15 Best CRM for Financial Services (2021): Reviews & Pricing
Introduction
Once upon a time, it might have seemed that only those of a certain status could use (let alone afford) the personalized advice of a financial advisor and wealth planning specialist.
But with the rise of customer relationship management systems and the democratization of investment opportunities, today more and more people have access to professional financial planning. So it’s no surprise that CRM solutions for the financial services industry are rapidly expanding in numbers, popularity and even necessity.
CRMs, in general, are predicted to be valued globally at around $82 Billion by 2025. Meanwhile, in the US, the market cap of financial services total a combined $1.24 Trillion.
Putting these staggering numbers and skyrocketing trends together, and you get why Financial CRM software is no longer a niche industry. It’s a must-have set of tools for financial advisors to deliver the most personalized, the most streamlined, and the overall best financial and wealth planning services to their clients, big and small, all over the planet.
Benefits of using financial software
A financial advisor’s success depends on two things: expanding your client list and developing longer-lasting, more profitable relationships with each individual client.
That’s why a CRM system is necessary for your day-to-day operations. It helps you keep track of all your contacts and clients, and ensures you always have all relevant information and contact history at hand. What’s more, contact management platforms help you uncover numerous new connections through referrals and common demographic, industry, and interest networks.
The best finance CRM for advisors not only covers basics like follow-ups and reminders, but it also helps you plan your client’s economic future, savings, and retirement goals.
CRMs make it easy to tailor your strategy for each particular client’s specific means, goals, and investment preferences.
Efficiently manage leads
CRM software helps you keep track of all your networking activities so that every new person you meet can be nurtured from a prospective lead into a loyal client.
Features like engagement history and personal notetaking help remind you of when and how you first made contact. Furthermore, CRM keeps you on top of every client’s needs and goals and suggests ways to gently move them through your sales funnel. And even after contracts are signed, a CRM ensures through regular sales pipeline management that their greater journey to financial success will never slip away from your attention.
Generate deep business insights
A wealth of relationships means a trove of invaluable data. Financial CRM platforms allow you to aggregate the successes and mishaps of past trading and planning activity, not only within your own network but often through tapping into larger business and financial information as well. Leveraging such community data and intelligence translates into actionable insights to benefit your current clients as well as to attract new ones.
Increase business revenue
As a professional financial advisor, positive growth of your client’s financial portfolios is inextricably tied to your own bottom line. CRM solutions for advisory firms help increase business revenue by automating task management, freeing you up to focus on financial research and client relationships. Financial advisor CRMs are also great organizational tools to plan, schedule and stay on top of your affairs so as to never miss an opportunity.
Better sales & marketing
Finance professionals need to stay close to marketing and sales when it comes to running a small business or a large firm. Because growth requires getting your name out there through campaigns like email marketing or even on social media. And it’s doubly important to have ready and organized sales teams to meet the incoming interest after marketing does its job. These fundamental tools are some of what the best CRMs offer.
Improve customer experience
A financial advisor doesn’t merely sell some stock tip once and make out with the commission without even a follow-up. These are enduring relationships. They may experience some bumps in the road, especially when it comes to the technical complications of investment planning.
CRM software solutions are there to make sure each customer has quick and friction-free access to support in good times and troubling ones—whether it be technical problems or larger investment changes of heart. You need to make a commitment that even if things do not always go as planned, customers can count on a consistently positive experience from their financial advisor.
Key Features of Financial CRM
Activity & conversation tracking
One of the primary functions of CRM software is to keep track of every interaction you’ve had with your contacts across all major touchpoints and through every communication channel: phone calls, emails, texts, meetings, even social media. You get a clear chronological picture of each recorded event, along with any notes, tags/labels, or uploaded attachments.
Financial CRM displays client’s transaction records, making it easier to track investment progress against desired targets and helping you to adjust client strategy as time goes on and their needs become modified.
Workflow automation
The best CRMs include workflows to automate business processes. This is incredibly useful to free up time from more repetitive tasks so that you can focus more on things like researching investment opportunities and financial strategies, expanding your network of contacts, and fostering better relationships with each and every client.
Workflow automation works by leveraging AI, machine learning and other algorithmic step-by-step instructions. This will streamline tasks such as onboarding a new client, sending out email reminders and followups, confirming quotes and invoicing, and assisting in sales processes, such as fulfilling buy and sell orders.
Document management
While the name CRM spells out contact management, document management is also an important function of any CRM solution. In a way far superior to email, attachments don’t get buried in staggered threads, and they’re less limited to documents and spreadsheets.
CRMs store and organize any sort of file, whether textual or rich media, like video or audio transcriptions. You can add notes, tags or labels for more robust searching and faster retrieval, plus share and collaborate on documents among colleagues with different permissions and administrative statuses attributed to each.
