Written By Jason Rowse - Digital Marketing Expert Updated: 09/05/2021 |
Ontraport in a nutshell
Free Plan: | No |
User Accounts: | Only one with ‘Basic’, five with ‘Enterprise’ |
Segmentation and Geo: | Yes |
Delivery by Time zone: | Yes |
Free Trial: | Yes, 14 days |
Means of Use: | Computer and mobile devices |
Industry: | eCommerce, Marketing |
What is Ontraport?
Ontraport offers users email marketing campaigns, customer relationship management, and marketing automation all rolled into one tool.
Businesses looking for streamlined solutions could benefit greatly from using Ontraport to handle everyday tasks.
It is a digital tool that focuses on the customer lifecycle and helps businesses to attract, convert, and satisfy customers with more ease and efficiency.
It has many features aimed at taking a company’s customer service to the next level while assisting in marketing.
This is more than a tool for email marketing, it also handles website forms, SMS texting, direct mail marketing, and landing pages.
Although all this sounds very complex and complicated, using Ontraport is much easier than expected thanks to good design.
Ontraport Pros & Cons
PROS | CONS |
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PROS
1: Flexible and versatile CRM features: it is easy to customize your experience with Ontraport thanks to the flexible and versatile CRM features. This allows unique storing and tracking of your data in a way that works for you and your business.
2: Easy-to-understand analytics: Ontraport collects data and analytics and then presents them in a way that is easy to understand and then translate into actionable steps.
3: Increases deliverability rates: any emails that are sent using Ontraport use a dedicated IP, and this increases deliverability while decreasing the likelihood of messages ending up in the receiver’s spam folder.
4: Responsive templates: There are many email, landing page, and form templates that are all very responsive and will help you create everything you need with little effort.
CONS
1: Steep learning curve: because Ontraport has so many features, it can take quite a while to get to know the tool and how it works. It’s not ideal for beginners who have never used this kind of software before.
2: Limited integrations: despite being extensive in what it offers, the integrations and supported apps that come with Ontraport are rather limited, which is quite disappointing.
3: Rather pricey: when comparing Ontraport to other similar platforms, it is more expensive at $79 per month for the beginner plan. This plan also doesn’t include all the features you would expect.
Who is Ontraport Good For?
You will benefit the most out of this marketing tool if:
- You run an online company: whether you sell information products, have an eCommerce business, or host an online educational institution, Ontraport is a great marketing automation tool.
- You’re looking for great email delivery rates: Ontraport got its own dedicated IP addresses for emails that have higher chances of avoiding the dreaded spam box.
Ontraport Isn’t Recommended For:
- Someone who is just starting a business: Ontraport can be difficult to master so it’s not suitable for beginners in the business world or anyone without prior experience with this kind of tool.
Ontraport Pricing
Price | Contacts | Emails | Account Users | Account Setup | Email Delivery Consulting | eCommerce | VIP Support Option | |
Basic | $79/mo | 1,000 | Unlimited | 1 | ✓ | x | x | x |
Plus | $147/mo | 2,500 | Unlimited | 2 | ✓ | x | ✓ | x |
Pro | $297/mo | 10,000 | Unlimited | 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x |
Enterprise | $497/mo | 20,000 | 200,000/mo | 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Ontraport’s Basic plan isn’t as sufficient as I would want if I’m running an eCommerce business, but all its other plans are good. However, the pricing is a bit higher than what is on offer from other similar platforms with more attractive features.
Still, Ontraport offers a 90-day money-back guarantee so it’s worth trying it out before making a final decision.
A great feature about Ontraport pricing is that adding extra users or contacts isn’t as expensive as it is with some of its competitors. You also don’t need to necessarily upgrade to a new tier if you want additional users — just pay an extra monthly amount.
Cancellation/Refund Policy
Ontraport offers a 90-day money-back guarantee for users who have tried out their features but aren’t satisfied.
