and CRM tools. Don't fret, because this Freshsales review will explain some of the differences between this platform and other Freshworks products.

In this review of Freshsales, we’ll talk about pricing plans and compare the free version to the paid plans. We’ll run through a list of the major feature modules, and go over the pros and cons of Freshsales based on our tests, research and other online reviews.

So, if you are ready to freshen up your knowledge about one of the hottest CRM solutions on the market today, then let’s get down to business and check out everything we need to know about Freshsales CRM by Freshworks.

Freshsales CRM review 2023: Is Freshworks CRM offering any good?

According to this Freshsales review, Freshsales CRM is a contact management and sales tool that is a good choice for startups, small businesses and other companies looking for a decent CRM on a budget. Freshsales is a great CRM solution for firms looking to grow.

We’ve briefly covered Freshsales before in our top CRM article which you are free to read. There you’ll find Freshsales compared to other great CRM tools like Pipedrive, Dynamics and Zoho. If you’re looking for targeted comparisons for Freshsales, you can also check out our sales CRM or best CRM for Mac users articles.

Freshsales has many pricing plans which is another reason it’s a great CRM solution regardless of company size. Because there are basic, premium and enterprise plans, it matters less what company size you start with, as Freshsales is designed to encourage growth.

Freshsales pricing plans

First of all, how much does Freshsales cost? Let’s first review Freshsales prices:

How much is Freshsales for nonprofits?

While it seems Freshsales is useful for nonprofits, and that it offers valuable resources and tips for nonprofits who are using the Freshsales system, there are sadly no special prices or offers for nonprofits. However, you should always contact the vendor for more details.

Are there any Freshsales coupon codes or promo discount vouchers?

Regarding coupons, discounts, promos and vouchers, well, we did the research and it seems there are no Freshsales coupon codes or discount vouchers at this time. You can always look for 3rd-party coupons but please check with Freshworks to make sure they are valid first before buying.

Freshsales overview: What is Freshsales CRM & What is Freshsales used for?

The first thing you need to know is that Freshsales is the sales and CRM platform of the wider brand of business SaaS called Freshworks. Other Freshworks apps include Freshmarketer for email marketing automation and other tools, Freshdesk for customer support, Freshteam for HR purposes, and Freshservice for IT uses.

You have got most of your business needs covered by Freshsales, especially if you go for Freshsales Suite which has all the sales tools and many tools from the marketing module as well. No wonder why they call it the best CRM for small business. As a matter of fact, this tool is so versatile that it can be used in any industry, ranging from being used by non-profits to excelling as a hotel CRM.

Freshsales free vs paid: what’s the difference?

It’s great news that Freshsales does indeed come with a free plan. The free version of Freshsales gets you contact management, but no advanced contact enrichment. You also have way less customization options with the free plan. 

The free version gets you deal management, but no visual sales pipelines. You get basic phone and chat tools but none of the advanced social media communication features. The free plan has classic webforms, but no smart webforms nor website user tracking. Finally, if you want Freddy, Freshsales’ AI toolkit, it is not available in the free plan.

Freshsales features list

The main features of Freshsales are

• Contact management and account management

• Automatic contact profile enrichment

• Advanced CRM customization tools

• Sales pipeline management

• Advanced sales force automation

• Email features

• Phone features

• Chat features

• SMS and social media tools

• AI-driven insights

• Marketing features

• Website integration tools

• Analytics and reports

• Mobile apps

• Integrations, add-ons and API

1. Contact management and account management

Customer relationship management is all about contacts and Freshsales begins there as one might expect. You can easily organize contacts, add new ones, edit them and delete them. Accounts often refer to whole companies which can include several contacts, and you get the same functionality there. You also get a thorough activity timeline for each contact which covers engagement and communication histories.

2. Automatic contact profile enrichment

Freshsales can automatically scan and capture public information like on social media pages to get the latest activity your contacts may have done with their public profiles. This can include a change of job, company or move to a new city, along with basic contact info. It will then use automation to update your contact data in your CRM software.

