ActiveCampaign vs. Contactually CRM (discontinued)

It is so easy to get subscribers added to a list, and execute automations from the first moment. I am an owner-only business, so it's amazing to be able to design and implement a welcome sequence that has automations built in. Once I design the flow it all happens automatically. I do think that it's a little hard to use, but only because there are so many features. I'm certain I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg of available features. For the price I pay, ActiveCampaign is an absolute steal.

Contactually is a very powerful CRM, even though it is extremely simple to use. It is very intuitive and fun to use! Their templates for nurturing and follow-up are phenomenal, so if you have a sales cycle, this is the tool for you. I even use it to keep track of family and acquaintances' interactions, as Contactually can alert me when it's been 30 days since the last time I talked to person A. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because price has been going up in recent years.

• 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.

• The get connected prompts is a very useful feature.
• Good data consolidation picked up from a variety of sources.
• Once added, the contact profiles are updated regularly with how the contacts' LinkedIn profile would change.

• 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.

• Pipeline functions. It's pretty bare minimum right now.
• Capturing text and phone calls outside the app. It's hard to remember to initiate both from the app.
• Calendar function. You should be able to edit the calendar in Contactually and it would sync with your Google calendar.

For our clients (Course creators, event hosts & managers, business leaders that have existing marketing in place and want to grow past 6 & 7 figures), we highly recommend ActiveCampaign, because:

• Broad capabilities - ability to create individual emails to specific segments (the right people) at the right time (predictive sending for the greatest likelihood of conversion) and automated flows so that our clients are generating revenue
• Integrations - We run ads for our clients, and ActiveCampaign automatically creates dynamic audiences for our social media platforms so that our ads are going to audiences that have just opened or clicked emails (or that follows up with people who haven't engaged). The number of programs that ActiveCampaign connects to makes the marketing a seamless experience for our clients.
• Visualization of data - With the flow builder, you can see where people are in the process, what tags are being applied overall - makes it so much easier to create email marketing solutions for clients.
• Reporting - The ability to see specific open, click, and conversion rates in one place.
• Outstanding customer support - Having the ActiveCampaign team behind you makes it easy to recommend and use it for clients.

Just doesn't provide the sophistication that I seek. It's a simple solution with some innovation automation relatively speaking, but ideal for individuals and small businesses with basic CRM needs.

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.

Easy to use, does not require a strong technical background at all.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Keap is more expensive. Used it for a bit and then went off it because of price. AWeber is great - for affiliate marketing and more, as is mailer lite. Good for beginners and simple needs when it comes to lower-ticket offers and just the need for an email marketing software. I wasn't too happy with Mailchimp when I tried it, and I also didn't like to be associated with an ape (lol) - (for the free version you can't turn the branding off)

It seemed to have everything that I wanted and wasn't too expensive.

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!

• I haven't monetized my list yet so no clear ROI but great from a list-building perspective
• The software is not cheap so at times I feel like I may not be getting the most out of the product because I'm not using all of the features

• It's had a very positive impact in building and maintaining my relationships. The ROI has been positive as an affordable and user-friendly CRM.