ActiveCampaign Review: Features and Pricing 2021

In this ActiveCampaign review, I look at what this powerful software offers as an email marketing tool. I break down its features into easy-to-understand segments so you can get a better overview of what I like and dislike most about the software. I discuss what pricing ActiveCampaign offers as well as suggesting who this software is best recommended for.

ActiveCampaign Review
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4.1 /5
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Table of Contents

    Professionally Reviewed by Kyla Liu - Marketing and Sales Funnels Expert 

    Updated 11/02/2021

    Written by Ria du Plessis - Digital Marketing Expert

    What is ActiveCampaign?

    ActiveCampaign is an omnichannel marketing platform that focuses on helping businesses provide better customer experiences for their audience. This powerful software helps segment your contacts into specific categories and then sends them highly targeted automated emails.

    ActiveCampaign in a NutShell

    • ActiveCampaign does not offer a free plan
    • There is a free trial though 
    • It's a good fit for the Advertising, Media and Ecommerce Industry
    • The software provides Segmentation and Geo
    • Time-zone-based Delivery

    Active Campaign Introduction

    ActiveCampaign Pros & Cons 

    PROS

    CONS

    • Built-in CRM
    • Advanced automation and segmentation 
    • Thorough Reporting 
    • A/B split testing
    • For Experienced Users
    • Premium pricing

    PROS

    • Built-in CRM: ActiveCampaign’s CRM can improve your relationships with your customers by gaining knowledge about them. At the same time, it can segment your contacts into targeted categories that enable the software to send your audience relevant content that will keep them engaged. 

    • Advanced automation and segmentation: ActiveCampaign tries to do more than segment your audience into different categories. They want to help you as a business give each customer a personal experience when they open an email from you. I could not find software that offers more advanced automation than this one. 

    • Thorough Reporting: ActiveCampaign offers a considerable amount of reporting that can be quite overwhelming. Comprehensive reporting is good since you can analyze how your campaigns perform and optimize them next time for better results. 

    • A/B Split testing: I enjoy using A/B split testing because it is a great way to see how campaigns perform compared to one another. With this feature, you can create two campaigns and send them to different contacts in a segment and then push the campaign that performs the best. 

    CONS

    • For experienced users: If you are a beginner, this software will be overwhelming since it has so many advanced features. I recommend you purchase this software once you are familiar with how email marketing works because you will benefit a lot more once you have that understanding.  

    • Premium pricing: A software with so many advanced features does not come cheap, which is understandable. Even though these prices are on the higher end, the features you are getting are well worth the price that you are paying. 

    Who is ActiveCampaign Good for? 

    If you are looking for a powerful email marketing tool- ActiveCampaign is software that offers incredibly advanced features. I  found that no other software can compete with their automation tools. They have all the necessary features you need and more to run a successful email marketing campaign. 

    If you are a large business- ActiveCampaign is better suited for larger business that grows at an exceptional rate. These businesses will need to have software that can keep up with the demand as they grow, and ActiveCampaign will provide those services. 

    If you have a big budget- I have already mentioned how ActiveCampaign charges a premium price, but I think it's important that you realize these prices can add up quickly. Their most popular plan starts at $159 with 500 contacts. If you are not careful, then this software can exhaust your marketing budget.

    ActiveCampaign is not recommended for:

    If you are looking for simple software- ActiveCampaign is everything but basic, and if you are a beginner, then I don't recommend this software. ActiveCampaign’s features are intense because they offer so much within every element that it can be hard to navigate when creating a simple email campaign. You will be wasting your money if you purchase ActiveCampaign and not use all of the features. 

    If you are an up-and-coming business- ActiveCampaign will strain your budget if you haven’t set aside a large quantity of money. If you are still navigating your way around email marketing as a business, then I suggest first using a more affordable platform to learn the basics of email marketing software before switching over to ActiveCampaign.

    ActiveCampaign Video Review

    Key Features and Workflows

    ActiveCampaign Deliverability (Rated: 3/5)

    ActiveCampaign boasts one of the highest deliverability rates, however, I felt that it deserved a 3.

    Active Campaign’s deliverability rate is considered one of the highest in the industry, and the system offers you time-zone scheduling, as well as geographic segmentation, in order to improve your open rate.

