About Salesforce Essentials
Salesforce Essentials pricing
Salesforce Essentials does not have a free version but does offer a free trial. Salesforce Essentials paid version starts at US$35.00/month.
Alternatives to Salesforce Essentials
Salesforce Essentials Reviews
Feature rating
- Industry: Logistics & Supply Chain
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great experience working with salesforce platforms
Basically, all my days at work depens on salesforce, very efficient at the moment, it also helps me out to improve my sales day by day.
Pros
All I need in one place, quick response from the platform and cloud.
Cons
Trouble shooting at weekends and slow verification process
- Industry: Fund-Raising
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Easy to Use
Overall this is a great product. As a grant manager I use this to record all of my interactions with funders and potential funders and it has been the easiest to use product that I have used over my decade of experience.
Pros
I like that it works as a CRM even though it was created for a slightly different purpose. As a grant writer I can record every interaction with a funder and I can include the proposal and any other documentation we have received. It is easy to find the entire history with that organization and it really helps me track everything in one place.
Cons
I do wish the task tracking was set up a little differently, or at least customizable if it isnt already and I'm just not aware of it. I use task tracking to record every interaction I have with a funder but it doesn't perfectly fit for that. For instance I want to record that I emailed them and I have to select a "due date" but there isn't a due date for that. I just put today's date but I wish I could customize it so that it just said date. It would also be nice if I could record comments on the same page as I record a task but I have to save the task then reopen it and then I can write the comments detailing it.
Alternatives Considered
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTReasons for Choosing Salesforce Essentials
I made the switch because of being in a new company but also salesforce is MUCH more intuitive to use. Way less convoluted.Switched From
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTReasons for Switching to Salesforce Essentials
Must easier to use and did all the things we would want it to do. It also integrates with other software programs easily.- Industry: Financial Services
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Do Not Assume Anything
The best advice that I can give to a company considering purchasing Salesforce's Desk.com is to document every single expectation and need regarding a CRM tool. Do not assume any functionality exists, regardless of how simple and standard that functionality may seem. There are definitely features and functionalities that the average person might expect any modern system to offer which it does not.
Examples:
List Views - Cannot sort by most fields, cannot add custom fields to list views, and cannot modify the number of records per page
Reporting - Cannot modify fields displayed in a report, cannot edit criteria for metrics, and cannot include custom fields in reports aside from picklists, and cannot export more than 2500 records at a time
Email - Does not include standard modern emailing functions such as underlining, highlighting, modifying font color, or pasting images/tables
Also, while some more complex workflows and automation can be built in Salesforce to update fields which are then passed back to Desk via Desk Connect (native sync between Desk and Salesforce), I strongly recommend against relying on Desk Connect for any business processes. Desk Connect can and has been turned off by Desk.com for all customers without first ensuring this is okay with the customer, interrupting daily business on a large scale. It is also extremely easy to break or surpass its capabilities of Desk Connect to the point that any modification, regardless of size, made to your Salesforce org must be communicated to Desk to ensure that Desk Connect will continue to function as expected.
If you are a small-scale organization/team with very basic case tracking and reporting requirements capable, Desk may very well be the answer for you. But you still better be prepared with extensive documentation of all requirements and expectations for a tool like Desk, no matter how small or obvious they may be.
Pros
Simple UI
Simple workflow building and management
Cons
Extremely limited in its capabilities
Desk Support reps are not thorough when reading emails
ETA's on fixes/patches pushed back for months
- Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Easy & Intuitive
Overall we've had great customer support and feel that the product really fits our CRM needs.
Pros
Salesforce Essentials provides integration options with other popular marketing tools and applications, facilitating a seamless flow of data. This flexibility can be valuable for marketers who use multiple tools in their marketing stack.
Cons
Affordability - pricing is somewhat competitive, but wish there were discounts when using multiple Saleforce products. Essentials could also be doing more with automation.
- Industry: Apparel & Fashion
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Just right for small business
Being a small business we need a CRM that won't break the bank. We need to keep every customer we have, so the customer experience is paramount. We need to get as much information out of every sale and customer interaction as we can, and we need to accelerate sales. Salesforce essentials has done all of this for us.
There are things that I would improve.
Pros
Salesforce Essentials is more affordable than standard Salesforce and still has what I need in a CRM. I get work done faster, sell faster, and make our customer experience amazing. I set up a customized self service portal and set particular concerns or questions to be sent to a specific person. This means that if for example a customer asks if a garmet can be altered, they're directed to our seamstress instead of directed to me and then transfered to our seamstress.
Salesforce essentials records and tracks my calls and emails meaning I no longer have to. I have gained more information about leads, where they come from and why they choose us.
Cons
Sometimes it can be hard to find the data I'm looking for. It's not easy to find or get invoices. Customer care wasn't very helpful although I did try to make contact during a very busy time of day. I was still disappointed..
This is the essentials version of Salesforce so obviously the features aren't as robust.
