An email marketing tool could be a particular email marketing tool, such as an email subject line generator, or an inbox placement testing tool, or a suite of tools that empowers an advertiser to do all of their email marketing start-to-end. Email marketing is a perfect way to build and grow the audience for your blog. You will however need a dedicated email marketing tool before you can start.
Introduction of ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign
A) ConvertKit: It is a specialized and committed platform for email marketing and focuses on offering resources to busy creative. It provides an app-based framework with loads of automated tools, effectively removing off your hands the burden of managing your email campaigns.
The targeted market for ConvertKit is bloggers, notably personal brands. In spite of the fact that ConvertKit that function for e-commerce sites, it is not really ideally adapted for this purpose.
B) ActiveCampaign.It is a more comprehensive service that offers email marketing tools along with an entire set-up of other apps. The package you are signed up with depends on what you have access to. It is a versatile tool that offers you a great deal of control over your projects, though.
ActiveCampaign is built for full-spectrum marketers
How Are ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign the Same?
Both services have a lot of similar features. Let’s discuss these similarities first.
I) Automations: Both platforms allow you to create complex email marketing funnels dependent on different triggers.
II) Web Forms: You do not need a third party service, for instance, OptinMonster to begin logging in to your blog.
III) Tagging: Both permit you to tag your email subscribers.
IV) Schedule Broadcasts:You can create your broadcast and schedule when to send it out.
V) Segmentation:Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign permit you to segment your audience dependent on tags and different metrics.
VI) RSS Feed: They both let you mail your latest Word Press blog post to your audience automatically. However, the setup of ActiveCampaign allows for more customization.
VII) Word Press Plugins:Both have Word Press plugins to incorporate their web structures into your blog.
VIII) Two-Factor Authentication: Both take into account two-factor logins for added security.
IX) Facebook Custom Audiences:ConvertKit introduced this feature recently, so both services now currently offer this feature.
X) Free Migrations: Both services will help move your existing setup free of charge from another ESP.
ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign: A full comparison
1. Features
It is significant and crucial to ensure the service you are signing up for incorporates the features you will need. Bearing this in mind, how about we check out what ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign has to offer.
A) ConvertKit
ConvertKit gives an amazing scope of alternatives. In addition to other things, it:
I)It helps you to create and grow your an email list for your campaign.
II)It helps to keep your email list sorted with taxonomies, for instance, tags and categories.
III) It offers customizable sign-up forms to integrate into the website.
IV)It helps you to create custom rules and sequences for computerizing your emails.
V)It helps you to Provides tools for tracking data about your subscribers and conversions.
VI)It integrates with many e-commerce platforms and other tools.
B) ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign additionally has a great deal to offer. This stage:
I) It Helps you build a mailing list and along with manage it.
II)It incorporates an email designer drag-and-drop that lets you customize your messages completely.
III)It offers multiple models to help you with creating your emails quicker.
IV)It allows you to quickly do split testing, so you can perfect your campaigns and increase conversions.
V)It empowers you to customize content, based on the subtleties and history of each contact.
VII)It simplifies the method of collecting and sorting out information on the leads in the mailing list.
VIII) It Offers features that help you with automating and scheduling your campaigns in advance.
Although both platforms have addressed all of the fundamentals, their feature sets display some strong differences. ActiveCampaign offers a wider user interface with improved monitoring and A / B review tools and better email templates. ConvertKit, on the other hand, prioritizes usability with the simple resources and functionality and usefulness that are ideal for beginners. There is likewise more help for segmentation and ConvertKit integration.
2. Pricing
A) ConvertKit
With three options available to you, ConvertKit retains the standard tiering pricing scheme.
The intriguing thing over these three tiers is that the increasing cost of products will not include significant additional features. You are actually paying for having the option to send to additional supporters.
Each level likewise incorporates a free trial, which is beneficial with the first month of subscription. However, you have to make sure so you will have time to implement it and use it to attempt to check how beneficial it is for the company before you start the trial. So far, it’s good.
