The Ultimate Secret of ActiveCampaign Vs Salesforce

Last Updated: March 2024

Table of Contents

Introduction

You have to be in email marketing if you are searching for this. There is some software regarding this and of course, you want the best, right? In this article, we compare the suitability of ActiveCampaign to that of Salesforce. At the end of the day, we will have the ultimate option to go by and this will be a plus to your output as an email marketer.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is renowned as a powerful marketing tool that aids in email marketing automation and creating targeted campaigns to send to prospective clients of businesses. Moreover, having garnered over 100,000 users worldwide, ActiveCampaign has become a tool through which users stimulate the growth of their businesses. 

 

 

Salesforce

 

 This is a corporation known for providing Customer Relation Management (CRM) service and selling enterprise applications specializing in customer service, marketing automation, and application development.

Comparison between ActiveCampaign and Salesforce features

Deliverability

ActiveCampaign

The aim of any marketer is to get results; in other words, deliverability. Once you face something, you want to know, we always run to Google.

This is what I do to get the best software based on the reviews made therein.

Basing our argument on the results shown, it is wise to conclude that ActiveCampaign has exceptional deliverability.

It delivers really well, and this is commendable. We can rely on it.

Salesforce

In order to enhance the deliverability in automation, there are two main steps to be taken when Salesforce is sending out an email; Creating a DKIM key and adding SPF. This is a rigorous process that has several people facing challenges as they need it automated. This affects the popularity of Salesforce as it becomes tasking to get results.

Verdict

Here ActiveCampaign turns out better as it is automated as it should be. There are no additional add-ins that have to be made to get it rolling. I would rather go for the easy and productive option.

Automation

ActiveCampaign

The ActiveCampaign has the highest automation.

This includes features that allow one to customize and personalize instructions which give the opportunity to send emails at an exact time, exact location, basically narrow down to specifics.

This allows a marketer to access the most viable client in that we have a series of automated commands that ensure they land a willing client and the most perspective.

Salesforce

The major strength of Salesforce is that it is cloud-based, which means it is easy to access anywhere, anytime provided you have internet access.

This feature is a necessity for businesses that have several offices in different geographical locations.

It also perfectly serves companies that do not have a physical address and those that have employees working remotely.

Verdict

Both the companies are in their own rights well suited. To make a choice, one has to base their argument on the rest of the features.

Ease of use

ActiveCampaign

A good number of users have also reviewed it to be aesthetic and easy to use for non-tech users. The design is excellent, and it has great functionality.

Eliminating technicality in operation is usually a significant advantage to users, as no one wants a hassle while navigating through this while in a genuine sense the whole idea is to save on time.

Though so, it is not as beginner-friendly as other automation tools. It takes time before one can know their way out. There are other better options as far as the navigation is concerned. However, on getting acquainted, it becomes very user friendly. It is fair to say this can be combatted over time, right?

Salesforce

It gives room for easy management.

Salesforce allows managers to keep track of the activities of their employees.

They can monitor whatever tasks were completed, emails sent, and a number of calls made giving a clear analysis of the team’s progress.

Information can also be easily shared with the employees, making it easy to run a company.

Verdict

The two have ease in their respective fields. For small and medium businesses ActiveCampaign wins while for large businesses, Salesforce wins

Integration with other tools

ActiveCampaign

It gives room for Zapier Integration.

ActiveCampaign is compatible to integrate with over 2000 tools with the help of their Zapier integration.

Although this allows you to integrate many tools, it will be mandatory that you have a paid Zapier subscription to access some of them.

Though so, it gives you the freedom to have the integrations. This is a feature so unique to ActiveCampaign that makes it topnotch.

Salesforce

In order to use the integration service, the Magic xpi platform has to be utilized to seamlessly integrate the business processes and enterprise applications such as SAP, Microsoft, SYSPRO, SharePoint, etc. It however limits some integrations and is agreeable with chosen specific integration tools.

Verdict

ActiveCampaign wins as it allows for unlimited integration

 

Size of the business it serves

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is reliable and easy-to-use marketing automation created to suit small businesses on a budget. It does not work well for large-sized businesses. The best it can suit is a medium-sized business. In case you require using it and you are a large entity; you will have to dig deeper into your pockets for the enterprise plan. This inhibits users who are on a budget but feel it is convenient for them.

