Top 8 Must-Have Tools for Web Design and Development Agencies in 2024

Running a web agency is no easy feat: it requires effective time and team management, convenient ways to communicate with customers, and technologies that help stay on track with the latest industry developments and trends. To succeed, you’ll need the best web agency tools of 2024 to get a grip on everything that is going on—tasks that need to be done and processes that can be improved.

In this post, we’ll talk about 8 top tools that cover different areas of a successful web agency business: project management, collaboration, marketing, web design feedback, etc.

1. Figma for web design and prototyping

Figma is a go-to tool for creating designs and wireframes for websites, web pages, apps, and other products. Agencies can use it to brainstorm ideas, create designs, and exchange comments. Additionally, Figma is trying to become an all-in-one platform and continuously adds new capabilities. For instance, they’ve implemented a dynamic whiteboard for team communication FigJam. According to Figma’s report, companies using their products optimize their ideation and creation phases to up to 60% and achieve a 3-year ROI of 328%.

Figma standout features

• Pre-built UI kits
• Advanced details for developers
• Designed systems created and shared across agencies 
• Prototype viewer that resizes for different screens and resolutions
• Live editing and simultaneous collaboration of multiple people
• Web design feedback through comments
• Agency-only access to protect designs
• Possibility to build presentations for clients
• Built-in design system analytics
• Audio conversations with collaborators
• Possibility to work on multiple branches before moving designs to the main file

Plan options in Figma

• $15 per month includes unlimited files, unlimited version history, team libraries, and developer extensions
• $45 per month includes analytics, branching, and unified admin on top of other features
• $75 per month includes dedicated team spaces, REST API access, guest access control, and advanced theming on top of other features

Figma alternatives

Penpot, Sketch, Motiff

2. Webvizio for collaboration with clients and web design feedback

Webvizio is a website design feedback tool that lets agencies review designs, leave comments, identify bugs, and assign tasks. It also combines the features of visual collaboration and project management, allowing you to turn feedback comments into tasks and track the progress of web design and development projects.

Agencies using Webvizio as a website annotation tool can improve client satisfaction and speed up project completion (for instance, saving 17 hours per project on average). 

Webvizio standout features

• Real-time feedback on any live website, web app, or web page, as well as on images and PDF files
• Design preview in different resolutions
• Real-time bug tracker
• Task management connected to design feedback
• Task duration tracking and reporting
• Integrated videos for web design feedback
• Possibility to set priorities and deadlines on tasks 
• Integrations with popular productivity and automation tools to improve workflows

Plan options in Webvizio

• $35 per month for up to 5 users and 10 projects
• $95 per month for up to 20 users and 100 projects. Includes more integrations, reports, and advanced features
• Custom pricing for enterprise-level needs

Webvizio alternatives

Markup, Marker, Userback

3. Teamwork for project management

Teamwork positions itself as a universal project management tool that lets you perform everything in one place without add-ons. Moreover, it allows agencies to plan their workload, manage team capacity, monitor budgets, set and track milestones, and collaborate with clients.

For convenience, it features different view modes like lists, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, or a mix of different views. Additionally, Teamwork prepares various reports that visualize budget spent, billable hours allocation, and many other aspects of agency work.

Teamwork standout features

• Pre-made templates for various tasks and projects
• Centralized access to all assets
• Visualized time allocation and project progress
• Customizable intake forms
• Budget tracking and reallocation
• Subtasks and various tags and filters
• Live collaboration on files with clients 
• Custom reports based on any available data
• Possibility to choose where your data is held and processed

Plan options in Teamwork

• Free for up to 5 users (doesn’t include team management and most of the features)
• $13.99 per month includes team management, automations, and project reports
• $25.99 per month includes workload management and advanced budgeting
• Custom pricing for more personalization

Teamwork alternatives

ClickUp, Monday, Asana

4. FuseBase for customer portals

FuseBase is another web agency tool that combines a lot of different areas of project management and client collaboration, but we want to highlight its capabilities in building branded customer portals. Such portals help agencies navigate clients into a dedicated hub for tracking their projects, checking the knowledge base, leaving comments, etc.

FuseBase lets you create client portals with custom domain names and furthermore provides you with a visual editor to choose which blocks should be featured. For example, you can include a task dashboard, links to assets and documents, a calendar with meeting notifications, or other pre-defined sections.

FuseBase standout features

• Simple visual editor for creating a customer portal
• Chat widget to communicate with clients
• Integrations with task management tools
• File management and organization
• Quick access through magic links
• Possibility to create sections with custom code

Plan options in FuseBase

• Free for 1 client portal
• $15 per month for solopreneurs includes 1 member, 1 workspace, and 1 client portal
• $20 per month per user for up to 5 client portals and 20 client accounts
• $40 per month per user for up to 15 client portals and unlimited client accounts. Also includes white-label functionality and AI features

FuseBase alternatives

Zendesk, SuiteDash, Retool

5. Calendly for scheduling meetings

For scheduling meetings, Calendly is an essential tool that automates the process. Meetings account for around 15% of the organization’s time, and the number keeps increasing each year. While collaboration tools that we’ve already mentioned can greatly help you reduce unnecessary meetings, there are platforms like Calendly that can also minimize and optimize your scheduling efforts.

Calendly is a tool that automates team scheduling. With it, you can easily view team availability and plan meetings with different people involved. You can also create automated workflows with meeting requests and reminders. On top of that, you’ll get visualizations of the time spent in meetings by meeting type, employee, and other parameters. 

Calendly standout features

• Flexible collaborative scheduling
• Templates for meeting workflows
• Automated workflows
• Admin access to create and lock certain workflows
• Analytics with popular meeting times, most requested meeting types, etc.
• Integrations with marketing agency tools like Salesforce and HubSpot

Plan options in Calendly

• $12 per seat per month includes multiple calendars, integrations with automation tools, and branded customization
• $20 per seat per month includes advanced admin capabilities and more marketing integrations on top of other features
• Custom enterprise-level pricing (starts at $15k per year) includes SSO, domain control, data deletion API, and other features

Calendly alternatives

Cal.com, Chili Piper, Doodle

6. Zoho CRM for lead and customer management

Zoho CRM is essential for getting a desired flow of new leads and converting them into clients, as you’ll need a tool that offers an omnichannel experience for tracking your communication with prospects and deals, whether they get closed or not.

Moreover, Zoho CRM allows you to run and measure marketing campaigns, enabling you to see which channels and messages effectively attract new customers. Additionally, it lets you keep all the data about each lead and client in one place, ensuring you’ll know how they’ve found you, who’s responsible for the sales process with them, and at what stage the deal was closed.

Zoho CRM standout features

• Omnichannel tracking of leads and customers
• Notifications about leads interacting with your website, social media, or marketing campaigns
• Timeline of all interactions with leads and customers
• Email workflows with automated scheduled actions
• Management of people assigned to tasks and clients
• Separate solution tailored to small businesses

Plan options in Zoho CRM

• $20 per month for the basic functionality
• $35 per month includes email and Google Ads integrations, as well as other additional features
• $50 per month includes an AI assistant, custom functions, and other advanced features

Zoho CRM alternatives

HubSpot, Monday CRM, HighLevel

7. Intercom for customer support

Intercom allows businesses to effectively manage communication with customers by enabling them to organize support tickets, set up automated messages, create knowledge bases, and analyze customer feedback. Additionally, it streamlines these processes to enhance overall customer service efficiency.

Even if you’re a small web agency that doesn’t deal with a daily flood of client requests, you can benefit from using Intercom. It can help you create automated messages to speed up issue resolution and create tours to present the scope of work or results of a project.

Intercom standout features

• Customizable business messenger
• Possibility to create a custom help center
• Live chat integration
• AI-powered assistant and automated messages
• Integrations with popular web agency tools like HubSpot and Slack
• Surveys to gather client feedback

Plan options in Intercom

• $39 per seat per month for startups and small businesses
• $99 per seat per month with multiple team inboxes and advanced automation workflows

Intercom alternatives

LiveChat, Help Scout, Gleap

8. Zapier for workflow automations

For workflow automations, Zapier is an essential tool that simplifies the life of your agency. With support for over 7,000 integrations, it allows you to connect different data points to automate repetitive tasks, receive instant notifications about changes, and extract valuable insights on your projects.

For instance, you can streamline the lead generation process by creating workflows that send messages to prospects interacting with your site. You can also set up notifications triggered by urgent task completion so that you can always react to changes on time.

Zapier standout features

• 7,000+ integrations with web agency tools and various apps
• Workflow visualization and drag-and-drop editing
• Different views of workflows (zaps, tables, interfaces, chatbots)
• AI assistant that creates automations based on your description
• Account oversight and granular role-based permissions
• Automated task routing
• Activity logs on created automations

Plan options in Zapier

• Free for up to 100 tasks per month
• $29.99 per month for 750 tasks and additional features like webhooks (more tasks will cost more)
• $103.50 per month for 2,000 tasks and unlimited users (more tasks will cost more)

Zapier alternatives

Workato, n8n, Pabbly Connect

Get the most out of the best web agency tools

There are plenty of solutions that you can turn to your advantage. For instance, you can gain a higher level of transparency in collaboration with clients thanks to a website annotation tool, or alternatively, reduce time spent on repetitive tasks thanks to automation workflows.

Naturally, an overabundance of tools can create problems, so search for those technologies that will cover the maximum of your needs. For instance, some tools combine web design feedback with task management, while others combine marketing integrations with customer communication.

Start by improving your communication with clients: Webvizio will help you easily manage visual feedback on any web project and overview task progress, all in one place. See it in action or try it for free.

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