    ActiveCampaign Pricing (Rated: 4/5)

    ActiveCampaign is priced as a premium system, but at the end of the day, you are paying for a system with the capabilities and tools to drive successful email campaigns. They earned a score of 4.

    If you have 1,000 contacts, then ActiveCampaign’s prices can range anywhere from $29-$279 per month. You can get a discount if you purchase their software on an annual basis. Multiple features get added with each higher-up plan. Their professional plan includes features like conversion reporting, split automation, predictive sending, and In-App messaging. 

    LitePlusProfessionalEnterprise

    Price: starting at $9/month (500 contacts)

    • Unlimited sending
    • Newsletter sending
    • Automation
    • Customer service support via email and chat
    • 3 users maximum
    Price: starting at $49/month (500 contacts)


    • All Lite features
    • Lead and Contact scoring
    • Data Integrations
    • Custom Permissions and Branding
    • One on one training
    • SMS marketing
    • 25 users maximum
    Price: starting at $129/month (500 contacts)

    • All Plus features
    • Predictive sending
    • Site messaging
    • Probability of wins
    • Split automation
    • 50 users maximum
    Price: starting at $229/month (500 contacts)


    • All Professional features
    • Customization features (mail server domain, domain, reporting)
    • A dedicated rep for your account
    • Free services for design
    • Free social data
    • Availability of phone support
    • Unlimited number of users

    Cancellation/Refund Policy

    You can easily cancel your ActiveCampaign subscription within the software by locating the "cancel" button under "Billing & Upgrade." Unfortunately, ActiveCampaign does not offer refunds, and they can terminate their services without notice.

    Creating Email Campaigns and Managing

    One of the things that I found remarkable about ActiveCampaign is how easy and straightforward it was to create email marketing campaigns. The platform’s dedicated section for creating email marketing campaigns is easy to use and extremely well-organized, making it ideal for both beginners and experts to start building.

    • Emails Sent/Opened and Links Clicked – ActiveCampaign offers excellent reporting tools to track your individual email and campaigns’ success rates, including tracking open rates based on time, segments, and more. Additionally, you can create goals to track, as well as view how each is performing.  
    • Deliverability Rate and Delivery by Time Zone – ActiveCampaign’s deliverability rate is one of the highest among all the available email marketing software in the industry. To ensure even more opens, you can also schedule your emails to be delivered by time zone, ensuring users view your content at the right moment.
    • Creating and Importing Email Lists – ActiveCampaign’s handy import feature allows you to either add all your existing email lists to your contacts by importing a CSV file or copying and pasting the list manually. You can also add integrations to input new leads as they are created into your lists.
    • Split Tests and A/B Tests – One area where ActiveCampaign sets itself apart from the pack is with its A/B testing capabilities. You can run basic tests by changing subject lines and leaving the content the same or create two entirely different emails. The best part is that you can select winners based on different criteria, and you can determine them both after they’ve run or during the test itself.
    • Personalization – I found it quite easy to create personalized content thanks to ActiveCampaign’s logic-based conditions. You can set triggers to change the content based on previous actions taken, interests, links clicked, and other interactions. In my tests, these automated emails still produced a surprisingly high open and response rate.

    As I mentioned before, it is very easy to create email campaigns with ActiveCampaign. You will start by going to the Campaigns tab in your dashboard and choosing the option to create a new campaign.

    Active Campaign New Campaign Creation

    After you chose your campaign type, you have many templates to choose from before designing your campaign. I will talk about the design of the templates and campaigns a bit later on in the review.

    Reporting and Analysis (Rated: 5/5)

    ActiveCampaign clearly deserves a 5 for their analytics, as they boast an easy-to-understand system with all the metrics you need to understand your campaign’s performance.

    Active Campaign Report

    Overall, I found that ActiveCampaign provides one of the most complete reporting tools available, even including a strong visualization tool to make reports easier to understand. From basic data such as opens and click-throughs to more advanced analytics including click-maps and goal-based metrics, you can create reports that help you build a better campaign.

