![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-review-1024x482.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis ActiveCampaign review will go over every question you could potentially have before choosing and committing to an email marketing tool. We will cover ActiveCampaign features, what it\u2019s best used for, ActiveCampaign pricing, alternatives, and more. By the end of this review, you\u2019ll be a lot more confident in your decision, and that\u2019s a promise. So let\u2019s dive right in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As mentioned in the beginning, ActiveCampaign is one of the biggest and, frankly, oldest email marketing tools in the market. The Chicago-based company was founded back in 2003, and quickly gained popularity among marketers. It now has over 145,000 customers that use ActiveCampaign daily for personal or business needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign became a unicorn company with a valuation of over $1B in 2021. The impressive company profile leaves only one question to ask \u2013 does it live up to its colossal progress and hype? We\u2019ll try to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is ActiveCampaign? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation software that tackles email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, sales automation, and more. In a nutshell, ActiveCampaign is a type of complex marketing tool that covers multiple needs of small to medium-sized businesses, all from one platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every one of ActiveCampaign\u2019s features is geared toward building and improving customer experience. Compared to some of the other email marketing tools available, ActiveCampaign is by far one of the most functional ones. No wonder it\u2019s also on the pricier end of the spectrum. This is particularly true if you compare it with relatively simpler tools like MailerLite and Moosend. So considering how much value you\u2019re getting, the price can be justified. However, to be sure of that, let\u2019s continue exploring what ActiveCapmaign is best used for and what you can do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you have or have not heard about ActiveCampaign before, at this point in the review you already know it\u2019s primarily used for email marketing purposes. But it\u2019s so much more than just an email service provider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the company itself states, businesses use ActiveCampaign to reach, nurture, convert and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use it for lead generation, warming up your audience, setting up marketing and sales automation, converting clients, and providing them with a personalized approach all throughout the cycle. On top of that, ActiveCampaign has also dipped its toes into the customer support pool with a Facebook messenger now available to users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An important part of all these features is that it helps you cut down customer churn rate and increase your retention rates. In the next section of this ActiveCampaign review, we\u2019ll explain each feature and its use in more detail. Off we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of your past experiences with email marketing, ActiveCampaign is mega-packed with features you probably haven\u2019t seen before. The upside is that these features are superbly useful, but on the other hand, on the more complicated side. Even for marketers well versed in other email marketing tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The software itself categorizes its features collectively into the following groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll cover the features we think are the essentials in the pack and explore what novelty ActiveCampaign brings to the table. And after that, you can decide whether or not it\u2019s worth your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s start with the basics. First things first, despite the enormous variety of ActiveCampaign features, this is still primarily an email marketing tool. So you can organize all types of email communication with your audience through ActiveCampaign. You get your classic email flows based on triggers, one-time newsletters, targeted emails for each segment, scheduled emails, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crafting your emails with ActiveCampaign is straightforward. Though we\u2019ll be honest, it\u2019s not as simple and fun as, for example, with MailerLite. ActiveCampaign is a more technically advanced tool, so the entire process, though still easy, is not a piece of cake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The drag & drop editor is fairly easy to navigate, and the rich templates gallery will help you create emails in no time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ActiveCampaign also has advanced segmentation, which allows you to group your audience based on numerous factors. This ensures you\u2019ll reach each group of subscribers with as precision-targeted emails as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Add to the basic features list personalization, mobile responsive design, reporting, and A\/B testing, which ActiveCampaign excels at. You also have the option for dynamic and conditional content, which will essentially help you show a certain part of the email to only specific subscribers based on a certain condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Later in this ActiveCampaign review, we will dedicate a separate section to integrations, but right now we\u2019ll suffice by saying IT. HAS. MANY. You can connect ActiveCampaign to your Google Analytics and create special deals for your subscribers as soon as they perform a certain action or click on a link in the email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And last but not least in the impressive list of features is you can connect your marketing channels with ActiveCampaign. Based on customer behavior, you can automatically add a subscriber to a specific audience for your Facebook ads and thus achieve holistic and multichannel marketing activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marketing automation is a goldmine for digital marketing experts. ActiveCampaign boasts about its marketing automation feature with good reason. There\u2019s really no limitation to how many complex strategies you can implement with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Set one automation to trigger different automation based on a specific action. Segment your audience within the automation. Test multiple marketing automations against each other to determine the best-performing one. Essentially, with the help of advanced marketing automation, you can understand your customers better and deliver more targeted content to them. This will, in return, pay off in the form of higher conversions and customer loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also pair ActiveCampaign\u2019s marketing automation with its sales CRM that stores consumer behavior data and will help you categorize them better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to customer reviews and a general grasp of marketing automation, this saves you tons of manual resources, and most importantly, time. And anything that cuts down time while increasing efficiency is a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most frequently asked questions about ActiveCampaign is whether you can use ActiveCampaign as a CRM. We wanted to make sure we went over this particular point as best as possible in this ActiveCampaign review. So that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, you can use ActiveCampaign to manage your contacts and integrate it with your sales team\u2019s activities. But let us explain what the tool offers you in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With ActiveCampaign, you can automatically create a Salesforce contact for every new lead. You can set the trigger to be a page visit, mention the specific page you want, and ActiveCampaign will generate a contact every time a lead visits that page. As soon as your lead enters your pipeline, you can send them a 1:1 personalized email and get to selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can get a centralized view of your entire pipeline and from there, manage your contacts with ease. ActiveCampaign also allows you to see the recent activities of the leads in the pipeline. This comes in handy if a sales team member needs to pick up where another rep left off or ensure everyone is on the same page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another major bonus with ActiveCampaign CRM & sales automation is lead scoring. Based on customer behavior and characteristics, you can assign a scoring mechanism and handle your leads easily. Leads with higher scores can automatically be transferred to the sales team, which will help convert them faster. For leads with lower scores, you will need to continue nurturing them en masse until they\u2019re ready to be approached by the sales team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lead scoring has been around for a while and has turned out to be one of the most effective filtering methods. Before lead scoring, the qualifying of gathered leads was essentially a guessing game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another helpful set of features within the ActiveCampaign CRM & sales automation is that you can assign tasks to the sales team and make notes for each lead, while never leaving the ActiveCampaign platform. Isn\u2019t that a gem?<\/p>\n\n It\u2019s now time to look at the financial side of this ActiveCampaign review and see the asking price for this feature-packed software. We\u2019ll discuss ActiveCampaign pricing, dive into all the available ActiveCampaign plans, and break them down so you can see which plan fits your budget best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though we already mentioned that ActiveCampaign pricing is on the more expensive side of the equation, it\u2019s undeniable how much value this tool provides. Some even say it\u2019s relatively affordable compared to its advanced features. But we\u2019ll let you decide that for yourself. Either way, you will have a 14-day free trial to test out the features for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with many other email marketing tools, ActiveCampaign\u2019s pricing is divided into 4 sections, each taking into account the number of contacts you have and the features you need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find out all the comprehensive information on each plan or view the features in each plan based on your business type, we suggest visiting the official pricing page on the ActiveCampaign <\/a>website. For now, we\u2019ll concentrate on summarizing each plan for easier navigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lite plan on ActiveCampaign starts at $29 per month for 1000 contacts. With the Lite plan you get all the basics of ActiveCampaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we\u2019re being honest, the asking price for these features only is a bit high compared to other email marketing tools out there. Most of the ActiveCampaign alternatives we\u2019ll discuss in the upcoming sections will give you these functionalities for much less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lite plan doesn\u2019t include some of the best features we\u2019ve covered earlier. For example, you don\u2019t get the luxury of automatically adding leads to Facebook custom audiences, lead scoring, SMS marketing, etc. You also don\u2019t get the much-needed landing page creation feature, CRM, and sales automation. And lastly, with the Lite plan, you only get 1 user account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Needless to say, investing in ActiveCampaign if you\u2019re going to get the Lite plan might not be the best option for you. However, it\u2019s still one of the better choices in the market. So it all comes down to your own business needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Plus plan, now we\u2019re talking. ActiveCampaign\u2019s Plus plan includes everything in Lite and some hefty additions. In fact, the difference between the two is very big. You pay a big chunk of money, true, but in return you get:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, the Plus plan tackles the Sales and Service suite, while building on the marketing activities too. With this plan, you get way more of the platform. Namely, with the Plus plan, you can now manage activities of multiple marketing channels from one platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The huge jump also shows in the number of users, which drastically increases to 25 compared to the 1 user included in Lite. 25 users per account might seem too much, but that\u2019s exactly why ActiveCampaign allows you to assign custom permissions for each user. This will help keep the processes smoother and avoid security risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For e-commerce businesses, Plus makes a lot more sense because it supports advanced integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, and similar platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though you get access to Marketing automation in Plus, you\u2019re still a bit restricted in your experiments. For example, this plan does not support Split automation, 1:1 email automation, predictive sending, and custom reports. However, if these aren\u2019t of too much essence to you, the Plus plan, though pricey, can actually be a good solution for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we know what you\u2019re thinking, if you need to use the Professional plan, you probably have way more than 1000 contacts. If you need more than 50,000 contacts, for any of the plans, you will need to contact the sales team directly to craft a custom plan for your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As expected, the Professional plan includes everything from Plus and more advanced personalization features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as the account-related benefits go, you get 50 users in this plan and a dedicated onboarding specialist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ActiveCampaign\u2019s Professional plan brings a lot to the table if you need and can afford these features. However, depending on your business type and growth stage, the Plus plan seems to cover most of what\u2019s essential, for a lower price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like with every SaaS platform, to find out more about ActiveCampaign\u2019s Enterprise solution you need to talk to their sales team. Expectedly, the