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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Gist

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AGist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.

    $29

    per month

    Leadfwd

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/ALeadfwd, from the company of the same name in Staten Island, combines B2B Prospecting, Sales Outreach and Account-Based Marketing. It replaces the former INBOX25.N/A
    Pricing
    GistLeadfwd
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $29.00
    per month
    Premium
    $99.00
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GistLeadfwd
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GistLeadfwd
    Considered Both Products
    Gist
    No answer on this topic
    Leadfwd
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    GistLeadfwd
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Leadfwd
    -
    Ratings
    Chat history and transcripts8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat reporting8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    7.4
    2 Ratings
    4% below category average
    WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Dynamic content00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Landing pages00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    A/B testing00 Ratings3.22 Ratings
    Mobile optimization00 Ratings6.22 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings9.62 Ratings
    List management00 Ratings8.62 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings8.82 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    8.0
    2 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Lead nurturing automation00 Ratings8.42 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
    Data quality management00 Ratings7.72 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks00 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    7.0
    1 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Calendaring00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    7.5
    1 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Social sharing and campaigns00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Social profile integration00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    6.3
    2 Ratings
    17% below category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings6.52 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings6.32 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Gist and Leadfwd
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Leadfwd
    9.1
    2 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Role-based workflow & approvals00 Ratings8.82 Ratings
    Customizability00 Ratings7.92 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Integration with SugarCRM00 Ratings9.62 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GistLeadfwd
    Small Businesses
    Olark
    Score10 out of 10
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GistLeadfwd
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.5
    (112 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.7
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GistLeadfwd
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Gist
    If your marketing model is selling products, services, or SAAS where you are doing inbound marketing and your website will do most of the lead generation and conversion, this is a great product. From live chat, support, event tracking, and automation, you could almost put your entire business on autopilot. If your marketing model is mostly outreach to cold leads and conversion, this software currently does not have any type of sales stages or task generation. I would still use Gist for website inbound but use another software for outreach and cold leads then when they become a lead put them into Gist for marketing automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    I think Inbox25 is a great fit for companies outgrowing lower-end, disconnected email marketing applications. Companies with a more formalized marketing organization that send a lot of emails (tens of thousands monthly or more) will be better served with a product like Inbox25 that is less complex, easier to use, and much more affordable (30% lower by our experience) from the larger marketing automation products on the market. Our company has 3 full-time marketing staff with over 100,000 contacts (with valid emails) that we target in various direct and drip email campaigns and Inbox25 fits our needs just fine. I suspect that we may outgrow the product eventually but I think it'll meet our needs just fine for many years to come.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Gist
    • Customer service via a unified inbox so you dont have to separately monitor your twitter, Facebook or IG account for consumer communication there. Gist unified all into one inbox, better than anyone else I've seen in the market. They archive all communications and tie them back to a single user so you get unified customer history / data.
    • Marketing segmentation and automation: they track user history and behavior across the site and have super detailed segmenting capability, on par with ActiveCampaign's, but better I'd say. Better UI for the marketing admin person, and more unified data than in AC.
    • Live chat and chatbot. Usually it's either one or the other but with Gist you can do both seamlessly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    • SugarCRM integration
    • Ease of building workflows
    • Responsive, helpful support team
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Gist
    • Plan limits can be confusing. For example, there is a monthly charge for support and a monthly charge for "growth," plus there's a separate charge depending on how many contacts and seats you have. Perhaps this is normal in the industry, but it can make it a little challenging to understand the bill every month.
    • The vast amount of features means development will never be as fast as you'd like it to be (even though they release updates all the time). This may not actually be a valid concern, and it certainly isn't unique to Gist (who doesn't have a wishlist they're waiting on their favorite SaaS to get to?), but I do believe the likelihood of being stuck without your desired feature being developed goes up a lot as the product gets bigger and bigger.
    • Email deliverability has been less than perfect in the past, but it has improved drastically in the last year.
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    • Inbox25 is in a growth phase and has transformed their product pretty fast. With that comes an increased need to continually learn how to leverage new features.
    • Tutorials and product documentation exist but it is relatively minimal. They overcome this with personalized, one-on-one training that is recorded for future review using a project management platform.
    • Inbox25 has expanded beyond Sugar CRM to include Salesforce.com integration. I'm not sure if they plan to add integrations to other applications but they are positioned well for growth.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Gist
    Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Gist
    It’s pretty simple, but it does a lot so there are more complicated features which depend on an individuals ability for software implementation. I am not an IT expert and I’ve managed to implement everything myself, others that are more tech-minded may find everything easier.
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Gist
    Fantastic support. Ask a question, get an answer within 24 hours every time. And sometimes within a few minutes. They've always come through for me, helpful and, even when it's an issue on my end, they point me in the right direction.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Gist
    Gist combines all our previous products into one application and adds many more features that would require more apps. Gist is excellent and a no-brainer all-in-one application when compared to having to manage multiple applications at higher cost. The support from the whole Gist team has been extremely responsive.
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    Different platforms stack up particularly well for different use cases. INBOX25 is our default choice for SugarCRM users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Gist
    • They are perfect for me as a someone who needs a lot of bang for the buck. The chat messenger device on my website alone has brought me new prospects that I did not have to spend money recruiting.
    • I am able to save hours of time with the automated emails that are GDPR compliant.
    • I don't have to pay for a designer to have excellent looking emails either.
    Read full review
    Leadfwd
    • We have successfully moved cold suspects to leads and leads to opportunities, and opportunities to customers with Inbox25. We are just now starting to realize more value given that we've only recently started using the more advanced drip marketing and lead scoring features.
    • When we used the pay-as-you-go version we were paying just pennies per email and remained CAN-Spam Act compliant. It was harder to quantify the ROI then but it was apparent that email marketing was working and moving prospects from one sales stage to another. It was also very useful for re-engaging prospects and promoting products and services to customers.
    • Our total investment in the advanced edition is less $30,000 annually and we expect the ROI to be less than one year. It could have been sooner if we'd have been more thoughtful in our initial implementation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Gist Screenshots

    Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings