New business owners try to keep everything as lean and simple as possible when starting out. When you’ve only got a handful of customers, there’s no reason yet to adapt complicated tools and systems. A simple excel spreadsheet that organises your contacts could do the job.
However, as soon as your business starts to gain momentum, the manual processes become a roadblock to fast business growth. It is at this point that most entrepreneurs look for solutions that can support their expansion.
An invaluable tool for every business is a CRM – or customer relationship management platform. It’s a software tool that stores your prospect’s and customer’s contact information and tracks every interaction with them.
In this blog post, we want to show you why a CRM is indispensable for your business and compare two of the most popular tools in the market: Active Campaign and Infusionsoft By Keap.
Why you need a CRM
If you’re considering investing in a CRM, then ask yourself a simple question: Do you want to grow your business? We guess the answer is a resounding “Yes, of course!” Your ability to expand will depend on contacting your leads at the right time and providing them with the information they need to make a purchasing decision. You simply can’t do this effectively without a CRM.
A CRM is a centralised place to store all your prospect’s and customer’s data in a structured way. You won’t need to manually search through email conversations anymore to find out what the last touchpoint with a lead was. The full history is there for you to access at any time. This reduces the chances for errors. Imagine a client receiving the same information twice. That would make your company look unprofessional.
Besides, a CRM platform helps you automate your sales and marketing processes. You can set up simple automated email sequences that keep your prospects and clients engaged throughout their customer lifecycle. This saves you a lot of time and will ultimately allow you to scale your business to the next level.
Which CRM is right for you?
Many business owners agonise over the decision for a CRM tool. And that’s absolutely understandable. It’s an investment in your business, and you want to make the right decision. Once you’ve committed to one tool, you’re less likely to switch to another one (it can be done though). We will compare two of the most popular tools in the market, Active Campaign and Infusionsoft By Keap, based on their functionality, ease of use, and price to make the decision easier for you.
Functionality
Active Campaign’s main features include email marketing, marketing automation, sales, and messaging. That means you can easily create targeted, automated emails that’ll reach your prospects and customers at the right time. When you want to reach out personally, the tool integrates with your email service provider to track all interactions. It integrates with 250+ apps that’ll let you manage your full customer lifecycle. In addition, with the messaging feature, you can connect with your audiences not only via email, but also via SMS, Facebook Ads, and messages directly on your website.
Infusionsoft By Keap basically offers the same core functionalities plus a few more. You can directly create quotes and invoices in Infusionsoft By Keap and have your clients pay them. Plus, you have an in-built scheduling feature through which your prospects can easily book a time with you. Infusionsoft By Keap provides you with 230+ integrations to other apps you might use in your business.
Ease of Use
The two tools are very different in this aspect. If you’re new to CRM platforms and their functionality, you might find Active Campaign easier to use. It does a good job of guiding the user meticulously through every step of setting up sequences and automations. However, more advanced users might find going through these setup processes time-consuming and tedious. Active Campaign also doesn’t leave much room for customisation.
Infusionsoft By Keap, on the other hand, can require a steep learning curve from the user. When you follow their training, though, you can be up and running pretty quickly. The interface allows building sequences very quickly with simple drag-and-drop. Infusionsoft By Keap offers a great variety of options for customisation. Almost any process you can dream up can be built in this tool.
Pricing
Pricing for Active Campaign starts as low as USD 9 per month for up to 500 contacts and the basic functionality. That’s a low threshold to get started. The price will increase if you have more contacts and require more functionality. In any case, Active Campaign offers a free migration service that’ll transfer all your data from other platforms into their tool.
Infusionsoft By Keap starts at USD 199 per month, which includes free migration. If this seems a little steep, consider that we, as a certified partner, can provide you with a sizable discount. Also, Infusionsoft By Keap typically requires you to purchase a one-time setup for USD 499. But when you sign up with us, this setup fee is waived. Besides, we will help you get the most out of your new CRM. You will receive valuable training and can be off to a great start immediately.
Both tools offer free trials, so you could test drive them risk-free.
Infusionsoft By Keap vs. Active Campaign: Pros and Cons
Both CRM platforms are powerful all-in-one tools for sales and marketing automation. They are perfect for small businesses who are looking to scale and grow quickly. Here’s a direct comparison in terms of the pros and cons of both tools.
Which one will you choose?
Which tool is the right one for you will depend on your preferences and business goals. If you’re still on the fence about which platform to use, we can help you make the right decision.
We are certified partners of Infusionsoft By Keap, Keap, and Active Campaign so we can set you up with the best option for your business.
Why not schedule a FREE Business Automation Call with us and we can discuss how a CRM can help you automate and grow your business?
