Best Contact Management Software in 2024

What Is a Contact Management System?

A contact management system stores, organizes, and tracks contact information for customers, vendors, and suppliers. The software further helps manage leads and customer interactions along with scheduling tasks and activities related to customer engagement and sales. 

Contact management system offers multiple integrations and activity databases, enabling users to create segments for customers and personalize all interactions. With the help of customer contact software, users can access multiple channels like wizards, web forms, CRM APIs, and meeting notes for managing the contacts database.

Features of Contact Management Software

Some of the key features of contact manager software include interaction tracking, contact export/import, contact filtering, activity database management, field customization, email campaign integration, graphical timelines, task management, and data insights:

1. Interaction tracking: CRM contact management platform helps track daily activities of a business, such as task schedules, emails, and contacts for better sales pipeline visibility.
2. Contact export & import: Contact management systems help with the quick transfer of contacts amongst multiple data sources with their easy export and import modules.
3. Search and filter: CRM contact management platform makes it easy to filter and search contacts from the entire contact database for information tracking.
4. Activity database: A contact management program offers a powerful database for storing contacts, managing follow-ups, and tracking previous interactions for better customer and vendor relationships.
5. Automated reminders: Customer contact software gives access to a calendar system, such as Google Calendar for scheduling follow-ups, setting reminders, and adding notes regarding every contact.
6. Customizable fields: Online contact software lets you segregate contact details based on the business campaign type. You can also rename, remove, or add fields for the purpose.
7. Email campaign integration: CRM contact management platforms support email campaign integrations so that the right email addresses can be picked directly from the database for further communication.
8. Graphical timelines: Customer contact software sums up the entire customer journey in a graphical timeline along with the contact history and conversation history.
9. Task management: Manage tasks efficiently by creating new activities, setting reminders, and viewing past interactions with a client by using a CRM contact management tool.
10. Smart insights: CRM contact management platforms offer smart insights and a 360-degree view of your customer database along with cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

What are Some Common Uses of Contact Management Software?

Contact management systems provide many important functionalities for business relationship management. The software streamlines the process related to storing, tracking, and managing all customer contacts. Companies use contact management apps for organizing details of vendors, suppliers, customers, and employees:

• Versatile modules for checking past interactions, conversation history, and call details.
• Smart integrations for fetching customers’ information from emails, apps, and social media.
• Powerful contact storage and management capabilities based on different categories.
• Organize vendors' and customers’ information in an easy-to-search format.
• Collect information digitally such as the client’s website activity and more.
• Retrieve contact details from live chats and appointment scheduling tools.
• Sales pipeline visibility for tracking the leads.

Benefits of Contact Management System

The key benefits of a contact management system include business intelligence, data accuracy, customer retention, cross-channel support, contact tracking, revenue boost, and personalization of customer interactions:

1. Powerful business intelligence: A contact management system offers robust business intelligence tools for tracking contacts and managing sales & marketing efforts. The software provides valuable reports that can be utilized for strategic decision-making.
2. Contact management for greater accuracy: Contact management systems store all contact information group-wise in an accessible database. You can group different categories like employees, vendors, and customers for higher business flexibility and operational accuracy.
3. Higher customer retention: A CRM contact management platform provides interaction histories with every contact for managing all customer queries diligently and in real-time. 
4. Managed interactions across multiple channels: A contact management CRM system helps streamline business activities by supporting the integration with multiple channels such as note-taking software, CRM APIs, wizards, web forms, and VoIP phone systems. 
5. Easy contact tracking: Customer contact software provides a centralized and shareable database for tracking contacts and activities related to them. 
6. Higher productivity: As the software automates processes like data entry, appointment scheduling, and contact management, businesses can achieve higher productivity in terms of sales conversions and customer service. 
7. Increased business revenue: Contact management systems help segment contacts into hot deals, lost accounts, etc. Accordingly, you can plan your marketing and sales efforts and achieve higher conversion. 
8. Personalizing customer interactions: Online contact management software lets employers personalize their customer communications based on demographic data and interaction history. 

How to Select the Best Contact Management Software 

To select the best contact management software for your business, it is important to consider various factors including the availability of an in-built CRM, information tracking support, ease of data access, integrations provided, and other features offered by the CRM contact management platform: 

1. Inbuilt CRM: An inbuilt CRM would help employees manage the contact details of customers and vendors from any app and any location, thus ensuring smooth workflows. 
2. Information tracking: Information tracking is a crucial feature to look out for in a contact management system for collecting data, queries, complaints, follow-up details, and more so that your customers get timely service.  
3. Easy data access: The software for contact management should provide easy yet secure search functionalities to track the communication history with any customer quickly. 
4. Contact storage: This feature is critical with any contact management program as this would allow easy storage and retrieval of as many contacts information as you want. 
5. Integrations: When looking for a contact management system, ensure that it supports integration with project management apps, reporting tools, and sales force automation tools 
6. The right features: The features required from contact management software would depend on your business size apart from the process requirements. Choose the software that is compatible with your business needs so that you do not have to change it later. 

Why are Contact Management Software Important?

