Act-On Software vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act-On
Score 8.1 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
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Score 6.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing is an integrated marketing management solution for marketing operation, planning, execution, and analytics across all channels—digital, social, and traditional. Capabilities include marketing resource management, multichannel campaign management, lead management, sales collaboration, social marketing, and marketing analytics. Microsoft acquired MarketingPilot, an SMB-focused marketing automation product, in 2012. MarketingPilot IMM (integrated marketing…
$1,200
per month
Pricing
Act-On SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Editions & Modules
Professional
$900
per month
Enterprise
$2,000+
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act-OnMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Free Trial
NoYes
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 SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Considered Both Products
Act-On
Chose Act-On Software
The cost of ownership vs. functionality and ease of use is second to none, add in the speed of implementation and their customer success programs and nothing comes close.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing

No answer on this topic

Features
Act-On SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.1
122 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.4121 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.2100 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.9100 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.2116 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing7.9104 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.2111 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.1121 Ratings00 Ratings
List management8.6120 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.596 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.2
122 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.4111 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.1111 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.4110 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.8102 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.4
82 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
Calendaring6.88 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing7.981 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.1
74 Ratings
5% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.172 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.166 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.7
122 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.8116 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.7120 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.691 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.8
115 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
-
Ratings
API8.475 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.276 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability8.295 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 integrations7.36 Ratings00 Ratings
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Act-On SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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PFL Direct Mail Platform
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Score 9.1 out of 10
Quadient Inspire
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Score 9.2 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
Act-On SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(227 ratings)
8.0
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(112 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(43 ratings)
5.9
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(39 ratings)
6.0
(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)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act-On SoftwareMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
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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Microsoft
Appropriate if an organization is already using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement products like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service etc. Not appropriate for a big enterprise where has a separate marketing department, and the lead / contact for marketing information / marketing list can come through different applications in the organization, not just Microsoft Dynamics 365 Apps if they have one.
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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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Microsoft
  • Customer data management
  • Lead management
  • Campaign strategy design
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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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Microsoft
  • Microsoft does not provide HTML for forms. They provide a div that needs to authenticated and is a real pain in the [butt].
  • They provide no canned unsubscribe button. Copying the code from a template doesn't work either, even though your code will pass testing when you build out an email.
  • Overall the work marketing automation tool on the market. It's like they did no research into what users might want or what the competitors are offering.
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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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Microsoft
I wouldn't even think of renewing our use of Marketing 365. It's worthless
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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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Microsoft
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing is extremely usable in order to manage all of my organization's customer information across the organization. Further we use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing to manage all of our marketing campaigns from beginning to end. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing makes my organization more able to run a professional marketing strategy.
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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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
Very reliable
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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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
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.
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Microsoft
While the cost was significantly more than other vendors we looked at, the tools are similar to our previous tool so conversion would be (somewhat) easy. We chose it because it directly integrates with Microsoft Dynamics CRM - which we integrated at the same time.
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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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
  • It has improved ROI for the organization replacing the old marketing tools being used earlier.
  • Made the organization cloud ready earlier the organization was using on-Prem based solution.
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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.