Online contact management means digitally collecting, storing, and organizing customer information, often with the help of contact management tools. Modern customers may interact with your business across websites, physical stores, email, social media, and customer support channels. Keeping those interactions connected is difficult without a centralized customer record.
As Belstaff’s director of technology, Navid Jilow, says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, “If you’ve got a customer shopping in the store and the same customer is purchasing something online, you’re able to have that single customer view and see their purchases. That helps us build a [complete] customer profile rather than having some bits missing in our data.”
In this article, learn what online contact management includes, how its goals overlap with those of customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and which contact management platforms to consider.
What is online contact management?
An online contact management system is digital software used to collect, store, organize, and maintain information about all the people your business interacts with, including your current and prospective customers.
Contact records typically include:
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Basic contact details. Name, postal address, email, phone, and social media profiles.
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Personal details. Preferred name, birthday, company name, and job title.
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Purchase history. Orders, returns, subscriptions, and other purchase activity across your sales channels.
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Interaction history.Customer service conversations, call logs, emails, account notes, and other communications.
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Preferences. Preferred contact channel, favorite products, communication preferences, and marketing or email opt-ins.
Contact management vs. customer relationship management
When researching contact management software, you’ll mostly come across customer relationship management (CRM) tools. That’s because standalone contact management tools have become less common. CRMs build on the foundation of contact management with features for managing customer relationships over time, such as sales pipeline tracking, follow-up tasks, workflow automation, and team collaboration.
If your primary goal is keeping customer contact information organized, you don’t necessarily need a dedicated contact management application. Ecommerce platforms, help desk tools, email marketing software, and CRM systems may already include robust contact management features.
Many CRM platforms now offer free or low-cost plans, making them an accessible option for businesses that may eventually need more advanced capabilities.
Why use an online contact management system?
Access to accurate and complete customer information can help your team deliver the customer experience today’s consumers expect. According to Zendesk, 70% of customers expect anyone they interact with to have the full context of their situation, 76% expect personalized experiences, and 60% expect businesses to use the data they collect to provide that personalization.
Online contact management tools create a centralized customer record that’s automatically updated as customers subscribe to your mailing list, place orders, contact support, or otherwise interact with your business. By keeping this information in a comprehensive customer profile instead of scattered across spreadsheets, everyone in your business can access the same up-to-date information from a single source of truth.
This helps inform business decisions big and small. For example, Copper Cow Coffee records details about when and why customers purchase its products, giving the company insight that helps with product positioning and growth strategies.
6 contact management platforms
Not every business needs the same type of tool to collect and organize their customer information. For some, managing contacts directly within their ecommerce platform may be enough; others may need a CRM with additional sales features.
The tools below all help maintain a centralized customer record by storing contact information and tracking customer interactions across channels. They were also selected based on the capabilities that matter most for contact management, including reporting, contact segmentation, integrations, automation, scalability, and overall ease of use.
Use this list as a guide, knowing that the best contact management software for you will depend on your business size and existing tools:
Shopify
Shopify automatically builds customer profiles as customers interact with your business. Purchases, including those made at physical locations through Shopify POS, are added to each customer’s profile. Messages sent through Shopify Inbox and leads collected through Shopify Forms are also tied to the same record.
You can also use that data to create dynamic customer segments. Kristen Pumphrey, cofounder of P.F. Candle Co., says on Shopify Masters that Shopify customer data gave the company the confidence to establish a physical location in Brooklyn after discovering it had a large customer base there. “Without the data that we saw using Shopify, I don’t think we would’ve had the guts to open it,” she says.
Shopify’s API access allows syncing your contact data with other business tools as you grow. Integrating a CRM into a Shopify account can expand your options without requiring a platform change.
Pricing: Included with Shopify plans, which start at $29 per month, billed annually.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is a strong choice for businesses looking for a free CRM or contact management solution. Its free plan supports two users and up to 1,000 contacts and includes deal pipelines, reporting, and a business AI assistant. As your business grows, you can upgrade to add marketing automation, email campaigns, lead scoring, and more advanced workflows.
HubSpot integrates with Shopify to pull in purchase history and create a more comprehensive customer view.
Pricing: Free for up to two users; paid plans start at $15 per user per month.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is built for sales-focused teams managing longer sales cycles and relationship-heavy sales processes. It captures contacts from web forms, chatbots, and other sources, and then organizes opportunities in a visual sales pipeline as deals progress through various sales stages.
Users can tailor pipelines to their specific processes, while reporting tools track conversion rates and automated reminders help sales reps follow up on active deals. Optional add-ons expand Pipedrive with project management and email marketing functionality.
Pricing: Plans range from $14 to $79 per user per month, billed annually.
Bigin by Zoho CRM
Bigin by Zoho CRM is a lightweight CRM designed for small businesses that don’t need the complexity of a full-featured platform. Its free plan includes a single sales pipeline and basic automation, while paid plans add lead scoring, sales forecasting, and multiple pipelines.
Users often note the platform is easy to use with a simple interface, although businesses with large sales teams or complex workflows may be limited by its features.
Pricing: Free for a single user and pipeline with up to 500 records; paid plans range from $7 to $18 per user per month, billed annually.
Copper CRM
Copper CRM is recommended for Google Workspace users, as you can manage customer relationships directly from Gmail and Google Calendar. Contacts, emails, and calendar events are automatically synced, and you can track deals without leaving Google’s ecosystem.
Copper also offers web forms, a Chrome extension, a mobile app, and a business card scanner to capture partner and customer details. Reporting tools, workflow automation, and integrations are some of the features available on higher tiers.
Pricing: Plans range from $23 to $99 per user per month, billed annually.
Nimble
Nimble combines contact management, CRM features, and sales engagement tools in a single subscription. Its automatic contact enrichment feature updates your customer records using information from sources like LinkedIn, emails, and public websites, helping you build more complete customer profiles.
Some enrichment tasks may require purchasing additional credits. Nimble integrates with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace and offers paid add-ons for email marketing, web forms, and live chat.
Pricing: Its single plan is $24.90 per user per month, billed annually.
Online contact management FAQ
What is the difference between contact management and CRM?
Contact management is the process of organizing customer information in a centralized record. Customer relationship management (CRM) builds on that foundation with tools for managing relationships. Businesses shopping for contact management software often find these capabilities bundled into CRM platforms rather than in standalone online contact management apps.
Why is online contact management important for ecommerce businesses?
Ecommerce businesses interact with customers through many different digital channels. Online contact management centralizes customer information from these various channels so teams have the context they need to personalize communications, provide more consistent support, and strengthen customer relationships.
What information should businesses store about customers?
A good customer contact record generally includes basic details like phone number and email address to facilitate easy communication, as well as what customers tell you they like, their purchase history, and their communication history with your business.