Contact management software is imperative in this era of personalized customer interactions. The software enables you to enhance customer relationships, gain detailed contact insights, organize contact database, enhance customer satisfaction, and facilitate internal communications: 

1. Customer relationship management: A contact management system stores crucial information related to customer data, such as contacts, time logs, payment data, case data, customized data fields, and more. By optimizing this information, organizations can build unique and personalized campaigns to maintain customer relationships.  
2. Gaining customer insights: A key advantage of contact management system is that organizations can gain visual insights into customer data and develop marketing strategies according to the unique needs of different clients.  
3. Data access and automation: With the help of a contact management system, different teams within an organization can access customer information in real-time, enhancing workflow, and enabling prompt actions. Furthermore, a contact management system automates redundant data entry and contact filtering tasks, eliminating manual efforts.   
4. Enhances customer satisfaction: Real-time data access not only boosts workflow and productivity but also increases customer satisfaction. By identifying customer pain points, a contact management tool enables the organization to offer personalized support and assistance, tailored to the specific needs of different customers.  
5. Internal Collaboration: Lastly, a contact management system helps streamline internal communication and collaboration. The software offers mobility and flexibility to different teams for accessing client information, checking updates, sharing feedback, and acting in a timely manner.  

Top 10 Contact Management System 

We have compared the best contact management software based on their key features and pricing: 

Top 10 Contact Management System
Softwares	Features	Contact Management System Pricing
Exotel	Voice & Data Integration, Voicemail, SMS Integration, Customer Management, Repeat Calls Missed, Missed Call Services	Starting at ₹ 4,708
Zoho Contact Manager	Third-party Integrations, Contact Management, Lead Management, Tasks and Deals Management, Contact Categorization, Smart Templates	Starting at ₹ 900
Freshsales CRM	Lead, Contact, Account, and Deal Management, Visual Sales Pipeline, 2-Way Email Sync, Lead Scoring, Phone powered by Freshcaller, SMS Integration	Starting at ₹ 1,199
Salesmate Sales CRM	Contact & Account Management, Opportunity & Pipeline Management, Task / Activity Management, Customer Contract Management, Lead Qualification, Workflow Automation and Management	Starting at $ 29
eMyPA - Enterprise Contact Engagement	Contact Management, Reminders & Notifications, Capture Minutes of the Meeting, Share e-Card, Connect Contacts on LinkedIn, Customizable Templates	Price On Request
Haloocom Connect	Video Calling, Call Recording, Auto MIS Mail Notifications, Contact Dashboard, Contact Manager, API & Integration	Price On Request
Enreach	Simple, Intuitive Admin Portal, Built-In Softphone, Professional Voicemail, Total Control of Meetings, Management & User Permissions, Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)	Price On Request
Pipedrive CRM	Contact & Account Management, Opportunity & Pipeline Management, Customer Contract Management, Lead Qualification, Reports & Dashboards, Third-Party Integrations	Starting at ₹ 1050
Salesflare	Contact & Account Management, Opportunity & Pipeline Management, Customer Contract Management, Lead Qualification, Marketing Automation, Third-Party Integrations	Starting at ₹ 2450
Agility CMS	Document Management, Website Management, Customizable Templates, Workflow Management, SEO Management, Digital Asset Management	Price On Request

Contact Management Software Trends 

Some of the latest trends and advancements in contact management include automation, personalizing customer experience, increasing mobility, expanding channels, and enhancing the digital experience of customers: 

• AI and automation: AI and workflow automation are paving the way to digital transformation, and contact management is no exception. By leveraging the power of AI, organizations can add automation to customer profile generation and data analysis.  
• Personalizing customer experience: Integrating contact management tools with CRM, sales database, reporting tools, and project management platforms allows organizations to follow a data-driven approach and enable personalization in sales and marketing efforts. 
• Cloud compatibility: Another buzzing trend in contact management is the adoption of a cloud-based platform that is compatible with different devices and operating systems. This adds mobility to business operations and enables round-the-clock data access.  
• Cross-channel support: Present-day contact management systems are not as one-dimensional, and the process of prospecting is expanding across different social media channels. Here, a contact management system draws leads and contact information across various online channels.   
• Security and Compliance: The rising concerns around data privacy and cyber security call for a CRM contact management platform that ensures compliance with changing privacy regulations by combining robust privacy and security features.  

How Do We Review and Select the Best Contact Management System for you? 

With the long list of contact management CRM systems available in the market, choosing the right platform can be difficult. We have narrowed down the choice for you by comparing different contact management tools based on their key features and pricing. 

Moreover, we have analyzed some of the best contact management software based on CRM integrations, data access controls, data storage, information tracking, and other essential features.  

How Can I Get Started with Contact Management Software? 

The steps involved in getting started with a contact management program include data collection, task automation, contact analysis, and data filtering: 

• Collecting and Storing Contact Information: The first step involved in setting up a contact management system is to collect and store existing contact information in a centralized database. This can be done by integrating the database management system with various channels, such as website and social media.  
• Defining Workflow and Automating Tasks: The next step is to connect the database with any contact management tool and define data sources, fields, and workflow. This reduces the hassle of manual data entry, updating contacts, and setting follow-up reminders. 
• Monitoring Contact Data: With the help of custom reports and analytics, you can further monitor key performance indicators, such as new contacts, customer interactions, conversion rates, and so on. These analytics can help identify patterns, adjust strategies, and alter customer interactions.  
• Data Filtering and Clean-Ups: The final step is to keep contact information updated by filtering duplicate contacts, ensuring the accuracy of data, and removing outdated data. By performing regular audits, organizations can boost the success of their marketing efforts. 

What is the Cost of a Contact Management System? 

The cost of a contact management system depends on various factors such as the number of contacts, third-party integrations, and the additional features required by an organization. The starting price for a contact management system is ₹900/month, which may increase with additional features required by your business. 

There are also some free contact management tools available. However, these free versions offer limited contact storage and features. Moreover, to unlock advanced analytical features, users need to upgrade to premium pricing options.