Scheduling & calendar
Professionals of all ilks use CRM to manage their time. While CRMs are great for keeping historical records of all that’s gone on in the past, they also help plan what’s coming up in the future.
You can schedule an event directly through your communication. For example, when a client asks you to call them on a certain day, most CRM will give you the option to schedule that call on your calendar. You’ll then get a reminder before the call which will include all the necessary info about the client and the meeting.
CRMs also include scheduler CTAs, where an email is sent out to a contact with time slot options for a meeting. Finally, you get a variety of calendar views and options which show you and your team a bird’s eye view of everything going on.
Reports & analytics
Business needs data, especially in the business of financial services, which is a world of numbers, symbols, trajectories, and patterns.
Finance CRM helps track and analyze the success rates of your outreach campaigns to make new contacts and convert them to lasting clients. It shows you the progress of each client’s case as they move toward achieving their goals. It can help your sales team and support staff stay on top of their game for maximum efficiency. Such analytical wisdom can be exported to neat looking and custom-branded reports to share internally among your firm, and of course, with your valuable clients.
Salesforce Financial Services
Features / Benefits:
The biggest advantage here is that Salesforce is one of the industry’s leading CRM solutions, and they bring that expertise confidently into the financial services industry
Includes tailor-made tools for many wealth management firms, but also related fields like banking, insurance, and mortgage lending
Leverages Salesforce’s massive data bank to gain a deeper understanding of investor’s needs, habits, and trading patterns
Includes AI-driven insights to offer advisors actionable plans for their clients as well as for new client acquisition
Drawbacks:
It’s been suggested there’s a decent amount of manual data entry required before one takes full advantage of their cloud services
Customer support might be slightly slow in responding to issues
With so many tools and features, it takes a while to fully grasp all the capabilities of the platform
It can seem pricey, but some might say that it’s because it’s Salesforce, and you get what you pay for
Pricing:
Professional plan is $150 per user/per month, billed annually
Enterprise plan is $300 per user/per month, billed annually
Unlimited plan is $450 per user/per month, billed annually
Larger organizations and banks should contact the vendor for special pricing
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud offers a 30-day free trial.
DebtPayPro
Features / Benefits:
Niche financial services CRM for debt settlement, including student loan consolidation and credit repair
Offers custom payment programs for debt collection, splitting and distribution of payment streams, and amortization scheduling
Solid team collaboration features which can be segmented by department, specialty or region
Has integrations with credit scoring institutions, underwriters and bank account verification systems
Drawbacks:
The layout can be a bit complicated and overwhelming with no separate dashboards for administrators
It’s been said to fail to recognize duplicate info from your contacts and therefore creates multiple profiles for one single contact
While it’s great for its niche market, it is otherwise limited for broader CRM features
Pricing:
Contact DebtPayPro for prices
Zoho Finance CRM
Features / Benefits:
Helps gather and organize all client data including basic CRM info as well as financial documents, policy information and insurance records
Offers AUM tools (assets under management) to track all transactions with financial institutions and other businesses
Built-in case modules let you compare your clients’ needs to wider financial data to offer actionable support
“Zia,” Zoho’s AI-powered assistant, adds a sophisticated layer of predictions and suggestions for clients and also helps you know the best times and ways to stay in touch with your clients
Drawbacks:
Requires a good amount of manual data entry at first to fully leverage the advanced search and filter features
Zoho is well established in many fields for CRM and other business tools but so far Financial Services hasn’t become one of their most popular solutions
Financial Services cannot be acquired on its own but is a solution as part of larger ZohoCRM platforms
Zia is only available on the Enterprise plan
Pricing:
Free plan is good for three users
Standard plan is $12 per user/month billed annually, $18 billed annually
Professional plan is $20 per user/month billed annually, $30 billed annually
Enterprise plan is $35 per user/month billed annually, $45 billed annually
Ultimate plan is $45 per user/month only billed annually
Zoho offers a 15-day free trial.
