Likelihood to Recommend How big is your email list? For the money WhatCounts allows us to manage a large list and gives us great tools. If you have a small list this product might be more than you need. How many emails do you want to send? WhatCounts charges by the email and of course you get a better price per email the more emails you send. If you will not be sending many emails or are sending to a small list WhatCounts might not be the right tool for you.
Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review It is well suited in scenarios:
Well-defined static list with proper info. Not building email templates from scratch Litmus testing involved Easy to use simple automation journeys involved Not well-suited scenarios:
Complex Customer journeys Dynamic content involved Integration with other products other than the ZOHO suite Testing API limits Read full review Pros We receive super customer service from a dedicated account representative. The list management tools are easy to use and give us granular insight into what users are opening and where they are clicking. The analytics give us a variety of ways to look at the types of devices being used to view our content and the ways our users interact with content. For example we can see that most opens are on mobile but if a reader wants to spend time clicking into more in depth content they move over to a desktop computer. Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review 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. Read full review Cons Some of the list management tools were hard to find at first but now I use them every month. If I could change one thing I would allow the account details filter window to show all the available slots with no scrolling and I would add a feature to set / reset all selections on the dropdowns. Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review 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. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Because I am a single user organization and the subscription is free for up to 3 users.
Read full review Support Rating We have a great representative. She schedules regular calls with our team and helps us learn new ways to use the tool. We get great personal support. I know she has many other clients but I always feel like she has time for me and genuinely enjoys working with our team.
Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review Alternatives Considered We selected WhatCounts because it had the ability to help us manage our large list and gave us tools to help tailor our messages. In addition, WhatCounts had the ability to allow us to have an enterprise license but we could still have individual department accounts.
Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review 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.
Read full review Return on Investment We use WhatCounts as a communication tool to our external groups mainly families and alumni. In our case our main objective is to get these groups timely information. While some of our emails do have a call to action for example signing up for Family Weekend or a Reunion Weekend we don't use the tool to generate leads in the way many organizations use html email. Holli Drewry Assistant Director, Division of Student Affairs Communications and Innovative Technologies
Read full review 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. Read full review ScreenShots Zoho Campaigns Screenshots