Do you use a CRM for your business, or need to sign up to one to control your customers? Pipedrive may be a good option for you and your team.
Have you ever tried to run a business without using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool? If you have, why would you do that to yourself? And if not, believe us, it’s a bad idea unless you want to give yourself stress.
You’ve got to have a CRM to streamline your sales process and to ensure that your customer experience is as good as it can possibly be. One of the most popular options currently on the market is Pipedrive, and to ensure you’re getting maximum bang for your buck, we’re going to give you a comprehensive review of its system.
What exactly is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive is described by its creators as “a cloud-based sales CRM solution specifically designed to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their sales pipeline.” So far, so pretty typical for most CRMs, but peer past the corporate jargon and it's clear that these creators put a lot of thinking into creating something based on the actual experience of salespeople.
With a self-stated core philosophy of ‘activity-based selling,’ the Pipedrive system is supposed to offer a process that focuses on the essential—that is, what activities are more important to driving sales forward. To help facilitate this, the system is highly visual and intuitive, taking the abstract aspects of the sales process and converting them into a clear, step-by-step workflow, allowing sales teams to track every lead, conversation, customer interaction, etc.
This system, based on the kanban concept, portrays each deal as a card, all of which can be viewed together in one place, and then each card can be dragged to each stage of the sales process. To aid this process, Pipedrive offers considerably robust automation features, allowing users to set up workflows that automatically trigger actions, such as sending follow-up emails or creating a new activity when a deal reaches a certain stage.
Pipedrive’s key features
Let’s cover how the Pipedrive system works in more detail by examining its key features. All of these factors should provide real practical value to sales teams.
- Pipedrive’s core product is its visual pipeline system, based on the kanban format. This visual representation of the entire sales process allows users to instantly view each of their deals and their various statuses.
- Lead and contact management is centralized, as the Pipedrive system stores all of this information in one location. This ensures that it's protected from data leaks and hackers, and this also makes it simple to assign deals to different users.
- As we alluded to before, Pipedrive has some pretty formidable automation features. For example, users can set up workflows that automatically trigger actions, such as sending follow-up emails or creating new activity reports for specific deals.
- Pipedrive also includes a wide range of data analysis and reporting tools. These include (and are not limited to) custom reports designed to track key metrics like deal conversion rates, average deal size, and team performance.
- Pipedrive can be integrated with hundreds of popular business applications, including email services, communication tools, marketing platforms, and more. This allows users to create a more individualized CRM experience.
- You can use Pipedrive on handheld devices, as the system has been optimized as a mobile app. This works for both iPhone and Android, and is just as powerful as the desktop version.
Who does Pipedrive aim its system at?
Naturally, Pipedrive is aimed at companies and individuals working in sales, but it’s worth breaking down its different target audiences in more detail. The following groups are reflective of many of Pipedrive’s primary users, though of course there are others in lesser amounts.
Small and medium-sized businesses
Larger scale companies often invest in CRM tools that are specifically designed for their needs, so small and medium-sized businesses make up a sizable amount of Pipedrive’s customers. They’re attracted by Pipedrive’s reasonable cost per month, but also because of its robust features that provide comprehensive coverage of most key sales processes.
Sales managers
If we want to take a more granular look at Pipedrive’s key customers, then it’s important to mention sales managers as they require the detailed overview that the system’s kanban format can provide. The system’s high-quality visibility allows them to monitor the progress of their team, track the goals they’ve set, and provide targeted coaching when required.
Individual entrepreneurs
While Pipedrive was originally set up for teams, it’s also found considerable popularity amongst individual entrepreneurs working in and around sales. That’s because the system can be scaled relatively easily, allowing this type of professional to adjust their accounts when required, and as it's very user-friendly, it can be accessed and updated on the go.
What are the pros and cons of using Pipedrive?
Now that we’ve covered Pipedrive in general, its key features, and target audience, we can move on to working out whether it's the CRM for you. The best way to do that is by examining the system’s pros and cons comprehensively. We’re sure that this will help you figure out whether the system will prove to be a good fit.
Pros
- Pipedrive has a highly visual interface, designed specifically to be used without the need for specific training by people of any technical ability.
- The sales pipeline functionality is excellent, with a strong focus on providing as much practical support as possible with a minimum of effort.
- Pipedrive is designed to encourage and track activities that are crucial for closing deals. Its simplicity of use makes it easy for sales reps to stay focused on the pipeline.
- The Pipedrive mobile app is excellent, especially for a CRM system, and the level of quality is exactly on par with the main desktop version.
- You can add a significant number of integrations to the Pipedrive system, which makes the tool a good option for companies looking to scale with sustainability.
- The customization options Pipedrive offers beyond third-party app integrations are pretty good, even on the cheaper tiers. This allows users to create a unique CRM ecosystem.
Cons
- While Pipedrive does include several automation functions they don’t apply to marketing specifically. This cannot be fixed by integrating third-party apps either.
- Despite being focused on customer relations as a tool, the customer support currently offered by Pipedrive is basic, and could do with some improvement.
- Pipedrive is designed for small and medium sized businesses, and while there is an enterprise tier available it’s pretty lacking compared to other options on the market.
- The reporting and analytics tools included in the Pipedrive system are useful, but they can take a lot of effort to set up. As such some users may not get full use out of them.
- Some of Pipedrive’s most useful features, such as advanced lead generation tools, are hidden behind paywalls or require additional paid add-ons.
- Unlike some other CRM systems, Pipedrive doesn’t include any additional accounting features. For companies on a budget this could be a major problem.
How much is Pipedrive for its users?
Pipedrive subscription costs come in multiple tiers, so there should be an option for every budget. The pricing is structured on a per-user, per-month basis, with a significant discount available for those who choose annual billing. There is an enterprise plan available however we’ve precluded that as our readers are unlikely to require it.
Please note that prices may change according to geographical location, and were accurate for the United States at the time of publishing. As such, if you want to confirm how much Pipedrive costs, you should double check the company’s website.
Lite plan
This plan includes all of Pipedrive’s essential systems, like lead, calendar and pipeline integration, along with AI-powered reports, a real-time sales feed, a cap of 500 integrations and personalized onboarding. It’s a good option if you want to start using the system for basic projects.
Cost: $14 per user per month when billed annually, or $24 per month billed monthly.
Growth plan
Coming with all of the features of the Lite plan, with the Growth plan you’ll be able to access email syncing, and subscription and forecast reports. With a meeting scheduler, contacts timeline, live chat support, and robust automation features for tracking and nurturing, this option is a good call for most startups and individuals.
Cost: $39 per user per month when billed annually, or $49 per month billed monthly.
Premium plan
The next plan is designed for small and medium-sized businesses interested in scalability. You get all the features we've already covered, plus more powerful functions like lead generation and routing, custom scoring, and company data enrichment. We're also big fans of the increased AI for emails, and improved customization for reports and data.
Cost: $49 per user per month when billed annually, or $79 per month billed monthly.
Ultimate plan
Last but by no means least, the Ultimate plan really brings out the big guns and is most suited to medium to larger-scale companies that don’t need an enterprise solution. You get all the premium features, plus significantly increased security, phone and email data enrichment, the top usage limits, and a really cool sandbox testing account feature.
Cost: $79 per user per month when billed annually, or $99 per month billed monthly.
Combine Pipedrive with Calday for maximum effect
Being able to track all of your customers in one place using a CRM is good; combining your tool with a sophisticated scheduler like Calday is even better. Our system makes sure that all your crucial business meetings, events, appointments, etc., never fall through your fingers and out of your grasp, and at just $10 per month for our premium plan it can fit ever budget.
It’s easy to get started. All you need to do is follow the link to our sign-up page, where you’ll be asked to enter a few details. After that, you’ll have your very own Calday account to try out; join our community and welcome to stress-free scheduling!
