Item: Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM
Rating: 10
Author: Christine Mullins

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

When choosing a marketing automation platform for my agency,
I knew I wanted something robust and customizable. I'm very hands on, and I
don't like being constrained by the limitations of drag-and-drop editors or
limited interfaces. I want to be able to tailor my tools exactly to each client
I work with, without compromising on functionality or efficiency. That's why
SharpSpring has been a perfect fit for me! Not only is it affordable for a
small agency like mine, who works with small businesses, but it's extremely
powerful, and capable of executing any strategy my team or my clients require.
The most complete and functional marketing automation platform out there!

Sharpspring has been incredibly helpful in allowing our agency's small team to connect with leads, follow up on project prospects, organize our
communications, and so much more. It allows us to accomplish a lot more for our
clients, and to land more profitable projects, because we are able to take the
day-to-day of marketing communication off the table, and let SharpSpring handle
it! It's also been a game-changer for our B2C clients, who are able to
personalize and target their marketing efforts to specific clients, and have seen great growth in engagement
and revenue!

Pros and Cons

Marketing Automation is powerful, robust, and effective.
Customer Service & Onboarding. The SharpSpring team is a pleasure to work with!
Customization - Especially for agencies, this is a big plus. I can create whatever workflows, reports, or setup that my clients or my agency require.
Lead Tracking & Analytics are extremely insightful and actionable.

Social Media Content Calendar could be more streamlined.
Lots of features, so it can be intimidating at first!
Consistent updates, which is good because there are new features, but means there is always a learning curve.

Return on Investment

Better conversion and follow-up rates with our potential leads.
Increased customer loyalty through consistent, automated, and personalized communication.
Better understanding of what campaigns and marketing efforts are successful and deserve more time and money.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, Zoho CRM, Zoho Social and HubSpot CRM

SharpSpring was the most affordable option for my small agency and my clients. It was also the only one with an agency-focused model, allowing me to offer the platform to my clients without exorbitant cost to my agency. The marketing automation capabilities are the most robust and
streamlined out of any I trialed, and allowed me to truly tailor the CRM and Marketing experience to best serve my agency, as well as create personalized platforms and workflows to best serve each of my clients.

Key Insights

Do you think Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM's feature set?

Yes

Did Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM again?

Yes

Usability

This rating is coming from an administrative perspective. With so many features, workflows, dashboards, and more, there is certainly a lot going on, and even the most savvy software user can get a little overwhelmed when trying to decide how to best implement and utilize the platform to its full potential. That being said, the SharpSpring platform is well-implemented and well-organized, with most solutions being fairly intuitive, once you have a grasp of the software. It is fairly easy to learn, but difficult to master. Just like any powerful platform, however, the complexity is worth it, and once you are comfortable navigating and problem solving within SharpSpring, it becomes a great marketing and sales tool which can do virtually anything you need it to.

Support Rating

The SharpSpring support team has been nothing short of amazing! They have dedicated team members for different areas of expertise, including sales, product specialists, demos, agency specialists, etc. so that each team member is an expert at what they do. They have been helpful and knowledgeable when I come with questions or requests, and if they don't know the answer, they know exactly who to direct you to. Everything in my experience, from support tickets to demos has been handled in a timely, friendly, and professional manner. They also have a wealth of resources to help you learn and understand the platform, maximize your ability to use it, and consistently update you on new features. On that note, they are also very responsive to feedback, and have a feature request readily available from inside the platform, so you don't even have to leave the site to request something new!

Likelihood to Recommend

SharpSpring is an exceptional tool for small teams and agencies. I find it helps our team accomplish so much more than we could otherwise, to keep the growth of our agency going. It is also great to help my small business clients connect with their customers on a personal level through targeted marketing and communications.
I think it might not be the platform for you, if you are looking for something simple for non-tech-savvy users. There's a lot of features and functionality in this product, and unless you have administrators who know how to use it properly, you definitely won't be getting the most out of the marketing automation, email, and lead tracking features. However, the support and onboarding teams were great at getting me set up within the platform, and while they may make it complicated, I appreciate the wide range of features.

The Perfect Marketing Automation Platform for Agencies!

Overall Satisfaction with SharpSpring