In this article we compare two leading email service and marketing automation software – Campaign Monitor vs Activecampaign. The goal is to help you decide which email marketing software provider would be the best fit for your business.
Email marketing solutions and other digital marketing tools are fast becoming integral to the growth and continued success of businesses in just about every field. It doesn’t matter whether your business is a B2B or B2C, or whether what you’re selling is online courses or physical products, you need sales, and the way to make them is largely via engaging email marketing campaigns that converts casual browsers to long-term loyal customers.
Campaign Monitor and Activecampaign are two of the email marketing softwares that can help you achieve that. But how? What are the features and functions of each marketing automation software? How much does a plan cost? And not least, how do Activecampaign vs Campaign Monitor compare?
Keep reading to learn more.
Why you need a marketing automation platform like Campaign Monitor or Activecampaign
In case the reasons why you and your business absolutely need to leverage a software like Campaign Monitor or Activecampaign aren’t already abundantly clear, let us go over the most important reasons here.
Time is money
We are all familiar with the saying that time is money, and this age-old truth is one of the primary reasons why, if you aren’t already, you need to start using an email marketing software like Campaign Monitor or Activecampaign.
Just think about how much time manually crafting email sequences, campaigns and newsletter normally takes.
Email marketing platforms like Campaign Monitor and Activecampaign allows you to access masterfully crafted templates that enable you to create campaigns that connect you with new subscribers and engage existing customers. Email automation can save you an unspeakable amount of time.
Marketing automation = sales automation
A key reason why you need a software like Activecampaign or Campaign Monitor is that marketing automation is an important step in scaling your business.
When you rely on doing everything manually, it is a time drain and a sunk cost every time. With automation in place, your campaign can keep going and making sales and catching leads even while you sleep.
Expert knowledge at your fingertips
Softwares like Activecampaign and Campaign Monitor have been developed my digital marketing experts, and the email marketing templates and automation you get access to on either of the two platforms are frameworks that are proven to work.
Even if you have plenty of marketing experience yourself, you cannot beat the finely honed marketing templates and features that have gone into these digital marketing softwares.
Another way of putting it is that signing up for either Activecampaign or Campaign Monitor is a bit like hiring a full team of master marketers and copywriters – all at a fraction of what that would normally cost.
Campaign Monitor
All right, now that you are fully aware and onboard with the fact that you essentially need a powerful email marketing software in your business, it is time to look at the specifics of our two main contenders, Activecampaign/Campaign Monitor. We’ll start with Campaign Monitor.
Campaign Monitor has been around long enough to earn its reputation as a solid and reliable email marketing platform.
On its landing page, Campaign Monitor promises to help you drive results to your business with unforgettable email marketing. It does this by giving you everything you need to run ‘beautifully designed, professional email marketing campaigns to grow your business.’
Unarguably, Campaign Monitor’s promise sounds very appealing.
Campaign Monitor tools and features
Campaign Monitor gives you access to a solid array of tools and features. Here is a brief overview over some of the essential features that are available on all plans.
- Automated emails
- Branded templates
- Custom coded templates
- Customizable template library
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Free image gallery
- Free templates (You don’t even need to be on a paid plan to access them)
- Segmentation tools (With advanced engagement segments available on the Premier plan)
- Signup forms
- Mobile optimization tools
- A/B testing
- RSS feed trigger
- Transactional emails
- Campaign tags
- Dynamic content
- Custom fields
- Link review
- Delivery support
- Email support
- Training videos
- Email academy
- API access
- Advertising
- Billing
- CMS
- CRM
- Content and video
- E-commerce
- Email address verification
- Preference center
- Real-time reporting analytics
- Worldview reporting
- Two factor authentication
- Unlimited users
- User roles and permissions
- Email testing
- Events
- Landing pages
- Lifecycle marketing
- List management
- And more!
Campaign Monitor pricing and subscription models
Campaign Monitor offers a few different subscription and pricing options – Free, Basic, Unlimited and Premier.