Grendel CRM (by Equisoft)
Features / Benefits:
Part of the larger Equisoft package which has over 25 years of experience making financial and wealth management products
Strong emphasis on financial compliance to make sure each customer’s needs are planned with due diligence according to their region
Includes possible add-ons like professional proposal tools, asset allocation modules, financial planning and goal-based plans, plus a client portal
Top data encryption of all CRM data and regular 3rd party audits
Drawbacks:
Without add-ons, or when acquiring Grendel CRM without the larger turnkey packages, the basic features might seem limited
The dashboard design feels pretty old school
This is probably best suited to larger organizations with more resources and not as useful for smaller firms
Pricing:
Equisoft’s broader wealth management platform costs $85 per user/per month
It’s best to contact Grendel for its CRM prices
You can also request a free trial
Redtail Technology CRM
Features / Benefits:
A robust CRM platform with deep ties to the financial services industry, with integrations for financial planning, portfolio management, and risk assessment tools
There’s a seminar building feature for improving the customer experience and prospecting for new clients
Extensive categorizing, tagging and note-taking for client records which builds detailed histories of engagements and financial moves
Works on the go with mobile versions for both iOS and Android
The cost, which is tallied up per database, can be very competitive in comparison to the standard per-user price system, especially with larger teams
Drawbacks:
Sometimes when performing bulk syncing from other platforms, it’s possible for data to get lost or misplaced
Although the basic dashboard setup is convenient and simple for most, it does lack some customization possibilities
Once notes are entered they can be difficult to edit, making some account management a bit messy
Pricing:
Redtail costs $99 per database/per month for 15 users
AdvisorEngine
Features / Benefits:
This is the wealth management software that merged with Junxure’s CRM for financial services in January 2018 and both share basic CRM functionality
Streamlines the onboarding of new clients by collecting all data, information and history in a paperless process
Well suited to help clients at the individual level, as well as for households and the administration of larger firms
Leverages human research analyst insights for improved investment outcomes
Drawbacks:
The dashboard can appear slightly crowded especially for those new to CRM
The website has been known to lag every now and then or freeze, especially while logging in
No mobile version yet, only available on the cloud
Pricing:
Contact them for prices
Wealthbox CRM
Features / Benefits:
The platform is flexible enough for solo financial advisors right up to large-scale enterprise broker-dealers and custodians
Manages CRM data and omnichannel client communications including social media platforms like Twitter
Customize workflows or draw from their workflow templates which leverage conditional logic to automate regular tasks
Uses kanban dashboards for finance opportunity tracking to keep up with client pipeline progress and financial goal achievement
Quite popular for having a very minimal learning curve
Drawbacks:
Despite its easiness to learn, the customer service has been said to be lacking
Updates and fixes are not as frequent as they could be
The overall design can feel a tad underwhelming
Pricing:
Basic plan is $35 per user/per month
Pro plan is $49 per user/per month
Premier plan is $65 per user/per month
Wealthbox offers a 30-day free trial on any plan.
NexJ CRM
Features / Benefits:
Intelligent CRM platform with highly-specific modules for a range of financial and banking-related advisors, foremost among them wealth management
Emphasis on regional market specificity with experience in over 60 countries
Strong use of AI, machine learning and analytics to help advisors tailor their financial advice
Overall NexJ has an extremely professional look and feel
The free trial is a whopping 90 days
Drawbacks:
Some users report issues when combining individual accounts into household accounts
NexJ CRM comes with lots of features, perhaps more than the average user needs, which can make the platform feel overcomplicated.
So far there has been limited adoption so it lacks wider crowd support and user feedback
Pricing:
Contact NexJ Systems for prices
NexJ CRM offers a 90-day free trial.
Junxure
Features / Benefits:
Captures your client’s financial data from integrations with many of the major tech providers and portfolio management firms like TD Ameritrade, SCHWAB OpenView Gateway, and Wealthscape
Human professionals offer training sessions and help with onboarding your data onto their platform to get started, as well as top customer service
Offers a range of reporting options from actionable internal reports to professional-looking finance reports deliverable to the client
Lots of customization for email templates, workflows, and advanced search criteria
Drawbacks:
Not necessarily the simplest platform to use for those who are not yet familiar with CRMs or workflow automation
Syncing with other systems outside its integration ecosystem requires more than the usual amount of manual data entry
Data classification can be a bit unclear which may cause misunderstandings when more than one user is making updates
Junxure is only available on the cloud as SaaS, there is no mobile version
Pricing:
Junxure costs $65 per user/month billed annually
Envestnet Tamarac CRM
Features / Benefits:
This CRM’s emphasis is on helping independent financial advisors give individual clients more personalized investment expertise regardless of the size or type of company
Offers business intelligence and real-time reporting to help track client’s progress against their financial targets
Includes streamlined onboarding workflows for new clients to open accounts quickly and seamlessly through Salesforce
Built entirely on the Microsoft Dynamics platform with the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Outlook
On the mobile version, advisors can log in ‘as a client,’ letting them see a dashboard exactly as their client would see it
Drawbacks:
While there are robust options for workflows, learning to build them can be complicated and time-consuming
Integrations with other CRMs are limited to Salesforce
As this platform is aimed at independent advisors, collaborating with larger teams within bigger organizations is not its main focus
Pricing:
Contact EnvestnetTamarac for pricing or to schedule a personal demo
SatuitCRM
Features / Benefits:
The software was conceived and designed first and foremost by investment professionals
Covers basic CRM features like customer data management and outreach, but also includes complex relationship management between consultants and other third parties
Has a solid background in industry regulation and compliance standards
Can be used as SaaS on the cloud or installed on-premise
Drawbacks:
The dashboard and interface can feel a tad outdated
When used on the cloud, the program has been cited to take longer loading times and can experience delays
Some of the features take some getting used to before they feel quick and natural
Pricing:
Contact Satuit Technologies directly for prices
UGRU CRM
Features / Benefits:
Solid workflow building capabilities, as well as over 40 pre-designed workflows including ones for new client acquisition, sales scripts, and email templates
Has accounting and general ledger tools, which feed data into the financial dashboard for clean reports
There is a “decision center” that does financial calculations
CRM and financial planning data are regularly updated to show real progress versus planned goals
Other interesting tools include a social security analyzer and a reverse mortgage tester
Has a mobile app
Drawbacks:
The platform has a somewhat outdated aesthetic
Initial data storage capacity is slight but more can be purchased
A tad on the expensive side
Pricing:
CRM Plus plan is $59 for 3 users/per month, billed monthly
Performance plan is $139 for 3 users/per month, billed monthly
Professional plan is $179 for 3 users/per month, billed monthly
Advisor Pro plan is $324 for 3 users/per month, billed monthly
UGRU CRM offers a 14-day free trial.
