Vtiger takes on MailChimp for the serious email marketer
December 20, 2017

Vtiger takes on MailChimp for the serious email marketer

Thomas Olesen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review

Overall Satisfaction with Vtiger

I have a demo copy of Vtiger and several of my clients use Vtiger. In the case of my clients, they generally use vTiger as a better solution than MailChimp for their newsletters. In the case of one client, they use vTiger to run their organization as they are a membership society, and they have integrated Vtiger with their website.
  • Vtiger is a sophisticated database similar to SugarCRM but easy to use for people who are not computer experts. SugarCRM has a very complex user interface compared with Vtiger. It is easy to add fields and to create rules or pick lists and thereby tailor the system to your requirements.
  • Vtiger is a powerful email marketing system with more facilities than MailChimp and considerably less expensive per email sent once your database reaches the size at which MailChimp begins to charge. Vtiger, therefore, represents a good upgrade path from MailChimp.
  • It is very easy to import and export data to and from Vtiger, which has excellent deduplication tools built in. It is also easy to manipulate data within Vtiger, something that is almost impossible with MailChimp.
  • Although Vtiger integrates well with email, like most CRM systems it assumes that you have one email system and therefore it is less suitable for use cases where multiple email systems need to be supported.
  • Although Vtiger supports Twitter it does not support other social media systems in the same way. You can tailor the system to hold the URLs of your contacts' social media profiles but if SM is a big thing for your organization then there are better systems available.
  • It has dramatically cut the cost of email marketing.
  • It has enabled better segmentation of the database leading to better-targeted email campaigns.
  • It has been a great central repository for data on contacts due to its ability to merge data on import.
SugarCRM is a very powerful CRM let down by a complex UI which means that most organizations would have trouble self-managing the database. leading to a high cost of ownership.
MailChimp is a great email marketing tool for databases below 2000 contacts as that is the point at which they start charging for emails. However, there are no data manipulation tools available (such as mass update) which renders MailChimp unsuitable for holding the central database for any organization.
Nimble is a socially connected CRM which integrates with systems like MailChimp but it is not a pure database and Vtiger would be preferable from a pure data management perspective.
Vtiger is well suited to any organization that manages large databases because it is very quick to populate, deduplicate and categorize the contact records. It is a very good way to manage your mailing campaigns because each record can be held in one place only and then belong to as many mailing lists as you like. You can even have website sign up forms adding people to your lists based on their interests.

Vtiger Feature Ratings

Customer data management / contact management
10
Workflow management
9
Opportunity management
8
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)
9
Contract management
8
Quote & order management
7
Interaction tracking
9
Case management
9
Help desk management
9
Lead management
9
Email marketing
9
Task management
8
Billing and invoicing management
7
Reporting
9
Forecasting
7
Pipeline visualization
9
Customizable reports
9
Custom fields
10
Custom objects
9
API for custom integration
9
Role-based user permissions
10
Social engagement
3
Mobile access
9

Vtiger Support

It is as good as you could expect for a company that operates from another continent. Emails are quickly responded to and do not usually require additional questions or answers. It is quite rare for a company of their size to be as responsive as they are and that makes them a sound choice to deal with.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Yes, I have had several occasions when either I or my clients have asked them questions via email and they have answered in a timely fashion. They will even jump on a shared screen session to provide some training and guidance which is a very personal service greatly appreciated by their customers.