CleverReach Reviewed: Can it Optimize Your Time Spent Marketing?

CleverReach in a nutshell

What is CleverReach?

This platform is a cloud-based software created to help you generate, distribute and examine campaigns with relative ease. Founded in 2007 to help clients with email marketing, CleverReach now has over 175,000 customers in 152 countries. 

CleverReach Pros & Cons

PROS

Free plan: CleverReach has a free program available that is well-suited for beginners to try. Additionally, you also get 250 contacts and 1000 emails a month free of charge with the free plan. 

Email types: this platform has six different email types for you to choose from, including single and normal campaigns, autoresponders, A/B split testing, RSS campaigns, and follow-up campaigns.

Templates: CleverReach has around sixty ready-made, easy-to-use template designs that are responsive and easy to manipulate into what you want. As well as these, you can take your pick from three basic templates and create your own. 

Reports & Analysis: this platform allows you to have geographical and client analysis. There is also Google Analytics, that tracks the success of your newsletter, and is created automatically, and if you have an online store, you can keep an eye on conversions and sales.

Drag and Drop: CleverReach has an email editor that uses a drag-and-drop feature to implement. All you need to do is place blocks onto a blank template, and you're ready to go. It is simple enough for anyone to use, with no background knowledge in IT required.

CONS

Storage space: this platform only allows you 5MB of storage space for your images if you’re on the free plan. You can increase your storage capacity to 1TB, but you have to pay for that either via monthly plans or prepaid usage.

Landing pages: CleverReach doesn’t support you in creating your landing page through their website. Instead, you have to make your landing page externally and then import it into the software.

Pricey: this platform doesn’t have nearly as many features as its competitors, but unfortunately, you still have to pay for the features you use.

Who is CleverReach Good For?

CleverReach will work for you if:

• You’re a small business: CleverReach's free plan will be ideally suited for you if you're a small business just starting with less than 250 subscriptions a month. 
• You’re worried about security: this platform has SSL-encrypted forms that keep your contact’s information and your mailing list secure from any unwanted intrusion. 

CleverReach Isn’t Recommended For:

• Scaling businesses: while CleverReach’s free plan is suited for the needs of small businesses, if your company’s contact list is rapidly increasing, you’ll end up paying heavily for it.
• If you want free tests: with this platform, if you're going to run something like a spam test on your newsletter, you'll have to pay an additional fee for the privilege. 

CleverReach Pricing

These are only CleverReach’s basic payment plans – the prices go up on a sliding scale as you gain more customers. This platform also offers a discount for non-profit organizations, for which you’ll have to contact support for more information.

Cancellation/Refund Policy

You can cancel your plan with CleverReach in settings. Optionally, you can also leave a reason for unsubscribing as feedback. Monthly plans are automatically extended by one month and can be changed or canceled every month. However, with a prepaid plan, you remain entirely flexible and can cancel at any time.

CleverReach Features

This platform has over thirty-six different features for you to use when setting up your automated emails. There are five main features (newsletter creation, managing receipts, sending your newsletter, automated mailings, reports and tracking, as well as whitelisting, quality, and spam testing), all with at least a dozen more in-depth features related to each of them. 

Templates

Rating: 4.8/5

When creating a new campaign using CleverReach’s software, you automatically reach the free templates this platform has to offer within four simple steps. The drag and drop editor assists you with tailoring your template by allowing you to exchange images, add your logo, duplicate or delete elements, change font type, size, and color, or add your content. Creating your newsletter from scratch is also available, as well as importing using HTML. 

Segmentation

Rating: 4.5/5

Segmenting your contacts becomes actionable after four steps with this platform. First, you choose the segmentation option that works for you. A few possibilities include preferences, demographics, behavior, and occupation as a way to divide your client list. Then you create your segments, set up conditions, and create a follow-up segment. 

A/B Split Testing

Rating: 4.7/5

With CleverReach’s A/B Split Testing software, you can set multiple parameters to test your newsletter’s potential performance. These include testing the subject line, the sender’s name, and the content. Once you’ve set up your A/B test and it has run its course, using the criteria you set, the winner version of your newsletter will be sent automatically to the rest of your contacts.

Split tests and A/B tests

Send two similar emails to small test groups to see which has the best response

Ease of Use

Rating: 4.8/5

CleverReach is a visually pleasing, no-frills website that has everything you need to successfully implement your email marketing campaign down the left side of the screen. Navigating around the website is simple enough, as is locating templates or designing your newsletter.

SSL Encoding

Rating: 4/5

Even if you don’t have your own domain, your information is still protected by CleverReach’s forms which have been intuitively and solely set to SSL. However, if you have your own domain, you will either have to upload your SSL certificate onto CleverReach's servers or acquire one from an SSL certification authority.

