AllClients CRM Review

The simplest way to get organized, generate leads and stay connected with your clients!

Focused on providing easy to use database and email marketing tools, AllClients is a web-based CRM software & online contact manager for small businesses having 1 to 10 users. You can use it to get organized, generate leads and stay connected with your clients, without any IT support.

The application is designed with user-friendliness and simplicity in mind, and you can perform most activities with just two clicks. Marketing tools (e.g. newsletters, web forms, autoresponders etc.) are available off the rack, all you need to do is turn them on. This automation of important business processes ensures an instant response to your clients, exclusively tailored according to their request.

Though we can’t call AllClients an all-inclusive CRM system – as quite a few important modules including customer support system, ecommerce functionality etc. are missing – yet it brings to the table some unique features and benefits. You can customize the application in several ways according to your business needs, but we especially liked the ability to create custom deals, which we’ll discuss in detail shortly.

Quick facts

• Our Rating: 74/100 ( OR 7.4/10)
• Free Trial: Yes (14 days – you can also request an extension)
• Ideal for: Real estate businesses and lending institutes (though can be customized for small businesses of any nature)
• Training required: No
• Users Limit: No
• Mass import/export: Yes
• Email marketing: Yes
• Lead Capturing: Yes

Background

AllClients was developed in 2005 by Jeff Shamus and Todd Binder, two veteran techies from Canada. Since its inception, the application has been updated and modified according to quickly changing needs of small businesses. Jeff and Todd have been developing software well before formulating AllClients, and were also the original founders of HealthPro Solutions which merged with WebMD in 2000.

Getting started (5/5)

Email and password is all you need to provide for signing up, so you’ll be managing your clients in less than 30 seconds. The free trial is valid for only 14 days, but you can request an extension via email. To help you master AllClients, there are several video tutorials available.

Importing data: If you already have a database somewhere else, it’s just a matter of a few clicks to import it into your AllClients account. If the default fields in AllClients don’t match your data, add custom fields before initiating the import process and you’ll get your data into the system exactly as it was in your previous database.

Workspace (13/20)

The work area of AllClients is uncluttered and features only the most relevant and most important features for most businesses. No matter you start from Contacts menu or To-Do list, you can drive your way to anywhere according to the current activity. For example, if you open a contact, in addition to the contact info, you’ll see the associated to-do items, appointments, email history, deals and everything else right on the same page. Just as we mentioned earlier, most of your actions require just two clicks.

One handy button that we missed is the Quick Action or Shortcut menu – just like the one found in InTouch CRM and BlueCamroo CRM – which allows you to add new contacts, deals, to-dos etc. from one drop down menu. Another minor irritation is the absence of add new to-do button under the to-do menu. In case you are viewing your to-do list and want to add another to-do item, you have to jump to Calendar menu first. Two important modules missing are Customer Service (like the one you can see in Free CRM) and Invoicing/Billing System (like the one found in SohoOS CRM).

On a positive note, you can assure that things get done on time by automating your to-dos that involve online action e.g. sending an email, creating a letter etc. Although we evaluated the workspace generically and gave it only 13 out of 20, your business needs can immensely change this score. If you don’t mind the absence of ecommerce functionality inside your CRM system, offer customer support via email only, and prefer a simpler and more automated system, for you, the score might be 19/20!

User interface (9/10)

User interface is beautiful, neat and intuitive. As the vendor says, this application is designed for everyday computer users, and even a first time user can manage his business without requiring any help. If you still need assistance, they offer a simple, 6-step jump start training.

The best thing about the application is its lightning fast speed as it is based on cloud technology and doesn’t require long server-side refreshes.

Price (6/10)

Starting at $19/month, AllClients is suitable for solo-professionals and smaller teams i.e. 1-10 users. But as the number of users increases, the application becomes costlier since each additional team member costs $15/month.

• Adding team members                                                   :    $15/user/month
• Voice touch (Audio hotline for generating leads)     :     $20/month
• Up to 40,000 additional email credits                        :    $10/month

Integration with 3rd party apps (6/10)

AllClients allows hardcore outbound integration only with your Google account. On the flip side, they offer an API which can be used by any other vendor to integrate their app with AllClients. This API has already been manipulated by Fetch Flow (an accounting system) to allow synchronization of data with AllClients.

Customization (7/10)

Unlike Infusionsoft, BlueCamroo and other high-tech CRMs, you can’t customize the homepage – which is a highly desirable option. But there are a few other ways to customize AllClients. You can add custom fields as well as custom categories to suit your particular requirements. The most useful customization, however, is the one that allows you to create custom deals consisting of stages just as required by your business.

Mobile support (5/5)

A mobile-friendly version is available that you can browse via any smartphone or tablet.

Scalability (7/10)

Technically, there is no limit to adding users, however, the pricing and functionality of AllClients make it an ideal choice for teams with up to 10 users.

Customer support (8/10)

Detailed answers to common queries are available in the Knowledge Base or Support Community. You can also post your own questions in the Support Community to get help from other users or AllClients support team. Otherwise, you can ask questions via live chat during the office hours, or via email.

