Customer relationship management software systems that integrate well with Outlook are useful because they improve the coordination between your inbox and your CRM systems. More automation, better contact management, and streamlined communication result in better performance and less stress for you and your team.
Here are our picks for the best Outlook CRM software systems:
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM: Best Overall CRM Software for Outlook
- HubSpot: Best for Integrations and Automation
- Monday CRM: Best for Ease of Use
- Freshsales: Best for Businesses on a Budget
- Zoho CRM: Best for Lead and Team Management
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM: Best overall CRM software for Outlook
Overall Score
3.97/5
Pricing
4.38/5
Outlook-specific capabilities
5/5
General CRM features
5/5
Integration & compatibility
4.5/5
User experience & security
4.72/5
User scores
2.52/5
Pros
- Excellent general CRM features
- Native and seamless compatibility with Outlook
- Multiple plans and reasonable pricing
Cons
- No forever-free subscription
- Learning curve is not always easy
Why we chose Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics 365 contains comprehensive and robust features both in terms of working with Outlook, and for CRM purposes in general. Depending on the plan you subscribe to, you’ll have access to calendar and task syncing; email templates; sales automation; predictive lead and opportunity scoring; pipeline analytics; conversation analysis; and more. The software also merges well with Outlook, allowing you to track and manage contacts directly in Outlook.
Dynamics 365 is a great choice if you already use lots of Microsoft products, such as Excel and Teams, as the integration with these will go smoothly. It’s also a good choice if you want strong analysis tools and insights for sales and lead management or if you like lots of automation and customization in your software.
HubSpot: Best for integrations and automation
Overall Score
3.9/5
Pricing
4.38/5
Outlook-specific capabilities
4.38/5
General CRM features
5/5
Integration & compatibility
4.5/5
User experience & security
4.58/5
User scores
2.68/5
Pros
- Forever-free subscription available
- Advanced CRM tools
- Seamless integrations, API, and Microsoft compatibility
Cons
- Free for up to 2 users only
- Higher plans quickly become expensive
- Lower subscriptions offer email support only
Why we chose HubSpot
HubSpot is one of the most trusted names in the CRM industry. The software includes several tiers of subscriptions, including a free one that still offers many crucial CRM features like pipeline tracking, email management, and integrations. Various automation tools are available in higher plans. HubSpot merges well with Outlook and gives you access to email, calendar, and task syncing as well as contacts management. API options and lots of third-party integrations are available as well.
HubSpot works best for small businesses wanting a free CRM software that still provides important tools, with the option to upgrade features as the business grows. If ease of integration and compatibility with other programs are important to you, HubSpot is an excellent choice as well.
- Free plan: $0
- 1 deal pipeline
- Gmail and Outlook integrations
- Limited email management
- Starter: $15
- 2 deal pipelines
- Additional templates and documents
- HubSpot branding removed
- Professional: $90
- 15 deal pipelines
- Sales workspace
- Advanced email health reporting
- Enterprise: $150
- 100 deal pipelines
- 12,000 minutes of calls
- 1,000 customizable workflows and triggers
- Sales automation: HubSpot can automate many vital CRM functions such as timed personalized emails, enrolling of prospects, and A/B testing. The automation tools also work well with Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook, and Office 365 software.
- Artificial intelligence: HubSpot’s AI software, nicknamed Breeze, helps you automate workflows, gather data on customers and fellow businesses, update your databases, forecast sales, and determine the next best action for each lead.
- Integrations: Seamless integration with Outlook plus tools for analytics, email management, sales, and content creation.
Monday CRM: Best for ease of use
Overall Score
3.87/5
Pricing
4.5/5
Outlook-specific capabilities
4.5/5
General CRM features
4.5/5
Integration & compatibility
4.5/5
User experience & security
4.5/5
User scores
4.5/5
Pros
- Easy, intuitive, visual interface
- Good CRM features and integration tools
- Automation features available
Cons
- No free plan; plans require at least 3 users
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium license required for Outlook integration
Why we like it
Out of all the choices on this list, Monday is one of the most user-friendly and intuitive; its interface is detailed without being cluttered and visually appealing without being overwhelming. You can use the software for project tracking, sales pipelines, and marketing campaigns. Simple drag-and-drop mechanics allow you to customize boards as you see fit. Monday also gives you various automation features, integration options, and project management functions.
Monday will serve you well if you prioritize ease of use and a smooth user experience—think an intuitive interface, simple integration processes, and overall versatility.
