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Brivity CRM Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
9:54 am | February 22, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Relationship nurturing and management is crucial for real estate businesses that assist clients with the buying, selling, and renting of property. This can feel like a huge task, but a good customer relationship management (CRM) tool can help streamline your daily processes and tasks.

While many agents have their own opinions on what constitutes the best CRM for real estate, the Brivity CRM stands out as a strong contender. Marketed as an affordable real estate platform with several add-ons at your disposal, this cloud-based CRM and management platform promises to enhance your business operations, helping you to close more deals and simplifying your everyday workload. 

Wondering if Brivity is up to the task? Our review below covers pricing plans, features, and interface functions—read on to see if it’s the right CRM platform for your business.

The Brivity CRM homepage listing the benefits of using the platform

Brivity CRM has been designed by top real estate agents for real estate agents. (Image credit: Brivity)

Brivity CRM: Plans and pricing

Brivity CRM has three different price points for its standalone CRM platform: Brivity CRM Basic, Brivity CRM Team, and Brivity CRM Brokerage.

Additionally, there’s a selection of plans with supplementary add-ons available: Lite, Growth, Accelerate, Expand, and Mega. Each plan levels up in the number of users able to use the plan and offers additional tools alongside the Brivity CRM software. 

The Lite plan is best suited for smaller businesses or self-employed agents, as it enables just one user to utilize both the Brivity CRM platform and the Brivity IDX (Internet Data Exchange) add-on. This IDX tool enables you to create a customizable, responsive business website to help capture more leads and boasts a great search experience to encourage a higher return rate from website visitors. 

Alternatively, larger businesses will likely be drawn to the Mega plan. It includes the Brivity CRM platform and IDX add-on but also enables 25+ users. Mega plan users also benefit from the CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) software and KWKLY text tool. The CMA software helps you generate accurate CMA reports for potential clients. KWKLY harnesses the power of mobile to connect home buyers and agents, helping you capture important details of motivated buyers when they actively request listing information via their phones. 

All five plans can be viewed in more detail on the Brivity website. You can request a demo of each by signing up with your name, email address, real estate brand, and team size. If you’re happy with the plan you’ve tried, you will be able to access the price of it directly to decide if you wish to purchase.

Three pricing options for a monthly purchase of Brivity CRM

Alongside standalone CRM pricing, users can also decide between five additional Brivity plans (Image credit: Brivity CRM)

Brivity CRM: Features

Brivity CRM showcases many desirable features for real estate agents—here are a few of note.

App integration and tools

One of the most useful Brivity features is the simple integration of third-party apps into the platform. For instance, users can easily connect Gmail accounts to send and receive email communications within Brivity or connect multiple other apps via the App Store to keep everything in one place—this includes MailChimp, Google Contacts, Facebook Ads, and more.

If there’s a system that doesn't connect instantly with Brivity, you can utilize the help of Zapier. This is a separate system that you’ll have to sign up for separately before you can start ‘zapping’ contacts into Brivity. The free plan enables 100 contacts per month. You can upgrade to 1,000 contacts per month for $20 per month. Once set up, you can select the apps you want to connect with Brivity and let Zapier guide you through the rest.

Additionally, Brivity CRM includes optional add-on tools like the lead generation IDX website, additional CMA software, and SMS text marketing via KWKLY. While these require a higher-tiered plan, they are built directly within the platform and can be used right away.

Client portal and automated communications

Clients selling their homes appreciate being kept in the know. Brivity’s Client Portal is an impressive feature dedicated to enhancing transparency with client communications by showing them how things are progressing. 

The portal displays any tasks assigned to the client as well as recently completed tasks by their agent. The client has 24-hour access to their listings so they can remain in the loop, while agents can respond to client needs directly within the portal to streamline and simplify communications. This maximized transparency amplifies customer satisfaction, increasing both returning business and extra word-of-mouth referrals.

To further enhance the customer experience, market reports can be generated and sent within the Brivity system to keep past clients engaged. To ensure visitors keep coming back to your business, you can also nurture new leads and existing clients with mass emails and drip campaigns for new property listings.

Transaction and listing management

One of Brivity’s strengths is customer experience management, particularly once a lead becomes an established client. By offering listing and transaction automation, Brivity makes it easy for agents to support their clients. 

For example, it includes transaction task management features that enable you to automate texts, emails, and tasks based on custom dates and times. Brivity also offers Auto Plans with which you can automate transaction and listing activities.

The Marketing tab within Brivity includes tools for automatically promoting your listing to social media. Its modern landing pages are designed around lead capture, making the most of your listings and simplifying the process of posting them to social media. 

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Brivity CRM

The Brivity CRM includes a variety of features like Gmail Connection and Lead Routing (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

Brivity provides simple app integration via Zapier (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

Keep your clients in the know at all times through Brivity’s client portal (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

Create an Auto Plan to help automate Transaction and Listing tasks (Image credit: Brivity)

Brivity CRM: Interface and in use

Brivity aims to help agents increase productivity while providing an excellent service for clients, and this is clearly reflected in the interface. You can use Brivity on any web browser. Head to the Brivity CRM sign-up page to create your login credentials and provide further details about your team and intended usage of Brivity. Once billing information has been verified, you can start using the platform right away. 

All of the different tools within Brivity can make the platform feel complicated, but the interface is easy to navigate on both desktop and mobile. There are six tabs down the left-hand side of the main page—Tasks, People, Transactions, Projects, Marketing, and Calendar. The Tasks tab lists upcoming jobs and the date by which they need to be completed. You can also invite your client to view tasks to help keep everyone on top of the transaction.

