Activecampaign Review in 2024 The Best Marketing Tool for Automation
Are you Looking for the best tool for email marketing automation? Wondering if ActiveCampaign is the right tool for your business?
You’ve come to the right place. In this article
“ActiveCampaign Review 2024”, I will take you through every point of
ActiveCampaign and help you decide if it is the right marketing automation tool
for your business.
I recommend following up to the end of this
ActiveCampaign Review 2024 to find , features, pricing, pros and cons,
alternatives, advantages, limitations, and final notes and conclusion of the
ActiveCampaign Review 2024.
What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one marketing automation
software with an in-built sales CRM. It is One of the most advanced email
marketing and automation solutions on the market. Includes all the features
that you need to automate customer experiences.
ActiveCampaign tags itself as the best customer
experience automation platform. It provides a wide range of features that can
uplift you to unlock the competitive edge in building loyal customer
relationships. It enables you to nurture potential leads, create automated
campaigns based on numerous conditions, and provide an intuitive drag-and-drop
builder to build and edit emails easily.
If you want to explore ActiveCampaign along with
reading this review, sign up using the below link, which will get you a 14-day
free trial.
Create Free ActiveCampaign Account. Try it free.
No credit card required.
Now, in the second part of the ActiveCampaign Review
2024 let’s explore each feature in-depth and see if ActiveCampaign is the right
automation tool for your sales and marketing team.
ActiveCampaign Core Features 2024
In this section, I will give a complete list of all
the features and functionalities that ActiveCampaign offers and help you
experience the tool.
Here are the features of ActiveCampaign that need
your attention:
Marketing Automation
Email Marketing
Email Deliverability
CRM & Sales Automation
Lead Scoring
Advanced Contact Segmentation
On-site Tracking
Messaging & Chatbot
Landing page & Form builder
Analytics & Reporting
And more….
Now, let's explore each feature one by one.
Marketing Automation
ActiveCampaign is highly popular for its incredible
automation features. The visual automation builder is flexible and
straightforward to use. You need to just drag and drop the elements to create
the workflow, and all the changes are saved automatically.
ActiveCampaign Automation Builder
As you can see in the above image, it is possible to
add multiple triggers based on your requirements. Also, there is a possibility
of adding emails to the automation flow by clicking the ‘+’ icon.
Another aspect that will add life to email marketing
campaigns is personalization. ActiveCampaign lets you accomplish this by
enabling you to add dynamic content and personalized elements to your email
copy.
ActiveCampaign’s automation capabilities work seamlessly
beyond your expectations. It provides a decent range of automation templates
that you can use to build automation for –
Follow up sequence
Upsell and Resell
Increase referral traffic
Team collaboration
And many more…
ActiveCampaign Automation Template
ActiveCampaign’s 750 templates offer something for
every business.
It also helps that the platform does not keep it
general but offers a variety of integration-specific recipes, such as
automation templates for Shopify.
These ActiveCampaign automation templates allow you
to automate crucial marketing processes instead of drafting your instructions
from scratch every time.
For instance, you can automate abandon cart
notifications and follow-up emails.
Email Marketing Campaign
ActiveCampaign provide you with six types of email
campaigns to get started fast. The different types of email campaigns it offers
are as follows:
Standard
Automated
AutoResponder
Split Testing
RSS Triggered
Date based
With the help of its simple drag-and-drop email
editor, you can move blocks and design a perfect email body within a few
minutes.
ActiveCampaign Email Builder
Additionally, it allows you to hide and show
specific content blocks on mobile devices for better design and experience.
To make your life easier, ActiveCampaign provides
stunning email templates that you can easily customize – you can style
elements, place blocks, and be formatted to include various functionalities.
It also allows you to create your own templates and
reuse them for future campaigns. So,
it’s clear that ActiveCampaign will save you a lot of time and energy in
designing email campaigns.
Email Deliverability
Email Deliverability is a major challenge in the
success of email marketing campaigns. ActiveCampaign ensures that all of your
emails get landed in your subscribers’ inboxes as it provides spam-checking
functionality.
ActiveCampaign Spam Check
By keeping an eye on spam checks, you can ensure
that the emails you send are entirely legit and error-free.
ActiveCampaign has one of the highest email
deliverability rates ensuring, so that your emails reach as many people as
possible in their main inbox (not in spam or promotional tabs).
CRM & Sales Automation
ActiveCampaign CRM offers essential features as it completely takes care of all the activities needed to build a perfect sales pipeline.
It ensures a smooth flow of activities by notifying
your sales team when a new contact is captured, creating new tasks, updating
the deal status, and automatically nurturing leads for further follow-ups.
ActiveCampaign Sales Automation
You can automate your conversion funnels and segment leads based on their activities. It is also possible to send notifications to your sales team when it’s the right time to follow up with the leads.
It lets you track your team members’ performance and
assign tasks to them manually or within the automation. This enables team
cohesion and brings all crucial data to your fingertips.
Another feature that ActiveCampaign offers, is the
lead scoring and win probability.
The win probability uses machine learning to
calculate the conversion probability of your deal so that you can identify
whether it will turn into a long-lasting customer or not.
Since lead scoring is a critical concept for
marketing automation, I will explain it in detail below.
Lead Scoring
ActiveCampaign’s lead scoring tool empowers
marketing and sales teams to identify the most potential lead by assigning
points to contacts based on their engagement.
There are two types of lead scoring that
ActiveCampaign offers: Deal scoring and Contact Scoring.
A deal score is a numerical value assigned to open
deals in the sales pipeline. It gives an idea of how nurtured a specific deal
is; thus, the sales can prioritize them for follow-up and closure.
Whereas a Contact Score is a value assigned to the
email contacts – subscribers and resource downloaders. It is useful for
marketers to identify the most engaged contacts and thus the
marketing-qualified leads.
ActiveCampaign lets you assign points and create
specific rules in order to add or subtract points based on various factors like
page visits, purchase history, resource downloads, email opens, link clicks,
etc.
Advanced Contact Segmentation
Segmentation is crucial in delivering a personalized
experience to leads, prospects, and customers throughout their journey.
Using segments, you can send the right message to
the right group of people at the right time.
ActiveCampaign allows you to create segments out of
anything based on the data you already have in the database. Here are a few
examples of how you can use data to segment-
Based on contact details: Email, First Name, Last
Name, Full Name, Phone, Organization, Date Subscribed, Time Subscribed, IP
Address, Tag, and Total Conversion Value.
Based on custom fields in forms: Any custom fields you create.
Based on actions & inaction of contacts: Has clicked on a link, has not clicked on a
link, Has opened, Has not opened an email, Has shared socially, Has forwarded
the email, Has not forwarded, Has replied to email, Has not replied, In list,
Not in list, and Subscribed with a subscription form.
Based on geographical locations: Country, State,
City, Zip, and Area code.
Based on on-site & event data: Has visited, Has
not visited, Was referred from, Visiting device, Total page visits, and Total
site visits.
Based on Deal attributes: Has deal with status, Has
deal in stage, Has deal with value, Has deal assigned to, Has a total number of
deals, Has total number of open deals, Has total number of lost deals, Has
total number of won deals, and Has deal with title.
Based on Attributions: Has source, Does not have source, Has medium,
Does not have medium, Has campaign, Does not have campaign, Has term, Does not
have term, Has content, and Does not have content.
ActiveCampaign also allows you to use the ‘AND’ OR’
logic or the multi-dimensional conditions for deeper and refined list
segmentation.
What makes ActiveCampaign segment builder unique is
that it is available across the platform. You can create segments from the
contact page, contact list page, within the automation builder, and email
campaign page.
ActiveCampaign enables you to create segments out of
anything based on the data you already have. And they have made it easy for you
to create as many segments as you want.
On-site tracking
On-site tracking is probably the most needed feature
for marketers to proactively target and follow up with website visitors.
