CRM in Gmail: How to Use Gmail as a CRM

Looking to use Gmail as a CRM? Wondering how you could have CRM inside your Gmail account?

FACT: Gmail remains a vital communication tool for businesses. But it does not seem that ideal to manage customer relationships, right?

Well, not necessarily.

You see, you can easily transform your Gmail inbox into a comprehensive customer relationship management solution. You just need to use the right CRM tool.

Ready to transform how you work in Gmail?

Teams love Keeping because you can collaborate on a shared inbox without ever leaving Gmail. It's not magic, but it feels magical.

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In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Gmail as a CRM.

But first, let’s get some basics out of the way…

What is a CRM?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools are essential software solutions that enable businesses to effectively manage customer interactions and streamline their sales, marketing, and customer service processes.

In a nutshell, CRM tools consolidate customer data from various touchpoints and provide actionable insights to enhance customer engagement and drive business growth.

By capturing and organizing customer information such as contact details, purchase history, preferences, and communication logs, these tools offer a comprehensive view of each customer, empowering businesses to personalize interactions and deliver superior customer experiences.

CRM tools facilitate lead management, enabling businesses to track and manage prospects throughout the sales pipeline. They automate tasks, send timely reminders, and provide sales teams with a clear overview of opportunities, enabling them to prioritize and close deals more effectively.

CRM tools empower marketing teams by enabling targeted campaigns and measuring their impact. With detailed analytics and segmentation capabilities, businesses can identify and target specific customer segments, tailoring messages to their preferences and behaviors. This enhances marketing ROI and fosters customer loyalty.

CRM tools strengthen customer service operations. They provide agents access to complete customer information, ensuring personalized and efficient support. Agents can track customer inquiries, resolve issues promptly, and proactively identify patterns to address recurring concerns.

CRM tools are:

• The backbone of customer-centric organizations.
• Providing a holistic view of customers.
• Streamlining operations.
• Driving revenue growth.

They empower businesses to forge lasting customer relationships by delivering exceptional experiences at every touchpoint.

But could you even have a CRM in Gmail?

Oh absolutely!

There are many CRM tools that integrate natively with Gmail, essentially turning your inbox into a proper CRM system.

These tools expand the standard Gmail functionality with additional options such as:

Contact Management

A Gmail CRM system allows you to store and manage customer contact information within Gmail and Google Contacts. It provides a centralized database to organize and track customer details, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other relevant data.

Email Tracking and Analytics

With a Gmail CRM, you can track and analyze customer email interactions. It lets you see when emails are opened, track link clicks, and monitor email response rates. This data helps you understand customer engagement and prioritize follow-ups.

Activity and Task Management

A Gmail CRM system helps you manage and track customer interactions by creating tasks, reminders, and appointments. It allows you to set deadlines, assign tasks to team members, and maintain a structured workflow.

Pipeline and Sales Management

Many Gmail CRM systems offer pipeline and sales management features. Using pipeline management software, you can track deals, assign stages to sales opportunities, and monitor progress through the sales funnel. This helps you stay organized and prioritize sales efforts effectively.

Integration and Collaboration

A Gmail CRM can integrate with other business tools and platforms, such as project management software, Google Calendar, Google Apps, and customer support systems. This facilitates seamless data sharing and collaboration among team members.

Reporting and Analytics

A Gmail CRM system provides reporting and analytics features that enable you to gain insights into sales performance, customer behavior, and your team member productivity. You can generate customized reports and analyze key metrics to make informed business decisions.

Automation and Workflow

Automation features in a Gmail CRM system streamline repetitive tasks and workflows. You can set up email templates, schedule automated follow-ups, and trigger actions based on customer behavior or predefined rules. This saves time and improves efficiency.

Why use Gmail as a CRM?

Here are reasons why you should use Gmail as your CRM system:

Integration and Accessibility

A CRM for Gmail seamlessly integrates with your existing Google contacts, allowing you to manage customer relationships within the familiar email environment. It eliminates the need to switch between multiple platforms. It provides easy access to your Google contacts and customer data, and communication history within your inbox. This integration enhances productivity and saves valuable time for your team.

Streamlined Communication

A Gmail CRM system enables you to consolidate and organize all customer interactions and conversations in one place. It provides a centralized hub for tracking email conversations, logging notes, and attaching relevant documents. This streamlines communication within your team, ensuring everyone is on the same page and has a complete view of customer interactions, leading to better collaboration and more effective customer engagement.

Enhanced Lead Management

With a free CRM for Gmail system, you can efficiently manage leads and track their progress from within your inbox. It allows you to assign leads, set reminders, and automate follow-ups, ensuring no potential opportunity slips through the cracks. The system provides the following:

• Clear visibility into lead statuses.
• Helping you prioritize and focus on the most promising prospects.
• Leading to increased conversions and sales.

Personalized Customer Engagement

By leveraging the data stored in your Google contacts, you can deliver highly personalized customer experiences. It allows you to segment your customer base, understand their preferences and behaviors, and tailor your communication accordingly. Customized emails based on customer data and history help you build stronger relationships, improve engagement, and foster customer loyalty.

Analytics and Insights

A Gmail CRM system provides valuable analytics and insights to measure and evaluate your sales and customer relationship efforts. It generates reports and metrics that comprehensively view your sales pipeline, conversion rates, customer interactions, and more. These insights enable you to identify trends, track performance, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your sales and marketing strategies, driving business growth.

Best Tools to Use Gmail as a CRM

#1. Keeping – A dedicated CRM for Gmail with helpdesk capabilities

Keeping (disclaimer – this is my tool) converts your Gmail inbox into a shared inbox, allowing for the assignment of emails and utilizing collision detection to prevent duplicate replies. Agents can communicate privately about specific emails, so resolving tickets becomes a team effort.

