Act-On vs Constant Contact | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.3 out of 10

Based on 392 reviews and ratings

Score 8.2 out of 10

Based on 674 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Act-On

Constant Contact

WYSIWYG email editor

Dynamic content

Ability to test dynamic content

Landing pages

A/B testing

Mobile optimization

Email deliverability reporting

List management

Triggered drip sequences

Act-On

Constant Contact

Lead nurturing

Lead scoring and grading

Data quality management

Automated sales alerts and tasks

Act-On

Constant Contact

Calendaring

Event/webinar marketing

Act-On

Constant Contact

Social sharing and campaigns

Social profile integration

Act-On

Constant Contact

Dashboards

Standard reports

Custom reports

Act-On

Constant Contact

API

Role-based workflow & approvals

Customizability

Integration with Salesforce.com

Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Integration with SugarCRM

Act-On

Constant Contact

URL Validation

Link Tracking

Image Validation

Inbox Display

Email Accessibility Tools

Spelling and Grammar Check

Spam Testing

Email Previews

Pros

Establishes a simple but very decisive way of how to perform specialized marketing work.
It includes the monitoring of advertising networks or account management on digital platforms and social networks.
The support is solid; it takes all the suggestions and doubts I have regarding the software.

Read full review

Director of People Ops

Marcus Thomas LLCMarketing & Advertising, 51-200 employees

View all 219 answers on this topic

Constant Contact allows the users to send unlimited emails and just pay per list size.
The software does welcome emails pretty well and allows you to set up all sorts of automation.
The branded templates and starter templates are very useful and look good.

Read full review

Verified User

Strategist in Marketing

Marketing & Advertising Company, 11-50 employees

View all 104 answers on this topic

Cons

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.

Read full review

Verified User

Administrative Assistant in Marketing

Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees

View all 219 answers on this topic

Sometimes some software provides outdated and useless features and functions, but this email marketing tool gives advanced kinds of functionalities with modern features.
I like the ease of use of this platform also appreciate its professional customer support team.
I am no longer desperate after getting this tool at my work.

Read full review

Senior Software Engineer

IrdetoInformation Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees

View all 104 answers on this topic

Likelihood to Renew

Act-On 8.9

Based on 112 answers

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

Marketing Manager

AnachronComputer Software, 51-200 employees

View all 112 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 9.0

Based on 21 answers

There is no doubt that we are going to renew Constant Contact. We have not just invested a lot of time in learning and creating a great looking product but we have developed a strong database of information that allows us to track how we are doing for each newsletter. This supports our goals of creating products that residents desire and are excited to receive.

Read full review

Ty Swartz, CPP, USN Ret.

Multimedia Communications Supervisor

Virginia Beach City GovernmentGovernment Administration, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 21 answers on this topic

Usability

Act-On 9.1

Based on 32 answers

It's good, but not quite brilliant. Some parts of the interface are still a bit outdated. The product has been evolving very fast, though, and I believe in a few months it will be up there with the best of them, interface wise as well.

Read full review

CRM & Marketing Automation Lead

Driven®Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

View all 32 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 9 answers

There is always room for improvement. I don't know how they test their systems, but they should invite not-so computer savvy people to test it. If I, as an expert have problems, they need to think like the technophobe. Since I've used Constant Contact in the past as part of my former employment, I have not viewed any of the tutorials and just jumped in to work on my client's newsletter. With that said, I found some areas easy and some a bit cumbersome

Read full review

Owner, Consultant

AZ Social Media WizInternet, Myself Only

View all 9 answers on this topic

Reliability and Availability

Act-On 9.1

Based on 28 answers

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

Eric Kinaitis, MBA

Editor / Director of Content Marketing

American Endowment FoundationFinancial Services, 11-50 employees

View all 28 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 9.0

Based on 4 answers

No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Research & Development

Public Policy Company, 11-50 employees

View all 4 answers on this topic

Performance

Act-On 8.2

Based on 26 answers

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

Verified User

Director in Marketing

Security and Investigations Company, 11-50 employees

View all 26 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 4 answers

The system seemed quite slow sometimes. Specifically, there was sometimes a delay in sends if it was during a high traffic period. There were time-outs when uploading new code for an email, and a lag in reporting analytics which was sometimes as long as 72 hours

Read full review

Verified User

Employee in Marketing

Retail Company, 51-200 employees

View all 4 answers on this topic

Support Rating

Act-On 7.3

Based on 78 answers

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

Harold Klaassen

Managing Consultant

HakaperoMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

View all 78 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 17 answers

I think the overall support for Constant Contact has always been incredible; I have nothing negative to say. Our customer support representative was attentive, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable. I never felt like I wasn't a priority of his and my issues, while very small, were fixed in a very short time frame.

Read full review

Verified User

Administrative Assistant in Marketing

Real Estate Company, 51-200 employees

View all 17 answers on this topic

In-Person Training

Act-On 8.7

Based on 4 answers

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

Verified User

Director in Marketing

Management Consulting Company, 11-50 employees

View all 4 answers on this topic

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Online Training

Act-On 9.3

Based on 16 answers

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.

Read full review

Tradeshow & Event Specialist

Quanex Building Products Corporation1001-5000 employees

View all 16 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 1 answer

No answer on this topic is available.

Implementation Rating

Act-On 8.6

Based on 44 answers

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

Read full review

Joined Fuzzy Logix in Nov. 2011

........Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

View all 44 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 9 answers

Implementation is very easy for someone who wants to send out the “batch and blast” type newsletters. If you want to use their templates with no customizations, the product works fine. However, the more customizations you get into involving link color, etc, that’s where things can get tricky for someone who may not be familiar with coding

Read full review

Verified User

Employee in Marketing

Retail Company, 51-200 employees

View all 9 answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

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.

Read full review

Sr. Project Manager

Big PresenceMarketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees

View all 219 answers on this topic

We tried Mailchimp. We could send messages to larger groups for free with Constant Contact. And we simply found more people read the emails and responded more frequently when we used Constant Contact. I think it's because it didn't feel as much like a marketing tool as when we contacted them with Mailchimp.

Read full review

Verified User

Contributor in Other

Religious Institutions Company, 10,001+ employees

View all 104 answers on this topic

Scalability

Act-On 9.1

Based on 1 answer

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

Verified User

Director in Marketing

Security and Investigations Company, 11-50 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Constant Contact 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Very reliable in sending email campaigns and controlling the recipients so that no contact is sent the same email more than once, even if they are on a resent list

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Research & Development

Public Policy Company, 11-50 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Return on Investment

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.

Read full review

Danielle Armour

Development Manager- Corporate Partnerships

Young Survival CoalitionNon-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees

View all 219 answers on this topic

Good email marketing option that we need to expand on
We have not had a strong determinable ROI, but we do not always know if a donation resulted from an email
Very affordable and we plan in keeping it as a resource

Read full review

Director of Development

Health Care Center for the HomelessHospital & Health Care, 51-200 employees

View all 104 answers on this topic

Screenshots

See All (6) Act-On Screenshots

—

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

Act-On Editions & Modules

Edition

Professional	$900¹
Enterprise	$2,000²

per month (starts at 2,500 active contacts)
per month ( starts at 2,500 active contacts)

Additional Pricing Details

The Professional package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. The Enterprise package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. Annual contract required.

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Constant Contact Editions & Modules

Edition

Email	$20.00¹
Email Plus	$45.00¹
Pro	$195.00¹

per month

Additional Pricing Details

—

Rating Summary

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Act-On

Constant Contact

Add comparison