Tag Archive for: tool

Constant Contact Review

Constant Contact Review 2

Constant Contact is not new to the industry, and has been around since 1995! Since its inception, the service has established itself as one of the premiere email tools provider, serving over 650,000 customers.

What is really interesting about this service is that it boasts several great features, the kind that its competitors have failed to deliver. This includes features like social campaigns, surveys and an event management tool. These features add value to an already diverse email service. If that it is not enough, it also boasts an elaborate marketplace featuring 400 integrations and apps. Despite these flash features and numbers, Constant Contact’s popularity is on a decline, as evident from Google Trends.

If you were wondering whether Constant Contact is worth your money and time, then you are at the right place. This review will aim to answer all your questions, so read on to learn more.

Pros

  • Niche Features

There are some interesting features that here, like event management, that will come in handy for businesses in particular.

  • Exceptional Deliverability Rates

Based on deliverability test results, Constant Contact offers exceptional deliverability rates.

Cons

  • Poor Price to Performance Ratio

The price for the newsletter tool is too high compared to what is being offered.

  • Limited Automation

When it comes to automation, you will get the basics. It misses the mark by failing to provide flexible and sophisticated workflows.  

Is Constant Contact Right for You?

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+ For Individuals and Businesses that Run Events

Constant Contact is unique in terms of how it is one of the few email marketing tools that gives you the ability to manage registration, tickets and invitations. Although you will need to opt for the Email Plus Plan.

For those that Require Advanced Automation

Even though Constant Contact charges a premium, it does not offer the kind of automation you would expect from such a service.  They do offer abandoned cart campaigns, autoresponders and triggered campaigns, but you will find cheaper tools offering the same kind of automation.

If you take a look at Constant Contact’s website, you will realize it is a tool for small businesses, for which reason it should be evaluated as such. As already mentioned earlier, the service does cover the basics, which is great for small businesses only.

The problem these days is that there are dozens of email tools that offer a lot more than what Constant Contact brings to the table, and they are quite cheap as well. If you are willing to pay for this email tool, you will fare better sticking to more powerful tools like GetResponse and ActiveCamapign.

The email tool does score a few points for its deliverability rates, social media integrations and giving users varying levels of access. But with recent enhancement to marketing reporting and automation, it does not seem as though the team behind Constant Contact is determined or willing to put in the effort required to improve the product. Considering the price point, Constant Contact is not easy to recommend.

AWeber Review

AWeber Review 5

It is worth noting Aweber Communication first started operations in 1998. It was founded by Tom Kulzer, and since then it has grown into a company with 110 employees. When it comes to AWeber itself, it is a modern and robust program for businesses that want to send their subscribers the same message. Basically, it is an autoresponder, which is easy to setup by the way. It is well explained and intuitive, giving users a ton of options to play around with.

If you are wondering whether Aweber is perfect for your business and its requirements, then this review will provide you the valuable insight needed to make an informed decision with ease.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use
  • Numerous templates
  • Customizable set of features
  • Excellent customer support

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Poor user interface

Is AWeber Right for your Business?

If you want to give AWeber a test run, you will be pleased to know they do offer a 30-day free trial. The trial is restricted to 500 subscribers though. Once the trial is over, you will have to pay up. If you pay for 3 months, you will save $8. If you opt the yearly plan, you will end up saving $34.

AWeber is cloud based, and support all popular browsers and operating systems. The service is easy-to-use. In fact, it finds a great balance between robust functionality and ease-of-use. There are some great features, more specifically in the autoresponder department. The navigation is intuitive enough so that carrying out basic tasks will be a breeze. If there is ever a time when assistance is required, AWeber does not disappoint with the amount of guidance it provides online.

As for its offerings, there is a plain text editor, drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor and an HTML editor. There are 700+ templates to choose from, some of which are customizable. Before sending emails, they can be previewed, but it lacks options to see how it will look on various mobile devices or email clients.

Once you have started a mailing campaign, you will have to wait a while before you can get your hands on your stats. An hour after mailing, the results will start pouring in, enough to provide Quick Stats.

The customer support team is very helpful, they are friendly and prompt at solving queries. The response time can vary anywhere between 20 minutes to six hours. Support resources to look out for include phone, chat, email and live support.

Overall, AWeber has plenty to offer. It is particularly useful to companies that use autoresponders quite often. The autoresponder series set up is the simplest and most intuitive out of them all. Once it is running in the background, no further human interaction is required to keep the ball rolling.

The main weaknesses of AWeber is that it is not great for big companies. Small companies that can do without the bells and whistles should do without them and not pay for them. Also, while cancelling an account, make sure the account is not being temporarily suspended.

MailerLite Review 2023

MailerLite Review 2023 9

When it comes to email marketing, MailerLite is new to the industry. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, as its youth reflect throughout its features and design. It is not fun, crazy or young in any way, but is more simple, clean and modern. This could be one of the biggest reasons why it has made quite the impression, and continues to do so for office going individuals.

MailerLite’s staff and values make it out to be an international tool than other options out there. The interface comes with support for 8 languages, which is more than any other email marketing tool out there.

Despite MailerLite’s simplicity, they still manage to deliver a myriad of options for things like form options and newsletters. If that is not all, it also features a simple and fast editor, which is really a steal if you opt for their “Free Forever” plan. Even though everything looks hunky dory, let’s take a closer look at whether or not MailerLite will meet your expectations let alone exceed them.

Pros

Free Plan

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You will be pleased to know the free plan has a lot of features to keep you coming back for more, not excluding marketing automation. It does lack some useful features though, like newsletter templates for instance.

Ease-of-Use

One of the best things about this service is its simple and clean interface. It works well for advanced and new users alike.

