New to Close: Lower prices, flexible global calling and broader feature access for all
We’re introducing more affordable plans, access to truly global calling for customers based in any country around the world and making the shift to usage-based calling costs.
We talk to our customers a lot. And we listen. That’s why last year we introduced automated email sequences, advanced predictive dialing, and allocated a ton of time, resources and effort into further improving our call quality.
However, it’s easy listening to just the things you want to hear. Feature requests are simple to digest and translate into action, because they’re all about adding what you want.
On the other hand, taking feedback about pricing and making potentially drastic changes to the fundamentals of the business took us a little more time to fully think through and come to what we believe is a much better pricing structure.
Note: All pricing changes will go into effect for new customers on February 1st 2019. And if you want even more detail behind all of these updates, check our new 2019 Pricing FAQ page here. Now, let’s dive in.
Drastically lower calling costs for sales teams around the world.
Over the past few years, we’ve very quickly grown from our humble roots in Silicon Valley, where we originally served a customer base made up mostly of US-based startups, to now helping a much more diverse group of growing sales teams at SMBs and startups from dozens of countries around the world.
While our customer base has grown and evolved over time, our pricing hasn’t kept pace.
Before today’s pricing change, the only option non-US companies had (if they wanted to make calls) was to either choose our Professional plan for making unlimited calls within the US and Canada, or upgrade to the Business plan if you wanted to make unlimited calls “worldwide.”
This pricing structure meant that US or Canadian-based companies who only made calls within their home country (the US/Canada), could get by with staying on our lower-priced Professional plan—whereas the same sized company based in Europe, Asia, Australia or otherwise that wanted to call only within their own countries, would need to be on our Business plan in order to do so.
Removing this barrier—to truly make access to Close an even playing field for sales teams based anywhere in the world—is one of the big shifts we’re making, and it was the catalyst for a few more changes happening here today as well.
Lowering the prices of Business and Professional plans.
This one’s pretty simple.
While our Basic plan will remain the same price, we’re lowering the per user cost of both our Business and Professional plans—making it more affordable to access even more robust features within Close.
As a reminder, these pricing changes go into effect for new customers on February 1, 2019.
Switching to usage-based calling and SMS pricing (plus free monthly usage credits).
Usage-based pricing (an industry standard model for calling within CRMs) for calling and SMS is finally coming to Close.
You’ll now only pay for the actual calls you make and SMS messages you send.
We were the first CRM to offer built-in calling right out of the box, and while our features still dramatically outperform competitors offering similar all-in-one CRMs with calling, we’re now switching to a usage-based pricing model for calling and SMS.
Everyone on any Close plan can now take advantage of calling and SMS—it’s no longer an all or nothing decision. Plus, you’ll be able to pay as you go, based on your own actual calling and SMS usage.
How much will calling cost on a per-minute basis?
The short answer is, it depends on where you’re calling, and the number you’ll be using to make those calls. Here are some averages you should expect to see (from our telephony provider Twilio):
**Pricing may vary based on the number you use to call. Billing begins after use of credits. Learn more here.
(Still) best in class sales calling.
Beyond just adjusting the cost of calling within our CRM, we’ve been working hard to bring new features and functionalities geared toward just one thing—maximizing your sales productivity. Our built-in calling features help thousands of customers close more deals in the same (often less) time than before.
For one, many CRMs don’t offer both inbound and outbound calling built-in; we do.
We also have the Power Dialer and Predictive Dialer, Voicemail Drops, Group Numbers, Call Forwarding, Call Recording and more that make Close the most robust calling-enabled CRM on the market today.
Free monthly calling & SMS credits.
Because we believe so strongly in the power of communication and calling within an effective sales process, we’re offering all customers $10 in free usage credits (per organization) each month before you’re charged for any calls you make or SMS messages you send. We even provide $5 in free usage credits to all 14-day free trials.
Still have questions?
As a reminder, these pricing changes go into effect for new customers on February 1, 2019.
We’ve already compiled a FAQ based on the experience of our early adopters, which describes everything in more detail and outlines more of the changes we're making today.
If you'd like to discuss how these changes may affect you personally, and see what your options are please contact our Success team!
