Kartra vs ClickFunnels is one of the most heated online marketing platform rivalries today. The first thing that one just can’t fail to notice when making a head-to-head comparison is the striking similarity of their catchphrases:
Kartra: “Your online business made easy!”
ClickFunnels: “Marketing Funnels made easy!”
Another thing that caught my eye while skimming through the two landing pages was Kartra’s decision to advertise their platform and affiliate program by playing down other businesses’ services. They write, I quote, “Create, market and launch online without hiring a team of copywriters, web developers, designers, or system administrators!”
I am a copywriter and, frankly, I felt nettled by their appeal. There’s certainly a creative way to advertise your products without undervaluing the services of web developers, website designers, or system administrators.
By contrast, ClickFunnels takes a far more moderate and objective stance: “…ClickFunnels was created so that entrepreneurs like you, who aren’t programmers and who don’t know how to code, can easily build beautiful pages…”
With regard to the messages on their landing pages, a big thumbs-up for ClickFunnels. Kartra, we are sure you can come up with something more creative and productive! Now, let’s look at some other features that are unique to each online marketing platform.
Kartra vs ClickFunnels Key Differences
Landing page videos
There are short promotional videos on both landing pages. Kartra’s video walks you through the platform’s most important functions, tools, website-building options and templates. A professionally-sounding male voice explains how each function or application works, what exactly it does, and why it is important. Kartra’s video also mentions some powerful sales funneling options, without over-emphasizing them.
ClickFunnels’ video, on the other hand, entirely focuses on explaining the advantages of a sales funnel over a traditional website. After watching about a dozen different speakers each say about a sentence on the subject, I finally realized that a website is like an online resume, while sales funnels is more flexible and vibrates with its own life.
So, in terms of their promotional video hosting, the big winner is Kartra!
Follow-Up Funnels vs Membership Portals
This is an important part of the ClickFunnels vs Kartra head-to-head review. You don’t have to read many Kartra reviews to realize that it is the more feature-rich platform of the two. However, ClickFunnels offers functions are more target-oriented.
One such major feature offered by Kartra is its Membership Portals. This is a portal where you can organize and share your content with your customers. This content can be a training course or a members’ area. The whole building process is intuitive and hassle-free.
To this, ClickFunnels responds with a unique function on their page called “Follow-up Funnels”. It is only available to the platform’s Platinum subscribers and allows them to get in touch with their customers and send them email marketing messages through a variety of channels.
Helpdesk
Kartra has developed this feature especially for customer service centers. It allows you to funnel tickets by department, send “canned” responses to similar inquiries, organize multi-agent live chats for better customer care, or create an archive of every client’s transactions history so that you can better assist them with their purchases.
However deep we dived into ClickFunnels’ feature pages and sub-pages, we could not find anything like Kartra’s Helpdesk. So, if you are in the customer support business, then Kartra is your platform!
Video Marketing
Video marketing’s importance has grown rapidly over the past ten years. It has been estimated that the use of promotional videos can boost your revenues by up to 50%. Thus, video marketing appears to have become much more influential than email marketing.
Kartra offers the user their own, integrated video player and secure video hosting. If your potential customers like what they’ve just watched, they can click “Share” and send it to their friends on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
For an even stronger marketing effect, you can add CTAs and opt-in forms directly into the video’s key sections. Even if a customer did not have the time to watch the whole promotional video, the platform will automatically send them follow-up emails via the Kartra Email function.
ClickFunnels offers video hosting, too, but you’ll need to purchase a third-party plugin, such as Wistia or Vimeo. While these plug-ins allow business owners to add videos to their pages, the quality of the stream is far from perfect.
Calendars
Kartra Calendars are both simple and intuitive and will allow your customers to check, schedule, and manage their appointments. This function of the platform is very useful to consultants, life coaches, and live event hosts.
ClickFunnels, on the other hand, is an open platform equipped with just essentials. For them, having an integrated calendar isn’t essential for successful email marketing. If you need to, you can integrate a third-party calendar into your marketing funnel.