    • Engagement Reports (Email Open Rate and CR Tracking) – ActiveCampaign’s reporting system features a detailed look into the activities of your subscribers, allowing you to track how often your emails are opened and links are clicked. You can set the period to track (even down to hourly open rates), measure both unique reads and total reads, and measure those who didn’t open your emails.
    • Heat Maps – Though it doesn’t offer visual heat maps, you can still use ActiveCampaign’s link tracking to see which links are being followed and clicked most frequently, how often they’re being clicked, and how is doing it. This data can be used to improve your segmentation and provide smarter if/then triggers for your personalization.
    • Campaign Comparison Report – ActiveCampaign’s performance reporting tool, which was released a year ago, gives you full visibility into each of your campaigns’ metrics. The feature lets you view your previous and current campaigns side-by-side to compare a variety of factors, including tags, automations, conversions, and more. You can also set periods to examine and export your reports to CSV files.
    • Social Media Tracking – Another feature I found helpful is ActiveCampaign’s social media tracking. This feature allows subscribers to share your content with their own followers through social media and allow you to track how frequently your content is being shared and engaged with.
    • ROI Analysis – ActiveCampaign’s Campaigns Performance report lets you view a variety of data, including the revenue generated, especially if you’re connecting with an Ecommerce platform. You can also measure attribution, understanding exactly which parts of your campaign are producing conversions, and thus revenues. 

    When I wanted to create a report to see how well my campaigns performed, I found it very easy. All I had to do was to go to the Reports tab on the lefthand menu.

    ActiveCampaign Reporting

    When you open the tab, you will find all these amazing reporting features that ActiveCampaign offers. You have the option to view your campaign reports, automation reports, goal reports, and even create custom reports!

    ActiveCampaign Reporting Options

    ActiveCampaign Integrations (Rated: 5/5)

    I score ActiveCampaign a 5 because of the extensive integrations which are well equipped to assist you in linking your marketing efforts.

    Active Campaign Integrations

    Adding external tools and integrations can help expand your marketing efforts and enhance your email campaigns, which is why I was pleased to see the wide range of integrations offered by ActiveCampaign. The company offers nearly 300 integrations and apps that let you connect your email campaigns to your broader marketing efforts.

    • Google Analytics – integrating Google Analytics with ActiveCampaign’s software allows you to track important data such as where your subscribers go when they click on your links and grants insights on valuable customer activity to help you adjust your campaigns accordingly.
    • API Integrations – ActiveCampaign’s API integrations allow you to integrate all the tools you need in order to make your campaigns a success. Structured around JSON, REST, and HTTP, you can easily add what you need to your campaigns – from syncing contact information to customizing your campaigns.
    • Ecommerce Tools – ActiveCampaign offers integration with some of the most popular Ecommerce tools available in the industry, including Magento, PayPal, and Shopify. This makes it easy to connect your online store with your ActiveCampaign account and incorporate customer activity into your email campaigns.
    • CRM Integrations – Managing your growing business has been made easier with the various CRM integrations ActiveCampaign has to offer. Their extensive list of CRM integrations includes major names like Asana, Salesforce, Base, SugarCRM, and Zoho CRM.
    • Social Media Integrations – In addition to connections like Facebook, you can integrate a variety of social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter, and includes Zapier, which offers a variety of additional apps that require no coding skills to connect. These allow your brand to reach and target a wider audience and allow your subscribers to share your campaigns on their respective accounts.
    • Apps – In total, ActiveCampaign features over 270 apps that include everything from database tools, Ecommerce connectors, event management, and CMS tools. More importantly, you can integrate any of these with no coding experience at all. 
    • Plugins – If you already use tools like WordPress or Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Magento, you can use ActiveCampaign’s plug-in functionalities to insert forms and other links into your pages to streamline your email workflows.

    ActiveCampaign Automation (Rated: 5/5)

    ActiveCampaign’s automation features are some of the best, with customizable action events made easy by ActiveCampaign’s flowchart-based automation tool, and so I give ActiveCampaign a score of 5.

    Active Campaign Automation

    If you’re looking for advanced automation functionality, ActiveCampaign is one of the top tools on the market. At its core, the system is based on a series of if/then logic triggers that you can customize with a variety of specific actions and events. These triggers are based on tags, and more specifically behavioral tags (which are automated).

    Even so, creating new automated workflows is easy thanks to ActiveCampaign’s flowchart-based automation tool. All you have to do is to go to the “Automations” tab and choose the option to create a new automation.