Some of Keepings other features include:

• Collaboration features such as assigning messages, sharing internal notes, and updating the status of the ticket, all without ever leaving Gmail.
• Shopify integration lets you connect your Shopify customer inside Keeping.
• Create multiple shared inboxes or respond from your inbox—the choice is yours!

• Create templates that can be shared and inserted into your responses with one click.
• Advanced reporting and analytics give you data you need to know about how your team responds to your customers.

#2. DragApp

DragApp is a unique Gmail CRM solution that transforms your inbox into a collaborative workspace for managing customer relationships. It offers a range of features and functionalities designed to enhance productivity and streamline customer management directly within Gmail.

Here’s an overview of DragApp as a Gmail CRM:

• Visualize and manage tasks, projects, and customer interactions using customizable columns within Gmail.
• Collaborate with team members in real-time using shared inboxes
• Track and log customer communications within Gmail for easy access and updates.
• Convert emails into tasks, assign them, set due dates, and track progress
• Categorize and filter emails with shared labels and tags in shared inboxes.
• Gain insights into team performance and customer interactions through analytics.
• Connect DragApp CRM with other business systems for streamlined workflows.

DragApp stands out as a Gmail CRM solution by providing a visual and collaborative approach to managing customer relationships directly within Gmail. With its Kanban-style workflow, shared inboxes, task management, and customer communication tracking, DragApp offers a unique and efficient way to organize and streamline customer management processes, all within the familiar Gmail interface.

#3. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system that seamlessly integrates with Gmail via a chrome extension, enabling you to enhance your Gmail experience with advanced CRM functionalities.

With its seamless integration with Gmail, you can access and manage customer information directly from your Gmail inbox. You can view, create, and update customer records without leaving your email interface.

Other functionalities you can use with Zoho CRM are:

• Synchronization of your emails with customer records, enabling you to have a complete view of your communication history with each contact.
• Store and organize contact information, such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, and company details, in a centralized database.
• Create and track leads, convert them into opportunities, and move deals through various stages, all from within Gmail inbox.
• Generate reports, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and make data-driven decisions for your mass email campaigns.

In summary, Zoho CRM provides comprehensive CRM features and functionalities that seamlessly integrate with Gmail. From contact management and email synchronization to sales tracking and analytics, Zoho the CRM platform empowers businesses to manage customer relationships effectively while leveraging the familiar interface of Gmail.

#4. NetHunt

NetHunt CRM allows you to manage customer relationships directly from your Gmail inbox. It creates a unified workspace where you can access all relevant customer information alongside your emails.

You can store and manage all your contacts in one place. It enables you to create custom fields to capture specific information about each contact, such as name, email, phone number, company, and more.

Other functionalities you can use with NetHunt are:

• Create custom folders, tags, and labels to sort and filter your contacts, making it easy to find the information you need
• Email tracking capability that allows you to see when and how many times your emails have been opened, ensuring that you can follow up at the right time and with the correct information
• Create customizable stages, move deals along the pipeline, set reminders, and track progress to ensure efficient sales management
• Assign tasks, share records, and communicate with team members within the CRM

NetHunt is a powerful CRM solution that leverages the familiar interface of Gmail while providing advanced features and functionalities to manage customer relationships efficiently. Its seamless integration with Gmail, email tracking, customizable workflows, and collaboration tools make it a popular choice for businesses relying on Gmail as their primary communication tool.

#5. Streak 

Streak is a popular Gmail CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software that integrates seamlessly with Gmail to help users manage their sales and customer relationships directly within their inboxes. It enhances Gmail with various features and functionalities to streamline sales processes and improve productivity.

Here is everything you can do with Streak as your Gmail CRM:

• Create customizable pipelines to manage their sales processes
• Email tracking capabilities, enabling users to see when recipients open their emails and click on links
• Create and save email templates to quickly send personalized messages to prospects and customers
• Send personalized bulk emails to multiple recipients using a mail merge feature

Streak enhances Gmail by transforming it into a powerful CRM system, allowing users to manage their sales processes, track emails, and organize customer relationships seamlessly within their inboxes. Its intuitive interface and robust feature set, make it a popular choice for sales professionals and teams looking to improve efficiency and effectiveness in their sales efforts.

#5. Hubspot CRM 

Hubspot is well-known in the CRM industry. This product is used by millions of people worldwide to manage sales, marketing, and connections with leads and customers while also enabling business growth. HubSpot provides limited Gmail integration.

The Hubspot Chrome plugin adds a highly lightweight version of the HubSpot portal to your Gmail account.

Hubspot’s connection with Gmail doesn’t significantly alter your inbox’s functionality and appearance. The Hubspot addon may be set up to log each email you send or receive automatically. The system automatically records every additional contact in your inbox as a new record in the database.

When HubSpot recognizes contact, you can access their detailed information, such as About, Deals, Tasks, Timeline, and Tickets, directly from the sidebar in the HubSpot portal.

In the compose new email field, you can access all the tools you’ve set up in your HubSpot portal, including Templates, sequences, documents, snippets, and more. You can conveniently log or track the email you’re composing by checking the respective boxes in the tool panel.

Although HubSpot is not solely focused on Gmail, the integration between HubSpot and Gmail brings the benefits of a robust CRM system to your Gmail interface.

By combining the power of HubSpot’s CRM features with the convenience of Gmail, you can effectively manage your contacts, track communication, and streamline your sales processes.

And there you have it…

Five absolutely amazing tools to help you use CRM in Gmail.