Clickfunnels Vs Kartra Course creation
Kartra‘s built-in video and audio hosting allows life coaches, motivational speakers, and teachers to create their online courses directly on the platform, but Clickfunnels does not support online course creation. ClickFunnels offers many training videos that will help you make more money through your sales funnels.
Analytics Heatmap
As its name suggests, this function allows you to quickly figure out what’s hot on your web page, i.e. what attracts visitors to come and check it out. While this function is integrated into Kartra’s platform, ClickFunnels requires the integration of third-party software into the sales funnel.
Clickfunnels Vs Kartra Reporting Capabilities
In more than one Kartra review, marketing gurus emphasize that email marketing companies that use platform-generated reports are six times more likely to end the first year of their existence with a profit, compared to start-ups that do not rely on data analytics.
Kartra’s unified reports show you the number of your page’s visitors, the number of the new leads, as well as how your sales and revenues are going on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Kartra will promptly let you know if your forms aren’t converting enough, or if your videos are lacking popularity.
Finally, Kartra can even tell you how many of your page’s visitors have made purchases. In this way, you don’t have to rely on separate data analytics providers, each having its own focus. All of Kartra’s marketing analysis tools seamlessly communicate with each other and with every other of the platform’s applications and features.
The users of ClickFunnels, on the other hand, have to rely on third-party analytical tools. One option is Google Analytics that you can integrate into your marketing funnel. To do that, you have to have an active Google account.
When you visit the Analytics section, you go to the Admin panel and then proceed to Tracking Info, where you’ll see a drop-down menu with the tracking code section. Once you locate it, go back to your sales funnel, open the Settings section, and paste your tracking code there. Finally, you should scroll down and click on “Save and Update Settings”.
How Are Kartra and Clickfunnels Similar?
Our Kartra vs ClickFunnels review continues with an in-depth analysis of some features share by both platforms.
Web Page creation
The process of website creation on Kartra is very straightforward and easy. First, you choose a template from their Page Editor and decide how many different sections your page is going to have. Then, just drag and drop them into the blank canvas. You can then proceed by adding different functions in each section.
Later, you can reshuffle functions and buttons as you see appropriate. If you own a domain, that’s even better. When your business page is ready, you can publish it there with a single click.
On Clickfunnels, you do not build a web page, but one or more sales funnels. A sales funnel is like a traditional web page, but more sales-oriented and equipped with functions that boost and facilitate sales, and convert visitors into buyers.
To start, you first select your business sector and tell them how long have you been working. Then, they’ll ask you if you’ve already set up a sales funnel. If the answer is No, you proceed to Step 2, which is where the process of sales funnel building is supposed to start.
The website editors of ClickFunnels and Kartra are template-based. The difference is that Clickfunnels’ editor has got some color-coded rows, columns, and items that you can click on and customize. Don’t expect too many features, though. Remember that the primary function of sales funnels is to quickly guide visitors to the product they are looking for, and then to the checkout page.
on Kartra, you can also create a sales funnel. A typical Kartra funnel takes the visitor from the lead capture page, to the sales page, and then to the checkout page, which in turn refers them to an upsell page. Then, the customer is again taken to a checkout page. All Kartra funnels end with a Thank You! page.
Automatic email marketing campaigns
Kartra Email is the platform’s most powerful tool. It carefully analyses your web page visitors’ behavior to create an email template that will be attractive to the largest number of potential buyers. Then, if a promotional email message is opened and generates a response, you’ll immediately learn the good news.
The system will then automatically follow up with your potential customers based on the criteria you have selected. Kartra Mail also lets you launch automated marketing campaigns and will advise you when to do so, based on the results in the Analytics Panel.
Clickfunnels’s email marketing tool is called Actionetics. This thing is extremely powerful and uses your potential customers’ email addresses to collect as much personal data as possible, including social network accounts, home addresses, hobbies and interests, and even how much money they make a year.