Salesforce

It is best suited for large businesses.

Unlike other service providers, Salesforce is best for well-established entities. It serves where there are teams of employees that require monitoring and management.

This works well with the budget because a considerable amount of money is invested and thus the outcome has to augur with the investment made.

There are pricing plans for these enterprises that suit the company’s interests.

However, Salesforce is too complex for small businesses.

It is definite that Salesforce best suits large-scale businesses which have sales and marketing teams. This is because small and medium-sized businesses do not require complex software. In a different dimension, it is a plus for the well-established entities, but it sidelines the businesses that are at their initial development stages.

Verdict

Here, ActiveCampaign takes the lead because it is reliable for both scenarios though it is expensive where large entities are involved

Technical support and contacts

 

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign has a prompt technical support platform that allows for a live chat option. This gives one a real-time solution to factors affecting their clients.

Salesforce

Salesforce portal has complicated technical support.

Trying to contact Salesforce technical support team is quite a headache. It is so serious that it could take days before you get any form of help you require.

Even then, it does not mean that your issue will be immediately addressed, or that your question will be answered immediately, it could take a little longer before you get the help you require. Because of this, many companies would rather work with third-party companies that use Salesforce support.

Verdict

ActiveCampaign has a more reliable customer support

Email recipient customization

 

ActiveCampaign

With ActiveCampaign, it is possible to make a kind of campaign that allows you to have the emails landing in the inboxes of the clients you need.

At some point, you find that some contacts already opened the email you had sent and you don’t want to resend it. It gives you an option, more or less like a filter, of the recipients of the email you are sending.

If perhaps you are selling a product, all clients who have bought the product do not need the email anymore thus it offers a chance to exclude them.

It could also be, people in a certain area do not need to receive the email you are sending. You can exclude them from your list. Isn’t that incredible?

Salesforce

Salesforce can identify and re-engage inactive subscribers. According to MailChimp, subscribers who have become inactive are more likely to make a purchase by 26%, compared to non-subscribers. Bearing this in mind, Salesforce can re-contact these subscribers again. This is a prospect of increased sales to the client and, in turn, income.

Verdict

It is easy to customize and tailor an email to specific desired requirements. This gives a sense of touch which in turn enhances productivity. ActiveCampaign has it.

 

Feedback and Review

 

ActiveCampaign

The ActiveCampaign offers what we would literally call a review of how your sent content is doing. The analysis of the email allows for the marketer to see how popular the email is, how well the clients reacted to it in their inboxes, and the like.

This way you know what to address and how to go about it when you do. In short, this acts as feedback on how the email did on the prospective market. Of course, we want feedback on whatever we do if it can be offered to know how we did, right?

Salesforce

Generating a report is a complex process.

It can be quite tasking to come up with reports when you are using Salesforce.

By this I mean, getting the simplest basic information is a challenge. Simple things such as knowing your performance require that you brace yourself for an in-depth understanding, step by step, of the available features.

Verdict

With reliable feedback and report, ActiveCampaign wins

 

Pricing

 

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign has no free plan. Some other service providers have free plans to a certain limit varying with your choice, but this has the least of their charges being $9 a month.

Definitely, this is a business entity, and the aim is to make money and this could explain it, but the competitors are offering better services regarding this. This, however, can be overlooked by anyone preferring results over cost.

Reviews have it that though it doesn’t have a free plan, it does not disappoint. Don’t they say cheap is expensive, anyway?

Salesforce

Salesforce is quite expensive.

Small businesses working on a minimal budget cannot afford this plan.

The full version goes for about $125 per month when all the CRM tools that a small business requires are included.

In as much as it is yielding results, these small entities cannot manage to cough such an amount for the service.

As if that is not enough, this is a one user basis rate which translates to $500 monthly when a business has four users. It, therefore, goes without saying that, for businesses that have budget constraints, it may not be the best option for now.

Verdict

Though both are expensive in their different rights, ActiveCampaign is at the end of the day more economical

 

Conclusion

We have determined that the most viable email marketing strategy to go by is the ActiveCampaign. This will suit you best especially if you have a small or a medium-sized business. You could perhaps consider the pricing, this being one major factor you always have to consider, the ability to customize your content or the feedback and report which are way better compared to Salesforce. A result-oriented user in the field will go for ActiveCampaign bearing in mind the strengths discussed earlier in the article.