Best CRM Software for Education Industry – If, as an educational institution or organization, you are not managing data about your leads and customers effectively, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. If you look closely, you will see that all successful education institutions spend a lot of time on implementing the best tools and software that can store and manage tons of user data with the utmost ease.

Best CRM Software for Education Industry

In this post, we will discuss in detail about all the 12 top-leading, best Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that you can set up straightaway. So here we go!

What is a CRM software?

Gone are the days when physical sheets of paper or basic excel sheets were used to maintain manual records of leads, potential customers, existing customers, and the interactions with each of them. All you now need is an automated piece of code that can take care of all the actions and keep you up-to-date with the relevant client relationship developments happening across all the departments of your education institution.

In simple words, a Customer Relationship Management (software) is a tool that helps companies create and maintain strong customer relationships through improved customer service and on-time interaction which eventually results in better sales, higher revenues and complete customer satisfaction.

Why CRM software are important for the education industry?

There are many benefits of using a CRM software especially for organizations and institutes working in the education segment. A few of the advantages of using CRM software include:

Never miss out on any lead

Businesses in the education sector receive thousands of queries each day through various conventional and digital marketing channels such as newspapers, Google ads, social media, YouTube, advertisement banners, pamphlets, etc. Chances are high that if you try to keep a manual record of such queries, you will either completely miss out on contacting many interested individuals or be too late, thus resulting in a loss of many opportunities.

Get a better insight into your customer’s needs

Through a CRM software you can keep a track of various traits about your existing and potential clients, including their initial needs, the channel through which they came to you, the depth of their pockets, the entire record of your every conversation or transaction with them, setting up calling reminders and many such productive pieces of information.

Quick Communication

Speedy communication is what sets successful companies apart from lower or mid-card players in the education industry. Modern CRM software come loaded with ready-to-use email templates, quotes, invitations, newsletters and other documents that education companies send to their customers on a regular basis.

CRM helps immensely with Marketing

With a good CRM software, you can track which marketing campaign or channel is providing you with the highest number of leads for your education institution while which one is an utter failure. Once you know the best routes to target your potential customers, you can effectively manage your marketing budget and cut costs.

Integrate other apps and services

Contemporary customer relationship management software provide options to integrate other web apps and services in the education field for a complete holistic approach. This saves both time and effort that you were going to devote individually to each one of them. Having all things synced into a single CRM interface will save a lot of time for your employees as well, leading to higher productivity.

Best CRM software and tools in the education industry

Many CRM software and tools are available these days, mostly on a subscription-basis. However, in this post we have handpicked only the top ones for you that will make managing your education business easy and hassle-free.

#1 Hubspot

There was a tough competition between many CRM software for the #1 spot but Hubspot edged out other competitors when it comes to the education industry. From sales and marketing to customer support and retention, you can carry out all tasks with Hubspot very easily.

Plans and Pricing

Hubspot offers its CRM & sales platform in 3 plans:

• Starter – $45/month (starts at 2 paid users)
• Professional – $450/month (starts at 5 paid users)
• Enterprise – $1200/month (starts at 10 paid users)

Pros and Cons

+ Easy integration
+ Track pipeline
+ Log activity

– Limited reporting
– Expensive price for advanced plans
– Templates may be a little difficult to modify for novice users

#2 Oracle NetSuite CRM

Oracle NetSuite offers an all-round, integrated approach to managing all client-related data that will help not only in maintaining successful client relationships but also bring in more customers by effectively managing leads. NetSuite CRM boasts a seamless flow of information across complete customer life-cycle.

Plans and Pricing

Oracle NetSuite CRM doesn’t come at a fix plan and pricing. As an education business, you will have to get in touch with the Oracle team directly who will provide you a personalized plan, based on your needs and requirements.

Pros and Cons

+ Sales Forecasting
+ Campaign and Opportunity Management
+ Amazing support

– The user interface may appear a little complex to first-time users
– The CRM may get slow sometimes
– The price may feel high if the number of users are low

#3 LeadSquared

Another customer relationship management (CRM) software that is making rounds these days is LeadSquared. The platform is well-known for its B2C CRM software which provides many features, ensuring a higher conversion rate for businesses operating in the education industry.

Plans and Pricing

LeadSquared offers its CRM in 4 plans, which you can opt for after carefully considering your exact requirements. The pricing is as follows:

• Lite: INR1250/user/month
• Pro: INR 2500/user/month
• Super: INR 5000/user/month
• Ultimate: Customized pricing according to needs of large organizations

Pros and Cons

+ Simple Interface
+ Great customer support

– In-built call integration could be added
– Performs poorly on slow internet connections

#4 NoPaperForms

This CRM is the ideal choice for companies and businesses that deal in higher education. With the help of well-detailed real-time analytics, NoPaperForms assists you with planning, tracking, optimizing and converting better.

Plans and Pricing

The company doesn’t offer fixed plans and asks potential customers to experience a demo first.

Pros and Cons

+ Ideal for setting up application forms and storing respective data
+ Decent user-interface
– Transparency in plans needed
– Not a suitable CRM for other categories than higher education

#5 SalesForce CRM

SalesForce is based out of California, United States and is among one of the top cloud-based companies. SalesForce CRM will help you keep complete track of customer activity with records of names, numbers, emails, messages, chat and transactions. The company claims that with their CRM, clients could experience up to 45% higher customer satisfaction rate.