3. Advanced CRM customization tools

You are not limited to the information fields which come automatically with Freshsales CRM system. You have many customization options, and you can create custom fields to deepen your contact organization. These can be text fields, drop downs or numbered fields. Other advanced CRM tools can help you keep your contacts engaged with automated follow ups.

4. Sales pipeline management

Sales teams are the first in line to benefit from pipeline management. This gives salespeople a clear overview of everything in the sales process, from early lead management to deals which are further down the funnel. You get many options for the visual sales pipelines which are also customizable. There are notifications when a deal is close to rot and also to keep you on track with sales goals. Finally, there is lead scoring and sales forecasting which offers predictive best-case estimates.

5. Advanced sales force automation

Not to be confused with salesforce, but sales force automation as a practice is where you seriously leverage workflow automations to build highly precise and effective funnel journeys. The point is to free up time and effort your sales reps normally spend on these repeated tasks. It’s ideal for cross-selling and up-selling, as well as referral selling. 

6. Email features

Email is a key avenue for sales CRM platforms. You can sync your regular email directly with Freshsales to avoid platform juggling. Then you can set up email sales sequence workflows built with automation to help your sales team nurture leads. Freshsales also offers bulk emails that still have dynamic fields for personalized greetings. Email templates can be set up and tagged for sales reps to easily re-use. Lastly, sales teams can access a shared sales email inbox for further collaboration.

7. Phone features

Telephony is still part of the selling game. Freshsales puts a built-in phone dialer inside their CRM solution. You get both local and toll-free numbers to use. There is caller ID, call masking and call recording. Set up basic and advanced call queues, as well as queue callback which is like a virtual hold. Finally, there are great conference calling tools.

8. Chat features

Chat is another great communication feature and part of your kit of CRM tools. With Freshsales, there is a chat widget which you can set up to engage with new website visitors in real-time. Canned responses are also available, as are chat assignment rules which follow automated triggers. Agents can add private notes to chats, and even use chat alongside FAQ features.

9. SMS and social media tools

No business SaaS is complete if it doesn’t allow you to engage with contacts via social media and other channels. With Freshsales, there are integrations with Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Apple Business Chat. You can also integrate SMS texting right from your CRM platform.

10. AI-driven insights

Freshjsales has its own artificial intelligence tool which they call Freddy. Freddy gives AI insights on things like predictive contact scoring, telling you the likelihood each contact will convert into a deal. It can also be used for lead management and lead generation to help with things like setting up meetings. Freddy scans your network of contacts and deletes duplicates. There are several more deal insights and forecasting abilities from Freddy when you really get into it. 

11. Marketing features

Normally, you will need to subscribe to Freshmarketer and not Freshsales for most marketing tools. However, there is the Freshsales Suite which adds some basic marketing features to Freshsales. These include email marketing templates, email marketing reply trackers, landing pages and other marketing automation functionality. 

12. Website integration tools

A lot of great CRM software gives you the ability to make your website another resource for capturing contact data. With Freshsales you can set up webforms which when filled out by visitors are automatically turned into CRM contacts. There are even more advanced smart forms with more functionality. Freshsales also lets you do website tracking which reveals things like frequently visited pages and clicked links.

13. Analytics and reports

In order to make the most out of all your data and metrics, you can turn to Freshsales’ features for reporting. You get standard out-of-the-box reporting based on basic analytics for the most salient insights. It also lets you set up custom reports which can be saved and shared.  Some of the more advanced metrics on offer here are emails delivered, links clicked and won deals. 

14. Mobile apps

There are Freshsales mobile apps for iOS and Android. You get your standard contact, account and deal management with you on the go. It lets you do automatic call logging and add voice notes. The mobile app also serves as a mobile document manager. What’s more, there are things like Google Maps integrations and even an Uber caller.

