UPDATED 14:08 EDT / JUNE 24 2016

NEWS

Freshdesk enters core CRM market targeting SMB sales pros

Over the past five years, Freshdesk Inc. has built a base of more than 80,000 paid and freemium customers – and a market capitalization of more than $500 million – with a focus on customer relationship management (CRM) software for support organizations. Now it’s going after the sales professionals who make up the bulk of the market.

The company’s new Freshsales software-as-a-service (SaaS) application is initially targeted at small and midsize businesses. It combines integrated customer and prospect management tracking with, email/phone integration, user behavior tracking, automated lead scoring, a visual sales pipeline and reporting. The company said Freshsales was built initially for its own internal use after the unnamed commercial CRM system it was using had turned into “an expensive manual dumping ground for data,” said Girish Mathrubootham, founder and chief executive officer.

The initial release is targeted at growing companies that run e-commerce sites or other services in which rapid turnaround is required. “Today, the moment I launch my product or service I’m inviting the world to knock down my doors,” said Freshdesk President Dilawar Syed. “You need an intelligent system to help you prioritize.”

While the initial edition lacks the social media integration and some of the marketing automation functions of high-end enterprise CRM systems, it has a collection of features that surround the guide the sales process. For example, built-in phone and email integration enables sales teams to automatically capture and track all communication with customers without switching between keyboard and handset.

User behavior tracking can be integrated with a customer’s existing website to track visitor actions and alert salespeople to opportunities. Alerts can be set to tip off sales pros if a visitor performs a specified set of actions, such as watching a demonstration video or downloading a free trial. “You’ll be able to see how engaged prospects are with your product right now,” Syed said. “The traditional approach was about pipeline and lead tracking. This is about engaging with customers.”

Behavioral tracking work with an embedded code snippet that the customer installs on its website or server to allow for Freshsales to track events. The product also provides real-time alerts on email opens, link clicks and new emails. Email campaign tracking evaluates overall performance and behavior-based segmentation groups prospects according to aggregated data.

Integrated lead scoring presents sales teams with a prioritized list of leads, ranked according to customer-defined criteria. The product doesn’t provide full marketing automation functionality but is a “basic level of tracking” upon which the company intends to build, Syed said. Mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms are also available.

Freshsales is the fourth product for Freshdesk, which was founded in Chennai, India in 2010. Others are Freshdesk multi-modal customer support; Freshservice cloud-based service management; and Hotline.io, an in-app support and engagement platform for mobile-first businesses. The company has raised $95 million in six funding rounds.

Freshsales is sold on a freemium subscription with a free version for installations of up to 10 users and more-functional versions priced at $12, $25 and $49 per user per month.


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