Zoho CRM vs Referral Maker

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Our analysts compared Zoho CRM vs Referral Maker based on data from our 400+ point analysis of CRM Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Referral Maker Software Tool

Product Basics

Zoho CRM enables an organization’s sales force to work more effectively and close more deals. It incorporates lead management, marketing automation, contact management, multichannel forecasting, territory management, and a host of other capabilities.

Built with conversational AI, it supports users by predicting lead and deal success, offering a voice assistant, and suggesting activities to automate based on behavior analysis. Users can leverage workflow automation to streamline manual tasks and stay on top of performance with real-time reporting and analytics.
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Referral Maker is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses manage leads, client feedback, databases, performance tracking and more from a central location. With features like a Dashboard and Priority Action Center, it boosts productivity and lead-to-close ratio.

Suited for businesses of all sizes, it maximizes sales efficiency and expands operations through relational marketing.
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$14/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$49 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Videos
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Videos
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Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Real-Time Data Analysis: Track KPIs across the sales cycle with advanced analytics tools providing visibility for everyone from the C-suite to sales reps. We set up dashboard widgets and customized the metrics displayed, so we could surface the most important data. The system includes standard and custom reports, which you can filter to locate specific information and blend to create multidimensional reports.
  • AI-Powered Performance Optimization: Use Zia is the system’s conversational AI assistant and helps users get more done and work smarter. We searched through our database by sending a request via text. You can use Zia to improve data accuracy, optimize timing for emails and calls, and understand the sentiment behind the emails your leads and customers send.
  • Automated Lead Creation: Use the email parser tool to automate lead creation by sending email enquiries to the parser email that extracts the information. You can then reduplicate and approve the leads to ensure they’re good. We could add and color code tags, create custom views for leads and view leads in Zoho sheets.
  • Support Mobility: Mobile CRM apps for both Android and iOS devices provide users with immediate access to important information, no matter where they are. Sales reps can view daily activities and optimize in-person meetings with geo-location. They can also manage records even while offline — all changes automatically sync once their device reconnects. The card scanner app, supported on iOS and Android devices as well, enables users to digitally capture business cards at events and meetings.
  • Personalized Solutions: Use the developer platform for full control over your software ecosystem. Unify data across business systems, develop apps and boost the capabilities of the CRM interface with a combination of tools including widgets, a REST API and SDKs for web and mobile. We found that it incorporates both code and WYSIWYG elements so users of all technical levels can leverage it successfully.
  • Easy To Set Up: Speed up the onboarding process via Zwitch, with the help of Zoho support staff or use the built-in tools to transfer from other CRM platforms. We liked how easy it was to navigate the header-style menu. Add new products, contacts and accounts with the same form style. Set up was also a breeze with helpful pop-ups and links to knowledge base articles if we got stuck.
  • Tailor-Made Customizations: Create your own workflow rules. We tested out adding a “Big Fish” tag when leads recorded an annual revenue of above $100,000 and a follow-up automation. You can also use the Kiosk Studio to build page layouts and automations, its a bit more technical but offers helpful pop-ups and tips. We were also able to create a rule that assigned all leads that started with a 222 area code to a specific user.
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  • Simplify Access: A simple, easy-to-use interface improves adoption rates while reducing the learning curve. 
  • Ensure Data Security: Ensure data safety through privacy-preserving encrypted data processing and automated scheduled backups. 
  • Leverage Cloud-Based Deployment: Leverage a cloud-based suite that prevents hardware investments and supplies operational agility. 
  • Get Mobile Accessibility: Access the software through a mobile website login and dedicated mobile apps over Android and iOS devices. 
  • Avoid Data Duplicity: Run duplicity scans to solve data duplicity and redundancy issues while managing contacts, listings and document data. 
  • Increase Revenue: Boost revenue by optimizing sales processes and improving win rates for faster ramp-up times and larger deal sizes.  
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  • Sales Force Automation: Automate tedious sales tasks such as lead generation and routing, data entry, email notifications, field updates and more. Optimize lead management, deal management, account management, contact management, and manage workflow and assignment rules.
  • Process Management: Enable your sales team to follow a standardized sales strategy. Use the blueprint feature to log offline processes such as order management or deal closure, ensuring consistent execution. Create automated approvals for common activities such as vacation time requests, capital expense reports and pricing discount requests. Additionally, you can set rules for assigning leads, escalating cases and validating CRM data.
  • Opportunity Management: Keep everyone’s antennas tuned to the same channel with Zoho’s activity tracking for all customer interactions like emails, calls, tasks and notes. Create deals and associate them with campaigns with drop-down fields and generate multiple pipelines using the standard template or your own personalized fields You can create a custom Kanban view using dropdown options and fields.