There’s also a dedicated Brivity Go app for agents that enables you to stay on top of things while on the move. You can respond to messages, access web activity, and find new prospects via your dashboard within the app.

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Brivity CRM

You can use Brivity from directly within your browser (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

The Brivity GO app allows you to access your contacts from your mobile device (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

The Brivity CRM clearly displays all of your upcoming tasks (Image credit: Brivity)
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Brivity CRM

Create an Action Plan to schedule automatic follow-ups with clients (Image credit: Brivity)

Brivity CRM: Support

There’s substantial support available for Brivity users. The contact page provides a support phone number and email address, a sales-specific phone number and email address, and the address of the company.

Brivity users can also utilize the Brivity CRM Help Center. Here, you’ll find video tutorials and FAQs on a variety of topics, including Getting Started, CRM Best Practices, and Integrations. All topic tutorials provide a high level of detail—most with accompanying videos—and can answer most queries your users may have.

At the bottom of the Help Center page, you’ll also find a few other helpful links, including a contact support form. You can fill this in with details of your issue and contact information. However, there isn’t a response time limit stated for support to get back to you, so a phone call may be quicker for resolving your issue. 

If you want to connect with other Brivity users, share best practices, and discover new features, you can join the Brivity Masterminds Facebook group.

The main page of the Brivity Help Cente

There’s plenty of help and support available in the Brivity Help Center (Image credit: Brivity)

Brivity CRM: The competition

If you’re not yet sold on Brivity CRM, there are many alternatives to consider.

One of the most popular CRM solutions is Freshworks. It offers a customizable and intuitive interface, AI forecasting, a free plan, and plenty more useful tools to assist with business operations. Real estate agents can enjoy impressive automation tools to simplify everyday processes. Read our full Freshworks review to find out about pricing, tools, and the interface in further detail. 

Another solution is Zoho CRM, which we rated a solid 4.5 stars in our Zoho CRM review. This was due to solid features like contact management, email marketing, and sales automation features that can help you acquire new clients and assist in everyday operations. There’s also a free version available for up to three team members, which makes it more accessible for smaller teams with a more modest budget. 

Hubspot is another solid choice. Again, offering a free plan makes this a strong choice for small to midsize businesses, but this plan does come with limitations. However, as outlined in our full Hubspot review, the platform offers numerous useful tools like contact and lead management, over 300 third-party app integrations, and a powerful interface that's both intuitive and simple to use.

Brivity CRM: Final verdict

While Brivity isn’t the cheapest CRM solution on the market, Brivity reviews across the web sing the praises of the platform—and for good reason. With extensive user support, in-depth tutorials, intuitive features, and an easy-to-use interface, Brivity helps to streamline daily processes and deliver quality assistance in areas real estate agents require. 

While there aren’t as many marketing add-ons as certain CRM platforms, some agents may prefer another one of the best CRM platforms for real estate. Additionally, the lack of a free plan can make it feel less accessible. However, Brivity is certainly a strong choice for teams with a larger budget to spend on the software.

Need more information about real estate CRM? Check out our article explaining what a CRM is for real estate in further detail. If you’re still unsure if Brivity is right for you, check out some more of the best CRM software platforms on the market.

Firepoint CRM Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
9:51 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

The Firepoint CRM platform is a real estate customer relationship management (CRM) tool created by a team of former realtors. It offers a software bundle with a customer database, a communications suite with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), an Internet Data Exchange (IDX) website builder, reporting, and lead generation. Firepoint is one of the best CRMs for real estate teams of at least five people, although it works for real estate brokerages of any size. Read on for our detailed Firepoint review.

Screenshot of Firepoint.net homepage

Take your real estate team to the next level with Firepoint CRM (Image credit: Firepoint.net)

Firepoint CRM: Plans and pricing

Firepoint does not use a tiered pricing system. Instead, it offers a default plan for $499 per month that grants access to the full Firepoint suite. Users can choose to pay monthly or annually. Annual users receive two months for free. This comes out to about $415.83 per month, a savings of about 17%. If you choose to pay monthly, you’ll have to sign a three-month initial contract. After three months, your plan switches to a month-to-month plan, and you are no longer committed for any length of time.

The default Firepoint product comes with five user seats. A user seat is a currently logged-in user, meaning that up to five people can be logged in to Firepoint at the same time. If you need more user seats, you can contact Firepoint directly. The sales team will negotiate a custom offer with you based on the number of extra seats you require. 

This makes Firepoint best suited for teams of five or more individuals. Solo users or teams of less than five end up paying for seats that they are not going to use. That said, all users, regardless of the number of seats they need, receive access to Firepoint’s robust suite of features.

Firepoint CRM: Features

The Firepoint software suite can be broken down into four distinct features that work together to bring you a robust CRM experience. These are the communications suite, the IDX site with multiple listing service (MLS) integration, the team accountability dashboards, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising management.

FireDialer communications suite

To maintain ongoing contact with clients from one place, you can answer phone calls, send emails, respond to text messages, and record conversations entirely through Firepoint’s FireDialer tool. FireDialer is a VoIP-enabled autodialer that you can customize to work with any list of clients. It comes free with your Firepoint subscription.

FireDialer is intuitively integrated with your Firepoint customer database. You can pull up the profile of the client you’re speaking to with a single click and review any relevant information while on the phone. You can also use it to input notes during or immediately after your calls while the information is fresh on your mind.

IDX site with MLS integration

With just a few clicks, you can create a simple website in Firepoint that enables buyers to search for available properties from the MLS database. It will also take them to your contact page once they are ready to book a viewing. The website will receive MLS updates every 15 minutes.

Creating the IDX website is super simple and requires no coding or web design knowledge. Simply choose from one of the preset templates or drag and drop from a list of pre-designed features to build your own site.

With the landing page builder, you can build landing pages, blogs, agent landing pages for specific team members, and more. You can also use the site to capture visitors’ contact information, track their search preferences, and send automated updates regarding the properties they’re interested in.

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Firepoint CRM

Maximize the efficiency of your client outreach with Firedialer (Image credit: Firepoint)
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Firepoint CRM

Build a sleek, modern website in a few clicks and link it directly to your MLS listings via IDX (Image credit: Firepoint)
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Firepoint CRM

Get on-demand reports about your KPI’s with Team Accountability Dashboards (Image credit: Firepoint)
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Firepoint

Get ahead of the competition with lead generation campaigns run by Firepoint’s expert marketing team (Image credit: Firepoint)

Team accountability dashboards

In our digital economy, leveraging data is the key to business success. Firepoint will track key metrics such as lead sources, return on investment (ROI), and the company dollar your business gets after paying commissions and fees. You can compile a report based on these metrics to accurately gauge your team’s performance at any time.

PPC management

PPC is an additional service offered by Firepoint. Its Google-certified marketing experts will conduct a PPC marketing campaign to drive more leads to your door for an additional fee. The standard fee for this service is 15% of the cost of the campaign, with a minimum of $60.

Firepoint CRM: Interface and in use

Screenshot of Firepoint’s dashboard

See a breakdown of your day and key marketing opportunities on your Firepoint dashboard. (Image credit: Firepoint)

Firepoint’s user interface (UI) is structured around a central dashboard. You can leave the dashboard as is or customize it with the information that you find particularly important. Since this is the first screen you will see every day when you open Firepoint, it is a great place for important data that you would like to check regularly.

By default, the dashboard shows a to-do list organized by overdue tasks, tasks that are due that day, and upcoming tasks. It also shows you the most active leads from the last seven days and your most active leads overall. A simple set of graphics across the top shows the number of leads present with no tasks assigned, leads not viewed, new leads, and leads with no searches saved.

This quick snapshot can give you an idea of your priorities throughout the day as well as what marketing opportunities are available for follow-up. You can search leads in your database quickly and easily through a search bar at the top of the page. A hamburger menu in the top left corner enables you to navigate to the other pages in your Firepoint suite, like your website, landing pages, database, and more.

Overall, we liked how clean and sleek Firepoint’s UI was. It is very intuitive, minimizes confusion, and enables you to access the information you need quickly and easily.

Screenshot of Firepoint’s IDX site builder

Firepoint’s IDX site builder is intuitive and easy to use (Image credit: Firepoint)

The website builder is also very straightforward. You just fill in the required fields and upload your images, and Firepoint puts together a clean, modern-looking website that your customers can easily navigate. Since it also automatically tracks customer searches, requests contact information, and follows up with clients about properties they showed interest in, the IDX website is an invaluable marketing tool that is almost entirely automated.

Firepoint also comes with a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices. The app features a mobile version of the communications suite, to-do list, and customizable dashboard.

Firepoint CRM: Support

Screenshot of Firepoint’s contact us page

You can reach the Firepoint support team Monday to Friday via phone, email, or online chat (Image credit: Firepoint)

As you set up Firepoint, you can request as much help as you need. If you prefer to set things up for yourself, you can access a free library of detailed video tutorials for every stage of the process, including building an IDX website, at any time.

Alternatively, you can sign up for Firepoint’s Set Up For Success program, and it will offer a guided setup process for the basic CRM, including FireDialer, free of charge. To get professional assistance setting up the IDX website, you will need to sign up for Set Up for Success Pro+, which requires a one-time payment of $1,399. The Pro+ tier also unlocks training for all of your agents and a 90-day action plan with a checkup at the 90-day mark. To get additional training beyond the 90-day mark, users will have to sign up for the Elite tier.

Set Up for Success also offers an Elite tier for a one-time payment of $1,799. This unlocks a number of marketing features, such as custom drip campaigns and templates for emails and texts. You also receive advanced training for team leads and admins and ongoing training checkups 90, 120, and 180 days after implementation. 

The Setup for Success program is only designed to assist with the initial setup. Ongoing customer support is provided via the customer service team only.

After setup, you can direct any service inquiries to Firepoint’s customer service team Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm MST via phone at  (888) 388-8584, email at help@firepoint.net, and online chat. Firepoint also has a private Facebook group for existing customers where you can provide feedback, ask questions, and connect with the broader Firepoint community.

Firepoint CRM: The competition

Firepoint has an impressive set of features but is somewhat expensive at $499 per month. It may not be suitable for small teams or individuals, who could benefit from the product offering of a competitor such as Realvolve or Wise Agent.

Realvolve offers most of the same features as Firepoint in its basic tier for just $74 per month. It also offers a greater range of marketing automation tools and stores more details about transactions, such as all information about the property and a separate database entry for the transaction itself.

