Cascade CMS vs. Ontraport

Cascade Server is well suited with it's WYSIWYG editor being better than most editors that I have used in other systems. In context, editing makes adding content easy compared to the last CMS I used where you had to wing it and view the page outside of the CMS to see if it was correct. The ability mix HTML, CSS, and the Script of your choice anywhere and with ease.

The scenarios were Cascade Server is less appropriate would be in the use of compilers or programs like Visual studio. You need to go out of Cascade Server and go to other environments to perform tasks and then copy the result to Cascade Server. You can write directly in Cascade Server, but it's easier to do in and editor that is specific to a function.

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Here are some cases where Ontraport is well suited : - When writing emails, you can easily access to preview, manage the changes and go back to what you did before - When using automations, if there's an error, you can go back to a previous version of it. There are also some super tools that allows to see where a clients is on an automation without having to go through the all automation. It is less appropriate when you are several colleague that are addressing an issue on an email/automation as it doesn't allows you to be multiple person on the item.

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• Cascade CMS makes no assumptions about your content. Templates control how the content gets displayed.
• Workflows are intuitive and allow for one or more people to review content before it is published.
• The published site is static (no database connection) which allows for faster page loads and reduced risk of attack.

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• Dashboards for our daily stats.
• The email follows up and broadcasts are simple and easy.
• Sales and marketing can now see the impact they have working together. Nobody can point finger anymore.
• They have the best customer support. I can't tell you how many times they have walked me through the problems that I created.
• Amazing email inboxing.

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• Cascade CMS is not an out-of-the-box pre-built system that you can install, turn on and expect to be serving sites and pages on day one. It's not a blogging system like WordPress, or a drag-and-drop system like SquareSpace (both of which I've used for their own purposes). You need to have someone tasked with management and system administration – and if you implement the on-premise self-hosted version, you ought to have several people. We have the university's IT shop handling infrastructure (server hardware, containers, clustering, operating systems, load-balancing, DNS, database servers, NAS/SAN drives), our Web & Design team managing Cascade CMS (system settings, sites, templates, permissions) and managers coordinating each respective academic unit (A&S, business, education, law, marine science).

• Wish they had more options for their forms. Would really like to use multi-step forms.
• A lot of times their forms load slowly on the website. Would like to see them speed up their services.
• Their broadcasting options are legacy. There are better options out there for sending broadcast messages.

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Changing systems would require too much effort. Our institution is using Cascade Server, WordPress and Drupal but we only serve 2200 students so we have 1 too many content management systems. Reflecting on current technical resources we would like to drop down to 2. This effort hasn't moved forward because of the extensive work required to migrate content and train users in a new system.

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My client was already using Ontraport and had a decent investment in the tool. As soon as we turn around the revenue situation with my client's products, we will be ditching OAP immediately, despite the significant re-implementation cost we are going to face moving to a new system. I am part of a high-end, professional marketing group, and the overwhelming sentiment with these other professionals is that one should run away from this as fast as humanly possible. I thought their words were just ungrounded opinion, and I deeply regret that I did not heed them more closely before sinking still more time and effort into OAP.

Cascade CMS is completely usable on mobile devices, we can train our content editors in a single 2-hour session, and we support 1,000 users with a very small team.

There is a level of complexity for the system administrators, site managers and web programmers who implement templates and content types. But the complexity is neither arbitrary nor inconsistent – and once learned provides a powerful environment within which we can develop robust sites that are beautiful and powerful, yet easy for our content editors to manage.

The software is just easy to use. The UI is fairly intuitive. The help system is pretty good. I find it is pretty quick to get my work completed and if I don't document my things well, I can always figure out how I did something when I need to make changes. When I have a problem the tech support is easy to deal with and when things need to get escalated they are resolved quickly.

Amazing customer service and VERY customizable.

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Does a great job.

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Most of the time OP runs fine. But I've had to submit more support tickets this year do to messages, seq.'s or rules not running correctly. Also experienced slow response times moving in and around OP.

They have always regarded any question or problem we encountered as very important. We have never felt that they ignore or downplay any issue and not once has anything been left unresolved. They also hold an annual conference where users are invited to attend and share their experiences and wisdom with the entire Cascade community. And with the care and support the provide, we all feel a part of that community.

The techs are reasonably savvy, highly courteous and want to do right by their customers. Unfortunately, the product they are supporting is so deeply flawed that there's only so much they can do when your legitimate business requirements are simply not supported.

Training was helpful.

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I went to their Ontrapalooza event, and it opened my mind as to how the software can be used.

Still needed that physical help

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The key to any CMS implementation is PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Proper planning with Cascade can increase your satisfaction exponentially once the site migration/creation is complete. When all is said and done, your implementation can make your site run like a Yugo or Maserati. Be smart and deliberate in your decisions. Drive the Maserati. It is already paid for.

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If you know your business, ONTRAPORT is easy

We selected Cascade server seven years ago, and the CMS environment at the time was clearly different than it is today. We decided to go with a vendor solution rather than a free solution because the long term cost in hosting a free solution is not, in fact, free; we've found Cascade to have been an excellent choice for us.

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Task management was the main thing that separated ONTRAPORT for me. Keeping things accountable. As well, I felt the campaign builder was slicker, and that the contact management was more robust. Custom fields are very customizable.

I used it only a few times.

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With the new lower priced options, it's now easier for newer businesses to start with a more basic version and upgrade as they need more features.

• Initially, ROI was positive - because we completely redesigned the website when we implemented Cascade.
• Over time, the inability to keep up with the latest interactive tools has reduced visitors time on site.
• Also over time, the difficulty of use has led to less buy-in by backend users, leading to outdated pages, little timely information, and lower visitors.

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• We are providing better customer service as a direct result of Ontraport. We can track where all of our customers are, what pages/sites/modules they are visiting with ease and tailor our communication accordingly.
• Our marketing funnel has become vastly improved, meaning that our ROI for marketing has gone up. Sales this April are double what they were last year.
• Our team works better together because we all have a better idea of what the other needs and when. The tasks that we can assign in Ontraport mean nothing gets missed, creating a better customer and employee experience.