Freshworks Sees a Major Rebranding: The CRM Rising Stars Awards 2018

Seven years after its launch as a customer service technology provider, Freshdesk rebranded last year under the name Freshworks to reflect a companywide expansion into marketing, sales, and recruiting management. 

Freshworks’ marketing focus stems from its 2017 acquisition of Zarget, a provider of website conversion optimization tools. The company, based in San Bruno, Calif., rebranded Zarget’s products under the Freshmarketer moniker.

Freshworks had first entered the sales arena in 2016 with its launch of Freshsales, but within the past few months it has enhanced that product suite as well. The first addition was Web Forms, allowing users to create and customize forms and then embed them in websites or emails to capture high-intent leads. 

Then came Intelligent Workflows, a feature that allows sales professionals to set up and run automated business processes from within the app. This can include tasks like sending “welcome” emails when prospects visit the company’s website for the first time or requesting invoices from existing customers. 

Finally, the company introduced Sales Campaigns, to allow reps to schedule email campaigns and calls; streamline hand-offs between account executives; add or reject prospects and start conversations with them based on where they are in the sales funnel; and then track all engagements, right from within Freshsales.

This past year the company also launched Freshchat, a suite of web and mobile messaging apps to help businesses capture leads and drive sales. With it, businesses can send highly contextual messages and screen and qualify leads. Freshchat also offers in-product campaigns for on-boarding and engagement, a self-service FAQ, and advanced features to route and manage support interactions.

All of this might suggest a search for direction, but that’s far from true. The vendor united its disparate products in late June with the launch of Freshworks 360, a fully integrated cloud bundle that combines Freshdesk, Freshsales, Freshmarketer, Freshcaller, and Freshchat in one suite.

“For too long, small business and many enterprises have been left out in the cold when it comes to customer engagement software. Sales, marketing, and customer support have been forced to use bloated, siloed CRM and support systems, while HR and IT have been beholden to products with unnecessary features and exorbitant price tags,” said Girish Mathrubootham, the company’s CEO. “We are on a mission to put easy-to-use business software in the hands of those who need it, and Freshworks 360 is a major step in helping us do exactly that.”