iContact vs Act-On

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared iContact vs Act-On based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Marketing Automation Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

iContact Software Tool
Act-On Software Tool

Product Basics

iContact is an email automation and marketing tool geared towards small and medium-sized businesses running Windows, MacOS and Linux. It offers several standard features, with a distinct focus on email features and easy-to-use technology. These include templates, a drag-and-drop editor, automation, A/B testing, list segmentation and campaigns.

It also comes bundled with a handful of additional features to support marketing and sales activities, such as reporting, landing pages, sign-up forms and a free email lookbook.
read more...

Established in 2008, Act-On is a comprehensive platform that offers marketing professionals all the standard features in an automation tool, alongside several other unique features.

Sophisticated email automation, landing page construction, analytics, automated campaigns, useful templates, and social channels are just some of the features that are available to users. This product is ideal for medium to large enterprises, especially those that have dedicated marketing departments.

read more...
$8.50 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$1,000 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Automate Funnels: Streamline all levels of the marketing funnel, taking the work of a whole marketing team and automating it. 
  • Manage Subscribers: Easily access and manage contacts list, facilitating healthy relationships with the right leads. 
  • Boost Sales: Nurture leads and pass them along to sales with included CRM integrations. 
  • Unlimited Users: Onboard unlimited new users at no additional cost. 
read more...
  • Make Sense of Digital Breadcrumbs: Better track and score campaigns with this piece of software. This tool helps marketers attain a high-level overview of their campaigns and enterprises.
  • Inbound Marketing: Act-On provides support for inbound marketing techniques, enabling users to organically and dynamically pull in leads from across channels.
  • Outbound Marketing: Automated campaigns, lead scoring and list management are built into the software to support outbound marketing techniques and conversion tracking.
  • Sales Effectiveness: The software helps to unify sales and marketing teams effectively by providing a sales-funnel overview and campaign attribution, assisting users in scoring their leads.
read more...
  • Email Builder: A no-code interface is included, making it easy to build effective emails without any programming experience. 
  • Automatic Email: Running without user intervention, it can accurately deliver emails on time. 
  • Scalable Templates: Built to be delivered efficiently, effectively and to display correctly on mobile or desktop platforms. 
  • Time-Based Campaigns: Create and map out time-based campaigns in a short amount of time by utilizing multiple email templates and building platforms.  
  • A/B Testing: Test content performance and customer reception by splitting email campaigns into groups. 
  • Email Lookbook: Select from 55 prebuilt email designs, free of cost, that have been proven to generate high ROI.
  • List Segmentation: Send relevant and personalized emails using audience segmentation, increase subscription chances by creating and targeting audience lists based on defined conditions, and send dynamic content by incorporating merge fields into messaging. 
  • Reporting: Stay informed with updates about campaigns through dashboards, make informed business decisions with real-time reports, and track and analyze data using granular reports. 
  • Integrations: Integrates with major platforms such as Google Forms, HubSpot CRM, Salesforce, PayPal, Zoho CRM, WordPress, Zapier, Magento, Shopify, LeadsBridge and more. 
  • Sign-Up Forms: Create forms quickly using an easy interface and embed them on a website or business Facebook page.  
  • Salesforce Mass Email: Gain insights into campaign effectiveness through reports and dashboards, send personalized emails using templates, track opens and clicks, and explore customers’ response to email campaigns. 
read more...
  • CRM Integration: Act-On can integrate with SalesForce, Microsoft Dynamics, SugarCRM, NetSuite, Infor and Simpleview. Using any of these integrated CRMs, marketers can engage segmented contacts through targeted account activity.
  • Account-Based Marketing Automation: Account profiles provide an overview of accounts and buyer behaviors, giving users a clear picture of aggregate customer behavior.
  • Progressive Profiling: Collect information without making customers fill out a large number of forms. Adaptive forms, which present and collect information incrementally over time, help users gain valuable insights without being intrusive.
  • Targeted Email Automation: With easy-to-use templates, code-free interfaces and a diverse template catalog, users have access to a variety of content to push out through automated email campaigns. Act-On also integrates its analytics platform into its email outreach, letting users track open rates and measure success.
  • Report Sharing: The solution’s analytics platform can generate robust and interactive reports for users to easily share with decisionmakers.
  • Data Studio: This program comes equipped with an analytical engine called Data Studio, which can pull data from a variety of sources such as CSV, Excel, Amazon, Google and Microsoft Azure.
  • Social Media Engagement: Build brand awareness with automated social posting and metrics aggregation. Act-On’s content curation engine provides insights into content that can generate higher levels of engagement for a user’s business.
read more...

