B2B Connection

Calendly is an appointment scheduling software with a pricing model that fits nearly any use case. These include a feature-rich free tier, along with paid tiers for organizations with more expansive needs. Calendly is the #1 Top-Rated award winner in its software category on TrustRadius. Understandings its pricing and features will help you determine which plan is right for you. With this, you can take advantage of this fantastic software at the right price.  The pricing levels covered in this piece are Calendly Basic Calendly Premium Calendly Pro Pricing Tier Basic Premium Pro Price Free $8/User/Mo. $12/User/Mo. Calendar Connections/User 1 Calendar/ User 2 Calendar/ User 6 Calendar/ User Event Types 1 Event Type Unlimited Event Type Unlimited Event Type Notifications  Email Customizable Email Customizable Email, SMS Group Events No Yes Yes Integrations Basic Basic + Zapier Includes Advanced Integrations Best for: Small Teams who Repeatedly Schedule 1 Event Type,Individual Users Small-to-Mid-Sized Teams, Scheduling Multiple Meeting Types to Multiple People/Groups Teams Who Need Advanced Integration and Payment Acceptance, Who Book a Large Volume of Meetings What Is Calendly? As mentioned, Calendly is an appointment scheduling software, used primarily by small-to-mid-sized organizations. For an overview of what this software does, check out […]

CRM and CMS may sound pretty similar, but they’re two distinct types of software that do completely different things. Successful businesses, however, often use both. But the first step is learning the differences between CRM and CMS software.  This post will be your guide to navigating the world of CRM and CMS software. By the end, you’ll feel confident making your next software purchase—whether it be a CRM, CMS, or both!  Your Guide For Choosing a CRM or CMS Before diving into what to consider when investing in a new CRM or CMS platform, here’s a quick primer on each:  CRM Systems: Large contact database that helps businesses store and track contact and account records. Users can add new business leads into the database and augment existing contact records with new information. Customer-facing teams like sales, marketing, and customer service/support rely on this type of software.  CMS Software: Create and update content published on websites. The CMS is responsible for storing and keeping track of all the content published on the website. Many businesses use a CMS platform to host their website or blog. This is especially common in B2C industries like eCommerce. Though many B2B businesses use CMS platforms […]

Email marketing tools are built for sales and marketing teams to send out email campaigns and track their performance. Constant Contact is a popular, strong choice for small-to-mid-sized businesses. Good software in this category has a balance of reasonable pricing and features to help your specific use-case. Constant contact’s pricing varies by the features you need, and the amount you will use it. It is also crucial to compare Constant Contact to alternative options. Mailchimp is a popular and capable email marketing alternative. By comparing the two, along with some other options, you will be empowered to make the best purchase decision for your business. What is Constant Contact? Constant Contact is an email marketing tool built around offering affordable customer contact options. Users praise its strong user interface and fantastic feature list. On Google, you’ll find that Constant Contact is frequently compared to Mailchimp, and for good reason. These tools are great for sending out marketing information, newsletters, and direct sales pieces. They are both designed to allow sales and marketing teams to continuously nurture leads and customers.. The two offer similar functionality, at intersecting price points. For a full overview of what email marketing software is, check out […]

Inside and outside teams help a company achieve its sales targets in different ways. Each is suited to a different environment. Understanding the difference between the two is crucial to understanding how to get the most out of each. It is also critical to know the tools available to help those reps succeed. Overall, both inside and outside sales teams are an effective means to achieving your goals.  What is Inside and Outside Sales? The difference between inside and outsides sales largely boils down to location and method. Inside sales teams work at their offices, selling via remote means. This can be through email, phone, video conferencing, or any other form of online communication. Outside sales teams travel directly to prospective customers and clients. This type of team is also called field sales. They do their work in person. These two sales methods are effective at achieving different goals. They also have key differences. When deciding which type of sales team to build out, you may find one more suitable than the other. A combination may be appropriate.  For a more in-depth, visual overview of the definition of the two, consider watching the video below. How Do I Run Inside […]