Ontraport Features
There are many features on offer from Ontraport, but I’ll only tell you about the ones that would matter most in an eCommerce setting. I recommend that you check out Ontraport’s offerings after getting to know them here if you’re interested.
· Insights & Analytics
Rating: 4.5/5
Ontraport gives users segmented reporting and tracks everything with UTM variables that makes it easier to know your cost per action, return on income, customer lifetime value, and more.
Data and analytics are collected and then presented to you in easy-to-use and easy-to-read ways.
· Fast Email Delivery
Rating: 4.9/5
Ontraport uses its own dedicated IP addresses to send emails and this reflects well on you as a sender. The IP addresses are more reliable so the emails won’t end up in spam folders as is the case with other email marketing tools.
· Ease of Use
Rating: 2.8/5
Unfortunately, because there are so many features, Ontraport is not easy to use, especially for beginners. Getting to know all the features and learning how to incorporate them into your marketing strategies can take a long time.
This means that Ontraport may be better suited to people with knowledge of this kind of tool and some technical background.
· Campaign Builder
Rating: 3.8/5
Ontraport’s visual campaign builder has been around for four years and was one of the greatest upgrades when it was first released.
Although it’s a good feature, other similar tools had it on offer years before, so Ontraport is sadly lagging behind in this aspect.
· Template Gallery
Rating: 3/5
You get access to many landing pages, email, and form templates that can be customized and edited to suit your needs.
The templates are very responsive so you can play around and create really nice results with them.
· Multi-Channel Marketing
Rating 4.7/5
Ontraport makes it possible to automate sequences across many channels and it really does a good job as a multi-channel marketing tool. It’s easy to communicate with leads and you can even send them postcards, which is a nice touch.
Communicating with leads and teams outside of emails can really give your business an edge over the competition.
· Mobile App
Rating 4/5
Ontraport’s mobile app doesn’t offer anything too complex, but it’s still a useful feature that helps to keep all your data up to date. You can send quick messages to different groups.
The app is available on Android as well as iPhone and lets you subscribe users to your sequences, add contacts, and manage your CRM.
· Powerful Shopping Cart Features
Rating 5/5
Some of the great features on offer from Ontraport that really benefit an eCommerce business are focused on the shopping cart. You can enjoy automated credit card payment collections, pre-made sequences that help with cart abandonment, and more.
· Dashboard
Rating 3/5
While Ontraport doesn’t have the most inspiring dashboard, it is not the worst I’ve ever seen. It can be customized to suit your needs but isn’t really intuitive.
· Integrations
Rating 3/5
Ontraport does feature the most common integrations like PayPal, LeadPages, WordPress, and Quickbooks but it’s rather limited at only 24 options. Really good marketing tools usually have many more integrations to make work as easy and seamless as possible.
· Webinar Service
Rating 4/5
You get a fully integrated webinar service that is built into Ontraport’s platform, which is a good feature.
Webinars are great for interacting with clients on a more personal level and video experiences are always appreciated. You can use them to introduce possible clients to your products or services or help them achieve more by giving interesting tutorials.
Ontraport will record and store as well as stream all webinars you want to create and you can schedule them for specific times to reach targeted audiences.
Ontraport Alternatives
If Ontraport doesn’t quite do it for you, these alternatives might be what you’re looking for:
SendX is an affordable and feature-rich, and intuitive email marketing software. It is quite popular with businesses and marketers alike. Their user interface is very simplistic and the automation capabilities make it a great tool.
Aweber is one of the leaders in the small business email marketing software market. It gives you access to powerful but simple software as well as many great features such as analytics, push notifications, and seamless app integration.
Benchmark offers an easy-to-use platform that lets you build interesting and appealing emails. The drag-and-drop email builder makes creating optimized emails a breeze. Other features such as surveys and landing pages add to the power of this tool.
Conclusion
Ontraport is certainly not a perfect platform, but it offers many great features that will make eCommerce easier. Despite being a bit pricey and difficult to learn, Ontraport can be perfect for businesses looking for a way to enhance their marketing strategies.