Free
The free plan only gives you a taste of the possibilities that open up for you once you sign up for one of the paid plans. Signing up for free gives you access to the free template library, which has its uses, but is ultimately a limited experience compared to what a paid plan gives you access to.
Basic
Campaign Monitor’s Basic plan is priced at $9/month. In addition to the list of features and functions mentioned in the segment above, it taps you into a monthly email send volume of 2,500.
Unlimited
The Unlimited plan costs $29/month and gives you access to all of the same features and tools as the Basic plan does, while removing the monthly email send volume cap (You get unlimited email sends) and giving you access to additional tools such as the countdown timer, time zone sending, design and spam testing and priority email support.
Premier
Finally, there is the Premier plan, which is a significant step up in cost. Priced at $149/month, the Premier plan gives you all of the same features as the Unlimited plan does, while also unlocking extra features including advanced engagement segments, send time optimisation, email section locking, advanced link tracking, premier email support and phone support.
Other options
If you find that you are only sending out emails occasionally and don’t need a full monthly subscription, Campaign Monitor also gives you the option of paying per campaign instead. You can find out much more about this option on Campaign Monitor’s website.
Campaign Monitor pros
Campaign Monitor comes with rather an extensive list of pros! I’ve attempted to boil them down to their essence here.
Range of features
One of the things to really recommend using Campaign Monitor is its extensive range of features. Campaign Monitor promises to give you all of the tools you need for email and marketing automation – and merely looking at how many tools you get with your subscription, you will have to conclude that Campaign Monitor’s promise carries the ring of truth.
Ease of use
Despite the wealth of powerful features that Campaign Monitor gives you access to, you’ll find that the drag-and-drop editor combined with customisable templates and ample tutorials make the Campaign Monitor email service provider software imminently easy and pleasant to use – even if you are not very technically inclined.
Room for growth
Another great thing about Campaign Monitor is that even the Basic plan gives a growing business plenty of room to grow. With a cap of 2,500 email sends (a number that is raised to unlimited as soon as you sign up for the
Affordability
Finally, Campaign Monitor is wonderfully affordable, even if you are a startup on a shoestring budget. With paid plans starting at just $9 a month, Campaign Monitor doesn’t allow you to use a hefty price tag as a reason not to sign up.
Campaign Monitor Cons
While Campaign Monitor is very heavy on the pro side, there are a few cons and they are worth mentioning here.
No SMS channel
One criticism that some reviewers have leveraged against Campaign Monitor is that there is no SMS channel, when having one could be really useful.
Difficulties importing contacts
A minor technical glitch that can nevertheless be very annoying to have to deal with is the fact that contact importing is difficult when matching custom fields.
No direct support on lower-tier plans
Although you still have access to the tutorials and help desk on the Free or Basic plans, you are not able to get any direct support from one a member of Campaign Monitor’s dedicated support team unless you are on either the Unlimited or the Premier plan.
Activecampaign
Now that we have gone over the essential features, pricing options, pros and cons of Campaign Monitor, let us take a similarly detailed look at Activecampaign before comparing the two in a side-by-side comparison.
Activecampaign’s motto is Orchestrate, Automate, Peronalize and Segment, and the software bills itself as the #1 automation platform for e-commerce as well as for both B2C and B2B companies.
On its main page, Activecampaign promises to help you: ‘Reach and engage’ both new and existing subscribers and customers by using precise targeting and messages that speak directly to who your prospective customers are, ‘nurture and educate’ your growing community by developing ongoing relationships with your customers by providing them with tailored guidance and getting to know their needs, ‘convert and close’ by providing individual members of your audience with well-timed calls to action, and ‘support and grow’ by allowing you to delight and surprise each unique customer by knowing what they want and need and being able to deliver it to them in the most appealing way possible.
Sound good?
Activecampaign features and tools
Does Activecampaign live up to its own bold promises? The best way to gauge this is by taking a good look at the essential features and functions that a Activecampaign subscription plugs you into.
- Email marketing
- Dynamic content
- Messaging options (including site messaging and SMS)
- Automation
- Contact management
- CRM
- Win probability
- Lead scoring
- Engagement tracking
- Advanced reporting
- Integrated forms
- Gmail extension
- Training and support videos, checklist and more
- Migration services
- Deliverability support
- Precise segmentation
- 90 day in-depth onboarding via email for new customers
- 100s of integrations
- And more!
Activecampaign pricing and subscription models
Activecampaign offers four different subscription options, depending on how many of the available functions and features you and your business require.
Activecampaign’s four options are Lite, Plus, Professional and Enterprise. They are priced at $15, $70, $159 and $279 respectively.
An important thing to note about Activecampaign’s plans is that each of the four subscription options are quite different from each other, rather than simply building on and adding to each other. As well as choosing subscription tier, Activecampaign allows you to specify whether your plan is B2B, B2C or E-commerce. Depending on which option you choose, you get a different set of features included in your plan.
To see the full list of features that each Activecampaign plan comes with, visit Activecampaign’s website.
Activecampaign pros
Much like its primary competitor, Campaign Monitor, Activecampaign comes with a heavy side of pros. Let us take a look at the most essential positives related to using this tool.
High delivery rates
No matter how great your email campaign is, it doesn’t matter if no one sees it. Fortunately, Activecampaign emails have very high deliverability rates.
Refined segmentation, targeting and tracking
Activecampaign helps you get to know your audience better than they know themselves. By tracking your audience members’ individual behaviour, Activecampaign allows you to understand how to address each customer on an individual basis and in a way that is going to speak directly to them.
Messaging options
Activecampaign allows you to not only email your customers, it also allows you to reach your audience in other ways. If you prefer to communicatie with your customer base via SMS or on-site messaging, Activecampaign gives you those alternatives.
Range of features
Much like Campaign Monitor, Activecampaign gives you free reign of a rather impressive selection of features on every plan.
Activecampaign cons
While Activecampaign is a very impressive piece of software, it also has its cons. I’ve listed them here.
Learning curve
The array of features that Activecampaign plugs you into and the potential that comes with that is extremely impressive, and the potential of what you’ll be able to accomplish with the help of the Activecampaign setup seems limitless. However, the learning curve is steep and if you are a complete newbie or not very technically minded, you’re facing a steep learning curve.
Lack of training resources
One of the ways that Activecampaign could do more to help you traverse the steep learning curve would be by providing a more extensive knowledge base and training. As it is, there is a decent amount of training available, but in reviews many users seem to request more.
Activecampaign/Campaign Monitor Q & A
We’ve gone over the essential features, subscription options, pros and cons of Activecampaign and Campaign Monitor. If you are still left with some questions, you may find them answered here.
Is Campaign Monitor safe?
Campaign Monitor is a trusted software with a history of being entirely safe to use.
What is Campaign Monitor used for?
Campaign Monitor and similar programs such as Campaign Monitor are used by email marketers, small businesses and larger enterprises for the purposes of lead scoring and segmented email marketing.
Is Activecampaign legit?
Activecampaign and Campaign Monitor are both 100% legit and have much to offer.
Is Activecampaign good for ecommerce?
Activecampaign is a solid choice for your e-commerce marketing needs – regardless of whether you pick the Lite, Plus, Professional or Enterprise plan, you also get to tailor your plan to target E-commerce, B2B or B2C.
Activecampaign Vs Campaign Monitor: Verdict
We have reached the end of this article and must also reach a conclusion. After comparing Activecampaign/Campaign Montior, which one do you prefer?
If you are newbie or a small business just staring out, my recommendation is that you sign up for Campaign Monitor. It has a similar range of features to what Activecampaign has to offer, while being both slightly more affordable and a little easier to get to grips with.