In a Nutshell
pros
- Wide set of integrations
- 14-day free trial
cons
- Form tool is difficult to use
- No proposal integration with its CRM
Why Choose ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign offers an email marketing service that boasts unique features for a SaaS or Ecommerce business. The automation system is one of its primary selling points and it’s a market leader in regards to in-depth reporting and analysis, with event tracking, purchase automations and smart email content.
It providers users with unique ways to increase sales, such as dynamic content and a deep sales CRM that integrates with email marketing and automation efforts.
And if it doesn’t actively support a feature, the API integration can complete the process. The ActiveCampaign team is always adding new features and is extremely proactive with updating the platform.
Standard Features:
- Automation systems
- Sales CRM
- Email marketing
- Site messaging
- SMS capabilities
- Analytic reporting
- API integrations
- Training and support
Templates
ActiveCampaign starts with 29 templates to choose from, covering Ecommerce, events, newsletters, personal emails, seasonal and simple designs that can be customized. Users can build their own or purchase specific ones as well.
The templates are well-designed and easy to customize with a drag-and-drop editor. This program is really intuitive. By combining the power of the editor with a program like Canva to make custom images, businesses will be well on their way to more effective email marketing.
Pricing
ActiveCampaign’s pricing is simple and offers 4 tiers: Lite, Plus, Professional and Enterprise. They are offered in a monthly model, and there are no setup or cancellation fees. Every tier offers unlimited sending, but users won’t get the sales CRM until they’re at the Plus level.
*Prices last updated May 2018
Considering the feature set provided, ActiveCampaign’s pricing is fiercely competitive with large outfits like Hubspot. At 1,000 contacts, it’s $50 a month for the majority of necessary features. It’s not as cheap as other email marketing providers such as Constant Contact, but considering the feature set it provides, it can offer much more.
Ease of Use
etting started on ActiveCampaign is quick and easy. Just enter your name, email and company, and answer a few questions on how you’d like to use the service. It’s free to hop into the tool, add lists, and look around. The dashboard doesn’t feel overwhelming, and it’s simple to know where to click. For those who’ve used another email marketing tool before, it should feel pretty natural.
The advantage of ActiveCampaign is the depth it offers without being overwhelming. Businesses can get complex with their marketing efforts via the event tracking and dynamic content, but they don’t have to use those features until they’re ready, and these features don’t get in the way of simpler marketing actions.
It’s worth noting the ease of contractual obligations with ActiveCampaign. Many providers of services this robust require contracts and only become affordable by signing up for 6–12-months. Some platforms even require users to give notice of a substantial contact change 3 months in advance (e.g. dropping from 6,000 to 4,000 contacts), and if the user is not diligent, they can get charged for contacts they’re not even using. ActiveCampaign avoids all of that mess with a simple monthly system.
Features
ActiveCampaign’s automation system is bar none for the price. It can go as in-depth as you want, and the builder portrays the logic steps easily and should feel familiar to Infusionsoft users. The system has event tracking, Ecommerce autoresponders, conditional statements, if/then branches, complete segmentation integrated with the CRM, auto imports, smart content, social analysis—the list goes on and on. For a business with a variety of products for a diverse audience, this is the perfect solution.
Dynamic Content
ActiveCampaign also offers dynamic content. Dynamic content allows users to determine what CTAs, banner images and other content pieces consumers see depending on their previous behavior.
This gets very advanced.
For example, if one of your customers purchased a previous course from you, instead of showing an ad or banner image of that course again, it could upsell a complementary product. Or if a reader had viewed 5 blogs on a particular subject, you could advertise a related course that is more contextual, rather than a blanket approach.
Sales CRM
On the sales CRM side, ActiveCampaign offers lead scoring and internal notification features. So if a prospect goes on a download spree, users can have an automatic email sent to the sales owner with a notification of what pages the prospect is viewing and when. The sales rep can take that information and reach out with much more context, addressing the exact subject the prospect is researching.
Customer Support
ActiveCampaign’s support is prompt. It offers live chat during business hours, and users can always send an email to the support team. Users will see a response within an hour or 2 most days, and the reps are knowledgeable and helpful. For those who prefer to fast-track learning the program, you can sign up for complimentary 1-on-1 training on the site.
ActiveCampaign also has a number of training videos for those who don’t like the hands-on style, covering everything from email marketing best practices to automation walkthroughs. The community forum, Facebook group and Slack channel are active as well, allowing users to connect with fellow business owners there.
That’s one of the best aspects of ActiveCampaign — the activeness of its business and community. It’s always listening and responding to feedback, releasing new training videos and updating the tool. If users do find something they don’t like, chances are it will be fixed soon enough.
Conclusion
ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one email marketing, marketing automation and sales CRM tool for businesses of all sizes. It’s easy to use and offers enough depth for any level of marketer. With event tracking, site messaging, split testing, conditional automations, dynamic content and much more, there is not a more complete tool for the price, and its feature set is extremely competitive.
Essentially, ActiveCampaign offers enterprise depth at small business pricing. Features like dynamic content and event tracking are typically reserved for the most expensive CRM/email marketing tools, but ActiveCampaign has managed to provide them at affordable prices.
About ActiveCampaign
Founded in 2003 by Jason Vandeboom, Chicago-based ActiveCampaign was originally a set of 8 separate marketing solutions. After realizing it would be much more effective to consolidate, Vandeboom combined all of the products and transitioned the company from a more traditional software company to one complete SaaS solution. After bootstrapping for 13 years, ActiveCampaign raised $20 million in 2016 and has been growing rapidly ever since.
