The Ultimate Small Enterprise Software Ranking
As many small business owners know, software tools are vital to a successful launch. The dilemma is how to gauge their effect on operations. We asked SME owners what factors contribute to a software being powerful and ranked the popular software based on the poll’s findings.
SMB Guru has undertaken an analysis of 37 most popular tools in 6 categories to discover which of them were useful in making small enterprises successful around the globe.
To determine which factors we would use in ranking we commissioned a poll to find out what things contribute to a small enterprise software power.
We ranked software based on the number of integration options* as well as various other factors. The ability to obtain software is a key point as regards the software value, so we factored in Pricing of subscription, the payment plan** and the number of hours the business owner*** or the marketing specialist must work to obtain the software. All factors were weighted and scored to produce the Ultimate SMB software ranking.
In a poll we asked the small enterprise owners what factors contribute to a software being powerful.
70% said its ability to integrate with software they already use
30% said the cost of software
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| NO | Software | Hassle free integrations* | Price** | Hours worked*** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mailchimp | 38 | $50 | 2 |
| 2 | FormStack | 30 | $39 | 2 |
| 3 | FreshDesk | 29 | $16 | <1 |
| 4 | ZenDesk | 28 | $29 | 1 |
| 5 | Pipedrive | 27 | $12 | <1 |
| 6 | GetResponse | 25 | $45 | 2 |
| 7 | Insightly | 22 | $15 | <1 |
| 8 | SurveyMonkey | 19 | $25 | <1 |
| 9 | Pipeline Deals | 19 | $24 | <1 |
| 10 | Happy Fox | 18 | $19 | <1 |
| 11 | LeadSquared | 18 | $125 | 5 |
| 12 | Wistia | 18 | $25 | <1 |
| 13 | SupportBee | 17 | $29 | 1 |
| 14 | Dotmailer | 16 | na | |
| 15 | ConstantContact | 16 | $80 | 3 |
| 16 | Velocify | 14 | $60 | 2 |
| 17 | Sales Marketing Cloud | 12 | $400 | 14 |
| 18 | SalesForce Desk | 12 | $30 | 1 |
| 19 | Kayako | 12 | $29 | 1 |
| 20 | Vidyard | 12 | $79 | 3 |
| 21 | Base | 8 | $25 | <1 |
| 22 | iContact | 7 | $52 | 2 |
| 23 | Vzaar | 7 | $20 | <1 |
| 24 | Fliptop | 6 | $2,500 | 86 |
| 25 | Act-On | 6 | $600 | 20 |
| 26 | Sproutvideo | 6 | $50 | 2 |
| 27 | SurveyGizmo | 5 | $25 | <1 |
| 28 | Fileboard | 5 | $49 | 2 |
| 29 | Tracks | 5 | $16 | <1 |
| 30 | Apptivo | 5 | $10 | <1 |
| 31 | Google Forms | 3 | free | |
| 32 | TypeForm | 3 | $25 | <1 |
| 33 | Zoho Support | 3 | $15 | <1 |
| 34 | Qualtrics | 2 | $2,500 | 86 |
| 35 | LeadMaster | 2 | $150 | 6 |
| 36 | Viddler | 2 | $100 | 4 |
| 37 | Vimeo Pro | 2 | $17 | <1 |
GetResponse (ranked 6) allows split testing 5 different messages on your over a single email campaign. Also, you can design custom landing pages for your campaign links, an easy way to pick up conversions from users who might find your main site too cluttered.
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Wistia (ranked 12) analytics features offer a full heatmap of viewer activity so you can see where your users are losing engagement. Track long term trends by seeing each viewer’s interaction history, and engagement graphs of how your entire library is performing.
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FlipTop’s machine-learning algorithm (‘Darwin’) uses data from your existing CRM to develop a model specific to your business and customer profile, helping you increase the number of sales you get from market-qualified leads.
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Qualtrics offers a huge amount of flexibility, with over 100 types of question to choose from. Your data can be presented in dozens of different graph types, cross-tabulated, filtered by user segment, compared to individual responders…
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Instead of charging per user like most help desk software, SupportBee charges by ticket volume. This makes it ideal for low volume help desks with multiple part time operators.
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Pipedrive is compatible with 27 different applications at the monthly cost of less than a half of hour of the median hourly wage of a marketing specialist
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86 hours — FlipTop vs ⅓ hour — Apptivo
Software with hassle free integration
38 — Mailchimp vs 2 — Viddler
Cost of software
$2500 / mo — Fliptop and Qualtrics vs $10 — Apptivo
In the poll we asked what was:
- Freshdesk –27%
- GetResponse — 19%
- LeadSquared — 13%
- FormStack — 11%
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* Number of 3rd party software integration options was based on the data taken from the software vendor websites effective as of September 2014.
** We used Basic features plan and Monthly (no discount) subscription plan; ‘monthly’ and ‘per user’ payment plans were used interchangeably. All data were taken from the vendor websites effective as of September 2014.
*** Number of hours worked to obtain software was calculated by dividing the Cost of monthly subscription by a Median hourly wage of Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists according to May 2014 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics).