Loading tutorials…
Loading tutorials…
Brevo CRM is the lightest of the bundled CRMs and that's by design — it's for teams who want sales tracking without the HubSpot/Salesforce ceremony. It works for under-20-person teams and B2C/D2C sales. Above that, you'll outgrow it within a year.
Who this is forBrevo accounts adding light sales tracking — small B2B teams, D2C founders managing wholesale, agencies tracking client deals. If you have 5+ active deals at a time and currently track in a spreadsheet, this is your move. Above 50 active deals or 5+ sales reps, you've outgrown Brevo CRM.
What you'll need
Step 1
Brevo top menu → CRM → Activate. Free tier includes basic pipeline; Pro CRM ($12/user/mo) adds custom fields, multiple pipelines, advanced automation.
Brevo top menu → CRM → click Activate.
Plans: Free tier with 1 pipeline + basic deal records. Pro CRM ($12/user/mo) unlocks: multiple pipelines, custom deal fields, deal automation, advanced reports, lead scoring.
Most small teams start Free, upgrade to Pro when adding a 2nd salesperson or 2nd pipeline.
CRM dashboard now appears. Sub-sections: Deals, Companies, Tasks, Reports, Settings.
Step 2
CRM → Settings → Pipelines. Plan 4-7 stages from lead to closed. More stages = more friction; fewer = no visibility.
CRM → Settings → Pipelines → Edit (or Create New).
Standard stages for most B2B/B2C: New Lead → Qualified → Proposal Sent → Negotiation → Closed Won / Closed Lost.
For e-commerce wholesale: Inquiry → Quote Sent → Sample Sent → Order Placed → Repeat Order.
For services: Discovery Call → Proposal → Contract Sent → Signed → Onboarded.
Keep stages action-oriented (something the rep does to move forward), not status-only.
Each stage can have a 'rotting threshold' — deals that sit too long get flagged. Default: 14 days for early stages, 30 days for late stages.
Save pipeline. You can add more pipelines later for different sales motions (e.g., wholesale vs retail).
Step 3
CRM → Settings → Custom fields. Add the data you NEED to track on every deal — but only the data you'll actually use.
CRM → Settings → Custom fields.
Standard fields Brevo provides: Deal name, Amount, Close date, Pipeline, Stage, Owner, Contact, Company.
Add CUSTOM fields you need: 'Source' (where lead came from — TEXT or CATEGORY), 'Lead score' (NUMBER), 'Decision maker' (TEXT), 'Tech stack' (TEXT for B2B SaaS).
Don't over-engineer. If a custom field isn't filled in 80%+ of deals, it's noise. Delete it.
For each field, pick the right type: NUMBER for amounts/scores, DATE for milestones, BOOLEAN for yes/no, CATEGORY for fixed options (Source = 'inbound', 'outbound', 'referral').
Step 4
CRM → Deals → Import. Upload CSV with deal name, amount, stage, contact email. Brevo matches contacts by email.
Prepare CSV: deal name, amount, close date, stage, owner email, contact email, company name.
Critical: contact email must already exist in Brevo Contacts (or import them first). Brevo links deals to contacts via email match.
CRM → Deals → Import → Upload file.
Map columns to deal fields.
Submit. Brevo creates deal records and links to existing contacts. Unmatched contacts get created automatically.
Verify: deal count matches spreadsheet, deals appear in correct pipeline stages.
Step 5
CRM → Settings → Team. Add sales reps as users. Assign deal ownership rules: round-robin, by source, or manual.
CRM → Settings → Team → Add users (sales reps).
Each rep gets a Brevo login. Decide assignment model: Round-robin (next rep gets next lead — fairest), By source (inbound → Sarah, outbound → Mike), Manual (you assign each).
For B2C with founder-led sales: assign everything to the founder, then re-assign as you hire.
Set up ownership-change notifications: rep gets email when a deal is assigned to them. Settings → Notifications.
If a rep leaves: reassign their open deals BEFORE removing their account. Otherwise deals orphan.
Step 6
CRM → Automation. Auto-create follow-up tasks when deals move to certain stages.
CRM → Automation → Create automation (Pro plan).
Trigger: deal moves to stage 'Proposal Sent.'
Action: create task → 'Follow up on proposal' → assigned to deal owner → due in 3 days.
Another rule: trigger when deal sits in 'Negotiation' for 7+ days → create task 'Check in with prospect' → due tomorrow.
These prevent deals from rotting silently. 30-50% of lost deals are 'no follow-up' deals — automation fixes that.
Activate. Test by manually moving a deal to the trigger stage; verify the task appears in the rep's queue.
Step 7
Settings → Integrations → enable email-to-CRM. Email replies log on deals automatically. Marketing automations can target by deal stage.
CRM → Settings → Integrations → Email logging.
Enable: replies from contacts in your CRM auto-log on their deal record. Email body appears in deal timeline.
Configure: which Brevo sender(s) to log from. Usually your sales rep emails (sarah@yourbrand.com).
Marketing automation integration: deal stage becomes a contact attribute (DEAL_STAGE). Now Brevo Marketing can target by deal stage — e.g., send case study email to 'Negotiation' deals.
Verify: send a test email to a known CRM contact from the configured sender. Reply from the contact. Confirm reply appears in the deal timeline within 5 minutes.
Common mistakes
Too many pipeline stages (10+)
What goes wrong: Reps skip stages because moving through 12 steps is friction. Pipeline reports show deals 'stuck' that are actually closed but not updated. Forecasting becomes unreliable. Lost deals: 20-30% slip through visibility gaps — at a $2K average deal value, that's $20K-60K/year in pipeline leakage.
