Coming across a CRM that aligns best with your organizational goals can be a daunting task especially when the core of your organization i.e. your enrollments are at stake. Different CRMs are created for different audiences, wherein each one has its own unique blend of functionality, Meritto CRM and LeadSquared CRM are also two CRMs to help you sell smarter and better. But how do you ensure what is best for you? This blog will cover every aspect of the comparison to help you make the decision wisely.
Choosing a Horizontal CRM versus Vertical CRM
Being the largest market globally, CRMs have proven to be the best technological asset for businesses. And with the wide range of industries in the market, CRMs grew to fit and adapt to these industries. However, there are CRMs that cater to all industries using the same technology and the same strategies. That’s what the industry calls a Horizontal CRM and there are others called Vertical CRMs, which focus on speciality markets with industry-specific features.
So in a nutshell, a Horizontal CRM means a CRM that has a ton of features, but very few have been designed to address industry-specific requirements. Vertical CRM has a functionality specific to your business and may not require extensive customization or integration. As a result, today’s organizations have a plethora of options when it comes to selecting a CRM solution no matter which industry they are in, and the education industry is no exception.
Does LeadSquared have all you need?
LeadSquared approached the CRM market with a top-down ideology and built one solution to cater to most industries, which ended up with a disjointed user experience for industries as the features were generic and it lacked depth as they are not industry-specific.
With a focus on business process management, LeadSquared offers a set of features to streamline their everyday business processes. However, the product lacks the customizations and utility that sales, marketing, admission, finance, and operations teams in educational organizations whether EdTech Companies, Coaching & Training Institutes, Study Abroad Consultants, K12 Schools, Play & Pre-Schools or Higher Education Institutions need to stay on top of their enrollments. Since it offers the same product, repackaged at outset, educational organizations often end up tangled in technology.
Weighing up the cons, LeadSquared lacks a product around the student touchpoints and the teams who work day in and day out to enroll them, moreover, it is instead inclined towards business management.
So what do you do?
What users say from their first-hand experience
To give you a complete and real picture, we looked at the ratings on business software and service reviews; that most often host real reviews of people who’ve used the product. Here’s how LeadSquared compares to Meritto:
| Business Software and Services Reviews | LeadSquared | Meritto |
| G2 | 4.6 | 5 |
| Capterra | 4.3 | 4.5 |
| Software Advise | 4.3 | 4.5 |
| GetApp | 4.3 | 4.5 |
Disclaimer: Ratings as of 09 February 2023
While LeadSquared does stand close to where Meritto is, a deeper look at the reviews from users possibly from within the education industry can give a better perspective:
“Complete lifecycle of student starting from lead to student placement is missing.” shares a LeadSquared user on Capterra, which helps millions of people find the best business software.
“The reporting capabilities are a tad limited in their scope” reviewed a LeadSquared on Software Advise. While another went to share that “Server issues most of the time. May loose the lead activities.”
What about Meritto? Well, a user posted a review that says “Used for admissions purposes. This is very good software, each and every detail of the student can be saved and data can be monitored very easily.”
LeadSquared or Meritto: It is not the right question to ask
Why? Because that’s not enough for you to make a decision. We believe you should make an informed decision by asking these questions before choosing an Enrollment Cloud, Education CRM, Application Platform, Payment Cloud, or Education Chatbot for your educational organization:
- Is the CRM or the solution purpose-built for scaling enrollments?
- How well does the CRM or the solution fit around my teams?
- Will it scale with me and help me prepare for tomorrow?
- How good is the CRM adoption in the industry?
When you have an answer to these questions, which you must ask before you finalize any solution for all your teams working to grow your enrollments, you will be able to choose the right solution.
Why choose Meritto?
Meritto is the de-facto choice for all educational organizations looking to grow their enrollments. With insights gained from serving hundreds of educational organizations, Meritto has developed products like Enrollment Cloud, Education CRM, Application Platform, Payment Cloud, and an Education Chatbot, that caters to deep use cases of sales, marketing, admissions, finance, and operation teams. Moreover, the depth of the CRM allows organizations with:
- Improved Candidate touchpoints
- Shorter Sales Cycle
- Better customer retention
- Better lead conversion rates
- Increased revenue
If you’re still thinking about whether Meritto would work for your educational organization, the answer is “Yes, if you’re ready to scale”. Here are reasons why they are known as the game-changers in enrollment:
- Purpose-built to keep you enrolling
- Scalability at the forefront
- Dedicated training and migration support
- Building a collaborative community
Trusted by over 1000 educational organizations in India and Abroad, Meritto works with leading EdTech Companies, Coaching & Training Institutes, Study Abroad Consultants, K12 Schools, Play & Pre-Schools, and Higher Education Institutions together.
Educational Organizations aside, it has also been recognized by leading brands and market watchers not once but several times:
Final Word
We believe you can only make the most out of LeadSquared if you are looking for a generic set of solutions and don’t need much functionality to do with. Educational organizations that are thinking bigger, or more long-term, with respect to future growth and scalability, might want to go for a fully-equipped, scalable, and purpose-built solution like Meritto.
If you would like to have a complete demo of Meritto to finalize your decision, you could do so by scheduling a call here.
