Whereas ActiveCampaign is usually referred to as a number one advertising automation software program, what in regards to the CRM options? At present, we’ll take a better have a look at them—learn on, particularly when you’re working for gross sales and searching for a extra sturdy different.
ActiveCampaign began out as a advertising consulting enterprise however after 20 years went all the best way to the SaaS {industry}, turning into a advertising automation software. It’s a preferred alternative amongst entrepreneurs however it’s not the very best match for everybody.
The gross sales aspect of the software appears to be fairly a professional addition, not the core performance. On their web site, ActiveCampaign doesn’t give a direct reply to “Is ActiveCampaign a CRM?” It seems like the corporate desires to maintain its positioning as a one-stop-shop for advertising, plus gross sales actions.
Supply: ActiveCampaign
The issue we noticed with all these “all-in-ones” is that these instruments provide you with all kinds of options that both lack development or are buggy as a result of they weren’t a high precedence for a product group. Is it the case with ActiveCampaign? Let’s discover out. All in all, for some cause, you’re right here—this indicators that ActiveCampaign may not be the most suitable choice for you proper now.
On this comparability, we analyzed six instruments which have CRM options and three instruments which might be purely marketing-focused. Let’s dive proper in.
What Is ActiveCampaign, and What do They Provide?
ActiveCampaign calls itself a Buyer Expertise Automation Platform. Entrepreneurs can profit from electronic mail advertising options, automated workflows, social media concentrating on instruments, reside chat, and so forth.
In some unspecified time in the future, ActiveCampaign additionally added a CRM software with fundamental choices to maintain monitor of leads and handle the pipeline. Right here’s a extra detailed overview of their options.
Electronic mail Advertising
At its core, ActiveCampaign is a fairly highly effective electronic mail advertising platform that permits entrepreneurs to create and ship focused electronic mail campaigns to each prospects and prospects. Entrepreneurs can select an ordinary electronic mail, automated sequence, date-based emails, and extra. The break up testing function works just for topic traces which is fairly restricted.
To design emails, entrepreneurs can select between a fundamental template, predefined templates, layouts, or previous campaigns they did. The templates are responsive and mobile-friendly which is certainly a plus right here!
The drag-and-drop editor within the electronic mail builder offers entrepreneurs management over how the ultimate electronic mail will look. The platform additionally provides superior automation choices like triggered emails, deserted cart emails, and different autoresponders. As electronic mail advertising is a key function in ActiveCampaign, it seems to be fairly sturdy.
The one disadvantage we noticed is that if you wish to collaborate with a advertising group and add contact lists to ActiveCampaign in aside from CSV format, you’ll have bother as a result of CSV is the only format that’s accepted.
Advertising Automation
Advertising automation can also be highly effective in ActiveCampaign (hey, total this software was designed primarily for advertising people!). They will put a number of processes on autopilot, from capturing leads, sending welcome emails, sending emails that had been captured from gated content material, and extra.
To design a stream, entrepreneurs have to set a set off and add circumstances and workflow guidelines. Or they will select automated templates grouped by industries. This may save a number of hours on sending manually ready emails however it’s additionally a typical function most electronic mail advertising instruments have. We’d say it’s an {industry} commonplace.
As for advertising options, ActiveCampaign is certainly a sturdy electronic mail advertising answer. But it surely additionally has limitations. The shortage of function flexibility could hinder the customization of promoting campaigns. See the highlighted half beneath:
Supply: G2
Pricing for the advertising a part of the software begins with a Plus plan for $49 per thirty days (restricted to 3 customers) and a Professional plan for $149 (restricted to 5 customers). If you wish to get CRM options or combine marketing and sales features, the worth will get steeper.
CRM
And right here comes probably the most attention-grabbing half for you—a CRM inside ActiveCampaign. From what we noticed, the software provides fairly fundamental CRM choices that allow you to handle buyer information, monitor interactions along with your prospects, and handle offers and pipelines. This “basicness” of their CRM can also be identified in G2’s opinions by their customers.
Supply: G2
Their CRM doesn’t offer built-in SMS marketing features when you obtained or upgraded your account after January 3, 2023. You will get it solely as an add-on in each advertising and gross sales plans. Then again, they provide a chatbot that may automate lead era.
If we speak about name automation options like energy dialer, your gross sales group received’t discover it in ActiveCampaign. In the event you’re trying to make your outreach smoother, you’ll should cope with an exterior software.