- Software requires at least 3 users
- Basic: $12 per user
- Unlimited pipelines
- Unlimited boards
- Lead and contact management templates
- Standard: $17 per user
- Gmail and Outlook integration
- AI email generator
- Custom CRM automations and integrations
- Pro: $28 per user
- Sales forecasting
- Automated custom email flow
- Sales analytics
- Enterprise: Custom quote
- Lead scoring
- Advanced analytics
- High-level automations and integrations
- AI email generator: Monday includes an AI-powered tool that writes custom sales emails and follow-up messages that you can send to your clients. These communications are personalized to each client, and the AI crafts them while keeping context, tone, and objectives in mind. You can use this tool for invitations, cold emails, check-ins, and more.
- Lead scoring: Higher software plans offer lead scoring and management features. Monday will evaluate each lead based on custom criteria such as number of employees in the target company and number of licenses the lead desires. Then, the software will make suggestions about where to best put your time and energy to close sales.
- Integrations: Integrate Monday with over 200 external tools for additional CRM functions, marketing, project and team management, and more.
Freshsales: Best for businesses on a budget
Overall Score
3.86/5
Pricing
4.5/5
Outlook-specific capabilities
4.5/5
General CRM features
4.5/5
Integration & compatibility
4.5/5
User experience & security
4.5/5
User scores
4.5/5
Pros
- Easy setup and usage
- Free plan available
- Built-in phone dialer, email sync, and templates
Cons
- Free plan only supports 3 users
- Advanced customization and sales management require upgrade
Why we chose Freshsales
Freshsales is a good CRM option for small businesses that need to operate on a tight budget for the time being. It offers a free plan for up to 3 users, which includes basic contacts and account management, appointments and notes, sales pipelines, email sync, and a phone dialer tool. Monthly software upgrades are reasonably priced and will unlock advanced versions and tools for all the basic features in the free plan, plus sales forecasting, automations, and more.
Freshsales is a great fit for solo workers or small teams that only need basic CRM tools, and are working on a tight budget. If you rely on phone sales or communications, Freshsales will work well for you, even if you stick to the free plan. If you’d like a taste of the advanced features, a 21-day free trial is available.
- Free: $0
- Phone dialer
- Two-way email sync
- Basic CRM customization
- Growth: $11 per user
- Sales performance dashboard
- Advanced CRM customization
- Advanced sales pipeline features
- Pro: $47 per user
- Custom sales activities
- Advanced workflows
- Multiple sales pipelines
- Enterprise: $71 per user
- Automatic customer profile enrichment
- Custom business modules
- Forecasting insights
- Annual pricing available
- Sales analytics: Freshsales’ analytics features let you monitor marketing campaign performance, pinpoint your highest-earning teams and individuals, identify your most cost-effective sales activities, analyze sales trends, and make forecasts for specific deals.
- Workflow automation: Create and execute automated workflows based on simple “if-then” triggers. You can automate lead follow-ups, email sends, invoices, information updates, and more. Choose from pre-set workflow templates, or use advanced workflows for more complex business tasks.
- AI assistance: Freshsales’ AI assistant, nicknamed Freddy, helps you with customer acquisition, email drafting, sales insights, and more. The software can analyze leads’ behavior as well as known data points, and then assigns each lead a score that lets your sales staff know who to prioritize.
Zoho CRM: Best for lead and team management
Overall Score
3.84/5
Pricing
4.5/5
Outlook-specific capabilities
4.5/5
General CRM features
4.5/5
Integration & compatibility
4.5/5
User experience & security
4.5/5
User scores
4.5/5
Pros
- Free subscription and free trial available
- Artificial intelligence assistant
- Lots of software integration options
Cons
- Advanced email features require paid plan
- Steep learning curve to do number of features
Why we chose Zoho CRM
Zoho is our pick of CRM software that is best for lead management and team management. The software’s free plan includes management and tracking for leads, deals, and accounts; 1 GB and 5,000 records’ worth of data storage; workflow and task automation; and integration with various other Zoho products for project management. Upgrading your plan gets you sales forecasting; calendar booking; more detailed analytics; and artificial intelligence assistance.
Zoho is a good choice for any business that wants to prioritize lead management and/or team management, or just wants a lot of features available for various business processes. This could mean larger organizations with many staff members that need to work in coordination, or businesses that focus on social media marketing and selling.
