Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring) Reviews

Pros

The ability to create a clear sales funnel and track your client through the sales process is really easy and highlights areas where more work and focus might be needed in your sales process.

There is a ton of features to engage users and build your audience, you just need to spend time and be open to exploring ideas.

Implementing dynamic content which changes depending on the customer persona is cool.

The support team always reply same day, there is online chat (US times) too.

Cons

There are some definite bugs such as data fields 'locking' when creating a landing page and the later it becomes editable again. Strangely the design side of emails and landing pages is not cohesive. So you have a limited range of fonts in forms but lots of customisation for colours for headings, then the reverse for landing pages. Thinks like buttons for GDPR can't currently be customised which looks odd.

Also, the onboarding process for Squarespace websites is different and this is not mentioned anywhere.

Just needs to have someone invest some time to deal with all these issues and implement a decent upgrade.

Generally, all very minor things but stacked up can provide a bit more challenging onboarding process than what it needs to be.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub and Marketo Engage

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

Cost, ease of use of platform and the support.

Pros

My favorite thing about Sharpspring is the ability to track and analyze the entire life of a lead, from start to finish. It allows us to optimize our funnels and nurture prospects from interest to sale. It is a really powerful tool and offers (almost) everything you need for marketing automation from automated workflows to landing pages and forms to email design. I also love their lead scoring.

Cons

Though it offers a lot of features, it's not all that usable compared to similar products. There are countless small usability issues. Landing pages are pretty difficult to create. Support is usually great – but can at times be entirely unhelpful. Automation has some key features other tools allow. Overall, there are just a lot of features that still need to be added in order to really compete.

Alternatives Considered

ActiveCampaign, BenchmarkONE and Keap

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Price was the primary reason.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

We really needed a robust CRM for longer B2B buying cycles. Though all other tools were awesome, Sharpspring won out there.

Pros

Seemed like a great and more affordable option compared to HubSpot. Not much else to say here since we had a boat load of issues with it.

Cons

Everything was cumbersome. From onboarding to implementation. Even getting someone on the phone from the right department to help us when we had issues with email was a problem. Overall, really clunky and outdated. We ended up going to Hubspot and it's SO much better and not even that much more expensive especially when we think of all of the time we all wasted trying to get sharpspring to work.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

price.

Pros

SharpSpring has features to create marketing operations and track those campaigns either manually or automatically. Considering I can tie all the potential avenues of a campaign into one spot and see how users interact with is a great win. At a glance, it is essential to read the data and make the right decisions; SharpSpring brings all the data to one platform. It makes work more enjoyable that we can create a single campaign with a list of contacts, email templates, unique forms, dynamic pages, trackable media, automation, and analytics in one spot. Not to mention, once we create this base campaign and all its numerous pieces, I can then quickly use all the parts as a template to do another or a third, and so on. Making it very efficient over time. SharpSpring has a lot of features, but I am thrilled with our CRM, email marketing, ads, funnels, all in one location. All this and the support team have been top-notch every step of the way. I also like to learn myself, which they provide via courses, updated videos, and documents that my team and I can reference.

Cons

Interface and design consistency are my two significant cons for this platform. Like most, once you know the platform and its interface, you can be very successful. No difference here except that the design process between creating emails, pages, and forms all have their unique process. I believe it would improve user efficiency if the page and email creator, for instance, had a standard procedure and the same layout of tools. The platform has a lot of features with more coming, so you have to know where all the pieces are between the settings, marketing, and sales menu layout.

Pros

We like the fact it is much cheaper in cost as compared to HubSpot and other marketing automation platforms. The ease of using the platform has made it easy to early adoption of the end users and we are able to fully track our MQL and ROI.