It ought to likewise be noted that 5000 subscribers isn’t an incredible number to have on their email list for any blogger or company, so in the event you are growing your business, ramping up your email marketing efforts, you will presumably get to this number eventually (in the event that you are not already). If it comes to total prices, then bear that in mind.
Now talking about the cost. ConvertKit has four basic plans, based on the number of subscribers that are supported.
ConvertKit provides weekly as well as annual billing, with rates dependent on the number of subscribers you have. You will pay $29 per month for up to 1,000 people on your list, or $24 per month on the off chance that you settle on. At the top, you can enter in the final box whatever size list you need, and automatically calculate a price.
Rather than that, the plans for the ConvertKit are practically the same. All key features are included on all plans. The only difference is the choice at the highest level, which offers free migration in case you move your current email list from another company. Note that is essential to recall in light of the fact that ActiveCampaign divides its billing rates differently.
B) ActiveCampaign
Like ConvertKit ActiveCampaign likewise provides four plans, even though they are more customizable than the ConvertKit plans.
They employ a tiered pricing system which offers additional features for increasingly priced rates. The lowest tier offers you the basics for email marketing, however for better data integration, sales automation, custom domains and lead scoring, you will have to upgrade.
You get included free migration, implying ActiveCampaign can help you transfer all of your data and subscribers from another platform.
Pricing options start from just $9 which will allow you to send up to 500 contacts. This will give you the core features of email marketing which ought to give you a solid functional beginning in using the channel.
If looking at various tiers, it is beneficial to have the same number of subscribers, thus the additional costs can be kept relative. Thus, sticking to 500 subscribers, the following tier up is $49 for their Plus version. The next level up is referred to as Professional which cost $99 a month, and the top level is referred to as Enterprise, which cost $149 a month.
Remember that all those prices are only for 500 subscribers. There’s a fair chance that on the off chance that you will depend on a lot more than 500 subscribers to keep your company going if you need the amount of features included in the Enterprise package.
There is a 15% discount to those who pay annually, rather than monthly.
It is hard to fault the pricing system.
The pricing system is hardly to blame: The cost difference looks decent. Costs per subscriber decrease as you increase the no of subscribers. Before the seconds tier increases in price, you need 2,500 subscribers, and 5,000 before the third and fourth tiers do as such.
Overall, ActiveCampaign can be somewhat less expensive than ConvertKit in the event that you are not looking for anything too complex.
3. Word Press integration
Your Word Press blog is an invaluable and important tool with regards to building a mailing list and run successful and effective campaigns. While neither of ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign is specific to Word Press, both offer dedicated plug-ins for integration.
The module for ConvertKit is appropriately called after the platform itself. This helps you to insert a sign-up form on particular posts or sites, or add one at the bottom of each article on the blog. It’s kept updated regularly, despite the fact that there are very few user reviews exist.
ActiveCampaign app is additionally called after the company, which helps you to put your subscription form on any blogs, sites as well as widgets you need. However, this plugin likewise does have few reviews.
At the end, when it comes to Word Press integration with ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign, the mileage can differ. We need to give an edge here to ConvertKit, because its software is increasingly versatile, however you will want to check each method extensively before utilizing it on a staging platform.
Having said that, there are a number of quality third-party email opt-in plugins that you can use to integrate with both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, so you are not constrained to utilizing the official plugins.
4. Ease of use
Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign have a free trial so you can check them out without making a commitment.
A) ActiveCampaign
You will have immediate access to your main Dashboard after signing up for an ActiveCampaign account.
There is a lot to do here, yet it is all well-organized. The Getting Started widget at the top of the screen can be used to check all the key tasks off your list one by one – adding email addresses to your list, making your first campaign, creating an opt-in form, and so on.
In the dashboard, there are still a number of useful widgets so you can see how your campaigns are doing at a glance. This shows your most current stats, recent activity, any goals that you have set for yourself, and more.
B) ConvertKit
Now, talking about the ConvertKit, Signing up is also a simple process, and once again you will get a centralized dashboard to work from.
Frankly, this dashboard is altogether less valuable. There is an advantageous agenda include that will give all of you the undertakings you’ll need to handle at first, and lets you verify them as you go. Other than that, there isn’t a lot to see here.
In any case, the basic functions are clearly arranged at the top of the page via the navigation menu. Every segment will take you through the process involved – setting up software, building an opt-in form, etc. – which will provide informative videos to get you going.
5. Automation
Over 75% of email revenue is generated by triggered campaigns as per the DMA. Automated emails have a lot to offer.
A) ConvertKit
Your sequences are called “Automation” in ConvertKit. You can automatically list subscribers as soon as they join your list.
Never before have you designed an automation map? No worries, ConvertKit provides blueprints that will help you find out what to do. Using “If this, then that” reasoning to set your own rules for the actions and triggers.
Honestly, regardless of whether you are new to automation, ConvertKit makes it super easy to create your templates. The visual interface is easy to utilize, and you can create your campaigns any way you pick.
For example, you might develop a funnel that sends unique content to subscribers that isn’t on your blog, and then pulls it back to your website. If the same customer makes a purchase, they can get another email thanking them and offering a chance to upsell.
In ConvertKit, a tag is created under the category Automations.
There are two sides here: the trigger (“when this happens”) and the action (“do this”).
At First, each tag could be associated with a trigger (“user subscribes to a form > tag is added”). From there, you can continue adding action events to build up a full sequence of automation.
You can also use a tag as a trigger on the flip side, which comes in handy when you are using an external integration that can apply ConvertKit tags.
B) ActiveCampaign
All things considered, like ConvertKit, you get an excellent visual workflow builders for your automation – which is superb.
Once again, the builder is indeed very simple and easy to use, with the logic “if this, then that.” Furthermore, it can also be as complicated or simple as you wish. When you complete a task, you can even automatically send your contacts into various segments and campaigns.
Combine triggers and actions of ActiveCampaign with smart site following, and your marketing automation opportunities go through the roof.
In spite of the fact that the building experience can be very tedious, it is really comprehensive to get you to a new page to add a new Email to your list.
ActiveCampaign also helps you to combine your automation software with a CRM integration in order to improve your sales, as opposed to ConvertKit.
ActiveCampaign sales and CRM offers include lead scoring, a Gmail extension and even machine learning tools to assist you with figuring out the best results from your campaigns.
Of course, it can also be more difficult for some users because ActiveCampaign is more comprehensive. The additional effort, however, could be despite all the trouble for a more thorough campaign.
Inside ActiveCampaign, tags can be added to a subscriber at any point inside your campaign automations (more on that in the next section).
What’s more, you can also use tags, like ConvertKit, to trigger a new set of actions.
And you can also use tags, like ConvertKit, to trigger a new set of actions. But, as with convertkit, there’s no way of “organizing” your tags, it will allow you to track them in a separate spreadsheet that will help you to search for the ones you need if appropriate.
The creation of a spreadsheet can be a wonderful method to keep your tags up to date (as long as you still have a process). Since you can search by name for tags in ActiveCampaign, you can without any difficulty pick the appropriate tags that you need to change or merge.
6. AutomatedConditions
A) ConvertKit
ConvertKit has only these possible conditions when it comes to adding someone to an automation.
i) Tag added
ii) Custom field
B) ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has many more advanced options for your visitor, including:
i) Date created
ii) Tag added
iii) Tag removed
iv) Has clicked on a link
v) Has opened an email
vi) Geography based on IP address
vii) Visited a webpage
viii) Total site visits
ix) Visitor’s time zone
7. Automated sequence
What attracts other people into ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign is the necessity for an automatic series. Generally, an email sequence is the most often used. In any case, a more robust, Tag-based automation system is preferred as your online business grows.
A) ConvertKit: sequences + automations
On the one hand, you have “Sequences,” that are your automated emails. You may create a sequence of emails inside this zone, with a timed delay between sending them.
On the other hand, there is “Automations”, which are your trigger action sets. Here is the place where you can specify what happens while, choosing from the trigger/action steps.
There are a couple of limitations of ConvertKit. They are:
I) In the first place, since the sequences and automations are thoroughly discrete, if you want to alternate email-add tag-email-add tag-you need to create single email sequences. What’s more, since “complete sequence” is its own trigger, you may need to build a set of specific various automations to render operations more complicated.
II) The subsequent limitation applies to creating web hooks to send data back to certain websites. You would need to utilize our free ConvertKit Webhook maker to build this in light of the fact that ConvertKit has no built-in route.
B) ActiveCampaign: Flexible automations
The first thing you will notice is that Active Campaign’s automation builder offers more functionality and greater usefulness, from web hooks to Facebook custom audience integrations.
The automation builder offers a drag-and – drop format that is easy and simple to use and permits you to create genuinely advanced automations. For advanced segmentation purposes, conditional formatting can likewise be added to the automation.
Ultimately, ActiveCampaign’s automatic features are a bit more sophisticated and user-friendly than the existing setup in ConvertKit.
8. Tagging& Segmentation
Automation is fantastic. However, you need to learn how to split and segment your audience for the sequences to be successful and effective. After all, personalized emails drive transaction rates 6 times higher.
A) ConvertKit
This is certainly easy and simple – you may pick three different ways to import the subscribers, either taking lists from another application or importing a CSV.
You can handle this with tags and sections until your people are loaded into your app.
Tags divide the leads and clients due to the acts they take. On the other hand, Segments organize your tags, allowing you to create audiences based on things like whether they purchased a product, where they came from, and many other.
It is a very exceptionally clear approach to deal with your contacts – but in my opinion, ActiveCampaign’s solution is nowhere near as good.
B) ActiveCampaign
You can combine both the lists and tags with ActiveCampaign. You will have the option to see everything you have to think about will of your users, including which lists and segments they belong to, inside your contacts folder.
You can likewise isolate your subscribers for each business on the off chance that you have multiple websites to oversee, and arrange those lists separately. On the off chance that you needed to do that in ConvertKit, you would need to have multiple accounts – that is quite annoying.
You can combine the segmentation feature with the sales and tracking capabilities. You can tag subscribers on your website and even allow your sales team to delegate contact tasks, based on their behaviour.
All along, ActiveCampaign also has a lead scoring system that helps you understand which people are most likely to become a customer.
9.Opt-in forms and landing pages
Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign come with simple, user friendly form builders.
A) ConvertKit’s
The form builder of ConvertKit lets you to create two field forms for collecting name and email addresses of people. The standard form builder allows color customization; CSS may be used to customize other styles.
The forms created by ConvertKit look excellent with a simple and effective design that stands out for content to stand out. Forms can be added to Word Press utilizing the official plug-in of ConvertKit or a short code snippet added to static HTML websites.
Since ConvertKit is explicitly designed for bloggers, the form display options are available. Forms can be displayed as a modal dialog, as a blog post or as other content, in the inline dialog box.
ConvertKit incorporates four landing page templates that are perfect for list building. These templates are relatively simple, basic and do not match PPC, however serve as landing pages for Facebook and Twitter promotions. The customization of pictures, color and text content is constrained.
B) ActiveCampaign
The form builder of ActiveCampaign makes it simple to make responsive, attractive opt-in form for your blog or website easily. There are four display modes-inline, floating box, modal pop-up and floating bar available, but only for small business and company users.
Forms are created with the form builder ActiveCampaign. You can add custom fields, for instance, checkboxes, selectors and CAPTCHA to any form. A variety of style options and the ability to support customized design with CSS code are included in the form builder.
ActiveCampaign has recently announced the ActiveCampaign Marketplace to help their customers rapidly produce automation recipes by accessing a library of 250+ pre-built campaigns from ActiveCampaign, ActiveCampaign partners, and other ActiveCampaign customers.
10.A/B testing and Analytics
When you have configured your landing pages, email sequences and segments, you need to get testing.
Tracking and analyzing your emails is the most ideal approach to make sure that you are getting the most ROI out of your campaigns.
In both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, A / B testing is available, making it easy and simple for you to test subject lines, from fields and other factors.
While ConvertKit is only an automation tool for the email marketing, ActiveCampaign likewise incorporates an integrated CRM.
You can automate sales processes such as sending email follow-ups, assigning to salespeople and coordinating across marketing and sales using the ActiveCampaign CRM.
A) ConvertKit
You will see the specifics on items like click-rate, unsubscribe, and open rate, and subscribers when you set up a sequence.
On the off chance that you want to see how two separate emails are doing in terms of A / B checking, you will need to go into your Broadcasts tab and turn the A / B button on the side of your subject line:
This is the only help you can get for split-testing, however at least it ought to be enough to check the topic lines.
B) ActiveCampaign
Active Campaign is unmistakably more comprehensive with regards to A/B testing and analytics.
You have 2 option beginning with the split testing. You may either test the information on the form or email subject lines or you can evaluate the performance of the whole series of automations.
To check the whole series, simply go to the workflow at the “Split” action.You can chose just how you need to break your contacts.Likewise, you will additionally have the option to pick a winner in the test when both the campaign is done and furthermore when it is working.
ActiveCampaign gives you a loads of control over how you should play out your criteria – which is exceptionally useful. That feature can give your business a lot of significant value.ActiveCampaign additionally has a lot of features to deliver when it comes to monitoring and analytics, including the ability to monitor the web user activity and generate significant actionable products. That makes sure you can send your subscribers the most relevant, significant and personal emails.
ActiveCampaign takes the guesswork out of having to find out what the target audience wants and requires from you. At last- ultimately this is all about email analytics.
Furthermore, ActiveCampaign also offers you the ability to save records about your clients so you can make the most out of your customized campaigns. In addition to your CRM and Sales statistics, you will use those data to provide you with more in-depth insights into your target audience. The tool complies with GDPR, implies you do not have to think about collecting too much personal information and having the company in trouble.
11. Customer Support
It is one of the services offered by email marketing. Since, we all need a little support sometimes in our difficulties and issues.
A) ConvertKit
ConvertKit provides the option of either “opening a ticket” to assist the customer or check out the help center for articles and guides.
There is no possibility of chatting, or even calling a representative, which seems to be a little nerve-wracking. That being said, the knowledgebase is quite comprehensive, and there are lot of workshops you can check out on the off chance that you want to figure out how to use ConvertKit from scratch.
B) ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign offers support for email and live chat, as well as weekly training webinars where you can get to holds with the software’s basic functions.
In the event that you are stuck and puzzled, at that point you should try scheduling a one-on-one training session with a rep and you will have the options to find loads of videos and guides to help you out in your dashboard’s “Education” section.
The Live Chat support takes a bit of time while to deliver a straightforward response to your inquiry, however these days you would anticipate it from almost every business. Someone will come back to you, usually within five minutes or less.
You can likewise check where you are in the line when waiting for a reaction – so you realize how much longer you are going to be on hold.
Pros and Cons of ActiveCampaign
Prosof ActiveCampaign:
I) ActiveCampaign, in addition to email, can also send automated SMS follow-ups to your leads and contacts.
II)ActiveCampaign offers user-friendly interface that is anything but not difficult to learn.
III)The drag and drop email interface of ActiveCampaign helps you to build engaging templates which increase the response time of your campaign.
IV)A straightforward visual automation builder that includes advanced features such as webhooks, and the ability to add users to Facebook audiences.
V)You can add clean, simple and efficient opt-in forms to your website, such as inline opt-in forms, floating boxes, mobile pop-ups and a floating top bar.
VI) You can segment contacts by their interaction with your campaign or website, their contact information, their interests and social data, and a wide scope of other variables using data-driven segmentation.
VII)Built-in CRM, which makes it easy and simple for the sales and marketing teams to organize and catch up on possibilities.
VIII) Easy to view all regular KPIs including open rate, and it is also conceivable to see where your contacts are in real time using the geo-location monitoring feature from ActiveCampaign.
IX) ActiveCampaign helps you to configure your emails with conditional content, allowing you to offer a personalized message dependent on a contact’s gender and previous website visits of your user.
Cons of ActiveCampaign
I)Slight learning curve for beginners
II) Not an all-in-one solution, so you need to turn to third-party tools e-commerce, affiliate programs, and so on.
III)Contingent upon your needs the price system will be costly.
IV) Some features, for example, customized branding and domains, are just accessible with the Small Business and Enterprise plans.
Pros and Cons of ConvertKit
Pros of ConvertKit
I)Incredibly simple to learn and use, with minimal options that will show you all the fundamentals.
II)A visual campaign builder has been added which rivals ActiveCampaign
III)Offers automated email and tagging
IV)The ConvertKit allows you to create a functional lead capture form in short span of time (five minutes or less).
V)Easy Word Press Integration: ConvertKit’s opt-in forms can be effectively
incorporated with Word Press via the official ConvertKit plugin, making it easy and simple to add formats such as widgets, modal pop-ups, and page or blog post content.
VI) In the ConvertKit UI, KPIs for example the open rate, click rate and daily subscriptions are for the most part available.
VII) You can quickly create and change email courses with a drag-and – drop interface that helps you to rearrange emails in seconds. Automation rules are similarly easy and need little programming technology to create effective automated email campaigns.
VIII)ConvertKit sends readable, clean emails that look great on your work area and on your mobile.
Cons of ConvertKit:
I) Webhook creation is certainly not a simple thing to do.
II) No free trial (a 30-day money back guarantee is offered).
III)It isnot for PPC: You will have to utilize a third party landing page tool on the off chance you plan to send PPC traffic and collect more than a name and email from prospects. ConvertKit comes with just four templates on the landing page, and all are designed for simple name and email address lead capture.
IV)Good software but it is expensive to use
V) Limited reporting and tracking
ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign: Which service should you choose?
Both ConvertKit versus ActiveCampaign offer a lot of great and helpful features. They are priced sensibly and are not difficult to begin with. Be that as it may, each one of them have an interesting set of advantages and disadvantages:
1) ConvertKit: When it comes to automating your emails and setting them up to respond to explicit triggers, this service offers a little more. Furthermore, also in the simple package all of the features are included. Its price options are less flexible, however the dashboard is fairly basic.
2) ActiveCampaign: With this service, you can fully customize your plan, so you are not paying for more than you need. It offers a detailed dashboard, with plenty of ways to configure your emails and tracking their outcomes.
Main Difference between ActiveCampaign vs. ConvertKit
The main differences between ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit are:
I) ConvertKit is strictly an email automation platform whereas ActiveCampaign has more CRM features.
II) ConvertKit is generally costly per subscriber while that compared to ActiveCampaign.
III) ConvertKit has less price break points while that compared to ActiveCampaign.
IV) ConvertKit does not have built-in A/B testing whereas ActiveCampaign has.
V) ActiveCampaign is built for full-spectrum marketers whereas ConvertKit is built for bloggers.
Conclusion
It can be a challenge and difficult to pick the right email marketing tool. There are significant no. of options and factors to consider. However, there are a couple of services for Word Press blog owners that rise above the pack.
Thus, in general ActiveCampaign has an edge here. It is somewhat a little simpler, less expensive more flexible and offers a great user experience overall. ActiveCampaign is the email marketing service to choose from for most Word Press blog owners, especially in case you are willing to embed a sign-up form via code or use a third-party email opt-in plugin.
However, ConvertKit should not be overlooked though. On the off chance that you want a device that offers full control over your email automation, or in the event that you like the uncluttered look of the dashboard, that’s additionally a great choice as well.