A great marketing software can help automate your workflow processes, boost conversion rates, and increase ROI. However, due to the numerous marketing software available, choosing the right email marketing software for your business can become confusing. ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact are examples of marketing software that offer email and social media marketing with great marketing automations and functionalities, but how do you know which is best for you? This article provides adequate info on their features, similarities, and differences that would aid your decision-making. Alternatives to both software are also provided, so you should keep reading.
Main differences between ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact
| ActiveCampaign | Constant Contact | |
| Functionality | Inbuilt CRM | Absent |
| Feature | On-site messaging | Unavailable |
| Pricing | Cheaper | Great |
| Landing page builder | Unavailable | Available |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Automations and triggers | Numerous | Few |
| Plans | Includes quote-based Enterprise plan | No Enterprise plan. |
| Ready-made templates | 30+ | Over 500 |
» MORE: Which is better for you, Convertkit or Active Campaign?
ActiveCampaign vs. Constant Contact: Features and capabilities
Features and capabilities of ActiveCampaign
- Automations: ActiveCampaign offers lots of incredible automations such as automated segmentation, sales follow-up, and triggered campaigns.
- Conversations feature: This lets you send targeted messages to visitors on your website and manage conversations. You can make offers that are not in your other marketing and give your customers a strong call to action.
- A/B Testing feature: You can create two variations of your campaign to determine which design generates the best results to improve user experience and increase engagement.
- Free migration: ActiveCampaign lets you migrate from another email marketing software to ActiveCampaign for free.
- Standard Toolbox: ActiveCampaign’s toolbox is packed with tons of amazing features and tools such as one-click email marketing, customer segmentation, and analytics, among others.
- Advanced tracking and reporting: You can monitor and track what customers do on your website, the keywords driving traffic to your site, and your page ranking, among others.
Features and capabilities of Constant Contact
- Automations: Constant Contact offers various automations such as behavior-based email campaign automation, automated contact management, and bulk email personalization and sending.
- Templates: Constant Contact is known for its over 500 customizable pre-built templates. You can also create one using HTML.
- Email marketing management: From the creation of your emails up to dispatch and follow-up, Constant Contact provides you with lots of features such as drag-and-drop email creator, contact segmentation and list building, and email tracking and analytics to facilitate the entire process.
- Intuitive user interface: Constant Contact is very easy to use, and you can easily create your marketing campaigns and enjoy an enhanced customer experience.
- Integrations: Constant Contact offers both native and third-party integrations. The integrations can be chosen based on CRM, e-commerce, analytics, and sales, among other functions.
» MORE: Is GetResponse Better for You Than ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign vs. Constant Contact: Pricing
ActiveCampaign pricing
- 14-day free trial
- Lite plan (Starts from $9/month for 0-500 contacts and varies based on the number of contacts.)
- Plus (Starts from $49/month for 0-500 contacts and varies based on the number of contacts.)
- Professional (Starts from $149/month for 0-500 contacts and varies based on the number of contacts.)
- Enterprise plan (Available on request.)
Constant Contact pricing
- 30-day free trial
- Core plan (Starts from $9.99/month for 0-500 contacts and varies based on the number of contacts.)
- Plus (Starts from $45/month for 0-500 contacts and varies based on the number of contacts.
» MORE: Which Is Better For You, Aweber or ActiveCampaign?
Reasons to choose ActiveCampaign over Constant Contact
ActiveCampaign offers lots more automations than Constant Contact and is, in fact, known as an ‘automations powerhouse.’ Moreover, unlike Constant Contact, which has just about 4 trigger actions, ActiveCampaign has more than 20.
ActiveCampaign provides better list management functionality than Constant Contact, offering more advanced site-tracking and tagging features.
Although both software offer A/B Testing features, ActiveCampaign takes the lead with its more powerful A/B Testing feature that comes with robust testing capabilities.
ActiveCampaign offers a more detailed reporting and tracking feature than Constant Contact.
ActiveCampaign offers more scalability than Constant Contact.
Reasons to choose Constant Contact over ActiveCampaign
Constant Contact has far more highly-customizable templates (500+) than ActiveCampaign, which has just about 30.
Regarding the user interface, Constant Contact is relatively easier to use than ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign is packed with many features that may become overwhelming and confusing to a user.
Constant Contact offers more options for creating your landing pages and forms. It has a wide range of easy-to-use customizable landing page templates. ActiveCampaign doesn’t have a landing page builder.
Constant Contact offers more integrations that give you access to the tools you need for a successful campaign.
» MORE: ActiveCampaign Vs SendInBlue: Which Is Better For You?
Similarities between ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact
They both offer free trials and have no free plans.
They both offer A/B Testing features.
They both offer tracking and reporting features.
They both offer excellent support and knowledge base.
Both offer bulk editing and batch uploading.
Both support integrations and provide automations.
» MORE: Constant Contact Pricing : Complete Guide (Best Value Plans)
ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact alternatives
- GetResponse: GetResponse is excellent for email marketing, e-commerce marketing, and marketing automation. Unlike both ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact, GetResponse offers a Free Forever plan.
- MailerLite: Like Constant Contact, MailerLite offers an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder with amazing landing page tools and templates; however, MailerLite is cheaper than Constant Contact.
- EngageBay: EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing and CRM software, and unlike ActiveCampaign, EngageBay’s CRM is always free. Small businesses and start-ups will find EngageBay more cost-effective.
- Mailchimp: With Mailchimp, you can build and manage emails, landing pages, and social ads. It offers excellent segmentation that improves marketing results.
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ActiveCampaign vs. Constant Contact: Final verdict
Both ActiveCampaign and Constant Contact are great marketing software with amazing features. While they do share some similarities, each has areas where it is stronger than the other. For instance, although Constant Contact doesn’t compare to ActiveCampaign in terms of automations and triggers, Constant Contact has an overwhelming edge over ActiveCampaign with respect to pre-built templates. Also, while Constant Contact offers more integrations, ActiveCampaign offers greater CRM functionalities. Hence, your unique marketing needs and preferences determine which software is best for you. You should also consider your budget as they both have varying price points.
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FAQ
Can ActiveCampaign be used as a CRM?
Yes, it can. ActiveCampaign has an inbuilt CRM that lets you manage your business processes.
What is Constant Contact used for?
Constant Contact is an email marketing software used to create email marketing templates, build, automate and manage campaigns, and manage event invites and registrations.
Is ActiveCampaign better than Constant Contact?
The answer to this depends on your marketing needs and use cases because each has unique offerings that make it better for specific use cases.
Can I use Constant Contact for free?
Yes, you can use Constant Contact for free using the 30-day free trial offer. After that, you’ll be required to pay to continue enjoying the service.
Can I send messages through ActiveCampaign?
Yes, you can. ActiveCampaign has an SMS feature that lets you send automated SMS messages to your clients from your ActiveCampaign dashboard.
Why does Constant Contact go to spam?
It could be because you used spam-trigger words, your past email recipients have reported them as spam, your IP address has been reported for spam in the past, or your emails have low engagements.