ActiveCampaign vs Zoho Campaigns

ActiveCampaign is great for anyone who wants loads of flexibility for building automations. They really excel at allowing you do build any automation you want.

However, because it's slightly more expensive than some other options for email marketing, if you're sending general newsletters or don't need complicated automations, you could go for a cheaper alternative.

It is well suited in scenarios:

1. Well-defined static list with proper info.
2. Not building email templates from scratch
3. Litmus testing involved
4. Easy to use simple automation journeys involved

Not well-suited scenarios:

1. Complex Customer journeys
2. Dynamic content involved
3. Integration with other products other than the ZOHO suite
4. Testing API limits

• Contact management is robust and reliable, and provides all the capabilities I was looking for.
• Marketing automation takes a little figuring out, but it's easy to learn and easy to use.
• Deals are highly customizable and incredibly easy to use. I love that you can use it to create all kinds of workflows, not just sales pipelines.
• Training videos and webinars are top notch. I've learned a lot from them and always appreciate the email notifications when a new video/webinar is available.

• The best thing about this software is its integration with G-suite.
• It's user interface is so easy that any user can learn it quickly. And it is very easy to operate.
• It helps users to engage subscribers via various social media platforms.
• It allows users to compare various email campaigns.

• I use the ecommerce feature for email template design and there's been a bug where I can't change the colours of the shopping block to match a theme. Which is annoying in of itself and is actually quite critical but beyond that it would be nice if they could either fix it quickly or keep me up to date on the progress of the fix.
• It could be a little bit easier to find pricing online.
• Support isn't online at all times of the day, which is understandable but definitely would be a nice thing to have.

• Zoho should start by throwing this tool in the trash and then recreate it from scratch. There are so many flaws I would be here all year trying to list them all. Start by the fact that creating templates is an absolute nightmare. You'll find over and over again that something that should be easily executed can't be done. It is NOT a plug and play program. Everything is trial and error.
• The reporting SUCKS bad. It gives you basics, but if you want any real insights... I have to export all my data into my own spreadsheets to compare results from multiple campaigns.
• Customer service is B.A.D. You'll spend HOURS upon HOURS with a tech support team that knows less than you. The only time anything gets accomplished is when you work with a programmer. BUT, you'll seriously waste 1-2 hours explaining a problem to someone who is only taking notes. You'll get so frustrated when they try to show you how they think it works and you respond with... "I know how this works because I have used it for a year - the problem is that it stopped working the way it always did before. They will argue with you. You will respond accordingly. They will close tickets without resolution. Speaking of tickets, you'll never get one. They say they will take care of it and a week later you will follow-up and no one will have any idea what is going on. You'll start from scratch and be even more frustrated. You will learn to "fix" it on your own or deal with it, broken.
• After two years, I'm still not sure if my emails even make it to an inbox. When asked, you'll be told that you need to write better subject lines. I call bull****. Don't rely on this product to deliver your email. And don't question Zoho, as it will always be your fault.
• You can't use this tool to send to ANY group email addresses. You can't even override the system. I have a lot of clients that use info@xxx.com or sales@xxx.com, etc. and I have to send them personal emails since this will not allow them to be sent. They say it is to protect them from getting blacklisted. I call bull**** again.
• The templates offered by the system are crap - unless you only send holiday emails. Not a large selection of just generic templates. You'll be pulling your hair out trying to use their builder to create your own. In the end, you'll end up sending emails with nothing "pretty" about them.

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.

Because I am a single user organization and the subscription is free for up to 3 users.

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.

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.

I felt like ActiveCampaign had the most features for the value I was expecting. I looked at other reviews just like this to see whether it would meet my needs. I also considered price. As a startup, I wanted to make sure I could have a platform that could grow to what I needed it to be without paying too much at the beginning.

Zoho Campaigns is not for beginners to email marketing, but it’s an excellent choice for those who want to send out a lot of emails with few restrictions and great reporting. It’s a no-brainer if you’re already a Zoho user, as Campaigns is included in Zoho One subscriptions and integrates nicely with other Zoho apps.

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!

• ActiveCampaign saved us thousands of dollars over our previous CRM platform.
• We are able to track leads through the sales pipeline, seeing exactly how much our efforts are bringing in.
• We are able to provide better customer service by quickly responding to forms completed on our website no matter the time/day.
• We can run reports to find areas we may be deficient in marketing or sales, and also see our strengths, which is important to our C Suite.
• ActiveCampaign Automations save us a significant amount of time.

• It allows us to communicate with all our customers or lists together or individually, and to track how successful our campaigns are.
• Customer Service is a target area of why we use Zoho Campaigns, and it meets our needs greatly.
• To date we have not really measured the ROI or impact that Zoho Campaigns has on our marketing efforts but with this product it certainly has the means to do such.