Clienteer CRM (by Imagineer)
Features / Benefits:
Clienteer CRM is very specifically geared towards hedge-funds, private equity firms, venture capital investors and other asset management enterprises
Allows financial advisors to customize campaigns and events based on client’s specific investment preferences, like high risk/high yield versus slow and steady income streams
Integrates with various accounting systems and fund administrators to leverage data at the class, series and tranche levels
Helps client accounts stay fully within compliance standards and always remain audit-ready
Drawbacks:
Due to its powerful computational features, it can be known to run slowly
Similarly, because of the rich functionality, learning everything takes time
Lacks mobile versions and is only available on the cloud
Pricing:
Contact Imagineer Technology directly for the price list
AtomInvest Software
Features / Benefits:
Specializes in helping fund and wealth managers who aim to offer alternative kinds of investment opportunities to their customers, focusing on sustainability and growth
Has CRM tools like email marketing, prospect targeting, marketing automation, lead management and insights, and analytics
Helps streamline the onboarding of new customers while incorporating KYC and AML workflows as well as compliance checks
Automatic workflows to help customers with capital calls, distribution of profits and other automated-subscription features
Total white-label platform available for smaller firms to serve their customers using custom branding
Drawbacks:
AtomInvest is only available on the cloud as a SaaS and lacks a current mobile platform
Lacks widespread use and adoption which decreases the network effect of user feedback for bug fixes, updates, and improvements
The focus on alternative investment strategy might be too narrow for some customers
Pricing:
Contact AtomInvest for further pricing details
Practifi
Features / Benefits:
Great platform for small registered investment advisors (RIAs) who are looking to scale up their business and expand their client lists
Streamlines many workflow processes through automated lead generation, new client onboarding and SLA setups
Comprehensive client information helps identify new sources of referrals, as well as possible centers of influences for smarter investment advice
Drawbacks:
The platform has been known to run on the slow side from time to time
Only available on the cloud, no mobile versions
Lacks multiple pricing tiers
Pricing:
$120 per user/month, billed annually or quarterly
Conclusion
The scope of financial services on offer today requires software solutions that are practical, flexible and more affordable than exclusive legacy consultants of the gilded age.
CRMs for financial services, wealth management, debt settlement, and retirement planning are much more sophisticated than run-of-the-mill ‘reminder databases’ of who’s who in your contact list. Aside from handling basic contact management, omnichannel communication, scheduling, activity tracking, and analytics, these programs offer a slew of unique features tailored to your industry-specific needs.
These include—but are not limited to—such tools as regulatory, compliance and auditing services; the streamlining of information exchange between finance and banking entities and other fiduciary third parties; financial pattern trackers and prediction tools; and the highest-grade encryption that such sensitive personal financial information warrants.
But more importantly, a CRM, whether for financial services or any other industry, is more than a program, but rather an intelligently-digital assistant. It reminds you when certain clients deserve your attention; it takes over the repetitive rote work so your energies can best be dedicated to matters of financial planning and relationship building, and it exposes a wealth of network connections to help you reach out and convert more prospects into clients.
Finally, true to its name, customer relationship management speaks directly to more trusting and enduring relationships. And since financial services are all about looking into the future, finance CRM helps you achieve a brighter and more profitable future for your clients, your firm and your personal-professional success as an advisor.
A finance CRM enables you to deliver the best results for your customer’s financial matters and the best overall customer experience.