- Free: $0
- Sales force tools and automations
- Standard reports
- Basic customizations
- Standard: $14 per user
- Calendar booking
- Multiple currencies
- Additional customizations
- Professional: $23 per user
- Macros
- SalesSignals notifications
- Inventory management
- Enterprise: $40 per user
- Forecasting
- Advanced CRM analytics
- Zia AI assistant
- Ultimate: $52 per user
- Enhanced feature limits
- Advanced AI
- Advanced customization
- Zia AI assistant: Zoho’s AI assistant, named Zia, assists with sales by analyzing patterns and customer behavior, making predictions and recommendations for cross-selling, and helping to compose emails.
- Team management: Zoho makes collaboration easier and more streamlined with tools for email and document sharing, team chat spaces, private comments, task assignments, and mobile device support.
- Integrations: Integrate with various business tools and software such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoom, QuickBooks, Xero, DocuSign, and, of course, Outlook.
What features are included in an Outlook CRM?
Deciding between CRM options can be intimidating while sifting through different solutions and features. We’ve curated a list of features to keep in mind while looking for a CRM that integrates with Outlook. Let’s take a look at some top features you should be looking for in a CRM.
Workflow automation: One way a CRM can make your life easier is by automating your workflow. It’s best if you look for software solutions that allow for custom rules that can help with productivity. Using rules, you can set your CRM to auto-perform specific actions based on certain triggers. Some of these triggers include automatically directing messages to the correct department, sending an automated response to messages, and sending follow-up messages after a specific time has passed.
Customization: The best CRMs will have features you can customize to meet your specific business needs. Look for solutions that allow the customization of areas such as your dashboard, plugins, add-ons, and contact fields. Some CRMs go even further, allowing more advanced options through APIs. With APIs, developers can access all technical specs and codes, allowing them full software customization abilities.
Third-party integration: If you’re already using additional software and features, getting a CRM that offers lots of third-party integrations makes sense. HubSpot CRM does this well. Choose one that is compatible with other software you use and implement. For example, you can automatically sync sales and order information with your point of sale system to manually cut down or eliminate entering data. You can also back up and sync data with cloud storage systems.
Customer service: Acquiring and retaining customers is key to any business. Looking for CRM features that allow your sales and customer support teams to provide excellent customer service is a great way to get and keep those customers. Going that extra mile can be the difference in client retention and contraction.
Employee tracking: Keeping track of employee hours, meetings, performance goals, and other similar tasks can be easily tracked and managed with CRM software. Upper management is allowed access to employee dashboards, where they can measure productivity. This can help save time on employee reviews and determine a need for incentives and rewards.
Social media monitoring: Monitoring your company’s social media accounts can be time-consuming. However, a CRM with built-in social media monitoring can save your marketing team hours by performing actions like gaining insight into the number of shares, likes, and comments. With a CRM solution that monitors your social media, you can also check multiple social media sites and gain strategic insights into how to strategize postings. In addition, you can also gain insights into who your customers are based on age, location, and other analytics.
Lead management: If you need a feature that will help you identify leads and their actions throughout the sales journey, consider a CRM with lead management features. With this feature, you can acquire leads and convert them into customers. In addition, a sales manager can keep on top of leads and redistribute them to different teams for conversion.
Analytics: CRM analytics offer valuable insights into customer data. This data can help you make better decisions about service, marketing, and other communications you send to customers. For example, with an analytics feature, you can learn about profit and loss data and use web analytics that shows customer website behavior.
Real-time data: Getting real-time data helps you make informed marketing decisions. A real-time data functionality can help you figure out where and when to place ads. You’ll get an instant idea of market demand and identity which products and services generate the most revenue.
Reporting: Reporting features bring results from all of your marketing and sales efforts and help you identify opportunities to close leads quickly. Reporting gives you insights into which sales agents close which sales, the number of outbound calls made, and the effectiveness of your marketing emails.
While these are quality options for a business searching for a CRM for Outlook, the list is not complete. Still looking for the latest in CRM solutions? Check out our list of the Best CRM Software.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Outlook itself doesn’t have a built-in CRM system, but it integrates seamlessly with various CRM tools like Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and HubSpot, allowing you to manage customer relationships directly within your email interface.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the best CRM for Outlook due to its native integration, offering seamless access to customer data, sales insights, and task management directly from your inbox. Other good options include HubSpot and Salesforce.
Microsoft Office doesn’t include a standalone CRM tool, but Microsoft Dynamics 365 serves as its CRM solution, integrating deeply with Office applications like Outlook, Teams, and Excel for streamlined productivity.
To enable CRM add-ins, go to Outlook’s “Settings” or “File” menu, navigate to “Add-ins” or “Manage Add-ins,” and enable the CRM plugin (e.g., Dynamics 365). Follow any additional setup prompts to connect your account.