  • Multichannel Support: Connect with your email platform to send emails directly from the CRM. Connect your brand’s social media channel to respond in real-time, follow relevant conversations and automate lead generation. Use the Phonebridge integration to enable sales reps to easily log and track information from calls. You can also embed live chat and lead capture forms on your website to facilitate sales, marketing and customer service efforts.
  • Sales Enablement: Aid sales reps in their daily jobs using features like quotes and purchase orders (via integration with Zoho’s Finance Suite), a documents library, integration with Zoho’s presentation and document creation applications, and external-facing portals for partners and vendors. It also offers a calendar, a feature called SalesInbox for prioritizing the most lucrative emails, a web meeting platform through the Zoho Meeting integration, real-time notifications, collaboration feeds and more.
  • Performance Management: Gauge how a product, team or region is performing with forecasting tools. Group customers based on shared attributes (region, product, etc.) with territory management and gamify elements to encourage friendly competition that boosts performance among sales reps. Zia can also help improve performance by helping you target leads that are most likely to generate revenue. Your sales reps can engage with website visitors via chatbots for web and mobile, so every query receives attention even if they’re away from their desks.
  • Marketing Automation: Streamline marketing efforts by segmenting customers using a range of criteria, automating lead nurturing follow-ups, creating code-free web forms to gather customer information, scanning and uploading business cards, and analyzing campaign spending. Use capabilities like end-to-end event management, email campaign capabilities, surveys, and marketing details like budgets and performance metrics. A hierarchy feature lets you hook sub-campaigns to related main campaigns.
  • Team Collaboration: Use Feeds as a central location for collaborating, sharing announcements and offering advice. You can integrate chat functionality to facilitate everyday tasks and automatically send real-time sales updates. Users can leave notes on records or activities and tag other team members. Other features include groups for collaborating around specific events or for specific purposes, as well as project management tools via integration with Zoho Projects.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Connect with more than 50 third-party apps for collaboration, document management, live chat, telephony, messaging, events and meetings, quote management, document signing, lead management, marketing automation, social media, storage and more. Integrations include G Suite, Office 365, Slack, Shopify, Mailchimp, Facebook Ads, QuickBooks, GoToWebinar, DocuSign, Dropbox and Zapier.
  • Security: Store critical business data in secure vaults, choose where you want your data stored (U.S. and EU data centers) and encrypt data fields. Use audit logs to track activity, enable two-factor authentication and designate which IP addresses users can use to log in. Real-time backups on multiple servers ensure you won’t lose data due to a system-based or natural disaster.
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  • Dashboard: Get a visual overview of key metrics, activities and reports with a drag-and-drop customizable dashboard. Track metrics like average list price, average sales-to-close ratio, commission and upcoming appointments in real time. Collect useful insights for decision making at a glance. 
  • Calendar Management: Integrate with Google and iCalendar to get meetings, calls and appointment reminders in a timely manner. 
  • Campaign Management: Create and manage concurrent campaigns across multiple channels while tracking and optimizing them in real time to improve conversion rates. 
  • Contact Management: Store, organize, group and segment contacts centrally. Add tags and custom fields while using smart filters to search for contacts with similar attributes. Linear communication timelines make relevant information readily accessible. 
  • Email Marketing: Engage leads and build customer retention and loyalty through each stage of the buying journey with the email marketing module and customizable dynamic templates. 
  • Goal Tracking: Set up and track quantifiable time-based goals at the user, team, and organization levels to stay on the right track and maintain performance. 
  • Interaction Tracking: Track call and meeting details and attach notes for further information and follow-up activities. Track response rates for email interactions. 
  • Lead Management: Maintain a sales and marketing lead database while recording all marketing interactions between each prospect and the organization, including website visits, email clicks, scoring changes, and data updates and history. Also, track the sales activities for each prospect and their movement along the sales pipeline. 
  • Pop-By: Track clients in the vicinity and schedule visits through advanced mapping technology on the mobile version of the software. 
  • Priority Action Center: Get automatically populated to-do lists for the day with prompts for all activities such as calling prospects, writing notes and planning client meetings. 
  • Referral Tracking: Utilize an existing network of customers and users to send, receive, and track business referrals and sales leads. Keep networking activities up-to-date in one place. 
  • Reporting and Analytics: Access reports about data contained within the system, including sales, marketing and operational activities. Create ad hoc reports according to specific requirements. 
  • Task Management: Access an intuitive task management module that curates meetings and other important tasks and sets up automated reminders and notifications. 
  • Video Messages: Record and attach video messages to emails for increased engagement rates with an add-on feature. 
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Product Ranking

#9

among all
CRM Software

#196

among all
CRM Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Zoho CRM
Referral Maker
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Account And Contact Management Communication Channels Dashboards And Reports Document Management Lead Management Mobile Capabilities Opportunity Management Partner Relationship Management Platform Capabilities Product Management Quotes, Orders, And Contracts Management Sales Performance Management Team Collaboration 100 92 93 97 100 84 100 60 95 100 84 91 93 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 11200 reviews
Great User Sentiment 42 reviews
85%
of users recommend this product

Zoho CRM has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 85% when considering 11200 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

86%
of users recommend this product

Referral Maker has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 42 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (20)
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4.1 (2656)
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4.31 (21)
4.3 (6776)
4.3 (21)
4.5 (797)
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4.2 (951)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Zoho CRM and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Account and Contact Management, Lead Management, Opportunity Management, Platform Capabilities and Platform Security.

Account and Contact Management Award
Lead Management Award
Opportunity Management Award
Platform Capabilities Award
Platform Security Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Work Offline: Users who mention this feature say the platform functions well even when used in offline mode.
Business Management: The system monitors business performance, populates the website with suitable visitors and keeps a tab on productivity and output, eliminating unmatched customers and removing hassle according to users who mention this aspect.
Affordable: Users said the software is budget-friendly as compared to other CRM systems and has considerably more adaptive features for the price.
Integrations: Reviewers appreciated Zoho’s integration with in-house tools that support unified workflows, flexibility and email functionality.
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Simple and Easy to Use: Referral Maker is praised for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design, making it easy for users of all technical levels to navigate and utilize its features effectively.
Effective Referral Tracking: The platform provides robust tools for tracking referrals, allowing users to monitor the progress of their referral campaigns and measure their success in real-time.
Customizable Referral Programs: Referral Maker offers a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor their referral programs to their specific needs and goals, including setting custom rewards, designing unique referral links, and creating targeted campaigns.
Automated Referral Process: The platform automates key aspects of the referral process, such as sending referral invitations, tracking referrals, and distributing rewards, saving users time and effort.
Integrations with Popular Tools: Referral Maker integrates seamlessly with various popular CRM and marketing tools, allowing users to connect their referral program with their existing workflows and data.
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Learning Curve: Users mentioned some features and customization requires additional time and learning to implement.
Customer Support: Zoho’s customer support and inquiry resolution isn’t very responsive, according to users who refer to support. However, the chat support is comparatively better.
Lags and Delays: Reviewers noted there is sometimes a lag in notifications for email tracking and updates.
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Limited Integrations: Referral Maker's integrations with other business tools and platforms are limited, making it challenging to incorporate into existing workflows and hindering data synchronization with other essential systems.
Customization Constraints: The platform's customization options are somewhat restricted, potentially limiting the ability to tailor the referral program to specific branding and unique requirements.
Mobile App Deficiency: The absence of a dedicated mobile app can inconvenience users who prefer managing their referral programs on the go, potentially impacting engagement and responsiveness.
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Zoho CRM is a cloud-based CRM solution that serves businesses of all sizes and across various industries. It provides users with real-time data analysis, AI-powered sales performance optimization and extensive automation and customization. You can streamline workflows and improve sales efficiency with lead nurturing, deal management, and third-party integrations.During our test run of their free trial, we loved working with standout features like the customizable dashboard, automated lead creation via the email parser and drop-down linking for account, product, lead and quote creation.However, users report a learning curve associated with full feature utilization and customization. Additionally, some advanced features and functionalities require upgrades to higher tiers making it expensive for smaller teams. Overall, Zoho CRM offers an interoperable solution for businesses looking for a customizable, affordable CRM platform.

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Is Referral Maker a cut above when it comes to making referrals? User reviews from the past year suggest that Referral Maker, while helpful for some, might not be the "referring" champion for everyone. Users appreciate its straightforward setup and ease of use, especially for those already familiar with Buffini & Company's systems. The program's task management and contact organization features are praised for keeping users on top of their client relationships, a crucial aspect of real estate. However, some users find the software's functionality somewhat limited compared to competitors like LionDesk or Top Producer CRM, particularly when it comes to advanced features and integrations. For instance, a lack of in-depth reporting tools and limited customization options are common complaints. Referral Maker seems best suited for real estate professionals already invested in the Buffini & Company ecosystem who prioritize simplicity and ease of use over a wider range of features. If you're looking for a basic CRM to manage contacts and stay organized, Referral Maker could be a good fit. However, if you require robust reporting, advanced automation, or integrations with other platforms, exploring alternatives might be worthwhile.

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