In purchasing customer relationship management (CRM), balancing features and cost for your use case will be the key to the right purchase. The end goal is ultimately improving your interactions with customers, increasing sales, and reducing workload. The purpose of this piece is to discuss the best tools for some of the most common use cases. From here, we look at the features included in that software at the recommended price point, in order to help you determine what is right for you. The four products we will be looking at are: HubSpot Pipedrive Zoho CRM Salesforce As a small business, this means exploring the needs relevant to you. These cases explore: Price Integrations Mobile support Sales Marketing Tech skills required   HubSpot CRM Pipedrive Zoho CRM Salesforce Price   Free 12.50/User/Mo. 12.50/User/Mo. 25-75/user/Mo. Tech Skill Required Minimal Minimal Moderate Advanced trScore 8.3/10 8.2/10 7.9/10 8.4/10 Biggest Pro Low Cost, Comprehensive Option Perfect for Sales Teams Great Integration With Zoho Products Huge Depth of Features Biggest Con Limited Features Limited Beyond its Niche Purely a CRM, Other Features in Other Zoho Products Training Required to Take Full Advantage ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Which CRM is Right for You? In determining which […]

This year, TrustRadius is recognizing products that have earned a 2020 Best of Award. The winners of these awards must meet high standards based on user reviews and ratings. The Best of Sales Technology category takes into account user ratings from several attributes such as Customer Support, Usability, and Feature Set across 6 sub-categories. Products in Sales Technology provide users with a wide range of capabilities such as information tracking, customer engagement, marketing initiatives, and sales enablement. This year, the Best of Sales Technology winners for Sales Technology are:  Best Customer Support – Call Tracking  Invoca, 1st Place Best Feature Set – Call Tracking  Invoca, 1st Place Best Customer Support – Contact Center Talkdesk, 1st Place Best Usability – Contact Center Talkdesk, 1st Place NICE inContact Center CXone, 2nd Place 8×8 Contact Center, 3rd Place Best Feature Set – Contact Center Genesys Cloud (formerly PureCloud), 1st Place Talkdesk, 2nd Place 8×8 Contact Center, 3rd Place Best Customer Support – Sales Email Tracking  Mailtrack, 1st Place Best Usability – Sales Email Tracking  Mailtrack, 1st Place Best Feature Set – Sales Email Tracking  Mailtrack, 1st Place Best Customer Support – Sales Enablement MindTickle, 1st Place Gong.io, 2nd Place Best Feature Set – […]

Choosing the right ecommerce platform for your business can be tough. Many of the products on the market today offer similar features and can be costly or challenging to use. Especially if you’re a startup or small business, an open-source solution can help keep your costs low. We gathered reviews of  the most popular open-source ecommerce products and ranked the top four by their TR scores. The products we’ve chosen have over ten reviews apiece with at least one review published in the past year. Important Features to Consider There are four main features to look for when selecting a complete ecommerce solution: Website Builder A website builder is a tool that lets you design and build your online store from scratch. Website builders range from simple, coding-free, WYSIWYG editors to fully customizable development environments.  Customizable Product Catalog A product catalog makes it easy to add, remove, and categorize items. Categorizing your products will make it easier for customers to find what they need, increasing sales and loyalty. Shopping Cart A shopping cart is a piece of software on a merchant website that allows customers to track the items they want to buy. The shopping cart may accept the customer’s […]

