Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring) Reviews

Pros

SharpSpring is user-friendly, so I can easily use its features without needing a lot of technical knowledge. I can customize the platform to fit my specific marketing needs, making it easier to reach my goals. The analytics tools provide valuable data and insights into my marketing campaigns, helping me track performance and monitor leads.

Cons

There are a limited number of email templates available, and they may not look as visually appealing. Apart from that, I don't have any other concerns or complaints about the platform.

Pros

Lead Gen & CRM has inclusive information concerning all the relations of customers

Cons

Lead Gen & CRM is the valuable and consistent app

Pros

I loved SharpSpring until Constant Contact slaughtered it and their support fell off a cliff.

Cons

Very confusing. Terrible email builder. Broken platform elements with no desire to fix...but they're happy charging you full price.

Pros

All the leads are at easy access and we are able to locate old leads easier

Cons

Sometimes it will glitch out and close my page when working on loading a new customer

Pros

SharpSpring is best for clients who want to generate lots of leads and convert them to clients. If you look for a complete solution for marketing automation, social media, emailmarketing, Google Ads and a CRM, this is the go to solution. If you are only looking for emailmarketing without the rest then this is not the best fit.

Cons

Social media monitoring could be beter. No other cons.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

ROI, price is very good for what you are getting

Pros

We love the fact that we can white label the product and resell to our clients. It adds a new source of recurring revenue for our business that we would not have without this capability

Cons

We’ve had some challenges setting up billing for our managed client accounts - that said, the SharpSpring team has been helpful and very responsive in sorting out our challenges.

Alternatives Considered

ActiveCampaign, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

HubSpot just became too expensive for us to justify and it did not give us the white label capability that we were seeking.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

SHarpSpring was the only solution to offer a white label alternative

Pros

SharpSpring does everything you would expect at a competitive price. The tool is a very capable marketing automation system, with good email and automation capabilities, as well as some great tracking and social media features.

Cons

Reporting is good, but not as good as the best (which is HubSpot in my opinion). Although the capabilities don't hold us back, it would be nice to be able to have easy ways to measure the performance of landing pages/funnels.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

We switched mainly because of price.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

SharpSpring offers almost everything that other, more expensive, products offer, but at a very competitive price-point. Our clients who have deployed SharpSpring have been equally happy with the performance and results they have achieved.

Pros

Lead Gen makes the sales tracking process efficient, and there are numerous digital marketing solutions.

Cons

Lead Gen has created valuable marketing solution with suitable communications.

Pros

Feature rich CRM, just what you need for a small business especially. Customization/white label is a nice feature to have, gives our business a pro look. The price for this software is very good counting the features you have.

Cons

Can't say anything against Lead Gen & CRM that I didn`t like.

Alternatives Considered

Octopus CRM and FollowUp CRM

Switched From

Zoho CRM, Lime CRM and HubSpot CRM

Pros

The automation features save me tons of time and help me stay organized.

Cons

The interface can be a bit overwhelming at first and takes time to get used to.

Pros

Pretty easy to figure out, if you're just using it as a glorified email marketing list building and automation tool.

Drag and drop email template manager is easy to use. So is the visual automation builder.

Forms can be customized and embedded on websites easily to capture lead information.

Out of the box stuff is pretty simple, but you can always get to the CSS to customize everything if you're a developer and want a deeper dive.

Cons

Support has become horrible since launch. You can never get anyone on the phone, it's become a call back system. If you're an agency and managing client accounts, usually you need help immediately, not by end of day or via a random email.

Their billing platform is absolutely ridiculous. They bill your clients directly, and not the agency using the platform saying that the client is the end user, not the agency managing the account. This makes retainer fees or internal billing a nightmare. You'll also have to talk your client into putting their banking routing numbers into a platform they don't understand. If you manage SparpSpring on behalf of your client (like they never login) - Good luck selling it.

There is no Facebook connect to capture lead information!

They keep changing how you export reports by date range. Annoying if you need monthly reports for your client. Sometimes they work, sometimes they move them.

The certification videos and courses are currently outdated after a year of feature pushes.

Biggest annoyance - lead history. You can view lead history in a timeline, but if a lead fills out a form multiple times requesting different information on different dates, you can not scroll through that history in the contact view, it only updates the leads custom fields with the latest information. You can only export the most recent custom fields too, even though you can still see the history and different information in the lead history timeline.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, ActiveCampaign and Drip

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Our agency network started moving to it and someone drank the hype Kool-Aid so we did too.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub, ActiveCampaign, Drip and Leadpages

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

1/3 the cost of other comparable platforms - but you get what you pay for.

Pros

The biggest plus is its affordability - all the features you need at a price that is accessible. It has all the core functions one needs in a marketing automation platform, with a powerful sales pipeline and lead management component that provides an exceptional, integrated experience. Added bonuses are chatbox and book-time features included in the price, and the ability to sync Outlook emails to a contact's record. Lead scoring

Cons

The email editor can be a bit clunky and formatting copy and layouts can be finicky. The email previewer can be cumbersome. Visual workflows can be arduous to make

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

I left one company where I used Marketo (as a Certified Marketo Expert) and advocated for a cheaper solution at the company where I now work. It's been an excellent choice and the platform has not disappointed.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Purely for the cost. It's so much more affordable and it makes it accessible to a lot more companies without a huge financial commitment. The tool's functionality, the onboarding, and the customer support has been second-to-none.

Pros

I love using this software on a daily basis and using it to manage my leads. As a salesperson, it is challenging to find a CRM that actually works for you, not where you have to work for it. I like the ease of use with the kanban boards as well as the marketing automation for drip campaigns.

Cons

The mobile app is inoperable and not relevant. Sometimes the search feature is challenging to use- sometimes you need to use the companies name, sometimes you have to use the contacts name. When working in the drip campaigns you have to be really specific about which dates you select.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Sales Cloud and HubSpot CRM

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

The ease of use for marketing automation and ability to synchronize emails for communication transparency.

Switched From

Zoho CRM

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Pricing, ease of use, and presentation from the SharpSpring staff. Hubspot made us feel like we were taking up their time and not valued. Salesforce was too much for what we needed. SharpSpring made us feel valued and explained their product well by asking us questions first and tailoring their presentation around our needs, not just sending us through a powerpoint.

Pros

It is an easy-to-use platform that allows me to access and use its numerous features without requiring extensive technical knowledge. I like that the platform is adaptable, I can simply tailor the platform to my specific marketing requirements, allowing me to streamline my marketing efforts and get greater outcomes. also, The reporting and analytics tools are robust and extensive, providing me with loads of data and insights into my marketing campaigns. I value the platform's extensive analytics, which allow me to track performance and monitor lead activity.

Cons

While the email templates are limited in number and may not be as visually appealing, I don't have any other concerns or complaints about the platform.

Pros

Sharpspring has created a vacuum in my business for the better. Marketing as a service only gets to its final stage once you have a powerful way to leverage the data in your client's businesses to their advantage. We could never do this for our clients until we found Sharpsring. They gave us an easy, straightforward and enjoyable way to offer automated marketing over and above our regular lead-generating offerings - all while making a positive dent in our cash flow from the additional licences we sell. In short - Zebrand is already greatly profiting financially from the experience, as are our clients.

Cons

Having a few more APIs available out of the box would have been nice, but it has not altered our love for Sharpspring at all.

Pros

The ability to embed forms on our website and easily connect it to the Sharp Spring interface was a great tool to provide our client with leads.

Cons

The cost is a little high for our smaller clients but very reasonable for the features it offered.