By installing a small piece of code on your website,
you can actively monitor the visitors and convert them into leads and then into
paid customers.
Site tracking in ActiveCampaign offers more features
like you can trigger automation when a contact views any page on your site and
applying lead or contact scores based on visits or views of specific pages.
When you combine the data obtained from site
tracking with other behavioral observations, you can easily map what your
contacts exactly need and target them on other relevant channels, boosting more
conversions.
This ultimately helps you understand your customers’
needs and enables you to deliver a personalized sales and marketing experience.
Messaging & Chatbot
Along with email, ActiveCampaign offers
multi-channel conversation tools, including Facebook Messenger, text messaging,
chatbot, and live chat features.
All the conversations are managed in a unified
interface, so you will not miss even a single detail. When a visitor submits
the email address to the chat agent, you can create automation workflows to
start communicating with them.
ActiveCampaign’s Chatbot enables you to customize
each chat, update the custom field data whenever required, and add tags to
contacts, which helps to segment your contacts effectively.
Add Tags from ActiveCampaign Chat
It also lets you send automated text messages which
establish robust connectivity with your subscribers. You can send appointment
reminders, thank you messages, flash sale notifications, coupon code delivery,
etc.
Today, customers want instant responses from brands,
and if you can’t deliver, you may lose a potential customer. ActiveCampaign
understands this challenge. That’s why they provide a mobile app for iOS and
Android devices, allowing your team members to stay active from anywhere and
respond to queries instantly.
Landing Pages and Form Builder
Last but not least, ActiveCampaign lets you build
personalized landing pages and provides a wide array of beautiful templates.
The landing page editor is good but could be
improved by adding more flexibility to design elements and adding more
features. However, you can easily integrate with other landing page builders
for better and convertible landing pages.
Next comes the form builder. It offers different
form types that you can embed into your website to collect potential leads.
Also, note that it is possible to trigger automation
when a particular action is done on your form by visitors.
Analytics & Reporting
ActiveCampaign provides abundant reporting options
that you can use to analyze campaign performance and optimize it for better
results.
It offers different reports like Campaign reports,
Automation reports, Goal Reports, Deal Reports, and much more to go.
The Report tab will list all your automation, the
number of people who interacted with your automation, and how many of them
completed it.
It also displays the open trends based on hour and
weekday, which lets you alter your time frequency of sending emails to achieve
the highest ROI possible.
You can also view a complete breakdown of all your
deals based on various criteria such as status, value, type of pipeline,
duration, etc.
It also lets you create custom reports based on
automation engagement trends, deal value based on forecasted close dates, etc.,
to build a high-level data-driven strategy.
Having discussed the broad range of features that
ActiveCampaign offers, let’s now jump into other essential aspects –
integration and pricing.
ActiveCampaign 3rd-party Integrations
One of the essential features we look for in a tool
is its integration capability with other tools, especially those you are
already using. Right?
Fortunately, ActiveCampaign provides an overflowing
set of integration options. With more than 900 apps ranging from
accounting to CRM and CMS, you have the complete freedom to choose your
most wanted applications for better automation and data flow.
Some popular integration apps are Salesforce,
WordPress, Shopify, Facebook, Google Analytics, Unbounce, and more. Moreover,
if any of your existing tools are unavailable in the list, you can always use
Zapier to connect ActiveCampaign with other tools.
ActivCampaign Pricing Plans 2024
ActiveCampaign has four pricing plans, mainly based
on the features you can access. However, the monthly billing increase for each
plan is based on the number of contacts you store.
Here’s the price of each plan for up to 1000 email
contacts:
The Lite plan:
Starts at $39/month or $29/month paid yearly with a
good range of features for small businesses.
The Plus plan:
Starts at $70/month or $49 billed yearly backed with
Lead scoring, SMS marketing, CRM, and much more to boost your business.
The Professional plan:
Starts at $187/month or $149 billed yearly offering
additional features like win probability and split automation.
The enterprise plan:
Starts at $279/month, which acts as a complete
powerhouse of sophisticated features.
