Item: ActiveCampaign
Rating: 9
Author: Brad Schneider

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using ActiveCampaign to market our coaching programs and automate thank you messages for registering for our organizational newsletter. ActiveCampaign automates many of the essential marketing touches that we used to have difficulty finding time to do while our client base is growing. ActiveCampaign gives us tools and resources to automate these features without having to be technical gurus.

Pros and Cons

Quickly create workflows to automate campaign messages.
Easily integrate with my other tools to keep my contact list updated.
Wizard-like templates that help me create technical automations that work.

More powerful mobile app.

Return on Investment

Make sure clients are receiving a touch without me having to commit time to make it happen.
Organize my processes for engaging clients and prospects.
Linking many of my online tools together to feed my marketing efforts.

Alternatives Considered

Insightly, Calendly and FreshBooks

ActiveCampaign helped me tie together the products listed above to help me effectively automate most of my back office processes.

Key Insights

Do you think ActiveCampaign delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with ActiveCampaign's feature set?

Yes

Did ActiveCampaign live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of ActiveCampaign go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy ActiveCampaign again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Insightly, Calendly, FreshBooks

Likelihood to Recommend

ActiveCampaign is great for a small business that needs to automate marketing efforts without having a lot of technical expertise in-house. The service allows me to curate and manage my mailing list, automate product marketing messaging, solicit for testimonials, and follow-up with existing clients automatically. ActiveCampaign has saved me time by linking the contacts from survey tools, CRM, and calendar scheduling.

Users and Roles

1 - Owner, marketer, sales person, coach, consultant. As a one man bansd, I wear all of the hats and Active Campaign lets me keep my marketing going while I am out serving my clients.

Support Headcount Required

If I had a virtual assistant, I might have him or her manage my lists more actively and continue to produce content. But since it is just me, I don't leverage the tool as much as I could.

Business Processes Supported

Reaching out to new members of my mailing list
Follow-up with old leads
Remind current clients of new products or services

Innovative Uses

Connecting it to survey monkey workshop feedback
Building templates to simplify campaign development
Connections to our back office services

Future Planned Uses

Better integrated to our website
Automating post workshop feedback process
Trying more a/b testing

Likelihood to Renew

9

It is easy to use for a person wearing all the hats in the business with little tech expertise. It makes it easy for me to build powerful tools quickly that integrate effectively into the other tools I use for my business regluarly.

Products Replaced

No

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability

I thought it was economical for the power it delivered. The feature set is rich and provides a lot of power without having to be a mail marketing or techincial guru to get moving quickly.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I would not change my process or the results. ActiveCampaign has been the right resource for us.

Implementation Rating

9

Follow their process and implementation is simple if you've never used a similar system before.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

No

Change Management Lessons

Change management was minimal - It was just me implementing so I didn't have change management challenges to deal with. But I do change management consulting so if you need some help, I know a guy.

Implementation Issues

Adjusting from a manual process to a fully automated one

Training Types Used

no training

In-Person Training

Online Training

Ease of ActiveCampaign Training

Yes. I just used their webinars and wizards and was up and running in a couple of days.

Product Configurability

9

For me and my basic needs, it has more than enough features that I can configure to get the results I want.

Configuration Lessons

I do not.

UI Customization

No - we have not done any customization to the interface

Extensibility and Customization

No - we have not done any custom code

Additional Customization Considerations

None.

ActiveCampaign Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	Poor followup Problems left unsolved

Premium Support

No. I am not doing anything too complicated that I felt like I needed premium support for. Their ongoing training and support has answered all of the questions I've had and helped me introduce new features and functionality when I wanted or needed it.

Bug Resolution

No

Exceptional Examples of ActiveCampaign Support

I have not had to use their support team directly. Only throught their established help and support channels.

Support Rating

9

I can answer any question I have at my finger tips with all of the resources that they provide.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

List management
Building automation logic
Creating messages from templates

Difficult Tasks

Integrations
Manually updating lists from contacts not in a online acquisition

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Usability

9

For many of the same reasons I have already given. I can quickly get strong automations running with little support or additional training or knowledge needed. I can maintain and leverage them with my basic technology skills.