Additionally, ActiveCampaign CRM doesn’t at all times have two-way sync. As one G2 user points out “Like another CRM programs it might be helpful that with the Microsoft Outlook plug in, emails to and from the shopper are routinely uploaded to the shopper document which AC would not have.”
Then again, the software’s CRM has a lead-scoring function primarily based on machine studying, which sounds fairly cool.
Reporting and Analytics
ActiveCampaign will give entrepreneurs fundamental stories to allow them to monitor key metrics like open charges, click-through charges, or conversions. Though they will customise stories, it’s principally targeted on advertising information and it’s not too intuitive. Because of this, a greater choice is to export any information to a different software and analyze stuff there.
Integrations
ActiveCampaign has a number of integrations with third-party apps like Shopify, Shut, WordPress, DocuSign, and extra. In case your advertising group want to persist with ActiveCampaign, it’s nonetheless doable to cooperate along with your or different departments on the identical datasets built-in between instruments.
Greatest For: Small and mid-sized companies that need advanced electronic mail advertising software program
Value: The Advertising plan is between $49 and $149 per thirty days (hidden value for enterprise), Gross sales plan is between $19 and $49 per thirty days (hidden value for enterprise). It’s also possible to get the Advertising + Gross sales plan (bundle) for $93 and $386, or speak to gross sales by way of an enterprise plan. All plans have month-to-month pricing paid yearly
Free trial: Sure, ActiveCampaign provides a 14-day free trial to new customers
ActiveCampaign Execs
- Highly effective advertising automation and good electronic mail deliverability
- Superior segmentation choice that ties nicely with automation
- Good buyer help
ActiveCampaign Cons
- Analytics and reporting aren’t fitted to the gross sales group
- Customers complain about it being very sluggish to load
- When you have a number of contacts, the worth may get wild
- CRM options are very fundamental and nonetheless want growth
6 Greatest ActiveCampaign Options for Gross sales Groups
Questioning whether or not there’s a greater choice in your gross sales group? Let’s talk about six totally different gross sales software program instruments and the way they evaluate to ActiveCampaign for gross sales groups.
1. Shut: The ActiveCampaign CRM Various for SMB + SaaS
We’ll be straight up with you—Shut is the one CRM we all know inside out (all in all, we’ve constructed it!). And what we all know for positive is that Shut is the one CRM constructed by gross sales for gross sales—you’ve got our phrase that it’s sturdy and superior.
It has every thing a contemporary gross sales group must develop relationships with prospects, monitor progress (this implies reporting crafted for gross sales people solely), and shut extra offers.
The software logs in all of the interactions with leads—that features emails, SMS messages, and cellphone calls. Automation will assist your group reduce time-consuming duties and give attention to, yeah, promoting. And Good Views are right here to prioritize leads in real-time.
In the event you’re searching for an ActiveCampaign different principally as a result of their CRM lacks development (and your advertising group continues to be keen on the advertising a part of the software), you’ve got the choice to sync each worlds by way of Zapier integration.
That is tremendous cool because it’s a bidirectional integration that updates information between each merchandise so every group can sustain with their work as typical. And when you’d wish to migrate your CRM information from ActiveCampaign to Shut, you may simply do it with Import2 information migration.
Greatest For: SMB & SaaS gross sales groups who need to smash their targets
Value: You may select between Startup ($99), Skilled ($299), and Enterprise ($699) plans
Free trial: Sure, Shut provides a 14-day free trial to new customers
Shut Execs
- Works quick even with large volumes of contacts
- Has tons of integrations together with Calendly, Drip, Zapier, ActiveCampaign, Asana, SavvyCal, Zoom, and plenty of extra by way of API
- Has customer support ranked within the high one p.c of all SaaS firms
- Features a cellular app
Shut Cons
- Not your best option for organizations that need to have an all-in-one software that features advertising, buyer journey, doc storage, and extra
TRY CLOSE FOR THE NEXT 14 DAYS, FREE OF CHARGE→
2. Outreach
Outreach positions itself as a Gross sales Execution Platform, so it’s clearly a salespeople software. Their function set consists of gross sales engagement, deal administration, and pipeline administration. There’s a function overlap between Outreach and ActiveCampaign—each have electronic mail advertising, electronic mail templates, lead qualification, reporting, and lead segmentation.
Whereas it’s an overlap, ActiveCampaign is extra of a advertising software that lets entrepreneurs customise advertising communication and templates whereas Outreach has built-in templates just for gross sales people.
