Nutshell Reviews

Pros

I've used Nutshell for three separate businesses that I've run or owned. Each one considered a small to medium-sized business. Nutshell is perfectly suited to us because it's lightweight and easy to learn. It doesn't require an in-house expert on the app (like SalesForce). It's basic feature-set is all I've ever needed, and the support is terrific. Real people at the end of the phone, with fast responses. And, it's made in Michigan! It has a lot of simple customizations that I use; workflow, custom fields, leads, etc.

Cons

Integrations are somewhat limited, but still, plenty to work with. I'd like an integration to RingCentral's app. Also, it doesn't' handle subsidiary company relationships well. I've had to create a workaround with tags to help connect them.

Pros

The software surprised me in a pleasant way. It certainly accomplishes the task at hand.Nutshell's contact management feature was one of its many appealing features. To put it another way, who doesn't like having all of their contacts in one place? It's like having your own rolodex, but you don't have to put any effort into organizing it. In addition, having access to all of your communication history with each contact makes it easy to pick up where you left off.The sales automation feature was another Nutshell feature that I really liked. I mean, who doesn't want their sales process to be automated? It's similar to having a small sales assistant who takes care of all your busy work so you can concentrate on more important things.Furthermore, we should not disregard the portable access include. When it comes to managing sales pipeline and contacts while on the go, who wouldn't want that? It's like having a Nutshell in your pocket, ready to help whenever you need it.I have to say that Nutshell was a pretty good experience overall. It certainly makes managing sales and contacts much less monotonous.

Cons

The reporting and analytics feature of Nutshell was one feature that bothered me. I love data just as much as anyone else, but sometimes all those graphs and charts can be a little overwhelming. It's similar to trying to read a book written in binary code: it's informative, but not particularly exciting.The customization feature was another thing that I found frustrating. While it's great that Nutshell can be customized to meet your specific requirements, there are times when all the options can be a little overwhelming. It's like getting the keys to a car and finding out you have to build it yourself: it's fun, but it also takes a lot of work.Although Nutshell is a good software in general, there were a few aspects that disappointed me. However, who knows, maybe I'm just being picky.

Pros

I like that's it's web based, and that it can store information about my clients. That's really about it.

Cons

I dislike very much that I cannot search using CTRL + F for stuff on a clients page. I'll have a lot to look though and I'll want to search for a specific word, say "lunch" or "meeting." I cannot search for these words. Instead it just pulls up the search bar for people. Very unuseful for a CRM....

I really hate that when I do search, it rarely finds me what I need, and almost never quickly. It's difficult to find phone numbers, if I search someone's name, it'll pull up everyone's not CLOSE to what I'm search for, but somehow not the specific person....

My daily tasks somehow get clogged by what is in the leads... perhaps there's a way around this, but I haven't found it yet. I can't really rely on tasks or to-dos with Nutshell, so I use Trello for that.

I can mostly use Nutshell for just storing stuff about my clients, and even then finding that information months later is not very easy, frustrating and not very helpful.

Pros

User-Friendly Interface: Nutshell's interface is intuitive and easy to use, making it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes.Advanced Reporting Capabilities: It offers advanced reporting features that allow users to create custom reports and analyze their sales data in real-time.Customization Options: Users can customize the platform to meet their specific business needs, including custom fields, workflows, and more.Integrations: Nutshell integrates seamlessly with other popular business applications, including G Suite, Microsoft Office, and Zapier.

Cons

Limited Mobile App: Nutshell's mobile app is basic and lacks some of the features available on the desktop version of the platform.One potential drawback of Nutshell I feel is its pricing, which may be too steep for some small businesses. The Platform's entry-level plan starts at $19 per user per month, which can add up quickly for companies with multiple employees.The Platform can be slow at times, particularly when handling large amounts of data

Pros

This CRM walks the less experienced sales rep through the entire sales process even recommending when to follow up even suggesting additional steps should be taken to get to the close. Upon close it automatically updates the customer database and the task management features facilitate the onboarding process. It also has a neat "Click-to-Call" feature that calls and optionally records directly from your prospect list providing an excellent sales training vehicle.

Cons

We would like to have seen the developers respond more quickly to feature suggestions but as a Sales CRM it is untouchable.

Pros

Nutshell has been great for our software firm as it grew from a startup to a mid-market company. Nutshell is very similar to us in age, culture, feature philosophy, etc. so I always enjoy interacting with the team. The Support (via chat and email) is excellent and they are always willing to hear new feature ideas and requests. The affordability makes it a great first CRM for new and small businesses.

