Act-On Software vs. Adobe Advertising Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act-On
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Act-On is an adaptive marketing platform designed to drive personal and purposeful multi-channel marketing. Its foci are inbound and outbound marketing, for enabling a tighter alignment with sales and turning data into actionable insights.
$900
per month
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
AdobeAdvertising Cloud (formerly Adobe Media Optimizer) is an ad management product and is part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. It delivers a rules-based bidding solution that improves the performance of search engine marketing campaigns and is integrated with Adobe Analytics.N/A
Pricing
Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
Editions & Modules
Professional
$900
per month
Enterprise
$2,000+
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act-OnAdobe Advertising Cloud
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThe Professional package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. The Enterprise allows for much more customization, the package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. Annual contract required for all packages.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
Features
Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.2
124 Ratings
7% above category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.6123 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.2102 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.0102 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.2118 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing8.1106 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.3113 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.3123 Ratings00 Ratings
List management8.7122 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.598 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.2
124 Ratings
5% above category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.4113 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.3113 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.3112 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.8104 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.5
84 Ratings
1% above category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
Calendaring6.88 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing8.183 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.3
75 Ratings
1% below category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.373 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.367 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.5
124 Ratings
2% above category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.6118 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.6122 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.493 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.7
117 Ratings
3% above category average
Adobe Advertising Cloud
-
Ratings
API8.277 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.478 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.798 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com8.569 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.038 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM6.830 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations7.48 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
-
Ratings
Adobe Advertising Cloud
7.5
9 Ratings
2% above category average
Data Transfer00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
DSP integration00 Ratings7.09 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
-
Ratings
Adobe Advertising Cloud
8.6
10 Ratings
9% above category average
Ad campaign creation00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Ad deployment00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Display advertising00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Sequence targeting00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
-
Ratings
Adobe Advertising Cloud
8.5
10 Ratings
9% above category average
Ad dashboards00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Ad performance reports00 Ratings10.010 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings7.28 Ratings
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Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
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User Ratings
Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(229 ratings)
9.0
(17 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(112 ratings)
1.8
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(44 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(39 ratings)
3.3
(4 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(22 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.4
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act-On SoftwareAdobe Advertising Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Act-On
We often have quick turnaround time requests, and Act-On's new composer is great because it is easy to make an email look great in desktop or mobile views. This has been a huge time-saver for us! We have benefited from using Act-On for many years and are accustomed to where everything is and how to use it. For the new accounts we train, we will sometimes hear that the organization of where things are could be improved.
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Adobe
I think it is good to keep in mind the type of business application you have in mind when selecting Media Optimizer for your company. For us, as an agency, it makes sense for us to utilize the reporting and paid search optimizing portions for our clients as we manage over 300+ clients PPC campaigns. With this tool it is possible to set up campaigns easily and as long as the parameters are set correctly within the portfolio, there is a great opportunity for the tool to do its job and use the simulation/modeling process to run and grow a paid search campaign with ease of human interaction.
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Pros
Act-On
  • The templates are easy to use and set up campaigns.
  • It's simple to use, and the email editor features a drag-and-drop interface.
  • It's easy to set up a drip campaign or a series of scheduled emails.
  • It has the flexibility of having a variety of scheduling options and the use of user experience automation.
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Adobe
  • An all in one solution for so many things that range from advertising campaigns to pushing out content to PPC.
  • Integration for many channels without much setup, this includes lesser known search engines and various social media partners.
  • Automation for delegating many tasks that can be a hassle to accomplish.
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Cons
Act-On
  • The designer tools, especially for emails, were often difficult to use. The formatting of the text would be all over the place and change / refuse to change at random. Moving boxes around was shifty and sometimes nearly impossible. It just wasn't customizeable enough. No "undo" functionality either.
  • The only way to collect information expansively over time (there's a term Act-On uses for it, I can't recall) where it adds questions to the form each time a user fills it out, is if the person were to fill out the same form multiple times. I know this does happen for some websites/resources, but as a company that wanted to collect new information each time someone filled out any form, regardless of the resource or the URL, that was simply not an option, and that doesn't really make a lot of sense. I know it's not really possible to track someone but if they filled out the first part of the form and then it added new questions to answer, and then they submitted and got through the gating, that would actually be helpful.
  • There was no "trash can" of sorts in case you deleted something by mistake. This could be so stress-inducing if it was a major project. My coworker did this once, contacted Act-On, they couldn't even recover it.
