Activecampaign is an email marketing service designed to save preferred email templates, send predesigned messages to your contact list and automate the process of delivering different types of content.
Is Activecampaign Good: The Bottom Line Up Front
The short answer: Yes!
ActiveCampaign has a lot of value for just $9 a month to get started. It includes a free 14-day trial, which you can use to explore all the features it has to offer, and decide whether you want to make the purchase.
It also offers various levels of autoresponder programming and unlimited email plans. The interface is easy to use. Having used it to set up numerous email campaigns I can easily say Activecampaign is one of the best email management tools out there.
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In this Activecampaign review, we’ll dive into both the good and bad aspects of the service in order to help you make an informed decision and see whether it’s right for you or not.
Pros
- Well designed interface – You will promptly notice how many valuable features this service has to offer. The design of the user interface is top notch and you will be able to understand everything that’s going on in a short amount of time. It’s crucial to be able to understand how the service works clearly and without any difficulties.
- Affordable – The lowest cost plan which is great for a blogger or small businesses starts at only $9 a month for up to 500 contacts and grows in price as you add more contacts. It scales so you only pay more as you add more contacts to your list and are theoretically making more from your list. This is a huge plus compared to the competition. Other email marketing providers either offer much higher priced starter plans or less valuable services.
- Third party integrations – you can access different third-party apps in order to further enhance the quality of your email template. This will be very handy once you start to design email campaigns and do marketing. Readers love visuals, so being able to integrate third-party apps to enhance your work is a major key to being successful.
Cons & Problems
- Short free trial – compared to the competitors, which often offer 30-day trials, a 14-day free subscription seems short.
- No phone support unless you’re already paying for the highest priced monthly plan.
Real Customer Reviews: What People are Saying
Good things people are saying
The majority of most customer reviews are very positive. Most people say that Active campaign allows them to fully automate their marketing funnels. Customers also love how the company is continually developing and keeps coming up with new features and enhancements on a regular basis. This adds more value to the whole service which businesses love.
With Activecampaign, most customers say they can now send emails that are more targeted to their audience. Overall, it also helps to grow their email list.
Bad things people are saying
The main thing that people complain about is a somewhat steep learning curve. Some people also say there are some problems offering the exact opt-in form they want for new subscribers.
Campaigns, Automations, and Autoresponder Series: Are They Easy to Work With and Manage?
Campaigns are one of the most important aspects of Activecampaign. (Afterall, the very word is featured in their brand name.)
There are six different campaign types, each covering a different aspect of what you might need. They are all pretty easy to set-up, and if this is your first time encountering an automation process like this, you might want to check this walkthrough on how to create a follow-up sequence.
Activecampaign Deliverability
Deliverability rates are pretty comparable between all major email management tools.
Some things you can do to increase your deliverability are:
- Don’t send too fast. Outlook, Gmail and other ISP’s have a maximum daily amount of emails a ‘new sender’ can send out. In order to not get blacklisted by those providers, make sure to spend less than 5000 emails each day for the first couple of weeks, while sending only to your most engaged customers.
- If changing Email Management tools, you can expect your deliverability rates to be slightly lower every time you change your email provider. Deliverability and open rates should come back over time though. Also, make sure to carefully transfer your data in order to avoid activating unsubscribed contacts. If you make this mistake, your sender reputation will be damaged with major email servers. Some of your emails might start going straight into the spam folder.
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Activecampaign Templates and Landing Pages: How Easy Are They to Work With?
They might seem complicated at the beginning, but in a short amount of time, you will feel like a perfect natural creating your own sales funnels. The templates feature is great because you can set up a standard look for your emails and reuse the layout for all your auto sends.
There are additional tips and tricks you can research in order to maximize your conversion rate.
Does It Support Drag and Drop Email Design?
Yes! Don’t worry about having to know how to code. You can simply drag and drop images, text, social media links and different kinds of buttons. Activecampaign will automatically make them a part of your email.
Integrations, SMS, and CRMs
You can set up different kinds of automation for different kinds of customers. ActiveCampaign supports SMS or text message marketing as well as managing Facebook custom audiences.
For example, if a customer provides you with their mobile phone number, you can send them a ‘personalized’ text message or automated text message series.
Does It Support Forms in Email?
It does, but the official guide doesn’t recommend using it. The reason behind this that most ISPs like Gmail and outlook don’t support code in emails. Your campaigns may be marked as spam and you will lose engagement.
Whatever marketing email service you are using, it’s best to include a link to your form inside the email. That way, you won’t have any trouble with spam algorithms.
Single and Double Opt-In: Does It Support Both?
Yes, it supports both single and double opt-ins.
Double opt-in is the default setting as research shows that it leads to higher open and conversion rates for the emails you send. You might have a smaller list of active contacts, but it will include only those people who really want to get your messages. This way, your deliverability rate won’t suffer from your emails being marked as spam.
How Easy is it to Monitor Click-Through Rates?
You can monitor different statistics, including click-through rates, in the automation overview panel. It’s quite easy to use and it will give you valuable info on how your template/landing page is converting.
Does It Support RSS Feed Emails?
Yes! If you decide to use RSS, ActiveCampaign will offer you two different ways of including it to your emails.
- RSS triggered campaigns will send automatic emails whenever there is a new post on your RSS feed.
- Campaigns with an RSS content block. These will pull the latest content on your RSS feed and include it in the next email in your sequence. Most professional businesses use this method of combining their RSS feed with their email campaigns.
Does It Support SPF and DKIM?
Yes, this is important if you want to make sure major ISPs don’t block your sender address. Luckily, Activecampaign does this for every user so you don’t need to worry about it.
Do They Offer Dedicated IP Addresses?
Not below 100,000 subscribers. Regular Activecampaign users share an IP address with the other clients. However, those with more than 100,000 subscribers in their contact list will have an option of changing to a unique, dedicated IP address.
Does It Have a WordPress Plugin?
Yes. Should you wish to, you do have the option of managing Activecampaign through WordPress.
GDPR: How Do They Handle It?
GDPR means General Data Protection Regulation and it’s a regulation designed to protect personal data for individuals in the European Union. This is important for anyone using email marketing, as name, phone number and email address all fall into this category.
The good news is: as long as you’re using checkboxes or forms to confirm consent, Activecampaign will make sure you aren’t violating any laws by sending your emails.
Making the Change to Activecampaign : How Easy is it to Transfer or Upload Lists and Campaigns?
If you decide to migrate your whole contact list and email sequences, it might seem like you’re in for a complicated ride.
Thankfully, that’s not the reality. Activecampaign will complete the whole migration process in a fuss-free, fast manner. You are guaranteed to lose no contacts, templates or other valuable data. Everything will be just as you left it at your old email marketing provider.
It may take different amounts of time, depending on the scope of data you’re planning to transfer. After you sign-up for the process, you will receive an email, informing you of the estimated time required for the migration to be complete.
Activecampaign Pricing, Plans & Money Back
Packages & Plans
There are 4 different subscription plans available. You will be able to enjoy a 14-day free trial, but there are no free subscription plans.
Plans cost different amounts depending on how many subscribers you have on your list, but with 500 contacts the least expensive is Lite Plan, costing just $9 per month. More advanced plan offer more goodies and features. They have a Plus plan, Professional plan, and Enterprise plan.
Check out the pricing scale here and adjust the pricing based on the number of subscribers you have: Activecampaign Pricing
Is There a Monthly and Annual Option?
You can decide whether you want to be charged monthly or annually. If you choose the annual payment method, you will receive a great 20%-35% discount.
How Does Canceling a Plan Work?
As Activecampaign can be managed by a number of users, it’s important to know that only the primary admin can cancel a subscription plan.
If you’re paying each month, you will be able to use your account until the subscription expires. The same goes for paying an annual fee.
Promo Codes & Discounts: Do They Have Special Offers or Deals?
Yes. Aside from the default promo of being able to pay less by choosing to be billed annually, nonprofits can also receive an additional 20% discount.
Does Activecampaign Have a Satisfaction or Money-Back Guarantee?
There are no refund options.
Security & Past Security Incidents
Activecampaign doesn’t reveal detailed security protocols, but customers are assured that no one, except a select few authorized personnel, has access to the client’s personal info. This is confirmed by there being no complaints against the system since the company was founded.
Activecampaign has an anti-spam policy and users who decide to abuse the automation system in order to deliver spam-campaigns will have their accounts terminated after a careful review.
Customer Service and Support
Customer support is available to each user, even those who are on free trial. Whether you’re using text or email support, you can receive a prompt response from an expert.
Phone Number: Do You Get a Real Person?
Only enterprise plan users get customer phone support. You will get to talk with a real member of the support staff and have your issues resolved in a timely manner.
Conclusion
Activecampaign is a proven and popular Email Service Provider, I loved using it in the past and the reviews for it are great. In this review, we’ve established all the positive as well as negative aspects of the service. Give it a try and see if it works for your site and online business needs!
Do you have any experience with the service already? Got any further questions that we haven’t answered yet? Drop us a comment below to let us know what you think.
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