iContact is an email marketing solution that was acquired by Vocus in 2012. The product is integrated with Facebook and Twitter and is aimed at SMBs with unlimited sending as a key feature.
I would only recommend it if someone was a small business. I think they are the best suited for companies who will send out a coupon or offer here and there. The most recent updates made it more complicated to use for more complicated processes. It is easy to train someone on the program, and so quick to learn. But I would also only stick to the simpler things. I also think the colorful templates are great, and show great creativity. But again, it is hard to justify recommending the program when it isn't WYSIWYG.
The best scenarios would be email marketing campaigns such as eBlasts, Evites and newsletter/notifications. I believe Streamsend would be less appropriate for overall branding campaign and strategy.
Contact management. iContact is really great for entering all your contact. You are able to put them onto different lists, and let them choose which lists they would like to be a part of as well. There are many data fields provided to fill in information.
Emailing. We use the email feature at least once a month. They are always improving and adding new features, which is very helpful in presenting content in a new and exciting way to our readers. There are many options with remade templates and themes, or you can add your own.
Insights. It is really helpful being able to have the data to see what is working and what isn't. It is nice to be able to go back and see how things went in the past compared to now. Opens, clicks, shares, etc.
Streamsend reports allows us to see who is opening our email blasts and it even pinpoints how many viewers then go onto look at our social media sites and website.
Streamsend allows you to go back and review past email blasts. This prevents me from creating marketing material similar to what I have done in the past.
The site shows you who's email address was undeliverable. This helps me to weed out any old e-mails or individuals who requested to block the blasts.
iContact has been a quick and easy way to send any announcements and news directly to email and social media subscribers. Its tracking and reporting capabilities turn a simple email into a marketing campaign that can be used as a tool to efficiently gauge reader response and customer satisfaction, and ultimately to reach potential customers. The consistency and excellent customer service is what makes this program a pleasant experience.
The renewal process is easy and doesn't require much thought. Our accounting team already has Streamsend as an approved vendor. We are happy with Streamsend and how it works. Switching email systems would require training and a learning curve that will be difficult to schedule in a busy department. The quality and reliability of Streamsend is something our team and attorneys trust.
I rate iContact as an easy to use program due to its user friendly dashboard and user interface. Most companies of small to medium size do not have a dedicated marketer, therefore it is someone multitasking who may or may not have this kind of experience. iContact makes it relatively simple and can actually expand one's knowledge in the area of business promotion.
iContact is regularly up and running. Only once has it been unavailable for maintenance, which is to be expected and even desired for optimal performance when needed.
They have always been responsive to any issues or concerns that have arisen with our account. Our customer account manager participates in our monthly county-wide communicators meetings via telephone to ensure that we are getting the most from the service. He also analyzes our lists to help us weed out inactive contacts.
I didn't have a say in the decision because I wasn't with the company at the time. I listed HubSpot here because I know we used it in conjunction with iContact for email automation, but HubSpot Email was only recently built-out to the point where it is today. Now, iContact and HubSpot are no longer integrated.
iContact stays the same with the number of users added or taken away. It certainly remains reliable despite increased usage, and so, can be considered scaleable in that aspect.
I saw an impact on our ROI when using Streamsend for our weekly newsletters, since we used them as a redirect back to our website for new business
The only negative impact I can think of would be the loss of some our registrants through our email database. Some thought that we sent out Eblasts and newsletters to frequently.
It did help with faster lead conversion as we saw higher traffic and visitors to our website through direct click-through from our email campaigns