How to avoid: Consolidate to 4-7 stages. Combine 2-3 similar steps. Each stage should require a distinct rep action to advance.
Custom fields that 80% of deals leave blank
What goes wrong: UI clutter. Reps ignore the form when most fields are blank or N/A. Real data fields get missed. Reports based on these fields are noisy or empty.
How to avoid: Audit fields quarterly. Delete any field filled on under 80% of deals. Replace with required fields that actually drive decisions.
No deal rotting threshold
What goes wrong: Deals sit in 'Proposal Sent' for 60+ days while rep moves on to fresh leads. By the time anyone checks, the buyer has gone with a competitor or forgotten the conversation.
How to avoid: Set rotting threshold per stage: 7 days for early stages, 14 days for late. Brevo flags rotting deals on the dashboard. Review weekly.
Treating Brevo CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce
What goes wrong: Trying to build complex multi-stage forecasting, deep custom workflows, or enterprise reports in Brevo CRM. Hits ceiling at 30-50 active deals or 3+ sales reps. Frustration mounts; team blames Brevo when the tool was always the wrong fit.
How to avoid: Match tool to motion. Under 20-person team + simple B2C/D2C/wholesale = Brevo CRM. Complex B2B, 5+ sales reps, multi-touch forecasting = HubSpot or Pipedrive or Salesforce. Migrate when you outgrow it, don't fight the tool.
No automation on stage transitions
What goes wrong: Reps forget to follow up. Deal velocity drops. 30-50% of late-stage losses are 'no follow-up' deals. Automation prevents most of this.
How to avoid: Build 3-5 automation rules: task on Proposal Sent, escalation if Negotiation > 7 days, congrats email on Closed Won, post-mortem on Closed Lost.
Orphaned deals after rep departure
What goes wrong: Rep leaves, 20-50 open deals lose their owner. No one is following up. Deals silently die over the next 30-60 days.
How to avoid: When a rep leaves: BEFORE removing their account, bulk-reassign all their open deals (CRM → Deals → filter by owner → bulk reassign). Then remove account.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up a Brevo account from scratch (sender, DKIM/SPF/DMARC, GDPR)
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Brevo CRM works for under-20-person teams with simple sales motions. A specialist sets up pipeline + automation + email integration in 2-3 hours that DIY teams often take 10-15 hours to configure correctly. Typical engagement: $400-700 at $14-16/hr. Past 20 reps or 50 active deals: consider migrating to a heavier CRM.
See specialist rates
Yes — basic CRM (1 pipeline, deal records, contacts, tasks) is free. Pro CRM ($12/user/mo) adds: multiple pipelines, custom deal fields, deal automation, advanced reports, lead scoring. Most small teams start Free.
HubSpot CRM: more powerful (custom objects, custom reports, marketing/sales/service hubs), free for unlimited users but pricey for advanced features ($45+/mo for paid Marketing/Sales Hub). Brevo CRM: simpler, $12/user/mo for Pro, integrated with Brevo Email/SMS/Automation. For teams already on Brevo, Brevo CRM is the cheaper + simpler choice. For sales-heavy orgs, HubSpot wins on depth.
Yes for SIMPLE B2B (1-2 stakeholders, transactional deals). For complex B2B (5+ stakeholders, multi-stage approval, custom forecasting), Brevo will frustrate within 6-12 months. Consider HubSpot or Pipedrive for complex B2B.
Yes — deal stage becomes a contact attribute, which Brevo Marketing can segment on. E.g., send a case study email to all 'Negotiation' stage deals. Plus replies from contacts auto-log on the deal timeline. Very tight integration since both are in the same platform.
Free: 1 pipeline. Pro CRM: unlimited pipelines. Common pattern: separate pipelines for new business vs renewals/upsells vs partnerships. Keep each pipeline focused on one motion.
Yes — export deals as CSV from your old CRM, import into Brevo. But: complex data (custom objects, multi-stakeholder, nested fields) doesn't always translate. Plan to lose 10-20% of data fidelity. For tightly-built CRMs (HubSpot with custom objects), migration to Brevo is a downgrade — make sure you actually want the simpler tool first.
Brevo
Brevo's onboarding is friendly enough to lull you into skipping the decisions that actually matter — plan choice, sender-domain auth, transactional vs marketing separation, GDPR fields. Skip them and deliverability quietly tops out at 60-70%. This is the setup that doesn't rot.
Brevo
Brevo Conversations is the chat + inbox layer most teams ignore until they're drowning in support emails. Adding it to your site captures 5-15% more leads (chat converts higher than form fills) and routes inbound to one inbox instead of five. Here's the build that doesn't ghost customers.
Brevo
Brevo's automation builder is genuinely capable — split conditions, multi-channel (email + SMS), and event triggers. But the difference between an automation that runs and one that drives 25-40% of revenue is in the trigger logic, exits, and split branches. Here's the build that converts.
Brevo
Brevo gives you unlimited lists for free, which is a trap. New users create 10+ lists in week one, then spend month 6 untangling overlaps and counting subscribers twice. This is the structure that scales from 500 to 500K contacts without a rebuild.
Brevo
DIY Brevo is a great call — until it isn't. Email + SMS + transactional + CRM should drive 25-40% of revenue for online businesses on an all-in-one platform. If yours is at 10-15%, the gap is the platform isn't being worked. Here's the framework for when to hire.