I recently sat down to have a conversation with Jane Menyo and Tiffany Beddow, Senior Director of Solutions Marketing and Director of Customer Marketing at ON24 (a leading webinar software). We discussed what makes for the best webinar software, and what webinar trends are on the horizon for 2020. Despite the emergence of Unified-Communications-as-a-Service Platforms (UCaaS) which aim to consolidate every online communications tool into one, a majority of buyers actually enjoy having separate tools for web conferencing, webinar, and even VoIP. There are several reasons why buyers want to invest in a webinar-focused tool for their online events. Let’s dig in. Webinar Benefits Jane and Tiffany shared that one of the biggest benefits of webinar software is its demand generation capabilities. Using webinars for demand generation entails creating informative and engaging sessions that drive leads and accelerate them through their buyer’s journey. Leading webinar tools on the market will provide you with attendee analysis and reporting to analyze the performance of your webinar and its surrounding outreach campaigns. Remember that webinar software is ideal for larger group meetings or online events with wide audiences of up to hundreds or thousands of participants. Owing to this, webinars are typically much […]

This post walks through the 5 top ecommerce solutions for small businesses, based on third-party reviews collected on TrustRadius.  The top 5 products included in this post are WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix.  Information such as common use cases, reviewer demographics, and favorite reviewer features are highlighted for each product.  Figuring out what type of ecommerce software will fit your business best can feel like an uphill battle, given how many options are available. This is especially true if you’re just starting your own online businesses, or if your business is a small ecommerce operation with tight budget constraints.  Based on reviews collected by TrustRadius, we’ve come up with a recommendation for the top 5 ecommerce products for small businesses.  The products below are a mix of different types of ecommerce software. The three types of software in this article include solutions designed specifically for ecommerce businesses (e.g. Shopify and BigCommerce), content management system (CMS) products (e.g. Wix and Squarespace) that have strong web design capabilities, and ecommerce plugins (e.g. WooCommerce).   Even though CMS products are not specifically designed for the ecommerce industry, this type of software is often used to build and maintain ecommerce websites. The two CMS […]

This article will dive into the nitty-gritty of what exactly ecommerce is, the 6 main types of ecommerce businesses, different types of selling and fulfillment models, and give you a quick primer on what ecommerce software is. What is Ecommerce? Types of Ecommerce Businesses B2B B2C B2A C2B C2C A2C Different Selling & Fulfillment Models  Direct-to-consumer (DTC) Dropshipping Wholesale  Online Subscription What is Ecommerce Software? Types of Ecommerce Platforms On-premise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)  Open Source What is Ecommerce?  Whether you call it ecommerce, online transactions, e-commerce, or internet commerce—all these phrases refer to the same thing: the buying and selling of goods & services online. This naturally involves the exchange of information, usually payment and personal information, via the internet to conduct these transactions.  Ecommerce exclusively describes online transactions and doesn’t refer to other parts of a business that may be conducted via the internet. It also doesn’t apply when a consumer browses products online before making a purchase in person at a brick and mortar store.  Though it feels like ecommerce has been around forever, it’s actually still relatively new. Online buying and selling have been available to the public since the 1990s, starting with a small online book selling […]

Ecommerce has been exploding over the past few decades. US consumers spent over $5 billon online in 2018—which was a 15% increase from the year before. With online marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, GumRoad, Storenvy, Fiverr, etc. it’s easier than ever for anyone to start selling their own goods or services online.  The age of giant retailers and general merchandisers is fading too (think department stores like Macy’s, T.J. Maxx, Target, Walmart, Sears, etc.). But while physical storefront retail sales may be slowing down, ecommerce is heating up. A recent report from the US Department of Commerce reveals that online sales have increased 16% between Q3 2018 and Q3 2019, compared to overall retail, which has only increased by 4% over the same time period.  The increasing popularity of the ‘direct-to-consumer’ (DTC) approach to selling has helped make it easier and cheaper for solopreneurs and small businesses to start selling online. In this approach, stores sell their goods or services directly to the consumes (often online), bypassing third-party retailers or wholesalers. Costs associated with middlemen department stores, and the rent and upkeep that comes along with a physical storefront, disappear for online-only DTC businesses. And the proliferation of online marketplaces […]

