Discover folk - the CRM for people-powered businesses
Businesses of all sizes rely on relationships to grow and thrive, and one of the most valuable assets of course is that with customers. That's why your tech stack should include Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software – it’s essential for businesses to help manage and automate interactions with customers and prospects.
However, choosing the right one can be overwhelming with so many options and features to consider. In this blog post, we will compare some popular products - Pipedrive, a traditional CRM and Trello, a project management database. We also introduce folk as an alternative option to help you find the best one for your small business.
Presentation of Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a popular CRM that focuses on pipeline management and sales forecasting. It offers a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop features to help manage contacts and deals. Pipedrive offers basic and standard pricing plans that are affordable for small businesses. It also offers some integrations, including Outlook, Google, and Mailchimp, to name a few. However, some customers might feel that Pipedrive's automation and advanced features are limited compared to other CRMs.
Founder of Sloyd.ai comparing folk and Pipedrive
Presentation of Trello
Trello is primarily a project management tool that can be adapted to be a CRM. It's a visual platform that allows business owners to see their leads, customers, and deals in a single view. Trello offers a simple drag-and-drop Kanban board-like interface and allows integrations with many other tools. However, Trello features as a CRM are limited as it was not designed to be a CRM and it requires customization to become a proper CRM.
Ginevra from folk describing Trello as a CRM:
Presentation of folk
folk is a CRM tool that helps users streamline their processes, improve team collaboration, and boost customer experience. Unlike Trello, it's fully designed as a CRM and offers all the features essential for managing customer relationships. A powerful AI allows businesses to automate their sales processes, including lead generation, lead qualification, and sales pipeline management, with few clicks. It integrates with Google Suite, Outlook, and thousands of other apps, and has a smooth mail-merge feature.
Pipedrive vs Trello comparison
Pipedrive, Trello, and Folk all have different features and use cases. Pipedrive is best for managing contacts and deals, while Trello is ideal for project management with some basic CRM features. On the other hand, folk is the best choice for maintaing a robust contact database, sales processes, and collaboration. It also has the edge with AI features that are easy to use but very powerful.
Contact Management
At the base of all CRMs is contact management, the foundation for building relationships. Pipedrive and Folk offer a full contact management view, which includes customized fields, tags and notes. Meanwhile, Trello's contact management features are limited.
Pipedrive Contact Management
Pipedrive's contact management capabilities are just about what you'd expect from any tool. It provides you with a standard view of all your contacts, where you can add custom fields to store specific information about each contact. The fields are flexible enough to accommodate any data you might need to record, like contact's role or industry, but nothing groundbreaking. You can also add tags to categorize your contacts and add notes for each contact.
Trello Contact Management
Trello's contact management capabilities are rudimentary. It doesn't offer a dedicated contact management view, but allows you to create cards for each contact. These cards can store basic information like name, email, and phone number, and you can add notes as comments on the card. For categorization, you can use labels but it lacks the custom field feature.
folk Contact Management
folk takes contact management to a new level. As well as all the usual essentials, such as custom fields, enrichment automatically fills in missing contact information, such as social profiles or company names, making it easier for you to have complete, up-to-date information about all your contacts. folk also has an auto-deduplication feature, which identifies and merges duplicate contacts.
folk's use of AI stands out in particular. Its AI capabilities assist in cleaning up contact data, recognizing and correcting erroneous or outdated information, or whatever you wish, based on the prompt you feed to the AI.
Integrations
Pipedrive and Trello cover many integrations, but folk offers seamless integration with other tools within their unified interface, making it easier to manage everything from one place.
Pipedrive Integrations
Pipedrive offers a number of integrations with other software systems. It plays relatively well with popular tools like Mailchimp, Slack, and Google Apps, among others. However, the integration process is not always seamless and may require some technical know-how. Also, the functionality and depth of these integrations can sometimes leave more to be desired. Overall, while Pipedrive's integrations do add some value, they may not fully meet the needs of users seeking a highly interconnected suite of business tools.
Trello Integrations
Trello offers several integrations in order to enhance its functionality and provide a more holistic and efficient project management experience. Its extensive list of integrations includes popular apps such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, and many more. However, it's worth noting that the effectiveness of these integrations can vary. While some users find them highly beneficial for streamlining their workflow, others might find the integration process a bit cumbersome or the added functionality less robust than expected.
folk Integrations
folk offers seamless integrations with Outlook and Google, syncing to your account so that all your contacts, emails, and calendar events are visible in folk. You can also connect folk to thousands of apps with custom Zaps through Zapier. For those seeking a truly interconnected suite of business tools, folk delivers in spades.
Mail Merge
All three CRMs offer email integration, but folk allows for mail merge and sending mass emails with ease.
Pipedrive Mail Merge
Pipedrive's mail merge function is, well, functional. It allows users to send personalized bulk emails to their contacts directly from the CRM. You can customize your emails with variables from Pipedrive, such as the contact's name, organization, or deal specifics. If you're looking for basic, reliable email marketing tools within your CRM, Pipedrive's mail merge function can get the job done.
Trello Mail Merge
Trello has some manual email functionality, but no real mail merge that allows you to send email campaigns, usually a standard feature in most CRMs, and doesn't integrate with communications tools like Gmail and Outlook.
folk Mail Merge
In folk's mail merge feature allows you to send personalized emails in bulk from your CRM. You can customize your mass emails with an array of variables from folk, such as the contact's name, company, or specific notes. One of the most powerful variables is the use of Magic Fields, which are powered by AI and allow you to generate entire emails, customized to each participant based on the data you have stored on them in folk. Once sent, you can easily track detailed analytics (such as delivered, opened, clicked, bounce rates) and follow-up with a few clicks.
