Our Review of Insightly CRM

Insightly CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform designed to help businesses manage their sales, marketing, and project management processes. It aims to provide a unified platform for businesses to streamline their operations and improve customer engagement. With a focus on integration and flexibility, Insightly caters to a range of businesses, from small startups to growing enterprises. This review will delve into its features, pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and suitability for different business types.

Insightly CRM Features

Insightly aims to provide a comprehensive CRM solution that empowers businesses to build stronger customer relationships, streamline sales processes, and improve overall efficiency. We have taken a detailed look at how it handles key aspects of customer relationship management.

1. Contact & Organisation Management:

Unified View: Insightly provides a central repository for all contact and organisation information. You can store details like contact names, titles, email addresses, phone numbers, social media profiles, and company information.
Relationship Linking: A key strength of Insightly is its ability to link contacts and organisations, creating a clear picture of relationships within your network. This is crucial for understanding how different people and companies interact.
Custom Fields: You can create custom fields to capture specific information relevant to your business, ensuring that your CRM aligns with your unique needs.
Email Integration: Insightly integrates with popular email platforms like Gmail and Outlook, allowing you to track email communication directly within the CRM. This ensures that all interactions are recorded and easily accessible.
Contact Activity Tracking: Insightly automatically tracks contact activity, such as emails, calls, and meetings, providing a comprehensive history of interactions.

2. Lead Management & Opportunity Tracking:

Lead Capture: Insightly allows you to capture leads from various sources, such as website forms, email campaigns, and social media.
Lead Scoring: You can assign scores to leads based on their activity and demographics, prioritising the most promising leads.
Opportunity Tracking: Insightly enables you to track sales opportunities through different stages of the sales pipeline. You can record deal values, estimated close dates, and probability of closing.
Sales Pipeline Management: You can visualise your sales pipeline with customisable stages, providing a clear overview of your sales progress.
Lead Assignment Rules: In the professional tier and above, leads can be automatically assigned to sales representatives based on predefined rules, ensuring that leads are followed up promptly.

3. Workflow Automation:

Automated Tasks and Reminders: Insightly allows you to automate repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or creating reminders, freeing up time for your sales team.
Workflow Rules: You can create workflow rules to trigger actions based on specific events, such as a lead reaching a certain stage in the sales pipeline.
Email Automation: Insightly enables you to create automated email sequences to nurture leads and engage with customers.
Customisable Workflows: The complexity of the workflows that can be created increases at the professional and enterprise levels.

4. Reporting & Analytics:

Customisable Dashboards: Insightly provides customisable dashboards that allow you to visualise key metrics and track performance.
Reports: You can generate reports on various aspects of your sales and marketing activities, such as lead conversion rates, sales pipeline progress, and customer activity.
Data Export: Insightly allows you to export data in various formats, such as CSV, for further analysis.
Reporting Complexity: Some users have reported that creating complex reports can be a bit challenging, requiring some familiarity with the platform.

5. Project Management (Integrated with CRM):

Project Tracking: Insightly allows you to track project progress, manage tasks, and collaborate with team members.
Task Management: You can create and assign tasks, set deadlines, and track task completion.
Project Linking: Projects can be linked to contacts and organisations, providing a unified view of customer interactions and project activities.
Milestones: Projects can have milestones created to track larger sections of the project.

Access to Insightly’s range of features varies based on the subscription tier. Here’s a breakdown:

Free Tier (Limited)

Basic contact management
Limited project management
Up to two users

Plus Tier:

All Free Tier features
Advanced contact and organisation management
Opportunity tracking
Task and event management
Email integration
Workflow automation (basic)

Professional Tier:

All Plus Tier features
Advanced workflow automation
Lead assignment rules
Customisable dashboards and reports
Project Management tools with more depth

Enterprise Tier:

All Professional Tier features
Advanced security and permissions
API access
Priority support
Increased storage space

Insightly’s functionality offers a robust, interconnected platform, making it a powerful tool for businesses needing to bridge sales, marketing, and project management. Its key advantage lies in its ability to link contacts, organisations, and projects, providing a holistic view of customer interactions. Customisation options and strong integration capabilities further enhance its appeal.

However, the platform’s complexity can present a learning curve, particularly for advanced features and reporting. While offering a free tier, its limitations are significant, and the cost of higher tiers can become substantial for larger teams.

Therefore, while Insightly delivers comprehensive CRM functionality, businesses should carefully weigh its complexity and cost against their specific needs. Take a look at our analysis of the functionality of the best CRMs to see how Insightly compares.

How Much Does Insightly CRM Cost (And Is It Worth It?)

Insightly’s pricing is structured on a per-user, per-month basis, billed annually or monthly. Please note that these are approximate starting prices, and it is best to check the Insightly website for the most up to date information.

Free: £0 (Limited features, up to 2 users)
Plus: Approximately £24 per user/month (billed annually)
Professional: Approximately £45 per user/month (billed annually)
Enterprise: Contact Insightly for a quote.

Insightly CRM offers a compelling value proposition for businesses seeking a unified platform that integrates sales, marketing, and project management. Its strength lies in its ability to link data across these functions, providing a holistic view of customer interactions. Customisable features and strong integration capabilities further enhance its appeal, particularly for SMEs. Scalability through tiered pricing allows businesses to grow within the platform. However, the cost can accumulate with larger teams, and the complexity of advanced features and reporting may present a learning curve.

Ultimately, Insightly’s value depends on individual business needs. For companies prioritising integrated functionality and scalability, it can be a worthwhile investment. Take a look at where Insightly sits on our ranking of the most cost-effective CRMs.

Insightly CRM: Strengths and Weaknesses

Here’s a breakdown of Insightly’s strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Strong integration capabilities.	The free tier is very limited.
Flexible and customisable.	The learning curve for advanced features can be steep.
Good project management features.	We found the reporting to be complex.
Robust workflow automation (Professional and Enterprise).	Pricing can become costly for larger teams.
Mobile application available.

Our Analysis: What Type of Business is Insightly CRM Best Suited For?

Insightly is particularly well-suited for:

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Businesses that require a flexible and scalable CRM solution to manage their sales, marketing, and project management needs.
Project-based businesses: Companies that rely on project management, such as consulting firms, agencies, and construction businesses, will find Insightly’s project management tools valuable.
Sales-focused businesses: The opportunity tracking and lead management features are ideal for businesses with a strong sales focus.
Businesses that rely on integrations: Insightly’s ability to integrate with various third-party applications makes it a good choice for businesses that use multiple software tools.

In the UK market, Insightly’s flexibility and integration capabilities are particularly advantageous for businesses that need to adapt to changing market conditions and customer demands.

Conclusion

Insightly CRM offers a comprehensive suite of features that can benefit a wide range of businesses. Its flexibility, integration capabilities, and project management tools make it a strong contender in the CRM market. While the pricing can be a consideration for larger teams, the value offered by the Professional and Enterprise tiers is significant. For SMEs in the UK looking for a robust and scalable CRM solution, Insightly is definitely worth considering. We would recommend trying the free tier before the paid tiers, to ensure that the software is a good fit for your business.

Insightly CRM Competitors

Check out our comparison of the best CRMs, and see where Insightly sits in the top ten.