Cons

SharpSpring has an extremely high demand on email accuracy rate of 98% so quite often we get suspended due to bounced back emails. Sometimes it is difficult to have an almost 100% list when people leave companies. We have as a solution, pay for 3rd party email checker services,to help mitigate this and we also send a larger portion of emails though mailchimp.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Dynamics 365 and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

We wanted to have a solution that could do more analytics and tracking on engagement. SharpSpring was able to do this.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Dynamics 365 and Marketo Engage

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

cost, no locked in contract, larger user base capability and ease of use

Pros

The amazing customer support that is offered. Anytime I have a question I can either look it up myself in their library of resources with tutorials and instructional videos, or I can call their partner support line and speak to a real person who even follows up after the call to make sure all of the needs were met.

Cons

I wish you could edit Life of Lead to be able to put custom events in there. We uploaded a prospect database we had been tracking since 2017 and it had every time we touched a prospect. Unfortunately, once we uploaded this list into SharpSpring we were not able to edit their Life of Lead prior to the upload date. While this is barely an issue, it would be nice to see how long we have been tracking some of these prospects to give us a better prediction at how many touches it takes for a prospect to convert to a customer.

Alternatives Considered

Lead Forensics

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

SharpSpring seemed like the best deal on the market by far. For only a few hundred dollars a month we were able to start using our first marketing automation/CRM software. With SharpSpring you are able to cut off using other services, so we are actually paying less than we did before, but getting so much more in return!

Pros

SharpSpring is a game-changer! Getting an all-in-one platform that allows us to go from capturing lead information and behavior all the way through to identifying qualified leads through marketing campaigns is amazing. Having one place for marketing emails, landing pages, social media, blogging, meetings, video chats, and more is almost unheard of. Match that with a really robust CRM that tracks leads, beautifully outlines the life of a lead, and allows you to easily manage the sales pipeline and one-on-one engagements with pre-qualified leads with lead scoring is amazing.

Cons

Seriously, there isn't much negative to say about this platform. The onboarding was amazing, the self-guided trainings were awesome, it's a great platform. The only downside is it's not as "pretty" as some platform, but hey, I'd rather have a functioning product helping me make more money and something pretty to look at.

Pros

What I like most about SharpSpring is how much you get for the money. It packs every feature you'd expect from the expensive marketing automation platforms but doesn't throw exorbitant costs on those features. I also like the ease of integration with other platforms.

Cons

I highly dislike the recent shift in having clients pay for their own accounts with separate billing. We were sold this platform as one we could completely white-label for clients, but now we are required to put a client CC on file.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

We chose SharpSpring solely because it was cheaper than HubSpot.

Pros

SharpSpring provides all necessary features for successful marketing automation while being affordable.

Cons

The Visitor ID system is not working outside of the US. I am based in Europe.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Salesforce Sales Cloud

Switched From

Copper

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

SharpSpring has all the important features and is much more affordable.

Pros

I really like that they are constantly innovating, adding new features and functionalities. I also think that having great support, right here in the U.S. is one of the most important things they offer.

Cons

Currently, their data is not easily integrated with my reporting tool TapClicks.

Alternatives Considered

Freshmarketer

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

insufficient features, no integration with CRM

Switched From

Mailchimp

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

ability to build landing pages, schedule social posts, social listening and superior automation workflows

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

The pricing model is favorable. We were able to onboard 2-3 clients almost immediately as compared to really struggling trying to sell HubSpot.
The sightline on data and our sales pipeline is good and shows us that we are seeing value (however, our company needs to do more on our end to really leverage the tool).

Cons

We haven't found a use for the content calendar function, compared to other methods we use.
Lead scoring could be improved.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Looking for a more cost-effective solution. We were paying a lot and having difficulties winning new business based on the Hubspot pricing structure.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

Our primary lens for looking at SharpSpring was based on a comparison to HubSpot. We found the platform to essentially be fully comparable with a more favorable pricing structure. Since making the switch, we haven't seen any reduction in capabilities and are finding it much easier to sell to our clients.