The good of this is that ActiveCampaign offers a
14-day free trial, allowing up to 100 contacts and 100 email sends. During the
trial, you will have access to all its features so that you can test it
thoroughly and decide which plan suits your business need.
ActiveCampaign Pros and Cons
Now, let’s look at all the features and tools
ActiveCampaign offers and how useful they can be for your business. So, before
making a verdict, let’s review its pros and cons.
ActiveCampaign Pros
ActiveCampaign offers a robust automation builder
that is easy to use, and you can build automation for anything using various
trigger options available.
It guarantees high email deliverability, which helps
in fulfilling your campaign objectives and goals.
It provides an integrated sales and marketing
platform to keep the sales and marketing team in sync.
It provides various analytics data in the report,
measuring the ROI and letting you make strategic decisions.
It allows for free implementation and migration
service from your existing software, which can be a tremendous advantage for
starters.
ActiveCampaign Cons
The learning curve is a little high for beginners.
It offers many advanced features, which can be
overwhelming for beginners. I’d recommend starting with the Lite or Plus plan
and upgrading once you understand the tool.
ActiveCampaign Review 2024 Conclusion
Is ActiveCampaign the right email automation tool
for your business?
ActiveCampaign is undoubtedly one of the best email
marketing software, and it is the perfect tool for any organization that
understands email marketing automation and how to leverage it properly.
So, my question would be, Is your team ready for
ActiveCampaign?
In my experience, not every business is ready to
adopt an advanced marketing automation tool like ActiveCampaign, and I
recommend ActiveCampaign to companies that fulfill the following conditions:
You have a compelling website.
You have a dedicated marketing team of at least
three members.
You have a defined marketing strategy in place.
You have defined ideal customer profiles and buyer
personas.
You have identified your customer touchpoints.
You have determined your preferred marketing
channels, and email marketing is one of them.
These are some important elements to make marketing
automation successful for your business. So, if your company doesn’t check any
of the above conditions, I’d suggest you to better focus on it or opt for basic
marketing automation tools like Moosend.
And if your company checks all these conditions,
ActiveCampaign is the best tool for you to automate your customer journey and
other repeat marketing tasks.
Try ActiveCampaign 14-day free trial.
What’s great about ActiveCampaign users is the
excellent email deliverability ensuring campaigns land right into subscribers’
inboxes.
On the other hand, if you want to send basic
newsletter campaigns, its features will be overwhelming or overkill, so to
speak. Moreover, the steep price tag could be a disappointment for small
businesses, but it is considered fair if we take into account the value it can
provide.
As a final note, the software can be a one-stop shop
for both your marketing and sales efforts, meaning you can save some money by
having fewer different vendors.
ActiveCampaign Alternatives
Our ActiveCampaign review showed that this email
marketing solution has a decent offering with robust automation and an in-built
sales CRM that you can purchase as a bundle with the marketing platform.
However, this tool is an advanced solution with a steep learning curve that
requires substantial work compared to other email services. What’s more, the
high pricing and the short of a free plan make it difficult to get to know the
software well.
If you’re looking for another ActiveCampaign
alternative with more affordable pricing and less maintenance requirements,
here are the top three options:
An all-in-one email marketing and marketing
automation solution with advanced automation functionality, eCommerce features,
and an intuitive user interface. Unlike ActiveCampaign, Moosend has a minimal
learning curve while it is vastly more affordable (starting at $9/month)
including all the platform’s features.
Save much of your marketing budget by switching to
Moosend today!
Brevo:
A well-known email marketing solution that comes
with advanced automation options and a CRM system. It has a free plan allowing
you to send 300 emails/day, while the service doesn’t restrict you in the
number of contacts you can have. What’s more, Brevo enables multi-channel
marketing since it allows you to send SMS and WhatsApp campaigns.
This platform is a dedicated email marketing
solution for eCommerce, providing a suite of tools to achieve the best results
possible. It has powerful automation, revenue tracking, and rich analytics to
keep track of your efforts and optimize your performance accordingly.
0 Comments