Pipeline Management
Pipedrive's main selling point is their sales pipeline management. However, Folk offers more capabilities, including a visual pipeline and a dashboard to track the deal’s progress.
Pipedrive Pipeline Management
Pipedrive's pipeline management is robust, with an intuitive, draggable interface that allows sales teams to move deals between stages effortlessly. Each deal can be expanded to view detailed information, including the associated contacts, activities, and other relevant data.
Trello Pipeline Management
Trello's board and card system can be adapted to a pipeline to represent different stages and deals. Each card, representing a deal, can be moved across different lists, symbolizing various stages in the pipeline. While this system offers a visual and interactive experience, it lacks the depth of detail and actionable features available in real CRM solutions.
folk Pipeline Management
Pipeline management in folk is intuitive and user-friendly, with a drag-and-drop Kanban view that is easily customizable to your exact requirements. You can generate a readymade Kanban directly from a list of contacts, with columns created based on the fields you have created, and control exactly what is visible on each contact card.
User Experience
All three CRMs have a user-friendly and intuitive interface, but folk is more comprehensive and customized to the sales process.
Pipedrive User Experience
Pipedrive offers a clean, uncluttered user experience that is tailored towards sales teams. Its layout is intuitive and straightforward, making it easy to navigate even for those new to CRM software. Each feature is clearly delineated, reducing the learning curve and enabling users to quickly locate the tools and information they need. However, the platform's simplicity may not cater to all needs and preferences, and some users might find it lacks the depth or customization options available in other CRM systems.
Trello User Experience
Trello's user experience as a CRM leaves much to be desired. The platform's design, while clean and straightforward in terms of project management, is ill-suited for complex CRM tasks. It lacks the comprehensive contact management features and detailed analytics that are standard in more dedicated CRM solutions. Its structure, built around cards and lists, does not provide a conducive environment for tracking intricate customer relationships and histories.
folk User Experience
folk's user experience stands out for its Notion-like simplicity and intuitiveness. Its clean design allows users to easily navigate between different contacts, making it simple to access detailed customer information and history. A favorite amongst folk users is folkX, the Chrome extension, which makes it easy to add contacts from LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere on the Internet, with just a click. Import entire lists of profiles, complete with profile photos and contact details, in one go.
Customer Support
Pipedrive and Trello both offer customer support through email and chat. With Folk, small business owners have a dedicated team of Customer Success Managers to help them every step of the way.
Pipedrive Customer Support
Pipedrive offers a range of customer support resources. Apart from email and chat support, they also have a knowledge base with help articles and tutorials covering setup and usage to advanced features and integrations. Furthermore, Pipedrive offers a community forum where users can connect, share experiences and exchange insights.
Trello Customer Support
Trello, like Pipedrive, provides a variety of customer support resources. Users can reach out for assistance through email or the chat interface within the application. For self-guided learners, Trello offers a knowledge base of articles, step-by-step tutorials, and best practices guides. It also hosts a user community where users can share their experiences, find solutions to common issues, and offer advice to peers.
folk Customer Support
folk goes above and beyond in providing customer support, offering personalized support where necessary with onboarding, data migration, and any issues. This hands-on approach ensures that queries and issues are addressed promptly, facilitating a smooth user experience. Beyond this, folk also offers an extensive knowledge base, inclusive of articles and videos, allowing users to gain in-depth understanding of the platform at their own pace.
Pricing
Pipedrive, Trello and folk all offer free plans for you to try, with various price plans beyond that.
Trello's prices are lowest of the three, with prices starting at €5 per user per month. This stands in direct alignment with its capabilities – and limitations – as an effective CRM.
Pipedrive's prices start at $14.90 per user per month.
You can try folk for free with a 14 day free trial. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows.
- Standard: $20 per user, per month
- Premium: $40 per user, per month
- Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Pipedrive and Trello?
Pipedrive is best for managing contacts and deals, while Trello is ideal for project management with some basic CRM features. This means that you'll be limited to project management features and won't be able to make full use of traditional CRMs features designed to automate your workflow and save you time.
Why is folk a better option?
folk is a better option because it combines the CRM-specific functionality of Pipedrive with an intuitive and user-friendly interface – and for multiple business functions. Making it easier to manage customer relationships, sales pipelines, and communication automation. Unlike Trello, which lacks CRM-specific features, and Pipedrive, which is primarily focused on sales, folk offers a comprehensive solution tailored to the diverse needs of managing customer interactions and business processes.
What features are important in a traditional CRM?
Important features in a traditional CRM tend to include:
- Contact and lead management: Organize and track customer data and interactions.
- Sales pipeline management: Visualize and manage the sales process from lead to close.
- Email Integration: Sync with email platforms for seamless communication.
- Task and activity management: Schedule and track tasks, appointments, and follow-ups.
- Automation: Automate repetitive tasks like follow-ups and data entry.
- Reporting and analytics: Generate insights and reports to measure performance and inform decisions.
- Customizable dashboards: Tailor views and data presentations to specific business needs.
Conclusion
Choosing a CRM system is essential to any small business to manage customer relationships and sales processes. Trello is good if you want to manage projects but as a CRM it's not a strong candidate. Pipedrive has more of what you would need in a traditional CRM, and folk stands out as a full-featured, comprehensive system with a user-friendly interface, integrations, and mail merge capabilities, making it easier to manage all of your relationships from one platform. Additionally, folk's excellent customer support and affordable pricing plans make it the best pick for your small business.
Discover folk - the CRM for people-powered businesses
