ActiveCampaign vs. Constant Contact vs. Genesys Cloud CX

I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.

Incentivized

Constant Contact is great when trying to target specific market segments. We typically like to segment our master list by region, but also have product segments, as well. They do provide pre-made segments to start you off too. We don't usually use their email builder, we find others to be more flexible, intuitive, and have more variety. We do prefer emailing from Constant Contact, however.

We have been able to use Genesys Voice AI conversation BOT to address customer standard queries like check upcoming appointment schedules, reschedule appointments, payment status, bill copy. All these use cases were handled by agents earlier and now this has been completely automated. We are now able use agents for complex tasks and provide standard services 24/7 which earlier had agent dependency.

Incentivized

• The graphic design is very good, especially fonts, colours and templates
• Flexibility of design and functionality
• Takes a little while to learn it, but generally user-friendly
• Looks very professional but doesn't cost much to get started
• There are masses of integrations for ActiveCampaign, and the ones I tried all worked well and didn't take long to figure out.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Extensive API access to allow flexibility with the platform
• Weekly updates to continuously improve the platform
• Powerful Architect flows that are intuitive to build, but still powerful and flexible
• Extensive integration with other applications, either through dedicated integrations or API hooks

Incentivized

• The email designing part could be easier to use. There are certain simple shortcuts that don't work, for example, adding links is more complicated than it should be, moving blocks around is hard, etc.
• There's no good way to filter by 'active' and 'inactive' subscribers when editing en-mass.
• I'd like more reporting data on one page.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• There is a limit of 5 Audiohook monitor integrations for Genesys, which could have been more.
• Genesys customer support could have been more proactive and helpful, similar to other major companies like Salesforce and AWS. However, whenever I raised a concern, in most cases, they would directly tell me it was a custom requirement, so I should post in the dev community or contact their Professional Services (PS) team.
• In the Genesys Dev community, if you post any of your problems, it's unlikely that they will be noticed, and you will likely not receive a resolution to this issue. Moreover, if no one replies to you within 30 days, that post of yours will also be closed.

Incentivized

I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.

Incentivized

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.

The upcoming upgrades working with Genesys Cloud and Salesforce are very exciting. Even though we don't use Genesys Cloud to the fullest extent it can be used (we just migrated a year ago), when these upgrades roll out, I am very excited to see what it can do to for our agents. I think they are going to be very impressed

Incentivized

ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.

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

Everything is very good. It is very useful, friendly to users and it makes our work easier than what we expected. I think that I don't need any help from someone on how to use Genesys coz basically they will directly feed it to you without any hassle on using it.

Incentivized

I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

The platform is highly reliable, with minimal downtime or outages, and is generally available when needed. Over the course of using it, unplanned outages or application errors have been rare, and any issues that did arise were quickly resolved. Genesys provides robust support and maintenance, ensuring the system remains operational during critical business hours. However, like any cloud-based platform, there have been occasional disruptions, though these were infrequent and quickly addressed. Overall, its availability has been excellent, supporting smooth daily operations.

Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.

Incentivized

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

Overall, the platform performs well, with pages loading quickly and reports typically completing in a reasonable time, even with complex data. The interface is responsive, and most day-to-day tasks are executed efficiently. However, in some instances, especially during peak usage times or when running very detailed, large-scale reports, there can be slight delays. While these are rare, they occasionally affect workflow. Additionally, the platform generally integrates smoothly with other systems, though some integrations can slow down slightly, particularly when pulling large datasets or interacting with older, legacy systems. Nonetheless, the performance is strong and reliable for most use cases.

This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.

Incentivized

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.

There seem to be so many pages and options for support - but none of them are very seamless and some are very hard to maneuver or manage. I would like to learn more about the product features and tutorials etc. - but have had a hard time finding appropriate content.

Incentivized

Genesys team that provide trainings are friendly and professional. They helped us to understand well the product and the functionalities. The training was detailed with use cases. At the end, we got a task to develop that ended with success and we got some Genesys rewards. It was amazing experience

Incentivized

In general, it gives a description and can help to understand what to do and how. but: Sometimes, it does not keep up with changes in the system (for example, in the GUI changes, additional features and so on). Sometimes, much easier and helpful to read the documentation (https://help.mypurecloud.com/) that gives the "better" explanations and takes less time.

Incentivized

Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.

Incentivized

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

My Team was involved in the discussion before implementing the application. We had a whole walkthrough of this product and during the demo itself we were very impressed with type of service we were getting. The integration of the product into our system was very quick and seamless.

Incentivized

I transitioned from Mailchimp to ActiveCampaign because it was so much more user friendly and allowed me to do a lot more in regards to lead magnets than Mailchimp can. For example, ActiveCampaign allows users to sign up for a lead magnet as many times as they like to keep receiving it (in case they've lost or deleted the email with access to the lead magnet). Mailchimp was unable to do this. And the categorization of users and the trigger email sequencing was a lot easier in ActiveCampaign.

Incentivized

We selected Constant Contact due to pricing constraints. However, if the pricing were to increase, we may look at alternative products that offer more features. We are looking for a product that will allow us to stand out from other organizations like ours that are appealing to the same customers—a product that will set our company apart from the others.

Incentivized

Genesys Cloud CX is much easier to manage than PureConnect - all from one system rather than needing separate components to install and validate. The ease of use when utilising all of the functionality really brings us to present day technology. Where it falls down is in its Outbound systems, currently we are still using pureconnect as an outbound platform and shortfalls in the Cloud CX system has meant we must look elsewhere for our future operations.

Incentivized

My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.

Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.

At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

I give Genesys a rating of 10 for scalability because of its ability to adapt seamlessly to growing business needs, whether expanding across multiple departments, locations, or regions. Its cloud-based infrastructure allows for easy scaling without the need for costly hardware upgrades or lengthy implementation times. As our organisation grew, we were able to add new agents, channels, and features without disrupting operations, which significantly enhanced our flexibility. The platform's design supports both small-scale and enterprise-level operations, making it ideal for evolving businesses. Additionally, its capacity to handle increased interaction volumes without compromising performance ensures that customer service quality remains high, even during peak times. This flexibility and ease of scaling, combined with real-time analytics and automation capabilities, make it highly effective for growing organisations.

• Automations free up time - once set up, email campaigns execute in seconds
• Emailing my newsletter is a second touch-point for my clients
• The flat rate for my subscription means that I reach my clients and prospects for fractions of a cent each month

Incentivized

• I can't report hard numbers, however, being able to execute sales and marketing campaigns led to a noticeable increase in brand awareness in our industry.
• We were able to offer white-labeled email communication services to clients, which is not something that other administrators typically offer. This helped us win and retain business.

• Our Idle time for agents decreased by up to 30% compared to the previous system. Agents who are idle and not accepting calls are placed in a not responding status, which is a significant addition to our idle time.
• 35% of our customers are able to complete their queries in the IVR. Integration with Salesforce made this possible, as the data is retrieved directly from the platform and accessed in real time. This helped us reduce the Agents' workload and significantly increase revenue.
• Gamification is a huge plus; our Agents are actively tracking the weekly scores and working toward them to achieve them.

Incentivized