    Active Campaign Automation

    You can now design specific triggers and set conditions for your automation. Depending on your goal, there are pre-made automation workflows available from which you can choose to reach your specific campaign goal.

    Active Campaign Automation Goals

    ActiveCampaign’s automation setup wizard is a convenient tool to help you create automated campaigns and will guide you on the steps you need to take to create your workflow. You can still set your own conditions so that your automation better suits your goals.

    After you choose your goal, it is time to set up the trigger/action for your automation. You can follow the instructions; upload or choose a contact list, choose when to run the trigger, and more. 

    ActiveCampaign Triggers and Action

    The great thing about ActiveCampaign is the fact that you will get an overview of your entire automation process before you go live with it. After you made sure that you are happy with your entire automation process, you can go to the option where you can customize the email that will be sent to your contacts when triggered in the automation process.

    Active Campaign Automation Flow Example

    You can edit it and insert a personalized template to fit your brand. All you have to do is to click on the email section of your automation flow example.

    Edit Your Automation Email Design

    ActiveCampaign offers a lot of templates to choose from. You can choose one of the basic templates or one of the more advanced ActiveCampaign templates to edit.

    ActiveCampaign Email Template Choices

    If you are happy with your email design, you can choose to insert a “wait” time in your automation flow. This will be the time between the trigger and when the email will be sent.

    Insert Wait Condition

    You can choose the amount of time you want between emails. To do this, you can simply click on the wait trigger and adjust it.

    Adjust Wait Time

    After you created your wait condition, you can add an if/else condition to your automation workflow. This means you can set who should receive your email based on certain actions.

    Insert If/Else Condition

    You can create your own conditions based on actions.

    Choose your conditions

    Design and Ease of Use (Rated: 3/5)

    ActiveCampaign is user friendly, with tools to allow you to build your campaigns easily. The templates on offer are limited, however, and forms cannot be embedded into your newsletters. Overall, I give ActiveCampaign a score of 3.

    Active Campaign Builder

    You know a software solution is a good one when its design and user interface is comprehensive enough to have all the features you need but still easy to understand and use that even a complete beginner can easily navigate it. ActiveCampaign’s easy-to-use dashboard and helpful campaign maker tools are a great step to help create your first campaigns with no problems.

    • Drag and Drop Interface – ActiveCampaign uses a drag and drop interface to build campaigns and workflows, making it easy to turn your visions into reality. You can create custom workflows, emails, and forms to help drive higher engagement and conversions.
    • Landing Page Creator – ActiveCampaign doesn’t include a native landing page creator, but it has integrations for a variety of tools to build them including LeadPages, ClickFunnels, and OptimizePress.
    • Email Templates – Though it’s slightly more limited than some competitors, ActiveCampaign does provide you with 30 pre-made templates in several categories that can help you quickly launch a new campaign with minimal effort. You also have the option to customize them or create your own.

    ActiveCampaign’s drag and drop interface is very easy to use. When creating your first campaign you get the option to design your own email, just as when creating automation. 

    ActiveCampaign Campaign Creation

    Before you design your campaign with the drag and drop designer, you should choose your campaign type. After you chose to create your first campaign, a list of options will appear on your screen. I felt it was easier to go with the standard campaign option, in the beginning, just to get to know the interface and design options.

    When you choose the standard campaign option, you will have to choose the contact list you want to use with the campaign. This will be the list of people that will receive your email when you send it out.

    Active Campaign List

    After you have chosen your contact list, you will get to the fun stuff. You will get to use the drag and drop design options! You will have to choose a template to start with, but you have the option to change it as you wish.

    ActiveCampaign Templates

    After you chose your template, you will be able to edit it with the drag and drop editor. You can add your own photos, text, and company logo.

    ActiveCampaign drag and drop editor

    Now the question is, how do you get people to sign up to your email list so that you can send your newly designed campaigns to them? Well, for that, you will need to create a sign-up form that can integrate with your website.It is very easy to design and active a form with ActiveCampgain. You can start by going to the “Website” option on the menu. You will then be able to choose the form option.

    ActiveCampaign Form Integration

    You can choose the type of form you want to create and where the contacts should be saved. After this, you will be taken to the form design page.