And all of this is done with the single purpose to send them a highly-personalized email marketing offer that they simply cannot refuse. There’s even a special algorithm that evaluates potential customers in your follow-up funnel and gives each of them a personal rating based on how likely they are to bring profit to your business down the line.
Membership sites
If you want to create a membership site on Kartra or ClickFunnels, you have a number of options. When you build a membership site in Kartra, it provides audio and video hosting, as well as downloadable content storage. Depending on their price plans, each member of your website will have access to different content. Kartra provides Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Diamond membership plans.
ClickFunnels’s membership sites are template-based, but you can add fewer features and functions. Their website editor provides a Members’ Area as part of your marketing funnel. To make things easier for the user, the Members’ Area integrates seamlessly with the main website.
One membership site template can be replicated indefinitely over different funnels. Unlike Kartra’s, ClickFunnels’ membership sites do not have integrated audio or video hosting.
Shopping cart
Kartra and ClickFunnels both provide robust and easy to use shopping carts. This is good to know when juxtaposing ClickFunnels vs Kartra. Too complicated shopping carts turn off between sixty and eighty percent of all online shoppers.
Kartra’s checkout system automatically recovers abandoned shopping carts and communicates effectively with the platform’s other applications. It also allows the user to manage their sales and send their customers special offers, promotional coupons, and loyalty rewards.
This makes Kartra Checkout very similar to a POS system. Supporting just PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, and Braintree as integrated payment gateways, Kartra Checkout lags behind ClickFunnels, whose checkout supports all of the above functionalities, plus many more gateways, plus several third-party payment options.
Affiliate Websites Management
Affiliate website management tools help you generate leads and expand your online business. Both Kartra and Clickfunnels give you the most important affiliate management features, plus the option to become an affiliate yourself and earn up to 40% commission from the sales you make.
Karta’s global affiliate management program allows the user to manage their business affiliates on all of their products. By integrating PayPal’s Instant Payment button, the platform’s users will be able to instantly pay their commissions when a sale is completed.
The system can automatically send questionnaires and terms and conditions to potential affiliates. Kartra’s Specific Product setting lets you add an affiliate program on checkout, tag affiliates for payment schedules, or add commission tiers.
The Clickfunnels affiliate management tool is called Backpack. By adding an affiliate program to your funnel, you’ll be able to automatically track all clicks and will know how much you owe your business affiliates at any time.
ClickFunnels’s Sticky Cookie Incentive Program encourages your affiliates to be more active by letting them earn commissions not only on the products they sell but also from any future purchases made by that particular customer. Unfortunately, the Backpack app is available only with ClickFunnel’s premium pricing plans.
Split Testing Capabilities
Whichever platform you choose, Kartra or Clickfunnels, you’ll have at your disposal some reasonable split-testing (also known as A/B testing) features. When you create a web page on either platform, after some time you’ll want to know how your website is doing in terms of popularity, and that’s where A/B testing comes into play. Split tests allow you to monitor the performance of your web pages, which is of crucial importance to the success of your online business.
Kartra lets you perform split tests on pages created with their Website Editor, as well as enter an external URL for evaluation. The platform allows you to test up to four pages at once. It then generates detailed stats that allow you to easily interpret the results and act accordingly.
Clickfunnels’s Split-testing tool is much like Kartra’s in terms of the test results’ visualization. When you see how your business is performing, you can decide to either duplicate your current funnel or choose a different template. After performing a split test on two of your pages, the tool automatically archives the loser. Compared to Kartra’s, ClickFunnels’s charts and diagrams aren’t so comprehensive, but still, they can give you an idea of how one of your marketing funnels is performing against another.
About Kartra
Being around since 2018, Kartra is a feature-rich and functional marketing platform. With Kartra, online business owners and entrepreneurs don’t have to worry about third-party plug-ins and applications. This is a powerful all-in-one solution with plenty of unique features.
