Mobile CRM apps aren’t just important for outside sellers and road warriors.
Every modern salesperson should have the ability to stay informed and efficient on the go.
While no smartphone app can replicate the full experience of using a desktop CRM, there are a handful of CRM iPhone apps that do a great job when it comes to making essential features easy to use. And by “essential features,” we mean the ability to do simple things like…
Update contact and lead records from your phone
Dial contacts just by tapping their number
Quickly log in-person client visits and phone calls
Receive mobile notifications when a team member tags you in a note or when one of your deals closes
View the geographic location of leads and contacts on a map
Some of the best CRM smartphone apps also boast additional bells and whistles, such as…
Communication tracking, email templates with view notifications, geolocation, mobile reporting, customizable notifications for salespeople and managers
Map functionality, activity feeds, Zoho’s personal assistant
1. Nutshell
Nutshell’s iPhone app was relaunched in early 2020, and now includes the best map visualization features of any mobile CRM on the market. Perfect for planning client visits or just keeping an eye on where your hottest leads are, the Nutshell iOS app lets you view your saved lead lists on a smooth-scrolling, zoomable map, or quickly segment your leads by any attribute, such as status, open date, product, or custom tags.
Nutshell’s iPhone CRM app also comes equipped with an easy-to-use business card scanner so you can scan contacts on the go, as well as all the time-saving mobile features you’d expect, such as the ability to start new calls and emails in one click, quickly log meetings and call notes, and receive alerts for anything that needs your attention. Available to subscribers of any Nutshell package at no additional charge, Nutshell’s iPhone app helps you do important things fast, no matter where you are.
Freshsales brings an impressive array of desktop features to their iPhone app. The “key metrics” screen acts as a useful dashboard, giving you relevant information on your assigned deals, and the calendar view shows you your upcoming appointments and lets you easily schedule new ones. You can also create and log activities in the Freshsales iPhone app, and track their outcomes.
But what really makes this a top iPhone CRM are the little extras. The ability to book an Uber from the Freshsales app is a nice touch, and the voice recording feature is a big help for summarizing meetings when you don’t have the time to type everything out on your iPhone keyboard.
Pipedrive offers a refreshingly crisp iOS app full of useful CRM features designed to be used on-the-go. Their mapping feature uses the Google Maps API to visualize any deals or contacts with a physical address. Their calendar view is a cool way of displaying all CRM activities for each salesperson right on their iPhone, saving tons of time (and sticky notes.)
Pipedrive’s iOS app boasts an impressive 4.1 out of 5 stars in the iTunes App Store, as fans of the desktop CRM enjoy having a fully functional mobile CRM for their iPhones or iPads as well: “Easy and simple enough to understand what’s happening with a Deal,” says a 5-star iOs app reviewer.
⚠Bummer alert: Users report delays with processing activities through the mobile app interface.
The Salesforce app also features a partnership with Einstein Analytics, allowing its mobile app users to leverage AI insights to make informed decisions about how to manage pipelines.
All of the apps on Salesforce’s AppExchange are accessible from mobile, but with varying degrees of functionality constraints due to the mobile CRM experience.
The key drawback with the Salesforce iPhone app—and Salesforce in general—is that every feature is piecemeal and every piece costs extra. For example, Salesforce’s mobile mapping features are only available with a Salesforce Maps subscription, which starts at an additional $75/user/month!
There are also a plethora of third-party business card scanners; most are bundled with unnecessary features, some rely solely on Outlook sync, and even the lowest-rated one costs $7.99 a month.
Zendesk Sell’s iPhone app couples a usable interface with robust functionality. The iOS app provides sales teams with communication tracking, email templates with view notifications, geolocation, and mobile reporting.
Another great mobile CRM feature in Zendesk Sell is that the iPhone notifications can be customized differently for salespeople and sales managers alike. Sales managers also enjoy visibility into how their sales reps are using the CRM app on their iPhones, including on-the-go reporting and real-time iOS notifications.
6. Zoho
Zoho CRM offers a mobile version for iOS devices with many of its features from the desktop version. The Zoho ecosystem features over 40+ integrated applications, which is fine for desktop CRM users, but creates a user experience that is impossible to replicate as a mobile CRM application. “Limited functionality,” says a customer on the iOS app store.
On a brighter note, the iOS CRM app is highly rated by users not interested in replicating their desktop experience. Plus, the CRM app is not entirely dysfunctional—there are still plenty of features for Zoho users to enjoy, including map functionality and activity feeds.
The undisputed coolest Zoho mobile feature is Zoho’s personal assistant, Zia. CRM users on iPhone, iPad, or Android devices can speak or text with Zia to execute commands the same way an iOS user would speak to Siri.
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