    Choose a form type

    You will use the ActiveCampaign drag and drop design interface to create your form. You can design your form to fit your brand.

    Active Campaign Form Builder

    When you choose the standard campaign option, you will have to choose the contact list you want to use with the campaign. This will be the list of people that will receive your email when you send it out.

    Active Campaign Templates

    • Sign-up Forms within Newsletter Tool – ActiveCampaign offers a variety of forms you can include on your webpages and landing pages, but it doesn’t feature an option to embed them in your newsletters. The company’s forms operate strictly on an “opt-in” basis, and you can use them as part of your automation cycle, and even to start new email drips.

    ActiveCampaign Customer Service (Rated: 3/5)

    ActiveCampaign’s support is limited to phone calls and forms, which may mean that you won’t get assistance as soon as you might like, which earned them a score of 3.

    ActiveCampaign provides its clients with various channels to contact them. They have a dedicated team for sales and another for customer support, ensuring that whatever questions you may have are answered. Aside from this, they also have an extensive database of their service’s information and an inclusive community that can help resolve issues.

    ActiveCampaign Alternatives

    GetResponse: If you are looking for software that comes close to ActiveCampaign’s powerful automation, GetResponse is a good competitor. GetResponse is an all-in-one marketing platform that allows you to create and automate email campaigns and includes a feature that will enable you to create Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads from within your account.

    Omnisend: This tool is an excellent choice for eCommerce businesses and also a cheaper alternative to ActiveCampaign. You can use their free plan with 500 contacts and up to 15,000 emails per month. 

    Sendinblue: What I like most about Sendinblue is their SMS marketing tool which allows you to send automated SMSes to your subscribers. Their pricing strategy is different compared to other email marketing software. They offer you an unlimited number of contacts, and you get charged for the number of emails you choose to send per month.

    Read the full comparisons of ActiveCampaign VS Alternatives>>

    Conclusion

    This platform is an excellent choice for any medium to large businesses looking to quickly grow their contact lists while also converting subscribers into paying customers.

    What I Liked About ActiveCampaign

    • It offers all the advanced tools you need to create a successful campaign and features some of the best automation features I’ve seen.  
    • ActiveCampaign’s segmentation are by far the best I have come across when promoting my email marketing campaigns. 
    • I also liked the various integrations it has to offer its clients and the comprehensive step-by-step guide each of their setup wizards has.

    What I Didn’t Like About ActiveCampaign

    • While the interface of their software is user-friendly, the pricing of their subscriptions can be inaccessible for those who are on a tight budget. As of now, the pricing of their plans is only accessible for those who want to seriously invest in email marketing.
    • The lack of a free plan is also something I would like them to address. However, the availability of a free trial gives potential customers the chance to try out their services and see whether it’s worth investing in or not.

    ActiveCampaign FAQ

    1. How Can I Export Contacts?

    It is simple to export contacts from a list to a CSV file. Simply open the email list from which you want to export contacts. Next, go to “Contacts” you will see a big “Export Contacts” button. Click it and you are done. A confirmation will be sent, and your contacts will be exported to a CSV file.

    2. How Can I Delete an Account?

    To delete your ActiveCampaign account, you will have to raise a request via chat/email to close the account, and SendX will close your account within 24 hours.

    3. Are there any other payment methods other than credit cards and PayPal?

    ActiveCampaign will accept bank transfers for anything above $1000. They normally accept credit cards but do not accept PayPal.

    4. Do They Have Discounts for Prepayments?

    While the enterprise plan has a custom payment plan, you will receive a discount if you pay annually. The cost of a monthly payment starts at $9.99. However, you get a discount and save $2.5 if you paid yearly at $7.49 per month.

    5. What Happens If I Want to Send More Emails Than My Current Plan?

    Both the ActiveCampaign business plan and the enterprise plan give you an unlimited number of emails each month.

    6. Do They Have Training Materials Available?

    ActiveCampaign has a large resource base with plenty of articles, blogs, tutorials and guides that provide ample information on using the various ActiveCampaign features and integrations. This resource base is available to any person regardless of the payment plan.

    7. Do they accept marketing affiliate links?

    While ActiveCampaign does not accept marketing affiliate links, you can join their affiliate program and refer customers to SendX. You get a 30% commission from the paying customers which you receive every month.