Cons

Importing can sometimes result in a lot of duplicate leads, so data cleanliness becomes a bit of an issue as you grow. Reporting has some room to grow but it's not too bad right now.

Pros

We really like the insights we get from their reporting which helps us make decisions about our business. We use it for our sales, new customer on-boarding and retention activities. We've been on the platform for over 3 years and highly recommend them.

Cons

We'd like to see them expand their App integrations & Zaps (Zapier) with best of breed solutions.

Pros

Nutshell is insanely powerful in that it can be customized to your needs pretty heavily, and has some nice features like Outlook integrations and auto-population of contact info from LinkedIn/address books.

Having all email correspondence with leads auto-entered into Nutshell is a huge time saver, and is easily our most liked feature.

Cons

The UI can be a bit cluttered/clunky at times, and the lack of a well put together mobile app makes it a pain to use on mobile devices. We found ourselves often waiting until we got to a desktop to enter/update leads, which defeats the purpose of keeping the CRM always updated.

Pros

Super easy to use and understand all the functions. From reminders to notes and all this program makes work life super easy and efficient.

Cons

The only issue I have with Nutshell is when you enter a name and the tag "duplicate" pops up. And 99.9 % of the time the name is no where near the same name as the one you entered.

Pros

-Integrated with outlook
-new hot list feature
-unlimited leads
-easy input info

Cons

-sending emails from the program are a little spammy
-confusing how to create different lists

Pros

We explored a number of CRM solutions and initially selected Insightly after trying to get Tiger CRM working. Insightly functionality was too limiting and consequently was not being used. Our second round of trials lead us to Nutshell, which we have been using for about two years.

We found Nutshell to be reasonably robust and easy to use. We have been using it for about two years now. We have about 30,000 contacts and 11,000 companies.

Cons

We are now running into some functional issues which we have to address with addons, including Mailjet for email campaigns and Zapier for data transfer. The lack of a quoting interface, manual address entry into Quickbooks, lack of phone integration, and incomplete email integration. With the exception of QB integration, the other functions can be addressed with more addons. By the time we get done adding on the functional holes, the price becomes quite high.

The reliance on addons also means that the system becomes unwieldy; a different system, management interface, and subscription for each function.

At this time, I don't think there is a good solution for QB integration at all. This may not be significant since QB for Manufacturing is below our needs anyway. Our next step may be to use PostBooks, Xtuple, or some other MRP system that includes CRM. But, those also carry their own management burdens and costs.

Nutshell does have a reasonable email interface to send correspondence through our IMAP server, but the markup tags are cumbersome, are error prone, has no CC or BCC field, and the reply emails don't populate under the Nutshell customer(s). Consequently, only half of the conversation is visible. Of all of the above, this is the most significant limitation at this point.

Pros

visually organized and logical data entry screen. Functionality is there to build as robust or simple as the company needs/wants.

Cons

It is very easy to self-build an inefficient architecture. Data uploads can be catastrophic if not done correctly. I think more training on set up, warnings issued at set up and common pitfalls at set up would avoid harmful bulk uploads making irreversible upload mistakes.

Pros

Ease of use, backed up by powerful tools. Tracks your calls and even can be set to remind you to contact customers that you haven't talked to in a while. Favorite part is the Keep in touch. It plans my day and my call backs flawlessly.

Cons

I would like to see a visual overlay of all my customers on a map. That way when I am planning a trip I don't miss any customers that are off the main roads. Will give me a visual to help plan. Or some way to plan a road trip and Nutshell will show me all the customers I should contact on the way and plan route. Which can be transferred over to gps software like enroute.

Pros

Ease of use for a small business with a few people doing sales work. We didn't need all of the bells and whistles of Salesforce at the cost of complexity. As of a few years ago, you had plugged most of the holes that we cared about. Since then, new functionality or major new rewrites have either added complexity or relearning with little apparent benefit. I understand the need to do some of this but I hope you don't become Salesforce.

Cons

The LinkedIn connection is really important for us. It was a big relief when that came back. Also, the loss of historical record of communication for a Contact when you delete an old email is problematic. We are forced to retain all of these old emails and this can create confusion.

Pros

Setting up and importing our current customer information was easy. Once you wrap your head around the Nutshell way of doing things, you can easily manage a large database of customers.

