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Running a startup is exciting and challenging at the same time. It opens up a big window of opportunities for the business, but also brings a set of unique challenges on your doorstep. From improving your online brand visibility to understanding customer needs to getting audience insights, there’s plenty to do. Fortunately, there are free business tools for startups that can make things easier for your business.
These tools can prove great value for small businesses. You can use them to streamline tasks and increase efficiency. The best thing, they will help you save your business lots of money and time.
What’s more, choosing these essential tools for startups can bring positive impact to various aspects, be it customer service, marketing, sales, communication, project management, and so on. They are invaluable in supporting operations and scaling your business.
In this blog, we will explore free tools for startups, analyze their features, and benefits, and see how they can positively impact various facets of your operations.
But first, let’s look at some of the benefits these tools can provide to a startup…
Why Do You Need Free Startup Tools?
Launching and growing a startup is anything but easy as it comes with so many considerations. Whether or not to use free tools is one such decision. You should consider using them since 72% of small businesses believe that tools and technology improve efficiency and productivity.
Let’s look at the reasons why you need free tools for your startup –
- Cost Efficiency – Startups can use free tools to access essential resources for running business operations without incurring additional expenses.
- Access to Basic Features – Free tools can offer basic features that startups need to meet their immediate needs without having to allocate resources.
- Scalability – A startup can use free tools and achieve seamless scalability without disruptions. These tools come with the option of upgrading to paid plans, ensuring scalable solutions to meet the needs of the business.
- Testing and Experimentation – Startups often need to test different options and tools to know what suits best their specific needs. Such testing and experimentation can best be done through free tools.
- Reduced Risk – Investment in tools and resources is always a big financial decision for startups. Paid tools may not always be compatible with the specific needs and model of the business. On the other hand, free tools can give the flexibility to test the viability and then decide its long-term utility.
Different Categories of Essential Tools for Startups
Startups need different essential tools to run operations smoothly and achieve success. These tools span various categories with each serving a specific purpose for the business. Using them can improve overall productivity, bring cost-effectiveness, and provide a competitive edge in the market.
Let’s look at different types and categories of essential tools for startups –
Productivity Tools
These tools are vital for streamlining workflow and collaboration. Your business can use them to manage tasks and projects. There are a range of free productivity tools for startups to maintain the workflow and collaborate across departments.
Marketing Tools
For startups, marketing is a big area of focus as it helps them reach their target audience effectively and establish their brand presence. There are many free marketing tools that a business can use for tasks across email, and social media for engagement.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools
CRM tools have a big role to play in helping businesses manage customer relationships. They are extensively used to centralize customer data, track interactions, and ensure personalized experiences.
Analytics and Data Tools
The use of analytics tools is growing as they provide data-driven insights to startups. Using them can provide tons of data on user behavior, preferences, and needs. Free analytics tools for small businesses are crucial to making informed decisions.
Customer Support Tools
A business can build customer loyalty and satisfaction only when it offers excellent support. The focus should be on providing quick responses to queries, and keeping communications hassle-free across channels.
Free Small Business Software For Productivity
1. Trello
Trello is a simple and easy-to-use collaboration tool that is used to organize projects, streamline workflows, and improve efficiency. Using this tool, you can find all kinds of information such as who is working on what project, how much progress is made on the project, etc. It stands out due to offering tons of useful features such as customizable workflows, collaboration features, and integration options.
Key Features
- Boards, Cards, and Lists for Project Management
- Easy Task Allocation with Notification Options
- Mobile Accessibility
- Free Version with Basic Features
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Asana
Asana is a popular productivity tool for task management and improving collaboration. It helps you to keep track of to-dos with a task management system. You can keep all information in one place like project plans and meeting notes, and let everyone pull from the same source. The tools allow the creation and sharing of templates.
Key Features
- Easy Task Assignments and Management
- Automated Workflow
- Kanban Board for Agile Management
- User-Friendly Mobile Applications
- Mobile Accessibility
- Evernote
Evernote is a very effective productivity tool if you are looking for a solution that helps you store all your notes, documents, and images in one centralized place. You can access it on all your devices. More so, it lets you take or create notes by typing them or through voice-to-audio. The search function in Evernote will help you find what you need and add to your productivity.
Key Features
- Note Creation and Organization
- Web Clipper
- Note Sharing and Collaboration
- Notebook Stacks
- Templates
- Google Drive
Google Drive is the most popular file-sharing and document collaboration tool. Its free plan offers 15 GB of storage which is way more than what others offer in the category. Some of the top features include commenting, team chat on any document, and recording changes in the document history.