Over the past 20 years, the digital economy has been rapidly expanding. It has grown at an average rate of 9.9% per year from 1998 – 2017. And ecommerce, a major part of the digital economy, has grown along with it. According to the Internet Retailer’s analysis of U.S. Commerce Department data, U.S. consumers spent over $5 billion in online purchases in 2018—a 15% increase from 2017. As more individuals and businesses start selling online, choosing an ecommerce solution with the right mix of out-of-the-box functionality and customization becomes increasingly important.  It’s safe to say that ecommerce isn’t going away anytime soon. Especially now that individuals can make online purchases from a range of devices—including computers, tablets, and mobile phones—the percentage of transactions that happen online is likely to continue growing.  Before you start evaluating and selecting a new ecommerce platform, one critical first step is understanding what you’re looking for. There are a handful of key differences between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) selling that, in part, dictate what your next ecommerce software should include. Key dimensions where B2B and B2C online selling differ include: buying motivations market landscape  importance of brand reputation long-term value vs. immediate cost buying […]

The ecommerce industry, the amount of transactions that happen online, is growing. In 2018, U.S. consumers spent over $5 billion in online purchases—a 15% increase from 2017. And the range of businesses and number of ecommerce products available to them is growing along with it. This can make it hard to figure out which platform will fit your business needs best, whether you’re a solopreneur just getting started setting up your online store, or a seasoned online business already bringing in millions in annual revenue. We’ve created a Buyer’s Guide to Ecommerce Platforms as a free tool to help you evaluate different products and compare 7 comprehensive ecommerce solutions. The guide also discusses a few key ecommerce trends that are shaping the ecommerce space. These include how the direct-to-consumer (DTC) approach to selling enables SMBs to keep costs low, the convergence of CMS and ecommerce platforms, and the rise and importance of advertising and selling on social. According to our survey of 104 online sellers, 45% are now using one platform to fill both their ecommerce and CMS needs. Product catalogs are increasing in size and complexity, as are the marketing materials required to support them. And the need for […]

We are excited to announce the Top Rated Proposal Software for 2019! Top Rated awards showcase today’s top-of-the-line products in Proposal Software based solely on positive user feedback and satisfaction scores. These awards make the voice of the market the primary decider into the industry’s best products. Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are never influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Here are the winners: PandaDoc  PandaDoc is a digital document creation platform that can be used to create proposals and close deals. The software includes a library of customizable templates that can be adjusted to fit branding requirements. An automatic quote creation tool brings in accurate pricing and product information from internal catalogs. Proposals can be customized with media from an existing content library or deal details from a CRM. PandaDoc’s e-signature capability makes it fast and easy for clients or customers to accept proposals. Two-thirds (67%) of PandaDoc users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers love PandaDoc for its embedded video capability, product catalog features, and time-saving integrations. “The automations and integrations are awesome. Having automated reminders sent to clients helps keep things […]

We are excited to announce the Top Rated Sales Acceleration Software for 2019! Top Rated awards showcase today’s top-of-the-line products in Sales Acceleration Software based solely on positive user feedback and satisfaction scores. These awards make the voice of the market the primary decider into the industry’s best products. Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are never influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. So without further ado… Here are the winners: LeadFuze LeadFuze is a lead generation tool. Users can search for leads by role, industry, location,  tech stack information, number of employees, and advertising budget. It can also search for leads within specific companies or domains. Fuzebot, an automated lead generation tool, automatically crawls LeadFuze’s data sources and can return daily lists of leads, including verified emails, phone numbers, and social profiles. LeadFuze integrates with CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot to automatically import leads. A large majority (80%) of LeadFuze users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers appreciate LeadFuze’s automatic lead generation tools and detailed filtering. “LeadFuze is best for building lead lists on a regular basis. The ability to ‘niche down’ is very […]

