The smart brands of today are all about a number of functions that can be integrated in order to deliver seamless engagement for seamless sales conversions. If we were to put this in simpler language, would have to say that the smart brands of today have some uber smart tools that help them remain at the top of their game within minimum effort and resources used. This is what actually makes a brand smart too – a smart brand is one that knows how to make the best and optimum use of limited resources so as to gain results that cater to the amplified opportunities that are spread all over the digital world. Finding alternatives to ActiveCampaign or finding the right mix of CRM and marketing automation would be one of the few ways to do it!
Before we talk about an ActiveCampaign alternative, it would be imperative to understand why we need a platform for marketing automation when it comes to growing a smart brand irrespective of the size of the business. Here are a few reasons:
Resources:
We need to make optimum use of resources and this begins with our most valuable resource which is the human element or the HR factor in our business. When we hire people during the nascent and growing stages of our business operations, the focus is on making the best use of these resources so that we get the best buck for our money. Having said that, the best way to make use of these resources and to also motivate the team is to ensure that they get to indulge in less monotonous tasks and more creative or hands ones. So marketing automation can actually free up their bandwidth to a great degree and help them automate the monotonous tasks that could free up time for more important tasks like actual engagement and conversions.
Professional Front:
If you are looking for an alternative to ActiveCampaign, you would do well to understand that more than anything else, marketing automation puts you on the map by helping you present a more professional front that automates emails and notifications as well as the various activities in the sales pipeline so that each of these is carried out to the T and without too much of effort. Yet, what the user gets is a professional looking and rather impressive experience that would be hard to forget and hence it earns you brand recall for a rather long period.
Team Work:
When it comes to fulfilling all the tasks in the sales funnel, team work would be one of the most important things. You would have to ensure that accountability and responsibility runs high across every member of your team. Yet, this may not always be possible and duplication of efforts, completely missing out on tasks, and placing the blame on one another can end up taking center stage which can also disrupt the way the team works. Hence, with marketing automation, you do have the option of bringing together teams that are directed by the automated completion and queuing up of one task after the other so that you have a team that works seamlessly well towards the ultimate goal – conversions galore.
So, now let us look at some of the ActiveCampaign alternatives to understand which one would be the best side Active Campaign does not offer the most affordable or easy to setup packages, and it does not come fully loaded with too many features of marketing automation since it only concentrates on the email marketing side of things.
Here are some of the alternatives to ActiveCampaign:
1. EngageBay:
This is by far one of the best ActiveCampaign alternatives with a full suite of services that go from CRM to email marketing, SEO, social media and so much more. Plus, EngageBay is super affordable for smaller and lesser known businesses. It is also easy to setup and offers constant support, unlike most other platforms in this niche.
2. Exponea:
As one of the alternatives to ActiveCampaign, Exponea also offers complete marketing automation but it focuses more on the analytics side of it and thus the creative side gets lost in translation. What we also found was that the website did not explain the services too well.
3. Mailjet:
Mailjet is one of the most upcoming email marketing services, yet it does not offer the complete gamut of marketing automation like EngageBay.
4. AWeber:
This platform has some very affordable plans that can help you achieve your email marketing goals, but if we were to add other platforms to the mix to care of other marketing needs, then this would be an expensive option.
5. MailOptin:
This platform gives you the option of creating a lead generation program along with email marketing.
6. Marketo:
This platform focuses on lead generation through CRM and it brings in great user experiences as well.
The above analysis shows that EngageBay is probably your best bet in the affordability and setup department with many more features than most platforms.