These include HelpDesk, Calendar, Heatmap, and Split Testing, and some sophisticated behavior-based online marketing automation. Compared to ClickFunnels, Kartra caters to the needs of a wider variety of industries, including freelancing life coaches, foreign language tutors, or motivational speakers.
About ClickFunnels
Clickfunnels is the older dog in this head-to-head review. And from all of the information listed above, one can leap on the rather premature conclusion that it is also the underdog. This, however, cannot be farther away from the truth.
There is a solid reason why ClickFunnels still is, the leader in the online marketing field, although closely followed by Kartra. ClickFunnels has got all of the key features that let you create a website (a funnel) and start selling your stuff fast and with zero initial investments.
ClickFunnels Actionetics has made a revolution in online sales. By analyzing your funnel’s visitors’ behavior, this algorithm tells you how likely each of them is to become a returning customer. When you decide you need a certain plug-in or a specific function, you can always search for a third-party app.
Clickfunnels vs Kartra Pricing
Clickfunnels and Kartra both have several pricing options. Kartra’s Starter Plan costs $99 per month. If you pay for 12 months, the cost is $79/mo.
It includes the following functions:
• 2,500 contacts
• 15,000 emails per month
• 100 created pages
• A catalog with 20 products
• Two Help Desk portals
• One custom domain
Kartra also offers Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans. Each is more expensive than the next, and each is cheaper if paid annually. Suffice it to say that if you pay the Platinum plan for 12 months, you’ll save $1,440. The list of included items remains the same, but their number increases progressively.
All pricing plans from Silver upwards include Karta Agency as a bonus, while the Starter Plan Includes a 14-day Free Trial for just one dollar. Karta Agency lets you view each of your customers’ analytics at any time.
The basic pricing plan of ClickFunnels costs $97 per month and includes the following features:
• Funnel sharing
• 20 Funnels to build
• Up to 100 subpages with each funnel
• 1 User account
• 3 Payment gateways
• 3 Domains
• Live chat support
• Access to the Funnel Hacker Forum
• Access to Funnel Flix
Their mid-tier plan is called ClickFunnels Platinum and costs $297 per month. It comes with an unlimited number of funnels and sub-pages, 3 user accounts, nine payment gateways nine domains, and an unlimited number of follow-up funnels. It also includes priority support and weekly peer review hackathons.
Clickfunnels’ most expensive pricing plan is called Two Comma ClubX and costs just under $2,500 per month. This is roughly eight times more than their Platinum Plan. And for this small fortune per month, you get the following:
• Funnel sharing
• Unlimited number of funnels
• Unlimited number of pages
• 10 user accounts
• 27 payment gateways
• 27 Domains
• Unlimited number of follow-up funnels
• Priority chat support plus phone support
• Weekly Peer Review Hackathons
• Access to the Funnel Hacker Forum
• Access to Funnel Flix
Two Comma Club Awards
As you can see, the number of features isn’t that impressive to match the eight-time price hike from the Platinum Plan. The reason for its exorbitantly-high price is that it’s been tailored exclusively for members of ClickFunnels’ Two Comma Club of users who’ve earned $1,000,000 and more through their marketing funnels.
Each year, the Two Comma Club presents awards in three categories:
• The 2CC Award for people who’ve made $1,000,000 through a single funnel
• The Two Comma Club X Award is for individuals who’ve earned $10,000,000 through a single funnel
• The Two Comma “C” Award comes in four segments. The first one is warded to a funnel hacker when they reach $25 million, the second – $50 million, the third comes at $75 million, and the last piece of the award is awarded at the $100-million milestone.
• Finally, The “2 Heart” Award is presented to funnel hackers who’ve donated over $1,000,000 to charity.
Clickfunnels Vs Kartra Conclusion
Both ClickFunnels and Kartra are powerful online marketing platforms whose features and functions will help your business grow fast. Having read this ClickFunnels vs Kartra review, you now have an idea which features are more important for you, and which ones you can do without. At the beginning you’ll probably be contacting their customer support agents very often, but we can assure you that both platforms have very short learning curves.