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Did you know that in 2019 global email users amounted to 3.9 BILLION (YES BILLION) and by 2023 this is set to grow to 4.3 BILLION users (Statista, 2020)!
Those are some crazy numbers, right? Every day it’s becoming more important to have a solid email marketing software that you can depend on. There are TONS and TONS of email marketing platforms out there and choosing the right one can be a task but in this article, we will be deep-diving into one of the new kids on the block and no doubt an upcoming industry leader!
Related: The 9 Best Email Marketing Software of 2020
I will be talking about ActiveCampaign! I will be breaking down everything that you need to know about the email marketing software, from its best features to its pricing to its pros and cons. By the end of this article, you will know exactly if ActiveCampaign is the right email marketing tool for you!
So without further ado, let’s dive straight into this ActiveCampaign Review!
Table of Contents
What Is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign was founded by Jason VandeBoom in 2003 and has been making huge moves ever since. By 2018 the marketing and sales automation tool had grown to over 60,000 clients and over $60 million in recurring revenue. Today they have over 90,000 clients, over 525 employees worldwide and four offices.
In a nutshell, ActiveCampaign is an email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation and CRM software platform made for small to medium-sized businesses.
The Chicago based company stands by its mission to “help growing businesses make meaningful connections with their customers”. Their entire team believes that tech should work for you not that you should have to figure out the tech. This belief has allowed them to help their customers and clients make easier and smarter decisions for their growth.
Now you don’t have to be a MASSIVE business to make a MASSIVE impact. ActiveCampaign knows this and so they built something that can be used by anyone.
So if you’re a small business owner then ActiveCampaign could be the right start for you. After all, every decision they make is powered by the question “How will this help small businesses?”.
This email marketing software was built to give small businesses the tools they need to save time, connect with their customers and grow!
What Are ActiveCampaigns’ Best Features?
ActiveCampaign has a variety of features that make it stand out amongst its competitors. These key features are Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, Sales & CRM, Messaging, Machine Learning and ActiveCampaign integrations. Don’t worry we will be taking a brief look at each one of these features!
Email Marketing
Now it is an email marketing software so it would make sense to have a solid email marketing backend right? Right. ActiveCampaign went the extra mile when they were building up this feature. This whole feature was designed around the idea of putting the right emails in front of the right people!
This allows you to send email campaigns that are congruent with the messages you’re trying to get across and the audience you’re trying to reach. You have the option to send any type of email like broadcast emails, triggered emails, targeted emails, email autoresponders, scheduled emails, and even email funnels.
It doesn’t stop there, you will be able to send exactly what your contacts want to see through the segmentation and dynamic content option which lets you customize your message and send targeted emails to the right contact.
In addition, the reporting feature allows you to see which emails are performing the best so you can place your attention on the emails that are getting the most opens, clicks, and buys!
Needless to say, you will be equipped with 25+ professional email templates!
There are other unique email features such as :
- Multi-user editing – This means your whole team could get in on creating your campaigns.
- Managed Deliverability – This helps you reach as many people as possible
- Audience Segmentation – You can separate your contacts based on certain information!
These are just three of the email features from ActiveCampaign, there are tons more that you can check out here.
Marketing Automation
What’s email marketing without automation? Having the ability to be able to create your campaigns and then let them run on auto-pilot is pure magic and ActiveCampaign has mastered that.
Imagine the time you will save through automation allowing you to focus on the stuff you actually love to do! Now if I’m being 100% honest almost every single email marketing software out there has email automation. However, ActiveCampaign has added its own unique twist.
With the Drag and drop automation builder you will be able to set up automated workflows in a matter of minutes! You can also implement segmentation so you send the right emails to the right contacts at the right time.
Here’s what Dawn M. from G2 Crowd Review had to say about the automation process:
“I love that I can see exactly how my automation looks, and how easy it is to update them down the road if I make some changes to my marketing strategies.”
The marketing automation comes with various unique features such as :
- Site Tracking – This allows you to track options on your website and then follow up with certain messages.
- Goal Tracking – You can track your goals and conversions so you will be able to see exactly what’s working and what isn’t!