However, in our experience, Realvolve is significantly harder to use and doesn’t have a website builder. If you are technically savvy and don’t need a CRM tool with a website builder, it can save you money. But if you do not have time to learn and keep pace with such an advanced platform, it might be better to spend the extra cash on Firepoint.

Wise Agent, on the other hand, has many of the same features as Firepoint and is user-friendly. It is also much cheaper at its basic tier, with a minimum monthly subscription of just $32 per month. That said, its website builder is not as advanced as Firepoint’s, and it does not offer PPC management.

All in all, you get what you pay for with Firepoint. It is a powerful, feature-heavy CRM platform with excellent support, but it comes at a high price point. If you have a team of five or more agents and want access to advanced features like the IDX website and PPC campaigns, Firepoint is worth the price. If not, consider a platform with more limited support but a lower monthly cost such as Wise Agent or Realvolve.

Firepoint CRM: Final verdict

Firepoint is a powerful all-in-one web design, marketing, CRM, and business analytics platform for real estate teams. Firepoint reviews online suggest that users enjoy its advanced features, including the IDX website builder, VoIP-enabled call and text, PPC campaigns, and customized reporting. However, Firepoint is one of the more expensive real estate CRM products available, with no cheaper options for small teams or single users. This makes Firepoint a powerful CRM platform that is best suited for teams of five or more people. 

To learn more about CRMs and why your real estate business needs one, check out What is a CRM in real estate? For a broader look at the current CRM market, check out our guide to the best CRM software.

Samsung’s limited Pokemon-themed accessories make a return in time for Pokémon Day
9:30 am |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Comments: Off

Back in November, Samsung announced three limited-edition Pokèmon themed accessories that sold out in about a day’s time. In Honor of Pokémon Day, on February 27 (the day that the video games Pokèmon Red and Green were released in Japan in 1996), Samsung’s Pokémon accessories for the Galaxy Z Flip4, Galaxy Watch5, and Galaxy Buds2 Pro are all being restocked. On Pokèmon Day, Nintendo is expected to make a software-related announcement. There’s some speculation that a DLC for the recently released Pokémon games Scarlet and Violet could be announced then. Samsung's Pokémon...

Ixact CRM review
8:54 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

The Ixact CRM is up against some stiff competition when it comes to the best CRM for real estate. With so many clients to manage and complex customer relationships to nurture, real estate agents benefit greatly from CRM software that is purpose-built for their needs. It’s no surprise that real estate CRMs have become a competitive niche within the wider CRM software category.  

When it comes to CRMs, there are lots of elements to consider. What works for one real estate agent may not work for another. In this Ixact review, we take a deep dive into the platform to find out who it's best suited for and what makes it stand apart from the competition.

Ixact CRM: Plans and pricing

Before you sign up for an Ixact account, you can choose between a monthly or annual plan. Ixact offers a generous five-week free trial so you can try out the platform before committing either way. 

The basic CRM package offers a lot of functionality, but the platform offers lots of extras and add-ons for which the pricing gets slightly complicated. 

For example, an Ixact subscription includes 2,500 mass emails per month. If you need more, you can purchase additional email bundles at $10 for 1,000 emails up to $150 for 50,000 emails. Once purchased, the extra email sends do not expire and can be used whenever they are needed. 

All Ixact subscriptions come with a free agent website. However, registering a domain name through Ixact costs an extra $24 per year. Ixact also offers Internet Data Exchange (IDX) integration so you can compliantly pull properties from Multiple Listing Services (MLS) onto your agent website for prospective clients to view. If you want this add-on, you can choose between IDX Standard at $19 per month or IDX Professional—which includes advanced property search and extra lead generation tools—at $39 per month. There’s also a one-time $65 IDX set-up fee.

If real estate recruitment is an important part of your business, Ixact also offers a CRM solution specifically for agent recruitment purposes. Known as Ixact Recruiter, this tool can be purchased as an add-on to your Ixact subscription or as a standalone recruitment CRM product. It comes with all the same CRM and marketing tools but enables you to keep your recruitment contact management, marketing, and targets separate from your real estate client CRM.

*Save 15% with the annual plan

Ixact CRM: Features

Let’s take a look at some of the key features that set Ixact apart from other CRM systems.

Email marketing automation

Ixact provides users with the ability to create and automate lead nurturing drip campaigns and monthly e-newsletters. Both of these email types require little to no set-up while remaining fully customizable.  

For example, once you activate your automated monthly e-newsletter, you’ll find it already fully created under the Mass Emails tab. The email is pre-written for you and includes real estate articles that your subscribers might find interesting written and pre-loaded into your CRM by the Ixact team. You can easily customize the messaging and the articles in each newsletter before sending, including adding your own article links.

Activity plans

Ixact comes with extensive pre-defined marketing, listing, and closing activity plans to help you nurture leads and customers effectively throughout your entire sales lifecycle. Activities include emails, phone calls, letters, and administrative tasks. 

Once a contact is assigned to an activity plan, Ixact will automate emails and send you task reminders to keep you on track.

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Ixact CRM

Ixact automatically generates customizable monthly e-newsletters. (Image credit: Ixact)
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Ixact CRM

Use out-of-the-box activity plans or create your own from scratch. (Image credit: Ixact)
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Ixact CRM

Select the publications and topics you want Social Streaming to automatically post to your social channels. (Image credit: Ixact)
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Ixact CRM

Ixact subscriptions come with a free agent website that requires little to no customization. (Image credit: Ixact)

Automated social media marketing

With Ixact’s Social Stream add-on, you can leverage automated content creation for your social media channels. Social Stream pulls informative real estate articles, writes the social media posts to go with them, and automatically posts them to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts according to your pre-selected posting schedule. 

