Please read my review, but I also have a suggestion to help you decide if ActiveCampaign is right for you. Join the official Facebook ActiveCampaign group (7.5k people), post you are considering the product and if you should join, and many people will respond to you. Someone just did this and people responded very honestly to their needs and if AC would be a good fit.
The large active Facebook group has made a HUGE difference in my ability to learn and execute with ActiveCampaign. There is so much you can do and it takes time to learn, but if you are running a serious business, email is perhaps the best way to sell. A lot of marketers would agree.
I demoed Drip, but in the end I picked ActiveCampaign and I am very happy about this. I have clients also on Mailchimp and Constant Contact, but I am getting the Mailchimp account to ActiveCampaign right now and the Constant Contact will one day also be moved over. The Constant Contact list isn’t using email marketing for more than sending broadcast emails twice a month, but they could do this with ActiveCampaign at half the price. The client doesn’t want to move over, but you should pick AC over Constant Contact.
The automation power in AC is phenomenal. I've probably used the software for a year now, and I am still learning and creating new powerful automations. Since ActiveCampaign is perhaps the most successful email automation solution for businesses (and I use it for a non-profit client too), they have a fast-growing user base. If you are the kind of person who likes posting to a Facebook group when you are stuck, and getting tons of responses that day from passionate users, ActiveCampaign is a great option.
I send different emails for people who have opened other emails, I use conditional content all the time based on forms people fill out, I use emojis, alert emails to my personal inbox, the goals function is INCREDIBLE.
Every month they come out with new functions, and it is always fun! No email product is perfect, but AC is just going to get better and better and better! And it is already phenomenal!
If you want to send out basic, dull broad emails to a list with updates and general information, Mailchimp and Constant Contact could work. But I mean, compare the prices. ActiveCampaign gives you tons more. Now if you are comparing other more advanced email marketing solutions, look closely at their pricing models and how you expect to scale. AC also integrates with so many other products that I use, and I am very grateful for this! Did I say they have a great entry point? I see no reason for anyone looking for a better ESP to just demo ActiveCampaign. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
No software is perfect, AC is always improving, but here are three things I want to see changed. You see they are relatively minor, as the fundamentals of ActiveCampaign are STRONG!
1) Using First Names when emailing on the lite plan (which is SUPER powerful by the way).
2) You cannot edit multiple emails easily in an automation, you have to edit one email at a time and can't open many in new tabs.
3) You cannot edit the name of an email in the automation easily
ONE)
If you are joining the lite plan, there are downsides to using a person's personalized name and so I simply never do this. It is upsetting, but I admit it is immature to think that just because I don't write “Dear Sally” in my emails that I can't do effective email marketing.
The problem is that if you put in %FIRST_NAME% as the field, and you have someone on your list that never submitted their name, then it will appear blank (because the field is blank). In the pro plan, you can use conditional blocks which is a technical solution. MailChimp and Constant Contact both have more straightforward solutions to including people’s first names, which is a common practice for sure.
ActiveCampaign would suggest then to give people who did not submit a default first name "Friend," as in all emails are sent to "Dear Friend." That is unprofessional to keep sending every email and unfitting for all my email marketing clients. For one non-profit, I run google ads to grow their list and I can get leads much cheaper without asking for first names. They don't need first names. But the fact that I can't use personalization tags for those that I do have a name for, I am not a fan. Of course, I could have the non-profit pay for the pro plan, but the lite plan is such a wonderful deal that I accept this limitation.
TWO)
Perhaps you are considering ConvertKit. I am very familiar with the product, as a teacher of mine uses it. #1, ActiveCampaign is right now more powerful for conditional content (pro plan) and some automation features and has a lower entry point. But with ConvertKit when you want to edit multiple emails in an automation, it is so easy and quick. In ActiveCampaign, it takes so much time to navigate through and I don’t like this. At the least, it would be nice if ActiveCampaign would let us open multiple emails by control clicking them in the automation. Or if they could load quicker.
THREE)
If I want to change the name of an email in an automation, I have to open the email (again, can’t even do that in a new tab) and then click two buttons to then change the name of the email. I wish there was a way to change the email name AND subject line in the email settings, or simply a way to change the email name in the automation page directly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
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