Enterprise plan includes everything from the lower-end pricing plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference in features of this plan is mostly tied to security and branded actions. For example, here you get:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Enterprise plan finishes off customization to business by allowing you to have a custom phone number for SMS sending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the remaining benefits of the Enterprise plan come forth in platform support \u2013 phone support, customized marketing strategy, and custom implementation service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we\u2019ve gone over the platform\u2019s extensive features and pricing options, it\u2019s time for the most competitive section of this ActiveCampaign review \u2013 the ActiveCampaign alternatives. By now we have reinstated that ActiveCampaign is one of the leaders in the market. But leading the charts doesn\u2019t magically make them the best choice for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find out whether or not you should settle down on this particular software, we\u2019ll be covering three ActiveCampaign alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mailchimp<\/a> is one of the oldest players of the email game. It\u2019s a powerful tool with amazing features, and the quality speaks for itself. However, there are some major differences between Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign you should know about before you make up your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is the difference between ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mailchimp is way easier to use, and that\u2019s a fact. This isn\u2019t surprising since we\u2019ve already mentioned that there\u2019s a steep learning curve with ActiveCampaign. That being said, Mailchimp\u2019s simplicity doesn\u2019t fit every marketer\u2019s cup. Compared to ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp lacks major advanced features, such as lead scoring, dynamic automation, SMS automation, site and event tracking, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In return, Mailchimp offers users a freemium model starting businesses can explore without having to pay from limited resources. The freemium model obviously comes with a multitude of restrictions, whereas ActiveCampaign only keeps adding better and better features to its paid plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Mailchimp, email marketing is made easy for all but lacks advanced customization. And this is one of the most commonly made points while comparing the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking these into account, Mailchimp would be great if you\u2019re not looking into too advanced technicalities and want to keep your focus on email interactions only. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MailerLite<\/a>, compared to ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp, is a fairly new email marketing platform. And if we\u2019re being honest, it\u2019s a tough job trying to compare both tools as they differ in many ways. Where MailerLite is a very easy-to-use and decent email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign goes way beyond simple email marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both platforms have different target markets and sets of features. And while MailerLite is very good at what it does, let\u2019s face it, it doesn’t come close to ActiveCampaign\u2019s complex customer experience automation (CXA) platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That being said, though, if we go back to ActiveCampaign pricing of this review, MailerLite is a better solution for you if you\u2019re hunting for an alternative to ActiveCampaign\u2019s Lite plan. And it\u2019s also more diverse and affordable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What we\u2019re trying to say here is that MailerLite is probably the best solution for smaller-sized businesses that are not looking for complex marketing integrations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-customer-experience-automation-min-1024x494.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat is ActiveCampaign used for? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-platform-1024x464.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-email-marketing-min-1024x495.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign features: Email marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"email](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-email-marketing-feature-min-1024x543.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign features: Marketing automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/What-is-Marketing-Automation_-An-Updated-Guide-2022-min-1024x478.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign features: CRM & sales automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-sales-crm-min-1-1024x503.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"mailerlite](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Untitled-design-6.png\" "\\"MailerLite")
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>![\"convertkit](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Convertkit-logo-2.png\" "\\"ConvertKit"){kind=logo}
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>![\"moosend](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Untitled-design-3.png\" "\\"Moosend")
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>![\"1](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-copy-9.png\" "\\"Raven")
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>![\"renderforest](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2.png\" "\\"Renderforest")
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>![\"sendgrid-review\"](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/SendGrid.png\" "\\"SendGrid")
<\/figure><\/a><\/div>Marketing Tools Reviews<\/span><\/div>ActiveCampaign pricing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-pricing-min-1024x502.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign pricing: Lite ($29\/mo paid yearly for 1000 contacts)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign pricing: Plus ($49\/mo paid yearly for 1000 contacts)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"main](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-main-features-min-1024x582.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign pricing: Professional ($149\/mo paid yearly)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign pricing: Enterprise (upon request)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign alternatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-vs-mailchimp-min-1024x990.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign vs MailerLite<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"activecampaign-vs-mailerlite\"](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-vs-mailerlite-min-1024x548.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"ActiveCampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ActiveCampaign-vs-ConvertKit-min-1024x551.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"activecampaign](\"https:\/\/viralmango.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/activecampaign-integrations-min-1024x471.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n