We are excited to announce the Top Rated Sales Engagement Platforms (SEPs) for 2019! Top Rated awards showcase today’s top-of-the-line products in Sales Engagement Platforms based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. These awards make the voice of the market the primary decider into the industry’s best products. Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are never influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Here are the winners: SalesLoft SalesLoft is a platform for sales engagement and conversational intelligence. It offers account prioritization features, helping sales representatives identify and personalize outreach to high-impact leads while automating outreach to low-impact accounts. Engagement tracking tools help teams understand which messages perform best. SalesLoft’s conversation intelligence system transcribes calls, tags important content, and allows users to share recorded conversations. Sales teams can use its cadence and workflow toolset to automate, optimize, and track interactions with customers. A majority (54%) of SalesLoft users on TrustRadius are from midsize companies. Reviewers value SalesLoft for its campaign organization features, integration with CRM software such as Salesforce, and detailed analytics. “SalesLoft eliminates a lot of the manual tasks we had to previously perform…You can […]

We are excited to announce the Top Rated Sales Enablement Software for 2019! Top Rated awards showcase today’s top-of-the-line products in Sales Enablement Software based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. These awards make the voice of the market the primary decider into the industry’s best products. Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are never influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Here are the winners: LeadFuze LeadFuze is a lead generation tool. To help teams generate quality leads, its contact search tool can filter by industry, role, location, ad budget, and more. Generated leads can include verified emails, social profiles, and phone numbers, giving the sales team more information to work with. The software’s automated lead generation tool crawls the web daily to find contacts that match search criteria. After verifying email addresses, the new leads are added to the list, helping teams keep a steady flow of sales prospects. A strong majority (80%) of LeadFuze users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. LeadFuze’s ease of use and automatic delivery of high-quality leads make it a top choice for reviewers. “We’re already seeing tremendous engagement […]

Today, we awarded the 2019 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Ecommerce Personalization Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. Top Rated awards are the voice of the market and are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Here are the winners: Monetate Monetate is a personalization engine which can produce intelligent, contextual product recommendations and 1-to-1 personalization for ecommerce businesses. Monetate can act upon real-time and historical visitor data, group-level buyer data, as well as product data (e.g. highest reviewed, top sales or hot items, etc.) to produce recommendations. To avoid frustrating a visitor, Monetate can also rely upon configurable rules, for example, never recommend out-of-stock items to online shoppers.  Monetate supports a range of website experimentation and optimization using tools like ANOVA and A/B testing, and out-of-the-box segmentation procedures. These tests can then be applied to existing data in the users CRM or customer data platform (CDP), or to third-party data sources. Monetate can integrate these test results into its dynamic personalization allowing marketers to capitalize on […]

TrustRadius Top Rated Today, we awarded the 2019 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for CPQ Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. Top Rated awards are the voice of the market and are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) Software Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software is a sales acceleration tool designed to generate quotes for various product configurations based on specified rules. CPQ software is often used by Sales teams to deliver accurate quotes to customers quickly and maintain pricing consistency across sales reps and teams. Most CPQ software is based around a rules engine that accounts for supply, pricing structures, and customer information, tailoring quotes for individual situations. Along with the rules engine, CPQ solutions often include product configuration systems, which automate the process of building product bundles and applying discounts and exceptions. Other common features include CRM integration, manual pricing adjustment, credit checking, e-signature capability, and customer self-service systems. Buyers considering CPQ software should consider the level of product complexity they need […]

TrustRadius Top Rated Today, we awarded the 2019 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Payroll Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. Top Rated awards are the voice of the market and are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Payroll Software Payroll software helps businesses process payment for employees, submit accurate tax reports, and provide employee benefits. Benefits administrators and payroll teams use it to calculate payments, deduct withholdings from paychecks, track payment history, make direct deposits, and adjust salaries and benefit plans. Payroll software is often both offered as a standalone product and included with comprehensive HR Management and HCM suites. Accounting software sometimes includes payroll features as well. A handful of the Top Rated payroll products below are either HR or Accounting software that also offer payroll capabilities. Buyers of payroll software should consider their combined accounting and HR needs when evaluating their choices. A standalone payroll solution can often meet the needs of a small business with low HR overhead. Midsize companies and enterprises might […]