Salesforce’s fast factsOur overall rating: 4.07 out of 5 Salesforce pricing: Paid plans start at $25 per user per month, billed annually. Key Features:
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Salesforce has carved a niche in the customer relationship management market with its cloud-based platform designed to manage sales, marketing, and customer interactions. Offering an extensive set of products and features, coupled with data analytics and automation capabilities, Salesforce CRM provides a comprehensive suite of tools that enable businesses to capture leads, nurture relationships, close deals and analyze data for future strategies.
Its unique selling points make it a compelling choice for businesses looking to improve relationships, automate processes, and increase profitability, positioning it as an all-rounded tool for scaling customer relationship management.
Salesforce pricing
Salesforce CRM price ranges from $25 to $500 per user monthly for its Sales Cloud products. It offers five editions that include the Starter Suite, Pro Suite, Enterprise, Unlimited, and Einstein 1 Sales. The basic plan includes essential CRM features, such as contact and lead management, access to its mobile app, and customizable reports and dashboards. Higher tiers allow you to access advanced features like sales forecasting, lead scoring, and an AI-powered assistant.
If you’d like to explore your options before committing to a purchase, Salesforce offers a 30-day free trial.
Compare Salesforce pricing and plans
| Plans | Starter Suite | Professional | Enterprise | Unlimited | Einstein 1 Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing per month* | $25 per user | $80 per user | $165 per user | $330 per user | $500 per user |
| Account, contact, lead, and opportunity management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sales forecasting and quotes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Opportunity scoring and territory management | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lead scoring and conversation intelligence | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Slack integration | No | No | No | No | Yes |
*Based on annual billing for the Salesforce Sales Cloud plans. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Who is Salesforce best for?
Salesforce’s versatility and extensive feature catalog mean that it has something for everyone; it’s suitable for all kinds of teams, from small startups to large enterprises. It has packages that are ideal for small businesses and startups needing basic CRM functionalities, while mid-sized businesses are also catered to by plans offering more advanced features. Large enterprises with much more complex CRM needs can benefit from plans that offer extensive customization and robust analytics. These packages are dependent on the editions a business chooses.
The platform’s all-roundedness is underpinned by its ability to provide industry-specific solutions for multiple niche sectors like healthcare, energy, and financial services. Additionally, its cloud-based nature and mobile app make it a go-to choice for remote or on-the-go teams, as well as data-driven organizations that rely on in-depth analytics.
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Key features of Salesforce
In this Salesforce review, we evaluated the platform’s extensive list of features that set it apart from its competitors. A few of the most important Salesforce CRM features include:
Contact management
Salesforce’s contact management feature provides a holistic view of customer interactions, including social data for deeper insights (Figure A). This feature is particularly useful for companies that prioritize customer engagement and want to leverage social data for marketing strategies. It allows for easy collaboration within the organization, making it ideal for teams that require seamless communication.
Opportunity management
The opportunity management feature offers a timeline of customer activities and the various stages of a deal, helping businesses strategize their next moves (Figure B). Companies in competitive industries find this feature invaluable for staying ahead of competitors. It even comes with ready-made email templates for efficient client communication.
Quote management
Salesforce simplifies the quoting process with its built-in mechanisms (Figure C). Businesses that deal with complex pricing structures will find this feature especially useful as it automates the quote-to-cash process, making it easier to send invoices and collect payments.
Einstein AI
Salesforce integrates generative artificial intelligence into its platform to make sure customer data makes the most of flexible, predictive, and generative AI tools. Einstein AI natively provides conversational AI across Salesforce (Figure D). Businesses can customize customer interactions using AI-generated content and conversations, like emails and summaries of calls, based on real-time data.
Additionally, Einstein AI powers Einstein Analytics, a tool that provides high-level business intelligence, unlocking complex sales and service insights. For companies with heavy dependence on data-driven strategies, Einstein Analytics will be indispensable.
Mobility
Using the Salesforce mobile app, users can access CRM data anytime, anywhere. They can create and manage events, tasks, contacts, calls, and opportunities (Figure E). In addition, they can view reports and receive custom notifications about their business workflows. However, a lot of Salesforce reviews note that it is not as intuitive as the desktop version of the app and that there are occasional lags in the interface.
Salesforce customer service
Salesforce offers three levels of customer service under its Success plans. The first one is the Standard plan, which is included in all Salesforce subscriptions. It allows you to access online resources, community support, technical support, and 24/7 phone support for business-stopping issues. If you want to receive priority support, you can subscribe to any of its paid Success plans. Below is a summary of Salesforce pricing for its customer support plans:
- Standard: Free (included in all licenses).
- Premier: 30% of net license fees (includes access to 24/7 chat and technical support).
- Signature: Customized pricing (includes technical account manager).
Einstein AI plays a role in Salesforce’s 24/7 customer support, as it allows agents to be more productive and customers to get help as soon as possible. When you use their live chat (Figure F), the Salesforce Assistant instantly gives you options based on the page you’re on at that specific moment. And if those support options don’t prove to be enough, the assistant offers to connect you to an expert instantly. Plus, you cannot only call Salesforce but also request a call from them.
Salesforce ease of use
This Salesforce review highlights this platform’s robust and advanced set of features for sales pipeline management, reporting, order tracking, collaboration, automations, and customizations. Because of this, first-time users can find it overwhelming to set up and navigate. Nevertheless, it provides users with comprehensive self-help resources, tips, and tutorials to help orient them with how its tools are organized and how to maximize its functionalities.
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