15. Integrations, add-ons and API

Freshsales provides its users with its library of APIs, which let you access and update your data and build other functionalities atop the Freshworks platform. Then you get the Freshworks Marketplace to do integrations between Freshsales and other apps, like Trello, Xero, HubSpot, MailChimp, Quickbooks. Microsoft Outlook Contacts and Slack. You can integrate Freshsales with Zoho via Zoho Flow, or with Salesforce using Salesforce Connector, or many other platforms using integration tools like Zapier, for example LinkedIn. Similarly, there is a Freshsales add-on for Gmail.

Freshsales pros and cons

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of Freshsales:

Freshsales advantages

What stands out as the number one benefit of Freshsales is its ease of use. This is a very user friendly platform and almost fun to learn the functions of all its features.

The next advantage to Freshsales is the variety of pricing plans, letting young companies start with more affordable plans and scale up to premium packages as their business needs demand it. Of course, the free version is also a huge pro.

Freddy, the AI part of Freshsales, offers another advantage to using this software. It’s incredibly rich in insights and suggestions without bogging you down in too much technical detail or complexity.

Finally, Freshsales offers the true benefit of really helping your sales game. It does this by both helping to generate new leads as well as help nudge those deals through the pipeline onto conversion.

Freshsales disadvantages

A drawback to Freshsales can be the siloing of the various modules into different packages. This means that the basic Freshsales package does not include much in the way of marketing, although Freshsales Suite gets you just the right combination of sales and marketing features.

The next disadvantage of Freshsales is the common problem where they advertise a wide range of amazing sales tools only for you to learn that most of the best ones are reserved for the premium packages. While it’s awesome they offer a free version, that will be limited very quickly, as might even be the basic Growth plan.

Freshsales complaints & praise (from real Freshsales customer reviews)

The Freshworks CRM reviews out there are mostly positive. As mentioned above, many users and reviewers praise Freshsales for its ease of use. The steps needed to configure Freshsales are quite straightforward and speedy.

Next, Freshsales is lauded for its sales pipeline management set of features. It really helps salespeople who are not too technically savvy to nurture their leads down the funnel.

When it comes to negative reviews of Freshsales, they range in their comments. Some companies of larger size, like enterprises, have found that Freshsales is less competitive when compared to platforms like Salesforce or HubSpot.

Similarly, some users have complained of the functionalities of using Freshsales with social media, like Facebook or LinkedIn: that they do not deliver as promised, but this is likely due to users not taking the time to fully master the features. But overall, reviews of Freshsales are still on the positive side.

Review of Freshsales support

Freshsales has decent feedback when it comes to their customer support. Regardless of whatever plan you are on, you can contact their support team 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Their support team is reachable via phone, chat and email. 

For those subscribing to the Freshsales Enterprise plan, the support includes a dedicated account manager who will personally help you with problems and relay all the information about your issue back to the Freshworks team to make sure these problems do not recur or persist.

Is Freshsales worth it? Our conclusion

Ultimately, you want to know, is Freshsales worth it? You could always consult our Freshsales alternatives review to size it up against other competing CRM apps. Our conclusion is that, Yes, Freshsales is a great sales and CRM solution, totally worth it, especially for smaller companies and startups. 

If you’re looking to further optimize your processes and boost your customer support, in additon to your sales, make sure to check out our Freshdesk review as well.

Our final Freshsales rating

Our Freshsales rating is 4.8 out of 5 stars.

FAQs

Is the CRM product called “Freshsales” or Freshdesk”?

The CRM module for Freshworks is called Freshsales. This is a total CRM and sales solution. Freshworks is the name for the brand that covers the Freshsales platform along with other platforms for marketing, customer service, HR and IT management. Freshdesk, for example, is for customer support.

What kind of company is Freshworks?

Freshworks is a company that makes a series of business SaaS for a variety of modules. Included among them are Freshsales, which is a CRM and sales system. Freshworks products are used today by over 50,000 companies of varying company size, from startups to enterprise level.

Is Freshsales easy to use? 

Yes, Freshsales by Freshworks is very easy to use, and its user friendliness is one of its stronger selling points, especially in comparison to platforms like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365. Many user reviews praise Freshsales for its ease of use, which means less time onboarding.