Pros

It has a lot of features and they keep adding new ones. From only one platform I'm able to keep track of my client's websites, create the forms, and manage the submissions, leads can schedule meetings with specialists without having to wait (or to interact with another human being) and I can keep track of everything with the help of the Life of the Lead. The automations available are a big deal as well, everybody in the team is aware of their responsibilities and the platform helps them never forget to follow-up.

Cons

The email builder could use some improvements, maybe something more intuitive, more templates, more flexibility while making changes. Also, de contact manager is still kinda coarse, should work more like a database and not only as a display, it could be more flexible. And allow to bulk-import contacts with no emails could be huge.

Alternatives Considered

Sprout Social, HubSpot Marketing Hub and Mailchimp

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

Because we saw SharpSpring as the ideal solution for the size of our clients, something more complex could have been way too much, and going for an analysis gadget would have been a potential trouble maker.

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

Everything you need to grow a business is in one place. The interface is easy to use and very intuitive. However, my favorite part of the company is the awesome support staff! Migrating from another platform, there is always a learning curve and workflow adjustment. If there was something we didn't know how to achieve in SharpSpring their friendly staff would explain with great detail how to get it done and integrate into the workflow we created.

Cons

Their social posting, responding section of the software is still a bit weak and we do utilize another piece of software to get this done, but we remember their software is about the automation and converting leads to customers and it does that very well, so this is an easy area to compromise.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

The price point was the biggest initial reason. We moved from another large product that pieced everything together making it out of reach for the smaller businesses. SharpSpring has all the major pieces as one at a lower cost. Had I known about the great customer service... I would have moved over a long time ago!

Switched From

HubSpot Sales Hub

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

Price Price Price.... and now... Service Service Service!!!!! They really care about my business doing well and help with non-product related questions. As I mentioned prior, they go above and beyond!

Pros

We manage a wide range of clients using SharpSpring, and you can not beat the cost and functionality delivered in a mid-high level automation platform - one that continues to evolve and grow.

Cons

We have really had no complaints with SharpSpring over the past 5 years we have been using it for ourselves and our clients.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Constant Contact, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, Zoho Mail, Mailchimp and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Cost/Value and the strong focus SharpSpring has on supporting agencies.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

See comments above

Pros

Sharpspring has an easy interface and do a great integration between marketing automation and CRM, helping these teams to work without any gaps, fully integrated. Reports are very easy to generate and personalize.

Cons

The Email designer and Landing Pages Designer is not the ideal yet, is a little difficult to use.
Other problem is the incapacity to separate invoices and charges to my clients in Brasil. I need to receive from my clients separately and pay for all Sharpspring licences.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Sales Cloud and RD Station

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Sharpspring is better and have a complete solution.

Switched From

RD Station

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

Because it offers all tools I need in one.

Pros

It was very quick to deploy, fast to get my team trained, and effective in demonstrating results for clients.

In addition, the feature functionality vs. price balance is fantastic. Other tools have lots of bloatware and tools that you will never use.

Cons

I wish it had some built-in SEO tools and I wish their email list management was more forgiving on spam traps.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Pipedrive and Marketo Engage

Reasons for Choosing Lead Gen & CRM (formerly SharpSpring)

Cost and HubSpot's lack of flexibility.

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

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

It was a combination of feature vs. price. In addition, SharpSpring was much easier to use and get operational quickly.

Pros

It is a platform that cover the manage of the commercial proccess and the use of information from the salers, this feed our Marketing Strategies and give us a continous improvement. Is easy to share tools between commercial and marketing teams about new campaings and we can obtain all the data to support, if a campaing was succesfully with a ROI that has the detail of each lead, opportunity and sales earned.

Cons

There is not automation proccess to include automatically changes in account's flelds. Sharpspring is working constantly in improving features, that is why we do not worry.

Pros

The SharpSpring Marketing Automation Software provides the following features and benefits that make it a stand out product for my business;
1. The 24/7 support incorporated into the monthly fees; Ensuring no surprises down the line.
2. No requirement to pay fees annually upfront.
3. New landing page feature.
4. Blog page feature.
5. New integration with the Litmus test.
6. Link up with Zapier integration to allow connection to hundreds of 3rd party software providers with the Zapier integration and SharpSpring APIs.
7. Training platform library; In-depth and with video availability to walk through processes. This along with 24/7 support, in my opinion, are the two most important features out with cost of course which set SharpSpring apart as the right platform for our boutique digital marketing agency.

Cons

1. Monthly fees in dollars do not convert via local UK sterling currency rates, unlike other US marketing software providers. You pay in £ sterling the same monthly fee as in US $ dollars.
2. Email builder while it is satisfactory it could be even more user friendly.

Pros

Being able to leverage anonymous web user data to create actionable insights way before they fill a form out is invaluable. For an agency/B2B company, it is the most reliable new lead generator of any tool out there.

Cons

New features roll out and feel like they should still be in beta. It has a few quirks like a lack of global date range filter that don't necessarily hinder reporting/analysis but are a slight inconvenience.

Pros

SharpSpring is a sleek system that offers outstanding tools for marketing automation. We researched a lot of platforms ranging from free to $1000s before going with SharpSpring. They have just the right amount of features that makes it the most useful for all of our clients, leaving off the bells and whistles that would inflate the price.

Their interface is top-tier which makes using their system a breeze. The dashboard gives you a comprehensive look at everything you're running. Moving around the system is super simple and they make it easy to jump to different areas when you're building a sales program. I'd urge you to check out all the features on their website because there are too many to list, but I can say that what they have offered us is unbelievably comprehensive.

We've also taken full advantage of their support which is outstanding. They have always been knowledgable and very friendly. Moreover, they won't let you off the phone until they are sure that the problem has been resolved! They also offer FREE continuing education programs like webinars to help make you more proficient at their program.

SharpSpring is a superior marketing automation platform, with a very intuitive interface and offer the kind of support we have rarely seen in tech companies. They have worked harder to earn and keep our business than any other vendor we've ever worked with. You would do yourself a giant favor to give their system a test drive.

Cons

I was not prepared for the steep learning curve that is required to take full advantage of this platform. I was a bit discouraged at first by everything there was to learn but I realized it's part of working with such a comprehensive platform. It's like moving to a new town and trying to figure out all the roads and highways. I don't know if that's really a con but it is something you must be aware of. You're going to need to spend some serious time learning it but once you do, navigating the system easily becomes second nature.

Pros

SharpSpring approached me with a very interesting mailer. It was enough to get my attention and learn who they were and what they did. After they bought my crew lunch and I sat through a presentation I decided to join. The minimum monthly bought me 3 accounts plus a free one for my agency. There are a lot of features in SharpSpring and they appear to be adding more, which is nice. They represent themselves as marketing automation for agencies. They offer a lot of white labeling which is a requirement for me when working with 3rd party softwares.

Cons

Late 2019 it was announced that SS would change their billing policies to require that THEY bill my clients. WAIT, WHAT? You're a whitelabeled SaaS service, why the **** would YOU bill MY clients. That's the opposite of the point. Since I haven't set up my clients in their billing interface they've locked me out of my account. And when I went to cancel they reminded me of the 30 days cancellation notice I'm required to give. OH, AND, they decided to up the rate $75/account. I'm so unhappy with where they're going as a company I can't even consider the new features that they're bringing in.

Pros

The system is easy to use -from training to the online help docs (i.e., self-training) - to the excellent support team, I feel very confident when using the system and making modifications. I know if I can't figure out how to do something I want to do - I can either jump on live chat or call support and someone will happily help me figure it out.

Cons

Reporting capabilities are still growing. They recently launched a new reporting dashboard with canned "custom" reports but I would like the idea to select the variables myself and run a report on my data - including my custom fields. If the fields exist, I'd like to run reports on them. I have figured out, however, that, I can export a lot into excel and create my own reports when needed.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Basecamp and Marketo Engage

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

Cost, support and customization

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