In comparison with ActiveCampaign that’s concentrating on small and mid-market gamers, Outreach targets enterprise prospects and doesn’t share its pricing plans.
In the event you ask about ease of use, we already mentioned that ActiveCampaign has a studying curve. However Outreach is far more advanced than that, and technical information is important to get probably the most out of it. This may increasingly annoy gross sales people that need to give attention to promoting.
Greatest For: Enterprise companies
Value: Gross sales name required (Advanced pricing with hidden prices)
Free trial: No
Outreach Execs
- Extensive set of options
- Machine studying and AI as a part of the software
- Devoted buyer success group
Outreach Cons
- Not a stand-alone product—Outreach have to be paired with a CRM system to work nicely
- The steep studying curve requires technical information
- Hidden pricing and doubtlessly further prices for add-ons
- No integration with Zapier (which might be anticipated from any such software program)
3. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a fairly common CRM that may assist your gross sales group set up buyer information, handle offers and shut them. It’s thought of an intuitive and customizable software, particularly due to the highly-visual elements. For instance, you may see the standing of every deal and higher prioritize gross sales efforts.
ActiveCampaign is extra targeted on advertising options, whereas Pipedrive is generally sales-focused. This implies gross sales pipeline administration, exercise monitoring, or gross sales reporting is extra superior than in ActiveCampaign. However what’s attention-grabbing, you too can run advertising campaigns in Pipedrive.
In response to the G2 comparison, customers discover Pipedrive simpler to make use of and arrange however speaking about product help, ActiveCampaign is a most popular choice.
Greatest For: Gross sales groups who desire a visible illustration of their gross sales pipeline (however fairly for smaller gamers)
Value: You may select between Important ($14.90), Superior ($24.90), Skilled ($49.90), and Enterprise ($99) plans. All the costs are per consumer, per thirty days, billed yearly
Free trial: Sure, Pipedrive provides a 14-day free trial to new customers
Pipedrive Execs
- Low preliminary value for a really simplistic pipeline system
- Intuitive, visible interface
- Customizable (filters and search standards for purchasers and leads)
Pipedrive Cons
- Poor customer support (sluggish service or charging per deactivated customers. Decrease tiers have entry to speak help solely)
- Many add-ons (typically glitchy) are required when scaling—even for fundamental options like calling, electronic mail, and SMS
- Points with electronic mail synchronization information—in case your gross sales agent leaves the corporate, all Pipedrive historical past of their electronic mail is gone (and there’s no strategy to make a backup!)
4. HubSpot
HubSpot is any such software program everybody heard about no less than as soon as. It is an all-in-one advertising automation platform that gives tons of options: electronic mail editor, lead administration, social media administration, analytics, customer support, and so forth.
Within the CRM half, you should utilize electronic mail templates, electronic mail monitoring, name monitoring, or gross sales automation that allows you to ship personalised emails in sequences.
However keep in mind the curse of all-in-ones? Right here, it goes even additional. Hubspot isn’t for any explicit enterprise—it’s for any enterprise on the market. Though there’s a myriad of options, it lacks the flexibleness you discover in different instruments.
When in comparison with ActiveCampaign, each instruments are extra marketing-focused whereas Hubspot Advertising Hub has extra superior choices (however they arrive at a value as pricing will get steep faster than in ActiveCampaign).
HubSpot appears extra user-friendly and comes with extra sturdy reporting (you may create your personal stories). In the event you’d need to evaluate managing pipelines in each instruments, they’re fairly intuitive, though HubSpot limits your pipeline quantity primarily based in your present plan. On this and plenty of different facets, the free CRM that HubSpot provides is extraordinarily restricted.
Greatest For: Mid-sized companies and enterprises that need to spend money on all-in-one software program
Value: For gross sales instruments, free instruments ($0), Starter ($20), Skilled ($500), Enterprise ($1,200) per thirty days, billed yearly. Or, for HubSpot’s full CRM Suite, Skilled ($1,600) or Enterprise ($5,000) per thirty days, billed yearly
Free trial: No, it has a free plan however it’s fairly restricted (one deal pipeline per account, one inbox, 5 lively lists, reside chat consists of HubSpot branding)
HubSpot Execs
- Superior reporting and analytics module
- Tons of integrations (together with native integration with Shut so you will get probably the most out of each instruments)
- Giant lively consumer group so you will get help and recommendation quick
- Consists of cellular app
HubSpot Cons
- Pricing is excessive in comparison with related options in the marketplace
- Unfriendly UI leads many customers to be pissed off
- Hidden prices for function add-ons and growing the variety of contacts in your system
- Provides solely annual contracts which isn’t cool when you’d like to modify to a different software
- Lack of industry-specific options and limitations within the customized fields
5. Fixed Contact
Fixed Contact is a barely less-known choice for advertising and gross sales. They provide two merchandise: Electronic mail & Digital Advertising and Lead Gen & CRM.
