Our Review of Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM aims to provide a straightforward and user-friendly solution for small to medium-sized businesses. It focuses on core CRM functionalities, emphasising simplicity and affordability. This review will delve into its features, pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and suitability for different business types.
Capsule CRM Features
We have taken a deep dive into Capsule CRM’s functionality, breaking down the features and how they work in practice.
1. Contact Management
Centralised Contact Database: Capsule provides a unified repository for all your contacts, be they individuals or organisations. You can store essential information like names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and social media profiles.
Custom Fields: The Professional and Teams plans allow you to create custom fields to capture specific information relevant to your business, ensuring you track the data that matters most.
Tags and Segmentation: You can tag contacts to categorise them based on various criteria (e.g., industry, customer type, lead source). This allows for efficient segmentation and targeted communication.
Activity History: Capsule logs all interactions with contacts, including emails, calls, notes, and tasks. This provides a comprehensive view of your relationship with each contact.
2. Sales Pipeline Management
Visual Pipeline: Capsule’s sales pipeline provides a visual representation of your sales process, allowing you to track deals through different stages.
Pipeline Customisation: The Professional and Teams plans allow you to customise pipeline stages to match your specific sales process.
Deal Tracking: You can track key deal information, such as deal value, expected close date, and probability of closing.
Task Association: You can associate tasks with deals to ensure follow-up actions are taken at each stage.
Sales Forecasting (Teams Plan): The Teams plan includes sales forecasting features, enabling you to predict future sales revenue based on your pipeline.
3. Task & Activity Management
Task Creation and Assignment: You can create tasks and assign them to yourself or other team members.
Task Scheduling: Tasks can be scheduled with due dates and reminders.
Calendar Integration: Capsule integrates with your calendar, allowing you to view and manage your tasks and appointments.
Activity Logging: You can log all your activities, such as calls, meetings, and emails, providing a complete record of your interactions.
Team Activity Reports (Teams Plan): The Teams plan provides reports on team activity, allowing you to monitor team performance.
4. Communication & Integrations
Email Integration: Capsule integrates with email clients, allowing you to track email correspondence with contacts.
Mailchimp Integration: Integrates with Mailchimp for email marketing.
Google Workspace and Outlook Integrations: These allow for contact and calendar syncing.
API Access: Capsule offers API access, enabling you to integrate it with other applications.
Third Party Integrations: Capsule also integrates with a number of third party applications, such as Xero, and Quickbooks.
5. Reporting & Analytics
Basic Reporting (Free Plan): Provides basic reports on contacts and sales.
Advanced Reporting (Professional and Teams Plans): Offers more detailed reports on sales, activity, and team performance.
Custom Reports (Professional and Teams Plans): You can create custom reports to analyse specific data.
Sales Forecasting (Teams Plan): Provides reports on forecasted sales revenue.
Team Activity Reports (Teams Plan): Provides reports on team activity and performance.
6. User Management & Permissions (Teams Plan)
User Permissions: The Teams plan allows you to set granular user permissions, controlling access to data and features.
Team Management: You can create teams and assign users to them.
Priority Support (Teams Plan): Teams plan users receive priority support.
Capsule offers a tiered subscription model, with features varying across each plan. Here’s a breakdown:
Free Plan
- Up to 2 users
- 250 contacts
- Basic contact management
- Sales pipeline tracking
- Tasks and calendar
Professional Plan
- Unlimited users
- Unlimited contacts
- Advanced reporting
- Email integration
- Mailchimp integration
- Custom fields
- Sales pipeline customisation
- Activity reporting
Teams Plan
- All Professional features
- Team activity reports
- Advanced permissions
- Sales forecasting
- Priority support
Capsule aims to be a hub for managing interactions. It’s built to keep track of who you are dealing with, what stage of the sales process those people are in, what you have done and what you need to do next with those people. The more advanced plans simply add more complex reporting, and greater team management possibilities.
Take a look at our analysis of the functionality of the best CRMs to see how Capsule compares.
How Much Does Capsule CRM Cost (And Is It Worth It?)
Capsule CRM offers tiered pricing, catering to different business needs.We have included approximate prices below.
Free: £0
Professional: From approximately £14 per user, per month (billed annually)
Teams: From approximately £28 per user, per month (billed annually)
In our opinion, Capsule CRM strikes a good balance between features and price, making it a valuable option for its target audience. Its strength lies in delivering core CRM functionalities, such as contact and sales pipeline management, with a user-friendly interface that minimises the learning curve. The availability of a free plan further enhances its accessibility, particularly for startups and very small businesses. This focus on simplicity and ease of use translates to time and cost savings in training and implementation.
While Capsule provides excellent value, it’s important to acknowledge its limitations. The platform may lack the advanced features and customisation options of more complex and expensive CRM systems. Specifically, businesses requiring in-depth reporting, extensive marketing automation, or highly customised workflows would find Capsule’s capabilities somewhat restricted. However, for organisations that prioritise simplicity, affordability, and essential CRM functionalities, Capsule CRM strikes a commendable balance between features and price, making it a worthwhile investment.
Take a look at where Capsule sits on our ranking of the most cost-effective CRMs.
Capsule CRM: Strengths and Weaknesses
Here’s a breakdown of Capsule CRM’s strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
---|---|
User-friendly interface. | Limited marketing automation features. |
Simple and intuitive design. | Can lack advanced customisation for very complex needs. |
Affordable pricing, especially for SMEs. | Advanced reporting can be limited. |
Good contact and sales pipeline management. | Some integrations are limited. |
Good for basic task and activity tracking. |
Our Analysis: What Type of Business is Capsule CRM Best Suited For?
Capsule CRM presents a compelling value proposition for small to medium-sized businesses seeking a straightforward and affordable customer relationship management solution. It’s particularly well-suited for:
- Small sales teams: Businesses with straightforward sales processes will find Capsule’s pipeline management and contact tracking effective.
- Service-based businesses: Companies that rely on strong client relationships, such as consultants, agencies, and freelancers, can benefit from its task and activity tracking.
- Businesses needing basic CRM functionality: Organisations that want to move away from spreadsheets and adopt a simple CRM system will find Capsule’s interface easy to learn.
However, businesses with complex sales processes, extensive marketing automation needs, or those requiring highly customised workflows might find Capsule’s features limiting.
Conclusion
Capsule CRM offers a solid foundation for managing customer relationships. Its straightforward design and affordable pricing make it an attractive option for SMEs looking for a user-friendly CRM solution. While it may lack the advanced features of more complex platforms, its core functionalities are well-executed. If your business prioritises simplicity and ease of use, Capsule CRM is definitely worth considering. It provides a reliable and efficient way to manage contacts, track sales, and improve customer interactions.
Capsule CRM Competitors
Check out our comparison of the best CRMs, and see where Capsule sits in the top ten.