- Lead Scoring – This automatically finds your most engaged contacts
- Attribution – This automation feature allows you to track the entire customer lifecycle so you can see exactly where your customers are coming from.
These are just four of the automation features from Active Campaign, there are tons more that you can check out here.
Sales & CRM
In a nutshell, this feature helps you sell more in half the time. The sales automation CRM ensures that your entire sales process is as smooth as butter resulting in removing mundane and manual tasks.
With ActiveCampaigns custom CRM dashboard you will be able to manage all of our contacts in one central platform. This also allows you to look at a lead’s entire history from the contact record.
This feature also guarantees that no sales contact is lost by giving you a birds-eye view of the entire sales process so you can make sure your sales team is always on the same page.
Needless to say, this helps you prioritize your leads to determine who is most likely to become a customer.
I almost forgot to mention that there is a CRM app for iOS which gives you the power to check contact information, create and manage tasks all on the go.
The Sales & CRM comes with various features such as:
- Win Probability – This shows you how likely you are to close a deal, which means you can place your attention on the deals that make sense.
- Note Creation – This makes sure your entire sales team is on the same page by taking notes directly within each deal!
- Task assignment – With this feature, you can assign tasks to individual salespeople!
These are just three of the features that are apart of the Sales & CRM, there are tons more that you can check out here.
Messaging
Now let’s be real, your target audience isn’t always going to be in their email inbox. This crazy cool feature gives you the opportunity to reach your audience across all platforms!
This means that you can reach your customers through email marketing, SMS marketing, Facebook Custom Audiences and site messages.
My favorite one has to be the Site Messages which allows you to reach people when they are most likely to buy. ActiveCampaign lets you talk to people as they browse through your website!
Check out the Messaging Features by clicking here.
Machine Learning
Machine learning basically is a math geek. Just kidding. However, it does focus on the numbers so you can make overall better decisions for the growth of your business.
Machine Learning provides insight into certain questions like “What’s the chance that this lead becomes a customer?” and “What’s the best time to send an email?”
This gives you the advantage since the machine will be focusing on the numbers so you can provide the personal touch machines can’t replace.
With Machine Learning you get Win Probability which shows you the leads that will most likely become customers as well as Predictive Sending which sends emails at the time your contact is most likely going to open and read it.
Check out the Machine Learning features by clicking here.
ActiveCampaign Integrations
ActiveCampaign integrates seamlessly with all your favorite apps from PayPal, Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Facebook, Zapier and 250 others!!
What Is ActiveCampaigns’ Pricing?
ActiveCampaign’s pricing is simple and is based on the number of contacts that you have. It is as follows:
Lite Plan: $15 per month for up to 500 subscribers
Plus Plan: $70 per month for up to 1000 subscribers
Professional Plan: $159 per month for up to 2500 subscribers
Enterprise Plan: $279 per month for up to 2500 subscribers
If you choose to pay yearly you will receive a discount on every plan.
Active Campaign also has a 14-day free trial.
If you want to take advantage of the free trial click here.
What Are ActiveCampaigns’ Pros and Cons?
Like every other email marketing software out there ActiveCampaign has its fair share of pros and cons.
Pros
- User Friendly – The entire platform is incredibly user friendly and integration is super simple!
- Free Migrations – ActiveCampaign allows you to migrate from
- Birds Eye View – It is incredibly easy to collect all of your website contacts in one place and map out and visualize your entire campaigns.
Cons
- Outdated Templates – Although the majority of templates are great some of the templates look outdated compared to its competitors. However, at the end of the day, the other features make up for it!
Who Is ActiveCampaign for?
ActiveCampaign is for the small or medium-sized business owner who is looking for a tool that provides multi-channel marketing. It is also for teams that take consider marketing automation a priority.
The Truth About ActiveCampaign 
All in all, ActiveCampaign is an amazing marketing software for growing businesses that want to take their business efforts to the next level. It has a ton of great features that make it stand out against its competitors and it’s definitely worth the investment!
If you are a strong believer in providing an incredible customer experience then ActiveCampaign should definitely be top of mind.
Looking for Alternatives to ActiveCampaign? Check our Review on GetResponse as well as our Review on MailerLite, two other incredible email marketing software.
