Avochato vs EngageBay CRM: Which is a better fit?

Andrew K.: My name is Andrew. I'm a program manager at a software company, and I would give Avochato a five out of five rating. Before we started using Avochato, we were a very small scrappy team, and we were actually just using one of the team member's Google Voices account to send and receive texts with customers when we needed to. One of the main alternative products that we considered when we were looking at Avochato was called Skipio. The main reason that we didn't go with it was because the pricing wasn't great for a very small team like ours, though it would have been a better option later on as we grew. The main reasons that we went with Avochato were the pricing, and the compatibility with Zapier. The pricing was great for a small growing team like ours. It didn't have too high of a bar to get started. So we could kind of just pay for what we used. And the prices were very, very reasonable, and they stayed reasonable even as we grew quite a bit. And Zapier was another important thing for us because we use Zapier to automate a lot of these processes as they grew, and Avochato worked really, really well with Zapier. It was really easy to set up and really easy to create automated workflows and expand as we grew. Getting started without Avochato was super easy. I think we basically just read some help documentation on the website for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. We got our account provisioned. That was pretty much it. The rest of it, we just sort of added new features and took advantage of new features as we went along, but getting started and being able to send and receive our first texts took no more than 10 minutes. For people who are considering using Avochato, I would recommend thinking about two things, pricing and integrations. One, pricing is important when you start out, but you also have to think about where you're going to go, because if you're growing 10 X one year, you don't want to have to change SMS platforms if you don't have to. So make sure you pick something that works for you now, but will also work and make sense as you grow. The second thing is integrations. For our team, it was really important that the tool that we chose integrate with certain tools like Zapier. And again, this only gets more important as you grow. So make sure it's going to fit with your other tools that you use.

Kurt: Hi guys. My name is Kurt. I am a licensed insurance agent with American Income. I am self-employed, so it's just myself. I would give EngageBay a five-star rating. Awesome program. I've actually used multiple CRMs. I have a pretty diverse background in sales, including working as a business development manager for a company. But the most recent CRM before EngageBay was Zoho. Reality was that was just not meeting the needs of what I wanted out of it for what I was paying for between the scheduling, the calendar links, and just the overall flexibility of the program. EngageBay met those needs. I use EngageBay to do a lot of text and email communications where I'm sending out my calendar links so people can schedule directly with me. That was one of the huge features. The other feature that was really critical for me was effective tracking of my clientele, combined with just that ability to have everything there in one spot, both the marketing and the sales. When I made the decision to go with EngageBay, I had been looking at a lot of different CRM options. One of the challenges, going into life insurance sales is a new business venture for me, so I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on a CRM in the beginning, even though it's really critical to have a CRM that can grow with you as your business grows. A lot of times that means they spend a lot of money. I think, ultimately, the decision for me with EngageBay was it was inexpensive to start out and I don't see any real limitations to the growth potential with it as I've been using it. Getting started was actually really easy with EngageBay. They actually give you a checklist to go through as you log in of things to do to get it set up, so that was great. The only, I guess, real challenge with getting started is some of the features, particularly the email templates, are a little complex. They do have some good help tutorials for that as well. I did have to talk with them on chat a few times. But overall, really easy to set up. I guess thinking about advice for somebody that's going to get EngageBay, I would tell you to do your homework first and look into reviews, look into what specifically you want from a CRM. I would say of the CRMs I used, it is definitely one of the most expansive CRMs I've used in terms of its abilities to do different things. They call themselves the all-in-one suite. For me, that all-in-one feature really has been a huge benefit. It allows me to do all the different things I want with a CRM, but I would say make sure it goes deep enough in the areas that you're looking for. If you're looking for super in-depth customer tracking, this may or may not be what you want. I would say make the decisions of what you need from your CRM first.