Really Simple Systems is a popular customer relationship management (CRM) system for small businesses that scores highly in affordability, system customization, product ease of use, and sophisticated contact management features. The platform, however, lacks a dedicated mobile app, a wide range of third-party integrations, and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Here is our complete Really Simple Systems review to help you determine if it’s right for your business.
Pros
- Free and cost-friendly subscription options
- Highly intuitive product for setting up, navigating, and operating
- Robust level of system customization to design data fields, layouts, and dashboards to meet your unique operational needs
Cons
- Limited number of third-party integration options
- Primary plan limited to just sales tools; service and marketing modules require separate add-ons for an additional cost
- Most workflow automation tools aren’t available until the Professional plan
Recommended For
- Startups that need a cost-friendly way to manage sales contacts
- Small businesses that need a tailorable CRM solution to meet their unique operation
- Solopreneurs who want a free and simple solution to track sales opportunities
Not Recommended For
- Teams looking to leverage cutting-edge CRM tools like artificial intelligence (AI)
- Project-based businesses
- Revenue operations teams needing low-cost sales, marketing, and service tools in one subscription
- Users who do a lot of on-the-go sales
- Free: $0 for up to two users
- Starter: $17
- Professional: $33
- Enterprise: $50
- Free trial: 14 days
Add-ons for Starter Plan & Higher:
- Simple Marketing: $25 per month
- Advanced Marketing: $50 per month
- Service Desk: $50 per month (only available in the Professional plan and above)
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. For more information, check current pricing here.
Really Simple Systems Reviews: What Users Think of Really Simple Systems
Most Really Simple Systems CRM reviews tout its usability. More specifically, users find it easy to set up, and they like that they can quickly start using the features with minimal learning requirements. There’s also a good chunk of subscribers who explain how its tailorability is nice for adapting their CRM to meet their sales process needs. Finally, many of the reviews indicate users are happy with the affordability, feeling it’s valuable in terms of feature offerings.
As for the negatives, users wish that the mass emailing tools were available on the main CRM system plan. Others also point out missing features they want added, such as more robust task tracking, artificial intelligence (AI) tools either built in or integrated, and the ability to do in-depth CRM searches for records or document resources. See the section below for excellent alternatives that address some of these concerns.
Based on our experience with Really Simple Systems, we would use this platform if we were on a tight budget and only needed basic sales features like contact storage, opportunities tracking, and sales funnel monitoring. One of our favorite product attributes is that you get unlimited CRM contacts for free. We also like the record linking, where you can associate contacts and companies with one another to indicate a hierarchy, reseller relationship, or referred lead.
That said, if we needed robust communication tools, project management, or handled a lot of on-the-go sales, we would not use Really Simple Systems. Bulk email isn’t included without the Simple Marketing paid add-on, there are no live chat capabilities, and the voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) integration is limited to logging calls to CRM records—you can’t actually place calls. This product also does not include project management tools, nor does it have a dedicated mobile application (although it is currently in development).
Really Simple Systems Alternatives
If Really Simple Systems doesn’t look like the best CRM option for you, here are some excellent alternatives:
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost.
Really Simple Systems offers a free-forever plan for two users and a cost structure that’s $17, $33, or $50 per user, per month, depending on the features needed. All plans include unlimited contacts, documents attachments to records, and pipeline management with opportunity history tracking, sales stage monitoring, and forecasting based on deal size and win probabilities. There’s also a calendar for tasks and events, product line tracking, and system customization.
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost.
Add-ons (if Applicable)*
Users on the Really Simple Systems paid plans can access three product add-ons:
- Simple Marketing: $25 per month for email and newsletter design tools, mass email personalization, contact list management, and email scheduling.
- Advanced Marketing: $50 monthly for email template storage, end-to-end lead management with lead scoring, campaign tracking across all channels, website forms with web-to-lead capture, and automated drip campaigns.
- Service Desk: $50 monthly for case management tools with case prioritization, service level agreement (SLA) monitoring, support performance reporting and dashboards, and email integration to create cases from emails.
*Add-on prices above are based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available for a higher price. The module is automatically included for up to five users subscribed to the Enterprise plan.
General & Advanced Really Simple Systems Features
General Features (Score): 3.75 out of 5
Advanced/Niche Features (Score): 3.75 out of 5
Really Simple Systems primary plans include common CRM features, including contact and company management, deal tracking on a pipeline, and lead engagement via email. Users can also generate quote proposals, manage sales tasks, and generate reports to forecast revenue or evaluate performance. Additionally, the CRM has unique tools like account linking between records and mapping through Google Maps to view locations and find other leads nearby.
Here is our overview of the general and advanced features of Really Simple Systems:
- Data storage for contact and company records, including leads, partners, accounts, customers, and clients
- Timelines tracking of interactions, events, and activity associated with CRM records
- Document storage with contact and company records
- One-page view of records
Really Simple Systems list view of company accounts (Source: Really Simple Systems)
The data management features in Really Simple Systems let you store contacts and companies and track their activity to stay better organized. Businesses can use the CRM as a central hub of contact information, and there are lead or customer history details, account documents, and contact lists which can be searched and filtered to get the right audiences for sales campaigns.
- Deal and opportunity tracking on the sales funnel using custom stages
- Ability to log and track history associated with sales opportunities to stay up to date on pending sales deals
- Sales forecasting capabilities using deal values and weighted probabilities of closing
Really Simple Systems adding sales stage to account (Source: Really Simple Systems)
Pipeline management tools let you track sales opportunities to ensure no deal gets forgotten in the process. Really Simple Systems includes an opportunity module for deal tracking and forecasting tools to help with growth planning. Additionally, sales managers can also leverage the pipeline features to monitor and report on sales performance.
- Users can customize, download, and send quote proposals directly to the CRM
- Quotes can be stored as documents within contact, company, and opportunity records
- Allows users to store and access quote templates for quick generation
Really Simple Systems quote generation (Source: Really Simple Systems)
The quoting tools for Really Simple Systems help streamline the sales process by allowing users to create proposals in the same system they’re managing their leads and deals. The entire process, from generation to downloading to storage to sending of proposal documents, can all be done through one interface.
- Custom data fields and tables to help store data information unique to any operation
- Users can pull insights using custom reports, dropdown lists, dashboards, CRM record pages, and chart widgets within dashboards
- Automated workflows can be customized to meet any sales process to auto-send emails, create and assign tasks, or update data records based on a scheduled interval or deal status change
Really Simple Systems customization-settings module (Source: Really Simple Systems)
Having a wide range of system customization in your CRM allows businesses to ensure their platform meets their unique informational, process, and tracking needs. Really Simple Systems offers robust customization options that are easy to use and ensure teams are able to manage the data they need to close deals and complete workflows.
- Task creation and reminders linked to CRM records
- Users can assign tasks for themselves and to other users manually or using automated workflows
- Tasks can be stored and tracked on a shared calendar or using a widget tool
Really Simple Systems calendar and task widget (Source: Really Simple Systems)
If your CRM is storing and managing leads at a high volume, it gets tricky to stay on track with all the activity needed to move them through the pipeline. Task management, provided by Really Simple Systems, lets you know exactly what needs to be done, such as follow-ups, meetings, or proposal generation, and when. It includes a to-do list widget with task priorities in CRM records as well as the ability to auto-assign tasks to other users so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Ability to link account records to one another to indicate a relationship
- Users can associate contacts or companies with opportunities and vice versa
Really Simple Systems linking a company account (Source: Really Simple Systems)
Record linking is one of the unique tools making Really Simple Systems a robust contact management system. This is useful if you need to indicate a relationship between records, such as hierarchy, parent-child, contact who works for a company, or other association. Maybe you want to track which reselling referral partners have sent over client accounts to your business or want to indicate that a colleague is friends with a decision-maker somewhere.
- Users can track locations on Google Maps within contact or company records
- Ability to find other nearby prospects or current accounts through the Google Maps integration
- Teams can get Google Map location directions in their CRM using stored addresses or pin drops
Really Simple Systems Google Maps integration (Source: Really Simple Systems)
Geolocation and mapping tools in a CRM allow sales reps to store addresses in contact records that can be viewed on a Google Maps tool—making it easy to get directions to those locations. As part of the geolocation feature in Really Simple Systems, users can also find nearby accounts or contacts to visit while out and about, either at a different client meeting or while presenting to a prospect.
Really Simple Systems provides support via phone, live chat, and email channels in which service is available on U.K. time Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Users can also use a plethora of self-service resources within a product knowledge base that tells you how to set up your CRM and operate all the features and modules.
Ease of Use
Product usability is one of the most appealing aspects of Really Simple Systems. This stems from both our experience and a majority of user reviews. The system dashboard and menu use a simple color scheme and minimal button options clearly indicated with text—making the system easy to navigate.
Next, much of the system design is table-based, so users can go down line-by-line to add the data fields they need for each record for a quick and intuitive customization process. Finally, because the CRM acts primarily as a database and sales tracking platform, there aren’t any complex tools that require a steep learning curve—allowing operability of all features for users at any skill level.
Really Simple Systems account field customization (Source: Really Simple Systems)
How We Evaluated Really Simple Systems
To thoroughly evaluate Really Simple Systems, we looked into a variety of product characteristics that can add value to a sales team or small business. Price, product usability, and customer support availability by the provider were crucial criteria. We also looked at CRM features offered by Really Simple Systems that either separate itself from other providers or put it in line with the competition.
The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process for Really Simple Systems:
20%
Niche/Advanced Features
25% of Overall Score
We first looked at overall features crucial to any CRM system that we expect the product to contain. For example, we evaluated the customization capabilities of Really Simple Systems, how robust the reporting and analytics tools are, and the range of third-party integrations available in the platform.
20% of Overall Score
Since affordability is critical for any purchase decisions, we evaluated the pricing of Really Simple Systems. This looked at free plan availability and the total cost scalability of the paid plans. We also wanted to see billing flexibility as well as whether certain features, such as case management and marketing campaign deployment, were automatically included in the CRM subscription or required a paid add-on.
20% of Overall Score
This category looked at advanced CRM features offered by Really Simple Systems that might not be available in other products. We evaluated capabilities like workflow automation, whether artificial intelligence (AI) was deployed in the platform, and lead scoring tools. We also gave credit if we found more advanced contact management capabilities, such as record linking or mapping in the CRM.
20% of Overall Score
Extensive support and service help prevent poor user experiences they may encounter while using Really Simple Systems. This category looked at channel availability via live chat, phone, and email. We also looked at whether the provider could offer 24/7 service and if users had any self-service resources to utilize for support, like a knowledge base or community forum.
15% of Overall Score
The expert score considered online reviews of actual users to supplement our experience with the CRM. This allowed us to better understand how subscribers like the Really Simple Systems features and if they felt it was worth the cost. It also contributed to our understanding of product usability in terms of setting up, operating, and navigating the CRM interface.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
Really Simple Systems offers an affordable and intuitive database to store contacts, track deals, and monitor sales activity. While we wish it would offer a dedicated mobile app, sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and built-in marketing features, there’s still a place for this CRM. Check out the Really Simple System’s website for more details on pricing, features, and use cases and take advantage of its 14-day free trial to see if it’s right for you.
