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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Act-On

    Score8.1 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

    Cheetah Digital

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ADesigned for high-volume, cross-channel campaigns, Cheetah Digital is used by marketers to deliver highly personalized, contextual communications across various channels including email, SMS, push, mobile wallet, direct mail, and social.N/A
    Pricing
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $900
    per month
    Enterprise
    $2,000+
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    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-OnCheetah Digital
    Considered Both Products
    Act-On
    Chose Act-On
    Act-On has a much more hands-on customer support focus than any of the other companies that we have worked with that do similar things. They also have a really easy to use platform (however I know they all do). It's one of those products that you feel good when you are using it.
    Incentivized
    Zeta Global
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.3
    124 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG email editor7.6123 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic content8.2102 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content8.1102 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 sequences8.698 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.2
    124 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    Lead nurturing automation8.5113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading8.4113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data quality management8.2112 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks7.8104 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    84 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    Calendaring6.88 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing8.283 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.3
    75 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    Social sharing and campaigns7.373 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social profile integration7.367 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards7.6118 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports7.6122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports7.493 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Act-On Software and Cheetah Digital
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.7
    117 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Cheetah Digital
    -
    Ratings
    API8.277 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based workflow & approvals8.578 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizability7.698 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com8.569 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.038 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with SugarCRM6.930 Ratings00 Ratings
    Third-party software integrations7.58 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    Small Businesses
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Listrak
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Sailthru
    Score5.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Listrak
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (229 ratings)
    8.0
    (13 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (112 ratings)
    7.6
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (44 ratings)
    4.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (13 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.3
    (39 ratings)
    6.8
    (3 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.7
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.3
    (16 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.6
    (22 ratings)
    -
    (0 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)
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Act-OnCheetah Digital
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    I think CheetahMail, being one of the main ESPs in the market, is a quality choice. However, I would suggest that it's really only valuable for a bit larger of an organization, generally having staff of 100+ and revenues in tens of millions -- this is mainly to justify the amount of investment required, so may be cost-prohibitive to some. You also need to make sure that you understand the entire "level of support" you will gain through your specific contract.... the key is understanding what types of resources are within your organization (who's doing the coding? who comes up with the next campaign? What's the overall strategy?) Depending on these questions and resources, may help determine your final needs from a services point of view. CheetahMail can provide a wealth of various services specific to needs (and changes over time as your business changes), but a clear understanding of what you have before you bring them on will really help getting up and running quickly. Also be sure to truly understand the costs for the initial integrations, setups, IP senders, etc.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    • Internal management - This is a great web-based tool that allows our users to see what emails go to whom.
    • Organization - Many layers of organization for templates since there are many types of remarketing emails that we send out.
    • Historical Records - CheetahMail sends us the raw text files of all email actions so we can upload them to our database.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    • The organization of CheetahMail could at times be better, as you create more and more mailings, they just pile up in a long list. It would be useful to be able to create folders to store specific mailings in. (ex. editorial, newsletters, marketing, etc.)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    As I have begun exploring competitors, I've come to realize that every competitor offers so much more functionality and integration than CheetahMail does. When we first signed our contract, CheetahMail was much more innovative and at the forefront of email. Since being bought out by Experian, we've seen a huge decline in service and innovation. They have laid off much of their staff and moved their account representatives to Costa Rica. They also heavily rely on on third parties which you will have to pay large amounts of money for while other Email Service Providers have integrated new technologies into their platform. You will get more for your money going to a different email service such as Responsys, Silverpop, Listrak and the like,
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    CheetahMail has a high learning curve to master and requires a lot of backend work with tech teams to set up. Navigation is not the best and everything that should be automated is still extremely manual.
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    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.
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    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
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    I've been very satisfied with the support given by Cheetah, they are always asking and looking for areas where they can help you improve upon your business. They are very knowledgeable and are able to quickly find any answer you are looking for.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    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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    Zeta Global
    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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    Zeta Global
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Zeta Global
    I believe Cheetah DMS is a bit more complete and a lot more complex to use than Mailchimp. Mailchimp was born as a mail marketing service while Cheetah has always worked across the whole online advertising spectrum making it a better solution for clients that need a certain level of service and sophistication.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zeta Global
    • Our efficiency has decreased with CheetaMail actually. Too many service calls to find out why something isn't working as expected, account setup questions, issues with PiP, takes too long to get a simple form built, customer service response time, etc...
    • Reporting is not very streamlined. This has caused us to take our reporting offline and use a method with better visibility.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.