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Adobe
  • As with most Adobe products, it can be a little tedious to use and requires a bit of extra training and "googling" around to make sure you are getting things right. It has improved over time within the entire Adobe suite, and I anticipate that this will be true of this as well.
  • Adobe training and learning platforms can include a lot of technical terminology and jargon that makes it difficult for a novice to understand without feeling like they need a whole new education.
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Likelihood to Renew
Act-On
It's my single biggest asset in my current role. With limited resources, its enabled Anachron to punch well above our weight marketing wise and although we're still at the beginning of our journey I know the system can scale with us
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Adobe
As of this writing, we have just discontinued our use of Adobe Media Optimizer. Other vendors gave us a better rate, a better contract option, and the product is just better than what we had with Adobe at the time. We may revisit Adobe again at the future, but it seems like they have a lot of work to do to catch up with the leader in the space
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Usability
Act-On
It's a great tool for our business, and we get a fantastic ROI on it every year based on wins for customer service and automation responses. It's save projects, repaired salesperson/customer relationships and generated new sales and interest yearly. We really wouldn't hesitate to recommend this platform at all.
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Adobe
It definitely takes some instruction to get to be able to use the system. One would struggle trying to get it to work without any previous experience with it. If you are famailiar with the interface it is actually quite fast and easy to maneuver around.
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Reliability and Availability
Act-On
I have always found them quick to respond to my query by web inquiry. In those instances when I call, I have always reached help quickly. They are conscientious and skilled in discussing my concern and finding a solution to my problem. Other tech organizations should use Act-On as a model for top-notch customer service.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Performance
Act-On
Great for the most part. Sometimes there are little lags, but that's likely because I'm requesting to see a lot of data at one time.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Act-On
Since we start using Act-on for ourselves and our clients, we have been supported very well. Often we need to integrate with legacy systems and we find the support team on our side during the whole endeavor. Always asking if they can help us further, always willing to do a better job. The support of Act-On is one of the main differentiators
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Adobe
They are super knowledgable and help in almost all situations, however sometimes I feel they put you on hold to find the answers themselves as they literally have said. "Can you hold a few minutes while I research that answer for you?" Most of the time they come back with a solution, other times they manually escalate it to someone else.
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In-Person Training
Act-On
Dan D. was great. He took the time to understand how I needed the program to run, and was very flexible to our special CRM setup.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Act-On
Act-On had a lot of resources, and their staff was great at answering any questions I had to make sure we got started on the right foot. Looking back, I would have preferred some additional training sessions since we didn't have any previous experience with Marketing Automation and best practices.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Act-On
What impressed me most is that Act-On showed full committment in making our implementation successful, even when it required additional support from their team. This gave me a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. Most other software software vendors are not anywhere close to being this responsive and effective
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Adobe
It was difficult initially, but the implementation of the Dynamic Tag Manager was a big help and timesaver.
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Alternatives Considered
Act-On
Act-On is easier to use than Marketo, but not as visually appealing and user-friendly as HubSpot. It's much better than Pardot, as Pardot feel clunky every step of the way. SharpSpring is comparable because of its price point but surpasses Act-On in its tools and intuitive interface. We selected Act-On because of the pricing model and thought all things would be close to parity with other options. It depends on the team you have. If you have developers and a marketing team that knows some html/css, you can get by with Act-On.
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Adobe
It was a step up from Marin in terms of UI. Very similar functionality to Marin. Compared to Kenshoo Search and Google Marketing Platform it was probably not as advanced but offered the benefit of integrating with other products in the Adobe stack like Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, and Adobe Campaign.
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Scalability
Act-On
Before I feel like I need more features, the Act-On customer service reps are contacting me telling about new features as part of my account.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Act-On
  • With the Automated Series, we were able to put in place campaigns that generated revenue that took no time to continue running once set up. This was a positive feature allowing employees to work on another project while the campaign ran on their own.
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Adobe
  • This has increased the number of clients.
  • This has increased the amount of productivity and time we can spend on clients.
  • This has increased the overall revenue because we can handle more than we used to be able to handle without this tool.
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ScreenShots

Act-On Screenshots

Screenshot of the Automated Journey Builder. Here, users can personalize customer interactions from awareness to loyalty.Screenshot of the Analytics Dashboard. This is used to compare performance over time, filter by segment, and export report components.Screenshot of the Email Composer. Here is where users design emails optimized for desktop and mobile with a drag and drop builder.