This is a particularly useful tool for real estate agents who want to leverage social media but struggle to find the time to source and publish regular content. Although you can edit the messaging of your social posts before they are published, it also works as a set it and forget it tool so you don’t have to do anything beyond the initial setup.

Free agent website

All Ixact subscriptions come with a free real estate agent website. However, options are limited. There are only eight website templates to choose from, and customization options are limited as well.

However, a website is entirely built and written for you. Once you set it up, you can hit Publish almost immediately and have a fully functional website that includes a mortgage calculator, pre-written blog posts, and lead capture forms.  

When it comes to the pre-written blog posts, Ixact writers produce a new article bi-weekly. The article is made available to all Ixact subscribers in the website builder to post to their site’s blog. However, while this can be useful for sharing with prospective clients, there is the potential for duplicate content to become an issue for your search engine optimization (SEO) results.

Ixact CRM: Interface and in use

Setup

Setting up an account on Ixact is very straightforward and only requires entering a few details such as your email and phone number before getting started. However, you will have to enter credit card details before getting started with your free trial.

Once you’re in the dashboard, you’ll see a pop-up box with a useful set-up wizard so you can get familiar with the platform quickly.

Ixact free trial set-up

Ixact offers a five-week free trial that is quick and easy to begin. (Image credit: Ixact)

The only time consuming part of the setup process is loading your existing contacts into the CRM. There is no option to upload a CSV or Excel file in the platform. You must contact customer support by phone or email so they can upload existing lists into your account.

Ease of use

Most parts of the Ixact dashboard are easy to use. It’s an intuitive platform, particularly if you have used any other type of CRM previously. 

Where things can get slightly confusing is connecting the dots between different functionalities. For example, the Mass Emails tab is where you can manage when your emails are sent. But setting up and editing the drip emails and e-newsletters found in the Mass Emails tab requires navigation to the Keep in Touch tab, which is not immediately obvious.

On the left-hand side of the screen is a pop-out side panel menu where you can access all the different functionalities of Ixact, including your website editor and add-ons such as Social Stream.

Ixact dashboard and navigation

Intuitive navigation makes it relatively easy to find your way around the Ixact dashboard. (Image credit: Ixact)

Within the different sections such as Business Pipeline or Contacts, you’ll see tabs along the top of the screen to help you further navigate each section of the CRM. Even if you get a little lost in Ixact, it’s easy to quickly click around until you find what you’re looking for.

Mobile version

Ixact has an app available for download on both iOS and Android devices. While all the same features are available on the app as they are on the cloud-based browser version of the software, the app is not as user-friendly as the desktop browser experience.

Operating on Ixact requires a lot of back and forth between different tabs and sections of the software. The app navigation makes this a lot slower. The app also runs a lot slower in general in comparison with the desktop browser version.

Ixact CRM: Support

There are lots of options for contacting customer support such as phone, email, and live chat. However, they’re only available from 9am-8pm EST, Monday through Friday. 

That being said, the team is very fast and responsive during these hours. We were waiting only 15 minutes for a response to a support question via email. We also received lots of helpful email support throughout our setup phase—something that Ixact refers to as their Concierge Service. 

Outside of that, you’ll find a small but useful library of tutorial videos to help you navigate the setup of your CRM.

Ixact CRM: The competition

There are many CRMs on the market that are specifically built for real estate agents. Two comparable CRMs to Ixact are Wise Agent and Boomtown. Like Ixact, these CRMs cater to small- to medium-sized real estate businesses.

It’s difficult to compare pricing between Ixact and Boomtown because the latter doesn’t provide any pricing information on its website. However, Ixact and Boomtown closely rival each other in terms of functionality across lead nurturing, website creation, and listing management. But Boomtown is better for bigger teams, as it enables you to automate lead routing to team members.

In terms of pricing, Wise Agent and Ixact are closely matched. A monthly subscription to Wise Agent is $32 per month in comparison to Ixact’s $45 per month. Like Ixact, Wise Agent also offers a 15% discount for annual subscriptions. 

Where Wise Agent gains an edge over Ixact is in the amount of data it can automatically collect on your leads. For example, Wise Agent automatically scrapes social media channels to link the social accounts of your leads into their contact records in the CRM.

Ixact CRM: Final verdict

Overall, Ixact is a robust and user-friendly solution for real estate agents who want a fast and easy way to integrate a CRM tool into their business workflows. While larger teams or anyone who wants lots of customization options for their website might want to look elsewhere, Ixact is a suitable option for individual agents or small teams to manage their leads, marketing, and day-to-day tasks.

The pricing structure of Ixact can certainly seem complicated at first. Outside of the CRM package, there are lots of add-ons available that can start to add up. However, this can be an advantage for agents who want to customize their package to their exact needs rather than paying for features they rarely use.

If you’re still shopping around for a CRM option, why not try looking at more all-purpose CRM solutions? Check out this Zoho CRM platform review if your focus is on deal management. If you’re more interested in marketing automation with your CRM, check out this in-depth Hubspot CRM review.

Chime CRM review
8:49 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Chime CRM is one of the best CRM software tools to use if you’re in the real estate industry. It enables you to generate, manage, and communicate with leads without ever leaving the platform.

