How Salesforce Starter Suite Can Serve Your Business

What is the Salesforce Starter Suite?

Salesforce Starter Suite, released in 2023, is Salesforce’s small business-focused customer relationship management solution that combines sales, marketing, service and commerce tools in one platform. While the SaaS (software as a service) giant has offered products for small businesses in the past, its systems were typically better suited for medium-sized and larger businesses. The Salesforce Starter Suite, however, was built with small businesses in mind while still being packed with valuable features. And, importantly, the price of this product is designed to fit the budget of a small business. On every level, it’s made for the little guy.

Who is Salesforce Starter for?

The Salesforce Starter Suite is for small businesses that need affordable CRM software. You’ll pay substantially less for this Starter solution than other CRM platforms — including Salesforce’s other offerings, like its Pro Suite and Enterprise packages — but still have access to sales tracking, reporting, CRM dashboards, marketing and support tools.

You should consider the Salesforce Starter Suite when choosing CRM software if you’re a small business that wants to get into the Salesforce ecosystem. Salesforce rises above its top competitors for a reason — its products are often business game changers. While you won’t have access to all of what Salesforce has to offer with the Starter Suite, you’ll at least have access to the essentials, become familiar with how Salesforce works and get an idea of whether the other, more expensive plans are right for your business as your company grows. [Want to learn more about Salesforce? Listen to one of these Salesforce-focused podcasts.]

Salesforce Starter features

The Salesforce Starter Suite might sound like a light plan with only introductory CRM features. In actuality, this program is packed with robust functionalities — covering just about everything a small business needs to manage and improve its customer relationships. 

You’ll find traditional CRM features like sales pipelines, customer segmentation tools and deal management, and enjoy the benefits of email and meeting integrations, a customer payment portal, a product book, and more. Below are some of our favorite aspects of the Salesforce Starter Suite.

Onboarding orientation

The Salesforce Starter Suite comes with guided onboarding that makes this CRM’s implementation process a breeze. The vendor provides simple step-by-step instructions and recommendations to help you import your company data and use the CRM tools right away. With Salesforce’s user-friendly approach, you can quickly put the power of this platform to work to effectively manage customer relationships from day one.

Preconfigured settings

Salesforce provides a ready-to-use setup for an efficient CRM workflow. Instead of starting from scratch, you can use these preset configurations to hit the ground running. This means less time spent setting up extensive customizations and more time diving into the program’s useful features.

Email templates

Salesforce Starter Suite allows you to craft and send prospects and existing clients engaging email content that resonates with your audience. Choose from a variety of customizable email templates that perfectly match your business’s brand identity. Plus, easily track campaign performance with built-in CRM analytics. With the AI-driven Einstein Send Time Optimization tool, you can improve your marketing ROI by reaching customers at the perfect time with the right messages.

Sales reporting

Salesforce Starter generates ready-to-use reports so you can access key data without spending hours crunching numbers. You can then share these insights with your team, empowering everyone to make informed decisions based on hard evidence. With customizable dashboards, staying on top of individual, team and company goals becomes easier than ever. These dashboards provide a real-time snapshot of your business’s health so you can identify trends, spot opportunities and course-correct as needed.

Case resolution

Salesforce Starter gives you a holistic view of your customers. This way, you can deliver a customer experience tailored to each client’s individual needs. The platform includes automatic case escalation mechanisms so you can swiftly address customer issues and keep both your service team and clients satisfied. Customers also have the option to initiate new cases via email or web form, allowing them to choose the option that better aligns with their preferences.

Salesforce Starter pricing

The Salesforce Starter Suite is priced at $25 per user per month, which can be billed on a monthly or annual basis. If you want to try the platform’s features before committing to the subscription, you can explore the program with a 30-day free trial. When signing up for the free trial, you don’t need to link a credit or debit card; however, at the end of the trial period, you’ll have to pay up to keep using the system. 

Salesforce Starter integrations

Salesforce Starter Suite provides essential CRM features, but the program also seamlessly integrates with thousands of third-party platforms your business might already use on a regular basis or those you want to implement to streamline operations. Below are some of the notable integrations available through Salesforce’s AppExchange.

• Gmail & Outlook: Connect Salesforce Starter with your Gmail or Outlook accounts to facilitate efficient email management and view Salesforce records within your current email platforms.
• Box: When you integrate Salesforce Starter with Box, a leading cloud content management and collaboration platform, you can securely store and access your files directly within Salesforce.
• DocuSign: Simplify the document signing process by integrating Salesforce Starter with DocuSign. With this integration, you can send, track and manage electronic signatures directly from Salesforce and accelerate contract processes.
• ActiveCampaign: You’ll want to integrate Salesforce Starter with ActiveCampaign to enhance your marketing efforts. This integration lets you sync data between Salesforce and ActiveCampaign to create targeted marketing campaigns and effectively nurture leads.
• ZipTeams: Salesforce Starter and its features work well with this cloud-based team collaboration platform. The ZipTeams integration makes communication, task management and project tracking much easier for you and your small team.

Salesforce Starter vs. Pro Suite

Salesforce Pro Suite is Salesforce’s more advanced CRM solution that’s tailored to growing small businesses and larger companies. This product provides extra flexibility and automation to accommodate businesses’ expanding needs. Whereas the Starter Suite prioritizes simplicity and ease of use, Pro Suite offers more functionality and customization options to meet the demands of scaling companies.

For example, Pro Suite includes functionalities such as forecast management for sales predictions and omnichannel routing capabilities for consistent and efficient customer support across various channels. This plan also supports quote creation and management, an ideal solution for businesses that regularly negotiate deals with clients as part of the sales process.

As for pricing, the Pro Suite is considerably more expensive than the Starter Suite plan. At $100 per user per month, Pro Suite supports an unlimited number of users, whereas Starter Suite supports up to 325 users for $25 per user per month. Choosing the plan that’s best for your business depends on your organization’s specific needs, budget and growth trajectory. If you sign up for Starter Suite and decide down the road that your business requires the advanced features of Pro Suite, you can easily upgrade from Starter to Pro within your Salesforce account.

Serving the smallest of businesses

The Salesforce Starter Suite offers small businesses an affordable entry point to one of the largest and most powerful CRM platforms on the market. Made for businesses with straightforward customer relationship management needs, this product offers a variety of features designed to streamline sales, marketing and customer service processes. If you’re looking for a cost-considerate CRM solution, this small business edition of Salesforce’s acclaimed CRM is worth a try.

Max Freedman and Mona Bushnell contributed to this article.