Importing

Rating: 4.5/5

This platform’s import feature supports all the common file types like CSV, XLS, XLSX, and TXT. Once you've loaded your data, the software gives you the option to add, update and add, disable, replace or delete the information to your newsletter.

Newsletters

Rating: 4.8/5

CleverReach allows you to create your newsletter with proficiency without needing any prior coding knowledge. Once you've made it in the intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can send it to your contacts with a personalized message or even with the link to your website attached. 

Creating Email Campaigns and Managing

Making and managing your campaigns is done through the following.

Emails sent/opened and links clicked

You can review how many emails were opened, and even flag links for tracking

Deliverability rate and delivery by time zone (spam)

You can choose when customers will receive mail, rather than when you’ll send it

Creating and importing email lists

Import your contacts from either a CSV, XLS, XLSX or TXT file

Personalization

It’s possible to add personalized content blocks to groups or individuals 

Reporting and Analysis

You can assess your current and previous campaign successes at any time.

Engagement reports (Email open rate and CR tracking)

An overview of your campaign will show you your click ratios

Segmentation 

Audiences can be split into pre-segmented groups, or divided at will

Social media tracking

You can track any online link you choose

ROI analysis 

There’s a tool for assessing your ROI, and even for predicting upcoming ones

Integrations

These applications can be added to include third party systems.

API integrations

The CleverReach Miscellaneous API gives programmers control

Integrations with these platforms: Ecommerce, Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce and Woocommerce 

All of the above can be integrated

CRM Integrations

Anaconda and Infusionsoft are just two potential CRM options

Social Media integrations

Most common social media applications are available 

Apps 

Connect through Zapier to access thousands of apps

Plugins

Dozens of popular plugins are supported 

Design and Ease of Use

The creation of content is simple.

Drag-and-Drop Interface

Design emails from scratch in minutes with the drag-and-drop editor

Landing page creator 

Personalized landing pages can be made the same way 

Email templates 

Create your own templates or choose from dozens available

Signup forms within newsletter tool (opt in-opt out process)

Choose from signup form templates or begin from scratch

CleverReach Automations

As this service is all about saving time, most of the automation is focused on creation and delivery. You can auto-generate entire campaigns so that all you need do is sync a contact list, and thousands of emails can be sent at the most opportune delivery time.

This platform's automation allows you to create unadorned or elaborate mailing campaigns with its intuitive and virtual drawing board. Simply drag-and-drop blocks onto a blank canvas, and your campaign will be ready in no time. Here are some of the actions that various blocks do:

• Triggers: a campaign is triggered by customer shopping behavior.
• Autoresponders and follow-ups: can be sent after specific customer actions.
• Reminders: are available for inactive customers with emails that you can send on specific dates or events.
• Tagging: you can assign tags manually or automatically within your newsletter, which assists the automation process. Tags will be set off once customers do specific actions, like subscribe to your newsletter or purchase an item in your shop.

An example of an automation I created

CleverReach Integration

CleverReach has 57 integrations split over five categories – E-Commerce, CMS, CRM, Miscellaneous, and API – at your disposal. All you need to do is drag and drop the relevant block onto your blank template, and the apps are integrated. Rakuten, Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Hubspot, Salesforce, eBay, and Zapier are only a few of the numerous app integrations available through this platform. You can also integrate social media buttons, leading customers to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages into your newsletter, also with the drag-and-drop editor.

CleverReach Alternatives

Benchmark is an online marketing platform designed to help businesses of every size and shape produce, control, and send marketing emails with automated tools without any prior coding or IT experience required. Price plans start from $13 per month, and a free trial is available.

Mailerlite is an email marketing software designed to help people of any and all skill levels create professional and personalized marketing campaigns. Price plans start from $10/month, while a free version and a free trial are both available for you to try.

Hubspot is a free email hosting tool that allows its clients to create eye-catching, personalized marketing emails easily. Price plans start at $45 per month. Still, free tools that are perfectly adequate are also available.

Customer Service

You can use the online form to enter any queries and should receive a prompt response, or you can phone up on +1 646 679 6662.

Conclusion

While CleverReach is a perfectly adequate tool for the small to midsize businesses it is aiming for. With its visual automation builder using a drag-and-drop editor, creating automated emails takes minutes to complete. However, if you are a small business that is just starting out, be careful once you start gaining clients – you might end up paying more for it than is necessary.

If you’re looking to cut down the time your team spends sending out cold emails en mass, a service like CleverReach will do the job. Automating the sending process will mean, rather than sending thousands of emails, you can just upload a contact list, and focus your precious time on more important work. One downside, though, is that you’ll pay by the number of recipients, which means any failed messages will still cost you money.

A better way to pay is by price plan, like with Constant Contact. Here you can also employ time-saving automation but at a lower cost per email, starting at just $20 per month.