Cons

Nutshell does not integrate easily with WooCommerce which leads to using third-party plugins that are limited due to NutShell API.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Nutshell

Pros

It's an easy software to learn, but Pro is too short because there just aren't any real pro's for our use, but to change would be a nightmare, so we continue in hopes to see improvement.

Cons

Would be nice if you could see the "Owner" of the account on the lead no matter who starts the lead - It's constant going back and forth when you have to pay people by commission sales. The search engine could be improved to pickup on Not Exact entries.
It would be nice to see "ALL" the notes regardless if your in a lead or on the main page.

Pros

Keep track of daily follow ups - and record entire history with contacts. Basic CRM stuff it does well.

Cons

1. Where did the Gmail Gadget go? This was the best feature and now it's gone. :(
2. The relationship between the Lead and the Customer can be confusing...
3. Reporting for specific items can be challenging as well.

Pros

Mobile app so I have my contact info with me. I have only been using as a simple contact database manager and I know it can do so much more. I need to spend time making sure I understand and use it to the full potential within my needs!

Cons

Had issue with dialing out that took quite a while to fix (when I hit dial on my mobile phone it would add a bunch of numbers which did not let it dial). I spoke to customer care about this and it took a little time and effort to get them to understand and then I would say it took a few months before someone fixes the bug. Another issue is that on the mobile device the contacts are alphabetized automatically but on the desktop version this does not happen? Have mentioned to customer care but no response. Cannot add more than 30 company types? I use this field to help categorize my contacts. Why just 30?

Pros

It is incredibly helpful to have so many features within one program. Nutshell is helpful to almost everyone on our team! With a quick search, the team can find contact information and see where the conversation left off. I love that there is a PandaDoc extension to help send documents in an organized & prompt manner! Reports are easy to generate and there are so many resources to help answer your questions. The provided training videos are clear & give good direction. Customer service representatives are knowledgable, kind, and personable.

Cons

Duplicates are easy to create, however the software makes up for this by creating an alert and suggesting that the information may already be in the system.

Pros

Love the integration with 3rd party programs like mail chimp and any other automation systems.

Cons

iOS app needs some more tweaking with being able to have the little blue bubble on activities when viewing activities from the activity menu or when viewing activities on the account info page. You only get the blue bubble if you go to the customer timeline and find the activity, or from the notifications menu. The blue bubble for conversations on activities should be available everywhere you can access an activity.

Pros

I like the automation, filtering functionality and ease of getting in touch with customer service. Their chat function is great for answering questions.

Cons

The issue I have most about this software is the email filtering when it comes to leads. I could have multiple projects with the same client, but all of his/her emails show up under the lead. I wish these emails filtered out depending on the conversation.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Nutshell

Pros

Nutshell has everything that's really necessary without requiring a lot of time-stinking busywork. It works well for one person, semi-independent collaboration, and for teams. Also has great integrations, but probably its best feature is its flexibility.

Cons

I wish we did not have to visit setup to create a new product and then go back to the lead to add it. All our leads require products and all the products are one of a kind, so it's the only hiccup in an otherwise completely smooth process.

Pros

Nutshell is extremely easy to implement and has all the basic features you need to get a CRM up and running . It is awesome for anywhere from 1 - 1000 customers. Integration with email is easy. Phone app is great especially when making calls from it to customers so you can log that the call happened. Collaboration with your team is seamless.

Cons

Nutshell does lack some of the more indepth automation features that you can get in a Salesforce, but it is far more affordable and doesn't require crazy setup. Their api is decent, but also has a little way to go for advanced integration. Nutshell also isn't the best choice for thousands of customers because it is hard to manage.

Pros

The updated and modern look of all the icons and images was a great add on. We are also excited to take advantage of the updated reporting capabilities as well.

Cons

How leads have to be added into the system. Before an update was done, the company information (address, phone, etc) and the person information (address, phone, etc) was able to be added directly when creating the lead. Now the lead must be generated first and only the company name and person name can be added at time of creation. You have to then go back and add all other information for the company and person after. VERY tedious and frustrating this process was changed.

Pros

Not much. There are no redeeming qualities of this software. We're required to use it for work and keep our contacts in but it's impossible to use or find anything. A search for Jane Smith returns Demita Evans. A search for Apex returns Zyno. You can't search by position, the names are listed randomly, you can't put them in alphabetical order. I could go on forever.

Cons

It's so hard to use. The search function is completely ineffective. You can't sort or filter anything. I'd be better off with an Excel spreadsheet of company names and contacts.