Product Ranking

#17

among all
Marketing Automation Software

#50

among all
Marketing Automation Software

Find out who the leaders are

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 2227 reviews
Great User Sentiment 656 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

iContact has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 2227 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

84%
of users recommend this product

Act-On has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 84% when considering 656 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.1 (1069)
n/a
4.48 (548)
4.26 (250)
4.5 (521)
n/a
3.8 (4)
n/a
4.0 (85)
4.15 (406)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Email Automation: Equipped with every essential feature, the tool enables quick email sending, keeping track of delivered mails, mass emails, marketing campaigns and more, according to 97% of reviewers referencing it.
Ease of Use: The system is easy to learn, understand and use, note 96% of reviewers referencing user-friendliness.
Templates: Almost 75% of reviewers mentioning templates report that well-designed, customizable templates help save time and auto-answer templates help deliver emails designed for all devices.
Interface: A clear, pleasant and clean interface is a benefit to 81% of reviewers who mention it.
Support: Every user mentioning this aspect notes that customer service is fast and attentive.
Feature-Rich: Features like A/B testing, automation, email subscriber entity management, multi-user accessibility and a drag-and-drop editor are a plus, in the experience of every user referencing them.
Show more
Intuitive Interface: Act-On's user-friendly interface streamlines campaign creation and management, reducing the learning curve for users.
Robust Reporting: Advanced reporting capabilities provide detailed insights into campaign performance, allowing users to track results and optimize future efforts.
Email Marketing Automation: Automated email sequences nurture leads, deliver targeted content, and improve campaign efficiency.
Social Media Integration: Act-On seamlessly integrates with social media platforms, enabling users to manage campaigns and track engagement across multiple channels.
Excellent Customer Support: Act-On provides responsive and knowledgeable customer support, ensuring users receive assistance when needed.
Show more
Cost: It has a high cost for the few tools offered, and it’s also expensive to use large volumes of data, according to almost 80% of users mentioning pricing.
Limitations: Every user talking about this aspect mentions limitations such as limited storage and email customization, difficulty in fixing mistakes, deleting files, adding contacts and spell check.
Show more
Unintuitive Interface: Act-On's user interface is often criticized for being complex and difficult to navigate, leading to a steep learning curve for new users.
Limited Integrations: Act-On lacks integrations with popular third-party applications, making it challenging to connect with other systems used in the marketing ecosystem.
Costly: Act-On's pricing can be prohibitive for small businesses and startups, with limited flexibility in pricing options.
Lack of Reporting Capabilities: Users have reported that Act-On's reporting features are limited, making it difficult to gain insights into campaign performance.
Poor Customer Support: Some users have experienced delays and unsatisfactory responses from Act-On's customer support team.
Show more

iContact provides email automation and marketing tools in an easy-to-use interface. It offers a wide range of features and offers a lot of options to make interesting designs and templates. It also has a prompt customer service team according to most reviewers. However, the pricing is on the higher side and there are certain limitations that prevent users from getting the most out of the solution. Overall, it has a lot to offer for email marketing, with use-friendly tools that are great for small and medium businesses, though there are more robust platforms available.

Show more

Act-On consistently receives high praise for its intuitive user interface, which allows marketers to quickly create and automate campaigns without extensive training. It is also lauded for its robust reporting capabilities, which provide detailed insights into campaign performance. However, some users have reported occasional bugs and glitches, and its customer support has been criticized for being slow to respond at times. Compared to competitors like HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Act-On is often seen as a more affordable and user-friendly option, particularly for small and mid-sized businesses. Its focus on ease of use and affordability sets it apart from more complex and expensive solutions. Act-On's intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create automated workflows, and its pre-built templates help users get started quickly. Overall, Act-On is a solid choice for businesses looking for an affordable and easy-to-use marketing automation solution. Its strengths lie in its user-friendly interface, robust reporting capabilities, and affordability. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of more expensive solutions, it offers a comprehensive suite of features that can meet the needs of most businesses.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Marketing Automation Software


ActiveCampaign

AWeber

Brevo

Constant Contact

Eloqua

GetResponse

HubSpot

Keap

Klaviyo

Mailchimp

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Marketo

Omnisend

Ortto

Sendinblue

SharpSpring

Zoho Marketing Automation

Related Categories

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings