Podcast E583 – FluentCRM Review  ## Metadata - Author: [[Podcast – Kitchen Sink WordPress]] - Full Title: Podcast E583 – FluentCRM Review - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/a47f383f-cad2-48e4-9f5b-29092620c5ec ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Switching to FluentCRM** - Adam Silver shares his experience dropping Pipedrive for a CRM due to underutilization and cost inefficiency. - He starts testing FluentCRM as a potential replacement integrated with his WordPress projects. Transcript: Adam Silver So as I mentioned a few weeks ago, my business was actually just last week, business was down from last year, right? And that's all due to me, lack of doing BD, business development. And with that, if you recall, I think I also mentioned last year, I canceled my subscription with my CRM pipe drive, because it didn't make sense to keep paying for a tool that I wasn't Really using to its fullest capacity, right? It didn't make sense at all. I was just pretty much using it because i'd like to have the email inbox uh use where i could see when people actually opened emails but it doesn't make sense to pay money for that so um that Being said it looks like i might need to start using a crm again you know um because it ties into one of the membership sites the projects i've mentioned in the past that i'm currently working On building with forums and a membership, et cetera, and workflows. And I'm looking at costs. So that brings me to this week's episode, which is reviewing FluentCRM. Now this came to my attention, which I've heard about it before. FluentCRM, they also have Fluent support, Fluent forums. There's a whole bunch of things in that ecosystem. ([Time 0:02:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7b7803f5-3acd-4ab5-8ef0-bbfaba0f2863)) - **FluentCRM Setup Tips** - FluentCRM is a WordPress plugin CRM that is easy to install and configure with a helpful setup wizard. - It supports importing contacts from popular email services via API keys, streamlining migration. Transcript: Adam Silver First impressions of testing is that it's relatively easy to install. It is, if you don't know, a WordPress-based CRM. It's a plugin. You install it into your site. From there, it takes you right off when you activate it to an onboarding welcome screen with a configuration wizard that says two minutes. I'm like, okay, I'll go through that. You could skip it if you don't want to skip it, but I went through the configuration wizard. Basically, it you a company name your address and the logo great i did that collect uh in front clicked next and then it asks you to create some contact segment segment lists so examples Would be like vip customers product users wordpress users after that you get a chance to enter contact tags and that are like segmented lists so it tells you but you can then be more specific In your filtering. For example, product X user, product Y, an influencer, etc. After that, you do get the opportunity to install Fluent Forms, which I did not do because I am a Gravity Forms user with a dev license. And it just made more sense for me to keep that way for now. Next up, you can go ahead and give a share essentials and diagnostics. Sign up for the monthly newsletter. I skipped that. I ran this, by the way, in my local development environment, just on my computer, just to be easier and faster. And then from there, you can import contacts or go to the CRM dashboard. So in this case, I would normally go to the dashboard. But you know what? I figured to CRM, the first option was import context so i did that it takes you to their import screen within the settings so it kind of just goes past their dashboard but right into the Dashboard like one of the settings in it from there you can add import x or export importing options are through the crm or wordpress users from other services clicking that provides You options to import from mailchimp, ConvertKit, MailerLite, Drip, and ActiveCampaign. I was interested in how that might work. Clicking inside of each of those, you just get a link to the documentation with Fluent to migrate from that service, which looks pretty basic in the sense that you have to get an API key And then you migrate it in. So you have to connect the two services to go from A to B. ([Time 0:03:41](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ad4656ff-43d9-4928-94fa-3c8e5284fd9a)) - **FluentCRM Campaign Features** - FluentCRM allows campaign creation with recipient segmentation using lists and tags. - Scheduling campaigns and advanced email design require the pro version. Transcript: Adam Silver And I went ahead and grabbed 100 contacts CSV file. And I did that really simple, pretty, pretty basic. Next up, create a campaign. And clicking into that takes you to the interface to compose the email, clicking next. After that, you add a subject. I thought that was a little backwards. I would add the subjects and the settings of who it goes to before i add the content but anyway i also realized that in the free version you only have access to the basic layout content settings Versus their visual designer that's a pro version only again i don't think i mentioned this there's a free level of fluent crm and a paid level i'm using the free level for right now actually You know what i have a note here scratch that there is a mix. Its block editor is also kind of available, giving you some design ability, but it's not super friendly to me, in my opinion, because that's me not knowing the block editor as well as Others may have. So keep that in mind. The free version does have some design, but it's not the visual editor that they give you in the pro version. Okay. So after that, you then pick the recipients based on lists and tags. You can also exclude certain people and then move forward to review. You can then send now or schedule, and you have a choice there also for schedule, specific date, time range, but that is a pro feature. ([Time 0:06:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/07fb8d11-8cda-43e2-85c0-179702a561d3)) - **Integrating Gravity Forms with FluentCRM** - To integrate Gravity Forms with FluentCRM, use WP Fusion for simple and effective automation. - Adding a User Role Manager plugin can help assign specific user roles on registration before automations trigger. Transcript: Adam Silver But I wanted more. As I'm working on a few things, I wanted to see how I could integrate it with Gravity Forms. Or could I? Lo and behold, as is anything with WordPress, what's best method? The answer is it depends. Now, of course, I could have used fluent forms probably might have been easier and they have a free version that would probably just work fine for the basic integrations but i wanted A new user to be created and registered with the form and since i own gravity forms the you know developer license i knew i could do that it made more sense to go that route so that being said There isn't a way to connect the two built in. I tried a few options here. I tried uncanny automator, didn't quite work. It gave me partially working, but then it aired out. I dug in a bit, but then I tried WP fusion and that did it much easier. Honestly, uh, just literally was super simple. I then went ahead and backed out a little bit. I wanted to add a specific user role for each new person that registered through the MyGravity form that would then, you know, add it to the CRM. So I added user role manager as a plugin. I created a new user that was no role. ([Time 0:07:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0d96bc2e-a9dd-4fc4-bac6-4af2d9e56fe6)) - **FluentCRM's Market Position** - FluentCRM blurs traditional lines by merging CRM and email marketing services within WordPress. - This convergence reflects a broader trend of all-in-one marketing and sales platforms. Transcript: Adam Silver Well, to be honest, I was a little confused since to, it seems like a CRM is for client and customer relationship manager. That's what it stands for. This tool seems to want to push the angle of the male service provider, the MSP, like Miller Lite, or Aweber, or Constant Contact, etc. And in my mind, there are two separate entities. But after talking to my good friend, Sally, I realized that those companies, well, she told me again, I'm like, she's right. Those companies are merging not only a CRM and the MSP, but also landing pages, sales pages, et cetera. They're becoming all in one things. And I guess I just have to get my head wrapped around the concept that this is doing the same thing. FluentCRM is just that same thing where it's taking a client piece of information, any new user, and then lets you email from within it. ([Time 0:09:39](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5e395cd5-aa80-4c3b-adbc-e37402dd65cd)) - **WP Reset Plugin for Testing** - Use the WP Reset plugin to quickly reset your WordPress site if you make setup mistakes. - It's effective for starting fresh during testing and configuration phases. Transcript: Adam Silver Moving on to segment three, Tip and Tool of the Week. Actually, it's tied into this as well. I had a hiccup a few times of the segments and tags when I was kind of going through that wizard. And there's no way to go back in the wizard. So I wasn't sure if I'd have a chance to do it later and fix it. I mean, I figured I would, but I didn't want to, I wanted to go forward, but I had to fix something. So I use a plugin called WP reset. It's really fast. There's a free and paid versions, but it completely can nuke the site, take you back from square one. So I did that three times because of my own mistake. So WP Reset is the tip and tool of the week. It's a plugin. I use the free version. I'll link in the show notes. Check it out if you need to reboot or reset your server, your WordPress installation to kind of go from when you first install things. ([Time 0:12:03](https://share.snipd.com/snip/65ba6ce2-d110-4d10-bb2f-c1419dfd4d49))