Key Features
- File Storage, File Syncing & File Sharing
- Real-Time Collaboration
- Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides Integration
- Third-Party App Integration
- Offline Access
Software for Small Business Management
- Wrike
Wrike is a popular project management tool to manage projects from start to finish. It enables cloud-based collaboration and provides full control over tasks. It helps in various aspects of the project, right from organizing project needs to creating project plans and adjusting the plans. More so, it also helps project leads visualize schedules on the Gantt chart and offer notifications about work changes.
Key Features
- Project Time Tracking
- Customizable Reports
- Customizable Templates
- Inventory Tracking
- Marketing Automation
- Avaza
Avaza is a business management solution for small and mid-sized enterprises. It includes a variety of features for project management. In addition, it has features for expense management, invoicing, timesheets, and more. This tool can also be integrated with third-party platforms. Businesses can save time with easy expense and time tracking. It also offers powerful reporting on metrics and enables business insights.
Key Features
- Activity Dashboard
- Activity Tracking
- Billing & Invoicing
- Calendar Management
- ClientPoint
ClientPoint is a cloud-based enterprise-level tool for proposal creation and management. Sales and marketing teams can use this tool to generate proposals instantly and optimize them easily. Using this tool, proposals can be personalized as per the client’s specific requirements. Its analytics and tracking feature can help track different attributes, know the key issues, and address them effectively.
Key Features
- Proposal Customization
- CRM Applications Integration
- Multimedia Content Addition to Proposals
- Proposal Tracking
- Reservio
Reservio is a very helpful platform for online booking and appointment scheduling. This tool is suitable for client-serving businesses that want to build custom scheduling. Using this tool can help save time on scheduling and also simplify the appointment booking process. A central interface is available to manage appointments and events.
Key Features
- Appointment Management
- Appointment Scheduling
- Automated Scheduling
- Calendar Management
- Customer Surveys
Best Software for Small Business Data Analytics
- Zoho Analytics
Zoho Analytics is a powerful business intelligence and analytics platform for getting valuable insights from data. Creating and sharing powerful reports in quick time is possible with this tool and that too without no help from an IT team. One can build powerful reports and dashboards with a simple drag-and-drop interface. This tool can be used across functional areas for advanced reporting needs on any scale.
Key Features
- Self Service DataPrep
- Visual Analysis
- Enhanced augmented analytics
- DataStories
- Collaborative analysis
- Google Analytics 360
Google Analytics 360 is the right tool if your business is looking for an enterprise-level analytics platform with detailed performance indicators. By using this tool, you can get deep insights into customer behavior interactions with websites and apps. It can also be connected with other apps such as CRMs and POS systems, to get complete overviews of customer behaviors. More so, the tool uses machine learning to identify customer trends and patterns in the data.
Key Features
- Activity Dashboard
- Augmented Analytics
- Behavior and Campaign Tracking
- Customer Journey Mapping
- Data Aggregation and Data Visualization
- Tableau
Tableau is a robust AI-powered analytics and business intelligence platform that offers contextualized insights for better decision-making. It allows the creation of any data from treemaps and ensures easy visualization of model results. From data source management to data quality assessments, insights to action, it allows all for businesses. It can easily fit into tech stacks of any complexity and enables deep integrations with Salesforce technologies and Data Cloud.
Key Features
- Behavioral Analytics
- Campaign Tracking
- Data Integration & Management
- Data Mapping, Migration, Quality Control
- Mobile Dashboards
- Performance Metrics & Monitoring
- Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense is a tool that empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions. It packs powerful capabilities such as AI-powered insight suggestions and advanced analytics integration. More so, it comes with powerful data integration and connectivity features. Teams can rely on the Qlik Sense system to get data visualization and discovery. The drag-and-drop interface is available to create interactive data visualizations.
Key Features
- Workflow Management
- Visual Analytics
- Sales Trend Analysis
- Real-Time Reporting
- Multivariate Analysis
- Performance Metrics
Free Marketing Tools for Startups
- ClickUp
ClickUp is a very helpful tool for marketing teams at startups for scheduling tasks, assigning roles, and managing operations easily. You can use it for marketing and editorial calendars and manage publishing schedules. Using this tool, it’s possible to collaborate in real time on ads and social media engagement. Whether developing new campaigns, automating tasks, or diving deep into analytics, this tool touches every aspect of marketing and adds great value to businesses.