Chime CRM: Snapshot

Users new to Chime CRM could be both impressed and overwhelmed at its sheer breadth of features. From classic CRM functionality, like contact and pipeline management, to real estate-specific tools, including Internet Data Exchange (IDX) website building and lead-to-listing matching, this product gives you control over much of the customer nurturing process.

Equipped with AI technology, intelligent recommendations calculate when and how you should contact leads to maximize your chances of closing. Furthermore, productivity-enhancing tools such as AI Assistant—a lead qualification chatbot—take the manual work away from agents, so they can repurpose their energy into relationship building and closing deals.

Overall, Chime CRM is a comprehensive and user-friendly solution, with an enviable array of features relative to competitors. While its realtor-ready features can make it preferable to CRMs that cater to multiple industries, such as Salesforce Sales Cloud, there is a learning curve required to use it effectively.

Score: 4.5/5

Read on for our full and detailed review.

Chime CRM: Competitors

How does Chime CRM compare to its main competitors?

Chime CRM: Key features

Chime CRM’s vast array of features can seem overwhelming at first, but they form a comprehensive end-to-end solution for generating, communicating with, and closing real estate leads. We unpack this provider’s rich functionality using the five categories below.

Lead nurturing

Existing prospects can be imported from a large selection of sources, including contact databases such as Google or Salesforce and realtor platforms like Zillow. While Chime CRM covers the basics of storing and editing contact data, its real estate-oriented features can help move your leads along the sales funnel

Tools such as lead scoring based on property parameters, in-app calling that includes pre-recorded voicemails, and lead qualification chatbots are some of the specialized features contributing to higher productivity and time savings. Furthermore, its marketing suite, which encompasses trigger-based email automation and SMS functionality, helps create and track engagement campaigns.

Lead generation

Sold separately from the main CRM plan, Chime CRM’s lead generation tool captures new leads and uploads their data to the CRM by placing online ads on sites including Google and Facebook. Ads can include individual property details and can target users by zip code and other criteria. 

Powered by AI technology, the tool continually optimizes for maximum results and enables ad viewers to click on your website and register their details. This can save realtors the financial and labor resources required to manually optimize keyword parameters on third-party ad platforms.

Workflow automation

Automating sales processes can carve out time for your team to focus on one-on-one relationships and turn data insights into better strategies. For instance, you can set up automated lead distribution, which assigns new prospects to team members based on characteristics such as area or property value.

Furthermore, you can customize workflows to streamline customer journeys. A basic process may include an automated email on registration, a mass text in a couple of days’ time, and a follow-up call from an agent if the lead engaged with prior communications. Additionally, Chime CRM offers an add-on called Smart Plans, which uses AI to recommend next steps that are most likely to close deals.

IDX website builder

If using IDX—the technology that connects your systems to nationwide property listings—is not your team’s strong suit, Chime CRM’s website builder can boost your agents’ productivity. It’s easy to use and connects seamlessly to your CRM. 

You can customize its pre-existing website templates using drag-and-drop functionality and provide website visitors with up-to-date property details by connecting to a multiple listing service (MLS). Furthermore, to capture leads that can be nurtured via CRM workflows, you can set up forms on your website for home evaluations, mortgage calculations, and other actions. Site traffic insights can help you understand user behavior.

Chime CRM: Key features and highlights

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Chime CRM

You can easily navigate across Chime CRM’s extensive feature list from desktop and mobile. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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Chime CRM

Chime CRM’s ad targeting tool works across many major platforms, including Google and Facebook. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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Chime CRM

To increase your close rate, let Chime CRM’s Smart Suggestions recommend the next best step. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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Chime CRM

Conveniently, your IDX website builder is in the same place as your customer data. (Image credit: Chime CRM)

Chime CRM: What’s new?

The Chime CRM team releases regular product updates, indicating that the company proactively addresses user feedback.

Recent updates have covered transaction management features, including a document storage interface. Furthermore, customer communication management has received a boost, including the ease of adding images to emails and advanced in-app calling options.

Importantly, Chime CRM optimized its Smart Plans and the AI Assistant by developing more efficient user interfaces. Chime CRM has also added a new add-on plan for AI Assistant lead generation, which is aimed at enterprise teams.

Chime CRM: Pricing

Chime CRM pricing is on a bespoke basis, so you have to contact the company to receive a quote reflecting your team’s size and needs. Broadly, it offers four main plans: Starter, which is designed for individual agents; Core, which is ideal for small teams; Premier, which is best for growing teams; and Enterprise, which is best for larger businesses and brokers.

Once you receive a quote from the sales team, you can choose to be billed on a monthly basis or pay upfront for a year. Monthly billing involves an additional setup fee and contract deposit, but these are waived for upfront annual payments.

Certain Chime CRM features are priced as add-ons. For example, the AI Assistant is priced monthly per lead volume, starting at $39 per month for 40 engaged leads.

Chime CRM: Testing

Below, we evaluate Chime CRM’s user-friendliness and effectiveness at increasing real estate pipelines so we can deduce what types of businesses the product fits best.

How easy is Chime CRM to use?

Chime CRM has a straightforward user interface that can easily be used by complete beginners. The top ribbon navigates through contacts, communications, and other features. The left-hand side toolbar lists possible actions, such as activating AI Assistant or updating a pipeline stage. 

It may take some time to get acquainted with Chime CRM’s many capabilities and create customized workflows, including automated emails. But once it’s set up, basic tasks such as updating contact records or making a call should only take a few easy clicks. The convenience of a Chime CRM mobile app, which distills the desktop version’s key features, adds on-the-go convenience for agents when away from the desk.

