The 4 Best Analytical CRM Software Solutions for Businesses

Tablet displaying analytical CRM software at work

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According to our extensive research, Salesforce – with its superlative, AI-driven reporting module Einstein Analytics – is our top pick for medium-sized to large businesses looking for an analytical customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Rounding out the rest of the list is Zendesk Explore, SugarCRM’s Sugar Discover, and Zoho Analytics, which might serve you better depending on your specific needs.

That said, the best way to know for sure is to user our free comparison tool, through which we can quickly match you up with trusted providers that fit your needs. They'll then get back to you with bespoke quotes for you to compare and get the best deal.

However, if you'd like to know more about the analytical CRM systems we picked, along with their pros and cons, just head to our research-backed ranking below.

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Salesforce

Zendesk

SugarCRM

Zoho

Best For

Detailed sales and service insights

Best For

Low-cost software

Best For

Data visualisation and intelligent reporting

Best For

Ease of use

Price Range

£21-£83 per user per month

Price Range

£41-£82 per user per month

Price Range

£41-bespoke per user per month

Price Range

£12-£47 per user per month

Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan
Sales Reporting
Sales Reporting
Sales Reporting
Sales Reporting
Sales Forecasting
Sales Forecasting
Sales Forecasting
Sales Forecasting

1. Salesforce (Einstein Analytics)

Best for the most detailed sales and service insights

Salesforce logo
Salesforce
3.9
Pricing From £20 per user per month
Quick overview

Best in class analytics, 24/7 phone-based support, and pricing that starts from £20 per user, per month? We like the sound of that. Offering thousands of app integrations, unlimited contacts, and just about every feature a business could ask for, Salesforce is one of our top CRM selections. Be warned, though – Salesforce does come with a fairly steep learning curve, and beyond its cheapest tier, it gets expensive – and fast. We’d recommend small businesses stick to the ‘Essentials’ plan, to keep costs down!

Strengths

Its ‘Einstein Analytics’ add-on is one of the most advanced reporting tools money can buy

No contact limit

Free trial available for sales, service, and analytics modules

Tailored to insights for the specific needs of sales and customer service teams

Integrates with thousands of third-party applications

User-friendly mobile app

Weaknesses

No free trial for its marketing automation product

24/7 phone-based support is restricted to Salesforce’s more expensive pricing plans

At £60 per user, per month, Einstein Analytics is expensive – particularly when added to Salesforce’s already steep costs

Notoriously difficult to get to grips with

Pricing
FunctionStarting priceHighest price
Sales/Service £20 per user per month £240 per user per month
Marketing £320 per month £1,000 per month
Analytics £60 per user per month £120 per user per month

Perhaps the only setback is that Einstein Analytics is, well… too advanced! Many user reviews suggest it can be tough to use, and even harder to get to grips with. You’ll receive amazing insights, but equally need to be prepared for the costs and onboarding difficulties that may arise.

Salesforce (Einstein Analytics): feature analysis

We’ve assessed Salesforce (as well as all the other analytical CRM software providers showcased here) on their ability to perform a specific subset of functions that are crucial for medium-sized to large businesses.

Note

To find out more about what these features mean, jump to the section ‘the benefits of analytical CRM’ below for a full breakdown.

Sales reporting: Yes.

Revenue cycle modelling: And how! Einstein Analytics empowers you to build complex revenue cycle models based on how your users are interacting with your website, allowing you to see which behaviours led to which purchases, and better optimise your site and marketing for conversions.

Sales forecasting: Yes.

Business intelligence: Yes – in fact, Einstein Analytics actually represents the industry’s most advanced reaches into the depths of customer data analysis. Utilising both machine learning and artificial intelligence, Salesforce offers granular insights into your customers, your team’s performance, and the overall health of your business.

2. Zendesk (Explore)

Best for low-cost software

Zendesk logo
Zendesk
3.3
Pricing From £15 per user, per month
Quick overview

With robust modules for sales and customer service, Zendesk is a versatile CRM offering plenty of value for small businesses. You can get started with a monthly fee of just £5 per user, and benefit from some of the highest quality help and support we came across during our research. Zendesk’s contact management features are a breeze to use, as is calling people through their profiles (pictured). That said, Zendesk – perhaps more than any other small business CRM here – ails from freemium software’s biggest weakness; that you’ll need to upgrade to the most expensive plans to enjoy its finest features.

Strengths

Extremely low starting price

Excellent ticket management capabilities

Boasts an aesthetically-pleasing user interface

Low starting price

Weaknesses

No document storage

Doesn't provide the same level of data analysis as Salesforce and SugarCRM

Pricing
PlanPrice
Team £15 per user per month
Growth £39 per user per month
Professional £79 per user per month

Sure, Zendesk Explore certainly isn’t the most feature-rich analytical CRM system on our list (if it were, you’d be adding another zero onto the end of those prices). However, it’s still a powerful piece of software – and, at the very least, an excellent entry-level analytical CRM for growing businesses.

Zendesk (Explore): feature analysis

Sales reporting: No – this feature is part of Zendesk Sell, but not Explore. Zendesk Explore’s reporting features are tailored more to handling ticket submissions, and automating your team’s customer service endeavours.

Revenue cycle modelling: Yes, but with Zendesk Explore’s ‘Professional plan’ (£9 per user, per month) only – not the free version.

Sales forecasting: No.

Business intelligence: Yes.

Is Zendesk Explore the right analytical CRM software for your business?
Do you already use CRM software?
Complete our short questionnaire to find out

3. Sugar (Discover)

Best for data visualisation and intelligent reporting

SugarCRM logo
SugarCRM
3.7
Pricing From £39 per user, per month
Quick overview

If you can afford the £64 per user, per month price tag (make that £1,000 if you’re in marketing!), SugarCRM offers plenty of sweet features for your small business. Plus – in terms of analytical CRM software, at least – it’s up there with Salesforce and Dynamics 365, and is sure to provide suitably granular insights into the health of your small business’ sales. That said, there’s a reason it’s lower on our list – namely, because of the steep learning curve, and because it’s only more established small businesses that’ll come close to requiring SugarCRM’s daunting breadth of features.

Strengths

Offers an integration for… well, just about any software you can think of!

Feature-wise, it’s all there

Respectable customer approval scores

Its ‘root cause identification’ feature empowers your team to get to the bottom of issues with ease

Straightforward onboarding process

Weaknesses

It’s pricey...

…and not particularly user-friendly, either

Third-party integration required to enable VoIP calling

No sales reporting functionality

Our only gripe? The price point. Sugar Discover comes in at about half the price of what you’ll pay for the system it relies upon. But, when this initial cost can be as low as $52 (£41) per month and as high as $1,000 per month, there’s not much in the way of transparency.

Sugar (Discover): feature analysis

Sales reporting: No.

Revenue cycle modelling: Yes.

Sales forecasting: Yes.

Business intelligence: Yes.

4. Zoho (Analytics)

Best for ease of use

Zoho Logo
Zoho
4.7
Pricing From £12 per user, per month
Quick overview

A free plan and a free trial? Sign us up. As well as boasting one of the most user-friendly, eye-catching, and dynamic interfaces around, Zoho’s CRM is also one of the cheapest. For just $12 per user, per month, Zoho’s ‘Standard’ plan sets the standard – offering everything its free plan does, plus workflows, lead scoring, and mass email capabilities. Add in multiple pipelines and custom dashboards, and Zoho emerges as a CRM that’s equal parts style and substance.

Strengths

Zoho’s cheapest CRM plan includes email insights and sales forecasting

Custom reporting available

No contractual commitments

Zoho Analytics also offers an on-premise solution

Highly customisable

Weaknesses

Zoho (especially its cheapest CRM plans) may prove just a little too simplistic for the needs of some businesses

Its mobile app can be slow to update with data, with some online reviews suggesting branding it ‘cumbersome’

Limited range of integrations, particularly when compared to some other analytical CRM software providers

Pricing
PlanPrice
Standard £12 per user per month
Professional £18 per user per month
Enterprise £35 per user per month
Ultimate £42 per user per month

Of course, Zoho Analytics does have its setbacks. It doesn’t boast as many features as Einstein Analytics or Dynamics 365 (though in fairness, not many analytical CRM systems do), and sometimes it can be tough to drill right down into the data you need

Price-wise, it’s not quite as affordable as the rest of Zoho’s range of software products – though a decent free version helps to negate this.