Key Features
- Recurring task creating via Automation
- Easy communication and streamlined workflows
- Thousands of templates
- Tons of support
- GetResponse
GetResponse is the right tool when email marketing is your top priority and you send a lot of communications daily. It will help you automate some of your email campaigns and effectively reach out to customers. In addition, you can boost lead generation and gather contact using sign-up forms and landing page pop-ups. This tool uses auto-response templates to gain new customers and nurture subscribers.
Key Features
- Engagement Tracking
- More than 100 integrations
- AI email generator
- Landing page designer
- KWFinder
Building an online presence is among the biggest marketing challenges for startups. However, SEO or search engine optimization could be the key to boosting brand visibility on the web. Keyword research is a vital aspect of optimizing your websites and landing pages for search engines. As a marketing tool, KWFinder can help you target the right keywords to reach your audience and increase your online visibility.
Key Features
- Competitor Analysis
- Search Volume for Specific Keywords
- Detailed insight into keyword ranking
- Tracking of SEO Metrics
- SERP Volatility Checker
- Mention
Social media analysis and online presence monitoring are key aspects of an effective marketing strategy. With Mention, your startup can track its brand mentions across various platforms. It also lets you monitor the mentions of your competitors and gain deep insights into their marketing strategies. Some key services this tool enables include user monitoring, brand management, data-driven insights, and much more!
Key Features
- Analytics & Reporting
- Influencer Outreach
- Content Ideas
- Audience Engagement
- Automation of accounts
Best Tools for Startups to Improve Customer Service
- Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk platform for managing customer service. Businesses of all sizes can use this tool to accomplish tasks as varied as related to report creation, and support tickets. It also helps collate interactions and communications from various channels and put them in one place. Workflow rules can be set to automate a wide variety of tasks such as ticket assignments, service escalations, and notifications. It also provides customizable and scheduled reports and can be integrated with Zoho customer relationship management (CRM).
Key Features
- Issue Management, Scheduling $ Tracking
- Reporting & Statistics & Analytics
- Support Ticket Management & Support Ticket Tracking
- Usage Tracking/Analytics & User Management
- Workflow Configuration & Management
- ThinkOwl
ThinkOwl is the right choice when you run a startup and want a one-in-all solution for all your customer support needs. You can trust this tool’s AI-powered capabilities in streamlining every workflow. It also allows easy automation of various aspects that can reduce workloads and increase service efficiency. Using this tool, you can analyze customer data and create advanced reports well that will help get detailed and real-time insights into operations.
Key Features
- Appointment Management
- Customer Segmentation
- Document Management & Storage
- Multi-Channel Communication, Language & Data Collection
- Performance Metrics & Predictive Analytics
- Freshdesk
Freshdesk is the ideal software for any startup that aims to deliver great customer service. It’s a SaaS-based software with omnichannel capabilities and tons of self-service options. More so, it enables automated ticket routing and offers detailed reporting. You can use it to unify requests from different channels and ensure single-view conversations.
Key Features
- Call Center Management
- Customer Complaint Tracking
- Feedback Management
- Multi-Channel Communication
- Real-Time Monitoring
- Surveys & Feedback
- Kayako
Kayako is a fully integrated help desk software that startups can use to offer excellent customer service. Its full suite of tools including live chat can be leveraged to offer customer service in multiple languages. More so, it has an organized shared inbox which makes the tool easy to use. Using this tool, you can offer efficient services across email, Facebook, Twitter, and live chat.
Key Features
- Robust Ticketing System
- Live Chat Widget
- Customer Interactions Storage
- Automation
- Easy integration with over 700 apps
Boost Your Customer Engagement with REVE’s Tools
At REVE, we understand how effective engagement with customers is key to better conversions and more sales.
We bring to you a wide variety of tools that can help you engage your customers better at each stage of their journey with your brand.
Our AI-powered chatbot can be used to automate a wide variety of tasks across marketing, sales, and support. You can also use the bot to offer quick replies and add convenience to the user’s journey.
Some other important tools include video chat software, co-browsing software, and the ticketing system.
Our live chat software can be added to the chatbot to offer hybrid support where the bot takes up regular conversations while live personnel can handle complex conversations.
Final Thoughts
Running a startup can be both exciting as well as challenging. If you have all the resources and tools, the ride will be smooth for the business. And if you lack them, it could impact the flow of your business in many ways.
However, there are so many free business tools for startups available that you can leverage and add a sense of efficiency to your operations.
With us, you can sign up and check how our tools can support your business on many levels.