Users can also watch Chime CRM training videos during the onboarding phase for assistance with setting up the product.

Screenshot of Chime CRM interface for email templates

With a clear structure and plenty of white space, Chime CRM’s user interface is easy to use, even for complete beginners. (Image credit: Chime CRM)

How effective is Chime CRM for real estate?

Chime CRM is designed with realtors in mind, particularly on Core plans and above, which include team management. You can track individual goals and performance, so agents can be more productive with their assigned leads and properties.

Having an IDX website builder within the platform is also convenient, as you’re able to connect to verified listing data and edit real estate website templates using simple drag-and-drop functionality.

On top of that, you can improve your close rate by utilizing Chime CRM’s real-time market insights, including area demographics and property values, and a listing-to-lead tool that selects a lead’s most suitable matching properties.

Screenshot of Chime CRM’s IDX builder in action

Having the property market at your fingertips with the IDX website builder can help win deals more quickly. (Image credit: Chime CRM)

How does Chime CRM help expand your pipeline?

Chime CRM has a mix of features that aid lead generation, from targeted online advertising to data capture on landing pages and an AI Assistant that qualifies high-value leads. You can manage all of this without leaving the CRM platform thanks to its intuitive interface that’s suitable for beginners.

Additionally, in-depth metrics on website usage, customer communications, and team performance can help prioritize high-value leads and the best performing strategies which engage them.

Finally, to ensure potential clients don’t fall through the cracks, you can set up streamlined workflows and AI-backed recommendations, which are easily accessible on both desktop and mobile devices.

Screenshot of Chime CRM interface containing data dashboards

Chime CRM’s advanced reporting functionality can help optimize different areas of your sales pipeline. (Image credit: Chime CRM)

Alternatives to Chime CRM

One of Chime CRM’s closest competitors in the real estate space is BoomTown. Common features include contact and pipeline management, lead generation, an IDX website builder, automated workflows, and bulk text and email marketing. BoomTown could be a better choice for realtors preferring a less hands-on approach. It offers an in-house lead generation and qualification service, including the Success Assurance program that can nurture leads for you for up to a year. That said, Chime CRM is a stronger end-to-end solution, particularly owing to its AI-based chatbot and intelligent recommendations and its full suite of marketing and advertising tools.

Another strong contender is Salesforce Sales Cloud. With its vast customization and automation functionality, it can enable advanced real estate pipelines. You can set it up for realtor use by importing leads from real estate platforms such as Zillow, customizing contact records to include property values, and streamlining workflows with automated emails and texts. While you can use Salesforce to build advanced applications via sandbox environments, Chime CRM may be a quicker, simpler option for creating an IDX website and connecting it to your CRM.

Read our full Salesforce Sales Cloud review.

Chime CRM: Final verdict

Chime CRM is an excellent choice for growing real estate teams with a hands-on approach to generating, nurturing, and communicating with customers. You can build an IDX website using a simple drag-and-drop interface, manage listings, and capture lead details without ever leaving your CRM. You can even expand your lead generation pool by using a suite of online ad targeting and chatbot qualification tools that are powered by AI technology.

Moreover, your sales productivity and close rate can increase if you set up workflow and marketing automations, such as an email with suitable properties that’s triggered after a welcome call. Made with realtors in mind, the platform enables lead-to-listing matching tools as well as individual goal setting and tracking to keep agents focussed.

While Chime CRM requests that you get in touch for a quote, it claims its services come at a price worth paying—and, with such an enviable set of features, we have to agree.

Further reading

Need more background information before committing to a CRM solution? Have a read of our feature article, What is a CRM in real estate?

You can also check out other options in our best CRM solutions for real estate buying guide and in-depth product reviews, including our Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM review and our Zoho CRM review.

Creatio CRM
8:44 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Creatio CRM is a comprehensive sales and marketing software with plenty of tools to create campaigns and keep deals moving. The platform does a good job of categorizing leads to help streamline the sales process. However, Creatio CRM is somewhat complicated to use and getting access to all of the features can be very expensive.

Creatio CRM: Plans and Pricing

Creatio CRM is divided into three different softwares: Sales, Marketing, and Service.

Sales Creatio is the primary CRM platform, with tools for lead follow-up and deal management. Sales Creatio costs $300 per user per year.

Creatio CRM 1

(Image credit: Creatio CRM)

Marketing Creatio includes tools for email campaigns, event forms, and lead generation. Plans start at $875 per user per year for up to 1,000 contacts and five emails per contact per month.

Service Creatio is essentially a helpdesk software. It costs $420 per user per year.

Note that you can bundle these three services together or choose a custom number of licenses of each software to distribute across your business. Creatio CRM provides a pricing tool to help you determine what a bundled package will cost.

Creatio CRM: Features

Creatio CRM has a very robust set of features, particularly if you have access to all three component software systems. Note that managers can get access to a special version of Creatio CRM that allows you to switch between Sales, Marketing, and Service from the platform dashboard.

Sales Creatio

Sales Creatio focuses on shepherding deals through your sales team from prospective to closed. The platform gives sales team members a number of ways to create notes about clients’ needs. For example, leads can be categorized according to a ‘Customer Need’ field rather than only by deal status. It’s also easy to track the entire history of a contact, including how that lead was acquired and any associated calls, emails, and notes.

