ActiveCampaign vs Adestra

• Email automation - Automated email marketing to potential customers, follow up with existing customers, and automated messaging to outside parties.
• Flow building - This software allows companies to build simple or complicated sequences in a visual builder so that you can see exactly where people are in the sequence of messages.
• CRM - Customer relationship data. Maintaining data points across a user journey (tagging a UTM source, current activity. If you have someone - and want to know where they are in the journey, there's a way to find that data and label a profile with that).
• Integrations - ActiveCampaign integrates with almost everything. Seamlessly. You can trigger behaviors in other apps through Zapier, or import data from other software you use. It's a very easy experience to integrate with others.
• Customer support - Every team member I've encountered has been exceptionally helpful. They are probably the bar for customer support in the tech industry, to be honest.
• Email systems for the long-haul (and for sequences and emails that are expected to bring in a lot of $$$). Email marketing should be 30-50% of revenue for most businesses. It's THE platform that we recommend for coaches and other businesses to help them earn 6 & 7 figures from email. You can track A LOT of data through this software as a platform, which makes it a great candidate for businesses who want to grow and visualize where their customers are in the overall purchase process, as well as maintaining them as multiple purchases customers.

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• Adestra's "dynamic" list allows users to consolidate multiple lists in combination with data filters and exclusion lists. This implements segmentation and is a powerful marketing tool.
• Adestra's MessageFocus API integration provides developer-tools for list, campaign or transactional automated requirements.
• Campaigns can be sorted into project folders. This allows marketers to group campaigns together for management or reporting requirements. Moving or copying campaigns from one project to another is a simple process.
• Data downloads via Reporting is available at every level, from overview to individual KPI.
• Creating "core" tables helps marketers develop lists with similar attributes. Whether a list has many fields or simply the one required email address field, a "core" table helps to quickly map data labels from spreadsheet to online database. Creating data labels on the fly is a simple process, as well. The "core" table also groups similar contacts into one core database.
• Any list can be quickly "emptied" for to manage refreshed data. The contacts within the "emptied" list would still be members of the "core" table and so the process does not negatively impact reporting.
• Unsubscribes can be managed in one list (as a default) or individual lists. Creating individual unsubscribe lists -- dependent on business requirements -- would allow for a preference center, whereby recipients could be given a choice as to which campaigns they receive.
• The Form tool creates signup forms, simple surveys and landing pages. These can be hosted via Adestra or otherwise on the web. The tool provides for branding and proprietary cascading stylesheets, with a number of actions available through a drag-and-drop interface.

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• ActiveCampaign is so powerful and so versatile that it can sometimes be a challenge to use. There are certainly plenty of online resources available to help you get up to speed, but there are times when the process can seem a little overwhelming. I got a lot of help by attending a "Study Hall" in-person classroom session that was sponsored by the company. Chris Davis was the instructor; he did an amazing job of clarifying priorities and procedures for getting the most out of ActiveCampaign. After going to that session my productivity with ActiveCampaign increased enormously, but in retrospect, I felt like I should have been able to get that kind of expert guidance with the software much earlier, instead of using ActiveCampaign at far less than its maximum capability for several years before feeling like I was really getting my feet on the ground.
• There doesn't seem to be a way to create or accommodate multiple email addresses for a single contact in the system. When people get into the system with multiple email addresses, they show up as multiple contacts. This can create problems with proper list segmentation; it should be easy enough to resolve this problem, but it's a nagging headache whenever it pops up.

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• As of this writing, there are at least 3 different editors available (a drag-and-drop, a WYSIWYG and HTML). However, only a small template library is available if requested through support. Those expecting to find ready-built templates for re-branding would find them through the third-party EDM Designer drag-and-drop editor.

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• The fortune is in the follow through, and ActiveCampaign makes the follow through easier. Drip campaigns and triggers strengthen granular follow up opportunities.
• The granular messaging options coupled with attractive pricing have made this our go to service for businesses who need more automation features, but are just getting started in the space.

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• For companies that focus on goals and analytics, Adestra provides all the necessary tools.

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