Pros

For the money, this is a robust solution with many features that make marketing job easier

Cons

In 2021, it is a basic expectation that marketing automation software should have many good looking landing and email templates

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

SharpSpring is cheaper and more flexible

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

SharpSpring is cheaper and more flexible

Pros

SharpSpring has a plethora of tools and is always introducing new ones to assist you in creating an effective email marketing campaign. SharpSpring's customizability is excellent, which simplifies all tasks. Additionally, importing and configuring contact lists is a breeze. SharpSpring You may construct unique campaigns by utilizing the numerous concepts and custom templates that it generates, as well as editing and saving them as drafts for future use. You'll receive notifications and data about client replies in real time. This exact approach is easily replicable in subsequent marketing initiatives. I appreciate the ability to conceal and reorganize unnecessary dashboard elements. As a consequence, the business team will be able to more effectively manage and cooperate with the customer database, as well as all stages of advertising, email marketing, customer tracking, contact pages, and marketing job automation, among other things.

Cons

I encountered no technical difficulties when using it. SharpSpring is a critical component in optimizing email marketing operations for both small and large enterprises. For optimal utilization, additional training is required; SharpSpring developers provide numerous videos and tutorials, and the support team is always available to answer your questions.

Pros

The system is easy to use, is priced really well for all that is included, and has wonderful support!

Cons

Template features could be improved and integrations with other tools could expand.

Pros

The functionality of the Dashboard and the multifunctionality of it as a whole. I can use it as a sales employee as well as an account manager. The notes as well as the lead tracking makes daily tasks and client interactions a breeze to notate and collaborate with team members.

Cons

The most daunting obstacle is with the mobile app it is noticeably behind the actual interface. As I am constantly on the fly and not always In front of the computer it'll be a welcomed update when the app is brought up to speed with the rest of the interfaces.

Pros

Cost vs. benefit. Has all of the features our clients want or need, without a bunch of stuff we have to pay for that they don't need.

Cons

It's a struggle to find something I don't like, but if it was one thing over the past two years, it would be the lack of support on the sales side for our clients. More customized training and presentations for client side would be great.

Pros

Marketing automation - We have built a great rapport with our leads allowing us to nature and seamlessly turn leads into customers.

Sales CRM - As we monitor the performance of the lead from sales consultants we can optimise marketing campaigns to improve sales figures

Cons

Sharpspring is not the easiest platform to learn, the eCommerce integration can be very intricate, however, once you master it, through their virtual classrom which is a comprehensive guide to the products offered.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub and Salesforce Sales Cloud

Switched From

Mailchimp

Reasons for Switching to Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

SharpSpring offered more value for money

Pros

Easy to use
Great support team - tickets are handled in a timely fashion
Easy to implement
Great Documentation
Great for small, uncomplicated implementations - If your implementation will involve more complex requirements and/or CRM functionalities, stay away from SharpSpring
CRM works Ok

Cons

Automations are not always automatic - work flows sometimes do not work, expect to do manual work.
List segmentations do not always populate automatically - automated lists do not alwys self populate according to their rules
Custom reports are not custom (you cannot filter by custom fields, for example)
Reporting in SharpSpring is very poor
It is easier to export information to Excel to generate useful reports
Social functionalities are very shallow

Pros

As you grow within the platform, there are numerous free resources readily available. If you have a question about a specific feature or capability, you can simply search their online resource library and you'll find an in-depth, step-by-step article with the answer. For more complex or strategy items, they host frequent webinars that you can access at any time. And, of course, it is very easy to submit a support ticket with an extremely quick and thorough response.

Cons

Limited social listening depending on the social platform

Pros

SharpSpring has enabled my team and I to actively create multiple drip campaigns to target our newest and existing prospects. It allows us to monitor how new and existing users interact with our website, what pages they go to, and how much time they spend on each page. This has assisted us in refining our retargeting strategies and the type of content we need to create to keep our prospects engaged and interested in our services.

Cons

It would be nice to have a few more pre-made templates available when crafting email templates. SharpSpring enables you to basically drag, resize and drop different elements into your email templates, but it is not as customizable as other platforms. The social media scheduling portion is good, but it is not as robust as other platforms. Cross-posting might sometimes display differently than expected, for example posting a link that contains a featured image might show differently on SharpSpring than the actual social media platform, so we always check the actual post on the social media platform to make sure it posted as desired.