One of the best features of Creatio CRM is the low-level workflow automation that takes place without any effort on your part. When you add a new lead, the platform will automatically create a reminder in your calendar to prompt you to follow-up. The reminder is even populated with information from the lead categorization fields to let you know what to follow up about—for example, service pricing or the client’s needs.

Of course, Sales Creatio also includes a sales funnel view where you can see your deals in progress. This wasn’t as interactive as what some other CRM tools offer, though. You can’t search for deals by sales rep or easily drag and drop deals between stages.

Creatio CRM 2

(Image credit: Creatio CRM)

Marketing Creatio

Marketing Creatio is where the magic of generating new leads and contacts happens. The platform excels at email marketing, with advanced tools like automated email triggers if a message isn’t opened after a certain amount of time. You can get access to email templates and send bulk emails right from the software, which maximizes the efficiency of your sales team.

The software can also help you set up online forms, such as event registrations and contact forms. However, this process is anything but seamless. You’ll need to have some HTML knowledge to customize your forms, since you have to edit the code directly to make changes.

The other area where Marketing Creatio falls surprisingly short is social media. The software doesn’t have any tools for monitoring client activity on social networks or for scraping leads from LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

Creatio CRM 3

(Image credit: Creatio CRM)

Service Creatio

Service Creatio is a very capable helpdesk tool. When integrated with the Sales or Marketing software, team members have access to contacts’ full histories. Any service interactions via phone or email can easily be added to a client’s record.

Perhaps the most helpful feature of Service Creatio is the reporting tool. This allows you to quickly determine what’s causing the most helpdesk cases across your business or for an individual client. You can also easily monitor how long it typically takes to resolve any issues that crop up.

Creatio CRM 4

(Image credit: Creatio CRM )

Creatio CRM: Interface and use

Creatio CRM is a relatively user-friendly platform once you get into it. However, setting up the platform initially can take a significant amount of work. You need to decide not only which employees need which software licenses, but you need to adapt all of the settings for how notifications and data propagate across the three modules to your business environment.

That said, Creatio CRM does offer a decent amount of dashboard customization to help users get the most out of the software. It’s simple to hide features that you don’t need for your business. Plus, the main menu on the left side of the screen is largely self-explanatory and notifications, email, and SMS messages are always accessible from icons on the right.

Creatio CRM: Support

Creatio CRM has a readily available customer service team. You can contact support by phone Monday to Friday, or send an email and get an answer back within a few hours. The company also offers ‘Creatio Academy,’ where you’ll find extensive documentation, training, and even certification tests for employees.

Creatio CRM 5

(Image credit: Creatio CRM)

Creatio CRM: The competition

Creatio CRM’s main shortcomings are that the software suite is expensive and it lacks extensive integration with social media platforms. Both Zoho CRM and Nimble are more affordable for small businesses and allow you to generate leads from social media. So, if your business depends heavily on Twitter and LinkedIn, these alternative platforms may be worth a look.

Creatio CRM: Final verdict

Creatio CRM is a capable platform for managing leads and helping your sales team close deals. However, the division of the software into three components limits the suite of tools that are available to any one employee and drives up the overall price of the platform. On top of that, Creatio CRM doesn’t offer virtually any integration with social media networks.

Motorola Razr 2023 takes the outer screen to a whole new level, leaked renders show
8:30 am |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Last week the Oppo Find N2 Flip launched internationally with the biggest outer screen we've seen so far on a flip-style foldable, and earlier today we heard that Samsung will respond with an even larger one in the Galaxy Z Flip5 later this year. There's another entrant in the flip space, however, and that's Motorola. And if Oppo and Samsung were feeling pretty good about themselves up until this point, well, just look at this. Motorola Razr 2023 leaked renders The renders above come straight from leakster legend Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, and, as you can see, show an...

Motorola Razr 2023 takes the outer screen to a whole new level, leaked renders show
8:30 am |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Last week the Oppo Find N2 Flip launched internationally with the biggest outer screen we've seen so far on a flip-style foldable, and earlier today we heard that Samsung will respond with an even larger one in the Galaxy Z Flip5 later this year. There's another entrant in the flip space, however, and that's Motorola. And if Oppo and Samsung were feeling pretty good about themselves up until this point, well, just look at this. Motorola Razr 2023 leaked renders The renders above come straight from leakster legend Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, and, as you can see, show an...

Asus ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro make the jump to Android 13
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Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Comments: Off

Asus' latest high-end gaming phones, the ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro, were launched back in July of last year, and now they're finally being blessed with the update to Android 13. This comes after Asus' non-gaming Zenfone 9, Zenfone 8, and Zenfone 8 Flip all received the same update already, in line with what the company promised last November when it unveiled its update schedule. The Zenfone 9 was first to taste Android 13 in December, its predecessors followed in mid-January, and February is ROG month, it seems. The new build, which brings with it Android 13, is labeled...

Beats Fit Pro will be available in three new color options
4:59 am |

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Comments: Off

After leaking earlier this month, the Beats Fit Pro earbuds are now officially being updated with three new color options. These include Tidal Blue, Coral Pink, and Volt Yellow. They join the existing Beats Black, Beats White, Sage Gray, and Stone Purple options. The new color range is part of a campaign with singer-songwriter Chlöe and featured in the artists new single from her upcoming album. .@chloebailey is all the motivation you need. Up your game in the new Beats Fit Pro color collection, featuring a secure-fit wing tip to enhance your performance in the gym and beyond....

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