ActiveCampaign appears to be a extra versatile and complicated software, particularly if we speak about automation and workflows. However when you’d wish to take pleasure in a much bigger library of electronic mail templates, for instance, Fixed Contact offers you over 400 whereas ActiveCampaign has 250 ready-made choices.
Talking of automation, Fixed Contact provides you simply a few them. Triggers are additionally restricted and really feel like a greater match for smaller campaigns focused at a much less various viewers.
A pleasant benefit that Fixed Contact has over ActiveCampaign is which you can add contact lists in numerous codecs like CSV, XLS and XLSX, VCF, and comma-separated textual content recordsdata.
However, let’s soar to a CRM comparison. It has fundamental CRM performance together with contacts which might be customizable and you’ll construct filtered lists for concentrating on. Your gross sales group may handle offers and pipelines in Fixed Contact with a drag-and-drop interface.
Whereas the CRM lacks superior options, there’s a justification for that—all of them complement the Electronic mail & Digital Advertising product so entrepreneurs know which campaigns drive leads and the right way to profit from account-based advertising.
Greatest For: Small companies and nonprofit organizations (however the gross sales module is fairly expensive)
Value: Based mostly on the variety of contacts—Lite ($12), Normal ($35), Premium ($80) per thirty days. Lead gen & CRM worth begins at $449 per thirty days
Free trial: Sure, a 60-day free trial for brand new customers
Fixed Contact Execs
- Provides fundamental performance for entrepreneurs at an reasonably priced worth
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- Good buyer help
Fixed Contact Cons
- The gross sales product comes at a really steep worth whereas providing fundamental performance
- Reporting is restricted solely to advertising campaigns so gross sales received’t discover it helpful
- Restricted automation and customization options so it’s just for fundamental advertising campaigns
6. MailChimp
Though MailChimp is totally on entrepreneurs’ radars due to its marketing-focused options, they provide a CRM choice.
The difficulty is that this “CRM” appears to be a contact administration function that helps entrepreneurs perceive buyer information that may be segmented by location, supply of progress, widespread labels, or buyer lifetime worth. Overlook about constructing pipelines, creating offers, or assigning deal house owners. To not point out automation, energy dialer, or name monitoring.
Right here, ActiveCampaign CRM appears extra sturdy and extra fitted to gross sales groups.
When evaluating advertising options, ActiveCampaign provides extra superior choices, with extra advanced automation and workflows.
Much less customization is also a bonus—MailChimp doesn’t have that steep of a studying curve whereas nonetheless providing a stable choice for electronic mail advertising campaigns. Each instruments supply integrations with different platforms whereas ActiveCampaign has extra of them.
Greatest For: Small companies which might be simply beginning out with electronic mail advertising
Value: Free, Necessities ($13), Normal ($20), Premium ($350) per thirty days
Free trial: 30-day free trial (Normal or Important)
MailChimp Execs
- Person-friendly and intuitive even for newcomers
- Customizable templates and over 300 integrations
- Provides a free plan which is fairly good for the beginning (1,000 emails and 500 contacts)
MailChimp Cons
- The CRM isn’t actually a CRM however a contact record
- Restricted reporting choices
- Restricted buyer help and no help within the free plan
Bonus: 3 Greatest ActiveCampaign Opponents for Advertising Options
Whereas we all know that the gross sales sport is your realm, we thought you could possibly provide you with an thought of what ActiveCampaign options are by way of advertising stuff too.
7. GetResponse
GetResponse, like ActiveCampaign, is all-in-one advertising software program. It has electronic mail advertising that features electronic mail creators, templates, or send-time optimization. Its superior advertising automation offers entrepreneurs the choice to construct visible workflows, set triggers, and use prebuilt templates for advertising and transactional emails.
It has a touchdown web page builder, so it’s pretty straightforward to arrange a customizable template, embed varieties, optimize it for search, or do A/B testing. You may even arrange net push notifications out of your web site!
Whereas GetResponse permits entrepreneurs to host webinars inside their software program, they don’t supply any kind of CRM. An choice is to attach GetResponse with Shut by way of Zapier integration.