Note

Don’t know your cloud from your on-premise? Check out our guide to the best cloud-based CRM systems to get clued up.

Zoho (Analytics): feature analysis

Sales reporting: Yes.

Revenue cycle modelling: Yes.

Sales forecasting: Yes, though this feature is included as part of Zoho’s regular CRM, rather than being restricted to its analytics module alone.

Business intelligence: Yes.

Is Zoho Analytics the right analytical CRM software for your business?
Do you already use CRM software?
Complete our short questionnaire to find out

The benefits of analytical CRM

In order to rate each analytical CRM provider on its effectiveness for medium-sized to large businesses, we assessed each provider on four key features all advanced CRM systems need to have. 

Conveniently, these features also illustrate several of the key benefits analytical CRM can introduce to your business:

Sales reporting

Generating accurate reports about the sales your business has made over a specific period isn’t just about understanding how much money you’ve made – it’s how you turn short-term success into long-term profitability.

Sales reporting allows you to understand who your customers are, and where they’re coming from. It allows you to identify the bottlenecks in your pipeline, and address them with confidence. Moreover, sales reporting allows you to see how each of your individual reps are performing against their own targets, and what that means for your business at large.

Revenue cycle modelling

Think of the sales funnel – that familiar shape that adorns the walls of break rooms and sales academies across the country. 

Well, a revenue cycle is basically that, but tailored to your own business. It’s also less of a funnel, and more of a cycle – mapping out the journey each one of your customers will take, from a prospect all the way to a closed deal, or from failure to re-engagement.

Revenue cycle modelling allows you to understand where the gaps in that user journey lie. Moreover, it enables you to remove any roadblocks to lead qualification and conversion, and develop an intimate knowledge of the customer experience.

Sales forecasting

Sales forecasting helps your team plan for the future, analysing current sales to provide an estimation of what quota you can expect to hit in the weeks and months ahead.

Forecasting helps you manage your resources, cash flow, workforce, and growth. Taking into account a combination of your business’ historical data, wider economic trends, and your competitors’ situations, effective forecasting is vital to sales success.

Business intelligence

Business intelligence is the process of analysing and understanding data to make better decisions.

It’s also about seeing the bigger picture – about pulling data from numerous sources to get a holistic view of your operations. Business intelligence allows you to know what you’re doing well, and improve in the areas you’re not. It’s not necessarily limited to your own activities, either – if done well, business intelligence can help you identify emerging market trends and new opportunities to scale.

Our methodology

At Expert Market, it’s our aim to provide you with the most accurate, up-to-date, and transparent product and service reviews possible. So, to help you better understand the best CRM software options out there, we’ve conducted in-depth, extensive research into the CRM software market and its top companies.

We worked with three independent researchers to rate eight different CRM systems. We then rated each provider across four key metrics: their level of help and support, the price of the software, the amount of features provided, and the providers' customer approval ratings.

To do this, we assigned each provider a ‘customer score’. This is a weighted total calculated from customer feedback across a range of online review aggregators. It gives an indication of the average customer approval levels for a particular CRM.

Verdict

Due to its AI-driven reporting and functionality, which makes it one of the best CRM systems out there (full stop), Salesforce's Einstein Analytics is your best bet when it comes to analytical CRM.

Our research, which took price, features, help and support, and customer ratings into account, also found Einstein Analytics' thousands of app integrations and unlimited contacts to be major pluses, despite its steep learning curve.

Of course, analytical CRM systems are intricate pieces of software and not one-size-fits-all solutions. If you're still unsure of which will serve you best, just use our free comparison tool. This way, you'll be able to receive bespoke quotes from our trusted providers and choose the one most suitable to your needs.

Written by:
Rob Binns
Rob writes mainly about the payments industry, but also brings to the table industry-specific knowledge of CRM software, business loans, fulfilment, and invoice finance. When not exasperating his editor with bad puns, he can be found relaxing in a sunny (socially-distanced) corner, with a beer and a battered copy of Dostoevsky.
Reviewed by:
James thinks all businesses can improve if they use the right technology. At Expert Market, he utilises his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialised advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management.