| Functionality | 2 <p>LACRM provides very barebones functionality. You can store contacts, track communication, and manage pipelines - but that's about it. You're unable to send emails, access any meaningful reports or automate workflows.</p> | 10 <p>Salesforce is one of the most powerful CRMs on the market. Its core functionality will be more than sufficient for most companies, and it also offers advanced capabilities that should satisfy even the most complex enterprises.</p> |
| Ease of Use | 9 <p>Thanks to its minimal features, LACRM is extremely straightforward and intuitive. It only has four main tabs: Workspace, Contacts, Calendar, and Reports. Any SMB employee can set it up and start using it immediately.</p><p>The only drawback is that pipelines are found under "Reports" and are viewable only as a list, not as a board.</p> | 1 <p>Salesforce has the steepest learning curve and most complex user experience out of all CRM experiences. Built for large sales teams, everything (e.g. editing pipeline stages, adding an opportunity) takes longer to get done. There are foreign terms for technically proficient, power users everywhere, especially in the automations modules. Be prepared to invest weeks to learn the basic operations, and months to master the advanced features.</p> |
| Look and feel | 7 <p>The software is clear, clean, and fast-loading, though it feels a bit visually <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">uninspiring.</span></p> | 4 <p>Even with the latest Salesforce Lightning, the user interface still feels cluttered and dated compared to newer CRMs out there—it’s definitely not a joy to use.</p> |
| Customisability | 6 <p>You can customize some aspects, like setting up custom pipelines, adding custom fields, and saving custom filters. It's useful for tracking non-sales activities like job applicants or partners. However, it doesn't offer custom objects or reports.</p> | 10 <p>With Salesforce's Apex programming language, you can customise almost anything you can think of - from user interface, sales workflows to how Salesforce integrates with other software.</p> |
| Ease of Setup | 9 <p>LACRM offers a simple, self-serve free trial. Initial set up (e.g. importing contacts via CSV/ syncing from Google or Outlook, syncing calendar) was largely simple, although slightly confusing since setting up a pipeline is found under the "reports" module. Due to LACRM's barebones functionality, fully customising will take no time - can be done within an hour.</p> | 1 <p>Salesforce offers a self-serve free trial, but as an enterprise-focused platform, the initial setup is a lot more involved. Even the simplest configurations can take over 20 minutes, with basic tasks, like customizing pipeline stages, requiring more steps compared to other CRMs. Fully customizing and implementing Salesforce can take several months, and many teams end up hiring dedicated consultants or technical experts (at significant expense) to handle setup and data migration.</p> |
| Customer Support | 7 <p>LACRM only offers support via email/ phone. There's no built-in live chat on the platform. However, online resources are easy to use, and helpful support videos are available.</p> | 4 <p>Salesforce offers personalized Q&A through live chat, but it’s only available during business hours and often feels sales-y. We wish the coverage was greater and they held off on the upsell!</p> |
| Integratability | 4 <p>LACRM offers 25 pre-built integrations with tools like Google and Outlook Calendar, Mailchimp, and calling software. However, it lacks integration with many software categories, such as customer support, data enrichment, and analytics software. It does offer an API for custom integrations.</p> | 10 <p>Salesforce has the most extensive integration ecosystem of any CRM. It offers pre-built integrations with nearly all the key third-party tools and provides a robust API for building custom integrations.</p> |
| Ease of Migration | 8 <p>You're able to export your list of contacts and pipeline leads with one-click. It also offers an API for other custom exports.</p> | 10 <p>Salesforce allows users to export most data via self-serve or via an API. Exports of key data to relevant 3rd party vendors are also available via pre-built integrations.</p> |