Back up and security (8/10)

Data backup is performed rightly. If you’ve mistakenly or accidentally deleted your data, it can be recovered for a fee. It’s recommended that you do a full data export regularly to be on the safe side.

Your data is stored on non-shared servers at a top-tier hosting provider.  Only the founders have access to the entire data sets.  The support staff has access to individual accounts, only when assisting customers with issues in their accounts.

Features

• Home
  This is actually your dashboard that features an Action Center (which is actually a bundle of most useful menus), To-do Summary, Recent Contacts, and Email Info Center. It not only gives you access to key menus but also offers important details regarding pending tasks and email campaigns. Unfortunately, you can’t customize the Action Center.
• Contacts
  It’s a comprehensive online client management system. You can search the contacts, view the contact history or quickly jump to contacts with specific initials. You can’t, however, group or tag contacts as you can do in InTouch CRM and others. Open a contact, and you’ll have all the relevant details, history notes and recent interactions on one page. Then, adding a file, task, appointment, special event, deal, or referral, and viewing email history related to this contact is just a matter of a few mouse clicks. You can also access their social media profiles and send direct email.
• To-do List
  AllClients features a unique task list which lets you add, edit and manage your appointments.  You can also assign priority to each task and automate the online tasks. The only nuisance is that you can’t add a task without assigning a contact to it. It can be annoying if you want to add a personal to-do.
• Calendar
  The calendar lists your upcoming tasks and events. You can switch between Monthly, Weekly or Daily view. On the right hand side, you have an overview of your to-dos. You can also synchronize your AllClients calendar with iCalendar, export it or simply print it.
• Deals
  This is the section that impressed us the most because of its versatility and customizability. You can choose from several built-in deals or create custom deals from scratch with as many deal types and stages as required by your business. Reports are also incorporated into the deals menu and you can view your deals by stage or in the form of pie chart.
• Referral Tree
  Yet another exclusive feature is the referral tree. It’s a client referral tree to keep track of relationships and most productive clients that are bringing in more clients for your business.
• VoiceTouch
  It’s a phone-based marketing system also known as a Free Recorded Message System, built right into your CRM software. Now your prospective clientele will call your VoiceTouch line to get their desired information FROM you or to leave any message FOR you, or both. The best thing about a Free Recorded Message is that people will feel more comfortable as compared to speaking with a sales person.
• Reports
  Just like the other features, AllClients has a unique reporting system. You can view the current stats about the contacts in terms of their cities, categories, email opt-in statuses and the source that brought them into your CRM.There are also reports about new contacts you are capturing every month and results of your email campaigns. But the interesting statistics you can see are about the log in history of your account which shows the time and IP address of logins for the last 90 days. It can help you keep an eye on any unwanted activity with your account.
• Settings
  It’s a wide range of background options you can set to tell the system how you want to run your business. There are five different types of main settings you can control:
• Personal settings: it lets you define the basic account settings, letter templates, email settings etc. Agenda assistant, however, is probably the most useful option through which you can send email reminders about several activities to up to three different email ids.
• General settings: these settings allow you to customize your whole system by defining custom categories, custom fields, custom deal types etc.
• Automatic settings: here you can set the audio messages for VoiceTouch, create autoresponders and landing pages, and to-do plans.
• Utilities: this is the menu that helps you import or export your data or delete any recent imported batches.
• Advanced settings: if you want to take your CRM to the next level, this menu can help you by letting you tweak the API settings and SendGrid integration.

Benefits of AllClients

• Simple and easy to use interface
• Being a cloud-based and mobile friendly app, it allows you to access the system from anywhere, anytime. What’s more, it’s very fast as there are no time-eating server side refreshes
• Gives you the freedom to manage your referrals via referral tree and capitalize on most productive clients
• Customizable deals make it an ideal contact manager for any small business
• Unlimited custom fields and categories give you the freedom to manage your business in any way you desire
• AllClients offers some features e.g. VoiceTouch, Referral tree, Activity log etc. that you’ll hardly find in any other CRM
• Powerful reporting to keep track of all your business activities and their outcomes

Shortcomings of AllClients

• There are some major features missing e.g. ecommerce system, company management system, customer support system etc.
• There are some trivial annoyances e.g. you can’t add a to-do unless you link a contact with it, you can’t add a to-do from to-do menu, you can’t import data unless it has a First Name/Last Name field
• Though the system allows customization in several ways, the user interface can’t be tailored according to your needs
• Data is backed up daily, but you have to pay extra fee for recovery
• AllClients doesn’t offer outbound integration with apps other than Google Account
• Pricing plans are ideal for smaller teams (i.e. up to 10 members) and get costlier as your team grows

Conclusion

Though some important modules are missing, AllClients features some exclusive modules in their place. Considering this fact, it can be either an ideal solution or a par contact manager. All things considered, we really liked the innovative features and neat user interface of the application. If you have 10 or less users in your team, we do recommend you test drive AllClients.