Talking about pricing plans, they’re extra reasonably priced in GetResponse—the corporate primarily targets small to mid-sized companies.
Supply: G2
Greatest For: Small and medium dimension companies that want fundamental electronic mail advertising and automation
Value: Free plan, Electronic mail Advertising ($19), Advertising Automation ($59), and eCommerce Advertising ($119). Max and Max^2 have customized pricing (for bigger firms)
Free trial: A 30-day free trial that provides customers entry to all premium options
GetResponse Execs
- The free model of the software and the affordability of paid plans
- Webinar performance that’s fairly distinctive in comparison with different instruments
- Buyer help is offered 24/7 and in a number of languages
GetResponse Cons
- No cellphone help except you’ve got probably the most expensive Max^2 plan
- Restricted customization choice for templates
- A restricted variety of integrations in comparison with ActiveCampaign
8. Drip
Whereas Drip is a fairly well-known advertising automation software, they speak principally to eCommerce shops. In the event you don’t have an internet retailer, this is likely to be a difficulty as Drip requires you to attach it right away.
ActiveCampaign has a greater variety of templates over Drip, providing over 250 to select from. Drip doesn’t have a CRM choice however it provides fairly superior record administration. You may create buyer segments primarily based on numerous standards, together with occasions. Like in ActiveCampaign, you may apply tags to your contacts.
Each instruments have advertising automation that’s very versatile and lets entrepreneurs do lots—Drip lets entrepreneurs set triggers associated to the acquisition in Shopify for instance.
Supply: Drip
Greatest For: All kinds of enterprise with a give attention to eCommerce
Value: Pricing is predicated on the variety of contacts in your record. It prices $39 for a 2,500 record whereas the pricing goes as much as $1,899 for 170,000. Past that, you’ve got customized pricing
Free trial: Sure, 14-day trial (no bank card required)
Drip Execs
- Superior electronic mail advertising automation instruments
- Good match for ecommerce enterprise and B2C lead nurturing campaigns
- Good buyer help is offered by way of electronic mail, cellphone, and chat
Drip Cons
- Pricing is predicated solely on the variety of contacts (worth can get steep, particularly since B2C companies might need a number of contacts)
- Much less detailed marketing campaign stories than in ActiveCampaign
- Very slender focus and isn’t the very best match for B2B companies
9. ConvertKit
ConvertKit positions the software as a creator advertising platform that helps develop and monetize audiences. It provides a variety of options like electronic mail lists for advertising campaigns, record group with tags and classes, customizable sign-up varieties, or stories about subscribers and conversions.
ConvertKit’s interface appears to be less complicated to make use of in comparison with the beautiful advanced one which ActiveCampaign provides. But it surely comes at the price of much less superior workflow choices, no break up automation, gross sales automation, and CRM.
Plainly each instruments are designed for barely totally different audiences—ConvertKit ought to work nicely for bloggers and B2C companies, whereas ActiveCampaign could be a more sensible choice for entrepreneurs and bigger companies that want extra complexity.
Supply: ConvertKit
Greatest For: Smaller companies and bloggers
Value: Relies upon closely on the variety of subscribers. Begins from free, $9 as much as $1,916 for 400,000 subscriber lists (per thirty days)
Free trial: No free trial however a free plan of as much as 1,000 subscribers (no bank card required)
ConvertKit Execs
- Shallow studying curve and easy-to-use interface
- Reasonably priced pricing for small companies and numerous creators that do not have enormous audiences
- Superior tagging choice for managing funnels and concentrating on customers with optimized emails
ConvertKit Cons
- Primary marketing campaign reporting and dashboard capabilities when in comparison with ActiveCampaign
- Not many templates to select from
- Buyer help provides principally fundamental assist
Streamline Your Gross sales Staff Efficiency with ActiveCampaign CRM Various
Phew, evaluating ActiveCampaign with different market choices was fairly a trip. At this level, chances are you’ll have already got an thought what kind of CRM your group wants to attach with extra prospects, automate a number of the workflows, and yeah, shut extra offers.
Whereas fundamental ActiveCampaign CRM is likely to be nice for the beginning, now chances are you’ll want a extra superior choice to remain aggressive in your gross sales sport. And right here comes Shut, which provides robust gross sales automation capabilities and sturdy reporting whereas nonetheless providing you with stable lead administration and outreach options.
So, why not give Shut a attempt? The primary 14 days of utilizing this gross sales powerhouse are on us!