Plans and Pricing

Like the above ones, SalesForce too offers 3 plans for its customers. All the three plans are billed annually though:

• Professional – $50/user/month (for any sized team)
• Enterprise – $175/user/month (highly customizable CRM for better sales)
• Unlimited – $325/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Easy to manage
+ Ideal for inexperienced users
+ Great UI

– Expensive customization
– Technical support could be made more accessible

#6 Freshworks CRM

Formerly known as Freshsales, Freshworks incorporates artificial intelligence for a great user experience. Be it capturing leads, scheduling calls and reminder, sending emails or collecting analytics, Freshworks can do it all with the utmost simplicity and ease.

Plans and Pricing

Freshwork too offers 3 CRM plans for its customers:

• Growth – INR 2,099/user/month
• Pro – INR 5,099/user/month
• Enterprise – INR 9,199/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Ideal for small and medium-sized businesses in the education industry
+ Customization options
+ Proactive AI Assistant

– Not many options in the free plan
– May get expensive for advanced plans
– More support channels are required

#7 Zoho

Zoho deems itself as the “World’s favourite CRM” and is among the top customer relationship management tool providers headquartered in India. Zoho CRM prides itself in providing real-time notifications whenever a customer interacts with your business in the education industry.

Plans and Pricing

Zoho offers the following 4 plans for its clients:

• Standard – INR 720/user/month
• Profession – INR 1200/user/month
• Enterprise – INR 2100/user/month
• Ultimate – INR 2300/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Multiple Pipelines
+ Advanced Customization
+ Decent customer support

– Deciding the ideal plan for your business may be a tough task
– Limited depth in the functionality
– Forms need better optimization for conversions

#8 Kapture CRM

This CRM portal is more oriented towards customer support and service and it is indeed a good one at that. Kapture allow your customers to reach out to you via any preferred channel, such as calls, chat, email, social media and even mobile apps.

Plans and Pricing

The company offers three plans for education organizations and institutions:

• Essential – INR 1499/user/month
• Professional – INR 2,999/user/month
• Enterprise – INR 4,999/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Affordable pricing
+ Good Interface
+ High customer satisfaction rate recorded

– Less sales and marketing features as compared to competitors
– Not the best choice for large scale businesses
– Customer support could be better

#9 Salesmate CRM

Another emerging player in the CRM field is Salesmate. The services provided by this firm is as catchy as their brand name and are indeed a good choice if you are just starting out with your educational institute.

Plans and Pricing

The company offers highly affordable plans which are billed annually, as seen below:

Starter – $12/user/month (ideal for small teams)
Growth – $24/user/month (best value plan)
Boost – $40/user/month (for unlimited access to features)

Pros and Cons

+ Best for small-budget education startups
+ Good user-interface
+ Comprehensive sales goal tracking

– Not suitable for large companies
– Lack of advanced sales features
– The order of pipelines is not editable

#10 Ezee CRM

Ezee justifies its brand name very well as their CRM software is too “ezee” to use, thanks to automated mechanisms.  The company offers a free 7-day-trial to all new customers. This CRM can surely be a great choice for businesses in the education industry.

Plans and Pricing

The company offers 4 plans for companies according to their needs and team size:

• Seed – INR 600/user/month
• Sapling – INR 800/user/month
• Plant – INR 1200/user/month
• Tree – INR 1400/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Highly affordable pricing
+ Advanced Lead scoring rules
+ Customization

– The interface isn’t as friendly as one may expect
– Customer support could be improved
– Not the best choice for large scale education firms

#11 Tranquil CRM

Another made-in-India customer relationship management software that can come in handy for businesses in the education industry is Tranquil CRM. This tool is well-known for being efficient as it saves a lot of time by centralizing customer data. Here are a few more details about this CRM:

Plans and Pricing

Tranquil charges upfront for its software and doesn’t offer a monthly model/subscription. The plan pricing is as follows:

• Starter – INR 80,000
• Ultimate Pro – INR 2,70,000
• Ultimate Pro + Post Sales – 3,60,000

Pros and Cons

+ Decent interface
+ Quick technical support
+ Amazing sales pipeline area

– Monthly subscription model required
– Upfront fee too high
– Not suitable for small-scale businesses

#12 Pipeliner Sales

If your major goal is just making huge sales each day, then this CRM software is a tailor-made pick for you because it does exactly what you were looking for! Well-known for its instant dynamic visualized reporting, Pipeliner Sales CRM offers a number of interesting features.

Plans and Pricing

• Starter – $65/user/month
• Business – $85/user/month
• Enterprise – $115/user/month

Pros and Cons

+ Highly sales-friendly reports
+ Mobile-app with built-in AI
+ Built-in Automation Engine

– The option to send e-mails directly
– Import and export functions with admin tasks is not available
– Voice command function required

Conclusion

There are many Best CRM Software for Education Industry out there, but we have listed only the top 12 out of them after thoroughly analyzing their features and pricing. If you have an education business, we suggest that you should spend some time researching the best one that fits all your needs and requirements. Most of the CRMs out there lack many features that all education industry companies will require over the course of time. Hence, choose a plan wisely.

We wish you the best of luck with your business in this highly promising field of education!