Landing Page Editor

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The landing page editor is a unique feature, it allows users to design and create their own landing pages on your own domain hosted by MailerLite.

Cons

Lacks Pro Features

The prices may be great, but MailerLite does lack a few pro features, such as advanced automations, design/spam testing and full reporting.

Is MailerLite Right for You?

+ Perfect for Freelancers and Small Businesses

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MailerLite is perfect for those that are on a budget, and it manages to do more than just newsletters. Features to expect include contact tagging, automation workflows and segmentation. As mentioned earlier, there is even a landing page editor, so you can run the most sophisticated of campaigns imaginable.

+ For Bloggers and Creatives

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Apart from its reasonable pricing plans, MailerLite comes packed with features specifically designed for bloggers, including video marketing, WordPress integration and RSS campaigns.

+ New to the Scene

The interface is simple, the navigation is intuitive, and the email editor is easy-to-use. Basically, MailerLite is a great choice for anyone who is getting started with email marketing for their very first time.

Lacks Comprehensive Reporting

When it comes to reports, don’t go expecting something out of the ordinary. You will get the standard reports you would expect from just about any email marketing tool i.e. stats for clicks, opens etc. and purchase tracking for WooCommerce and Shopify. It does not offer social tracking, though.

Automations is a Requirement

Automate workflows can be set up based on a few triggers, but it lacks automatons for advanced triggers, which is essential in this day and age.

When it comes to user experience, MailerLite shines through and through. It is perfect for small business needs, and is a lot cheaper than other tools out there. It does have its drawbacks though, as automations are not as many as they should be.  The “Forever Free” plan was a favorite, not anymore though as they have limited some of their features.

All in all, MailerLite is simpler than most tools available out there, and if that is all you are looking for, then you need not look any further.

Instapage Review 2023

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Building an optimized landing page is not exactly a piece of cake. As a designer, you will need to review the page time and time again, and make changes even if necessary. Things do not have to be this way anymore, as there are numerous tools online that will help you create a great landing page, that too without having any knowledge about coding at all. One of those tools is Instapage, which lets you build landing pages with amazing optimization features and useful integrations.

If you are wondering how Instapage works, and if it is worth your time and money, then read on to learn more about it.

Instapage Offerings

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First and foremost, it is important you find out everything there is to know about Instapage and its offerings, which are:

  • Drag and Drop Landing Page Builder

The drag and drop landing page builder is not the same as WordPress’ builders – it is not grid-based. But the tool will help you drag and drop each element precisely where you want it.

  • Widgets

With the help of widgets, you can insert elements like countdown timers, CTA buttons, and much more.

  • Customizable Templates

With 200+ customizable templates, you will not need to start from scratch.

  • Access to Bigstock Images

Since you have access to a staggering 33 million Bigstock images, you can insert these images as you desire. Do keep in mind though; you will need to pay for each image individually.

  • Useful Analytics

If you want to track your progress based on numbers, you will feel right at home with Instapage. You will get everything from Google Tag Manager, A/B Testing, Heatmaps, and more.

  • Detailed Asset Delivery and Form Builder

No matter what type of form you want to create, you can create them all, not excluding multi-step forms. You can connect them to a number of different integrations as well.

  • AMP Support

With the help of the drag and drop feature mentioned above, design Google AMP landing pages with ease.

  • Highly Detailed Attribution Data

Apart from analytics, you can connect Instapage to Google AdWords and other similar services for integration attribution data like price data or AdWords campaigns.

Instapage Benefits

Seeing how integrations are important for websites these days, you will get numerous integration options with Instapage. This way, you can stay connected to all your customers through all possible venues. You can integrate over 20 marketing tools, which may be more than you actually need.

With Instapage, you will have designs that will respond well to mobile devices. This is important because a huge portion of internet users use smartphones and tablets than desktop computers or laptops. Due to this, you will see your conversion rates increase considerably in a short amount of time, because your customers will get a better online experience while browsing your website after all.

To work with a particular template, you can import it from any landing page you find interesting within minutes. Instapage will automatically replicate the design for you, but in a way that you can customize it as you see fit. If you dish out limited time offers every now and then, you can even add countdown timers. This is a great marketing strategy to ensure customers make the most of the limited time offer before they lose out on the unique opportunity for good.

By opting for Instapage, you will not be limited to a certain number of visitors that can visit your website on a monthly basis. Once your website starts doing well, and you gain more visitors, you will not be limited in any way.

In case you do run across a problem, Instapage’s customer support team will be more than willing to help you out. You can get your queries sorted so that your website does not have to suffer in the long run.

Instapage Pricing & Plans

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Before you check out what pricing plans Instapage has to offer, it is worth noting that you can take advantage of its 14-day free trial before you actually commit to them for a longer duration. Only when you are satisfied, you can opt for either of Instapage’s four enterprise and SMB plans, which are:

1. Core – $69 or $79 per month

  • Collaboration in real time
  • 20+ integrations
  • Mobile-responsive landing page builder

2. Optimizer – $99 or $129 per month

  • Includes all Core Features
  • Heatmaps
  • Dynamic Text Replacement
  • Advertising Attribution
  • Unlimited A/B Testing

3. Team & Agency – $179 or $229 per month

  • Includes all Optimizer Features
  • Branded Lead Notifications
  • Audit Log
  • 15 Private Sub-Accounts

4. Enterprise – Contact Instapage for a Quote

  • All Team & Agency Features
  • Advanced Publishing
  • Professional Services
  • Migration Services
  • Customer Success Manager

Is Instapage Worth It?

There is no doubt Instapage is a powerful tool. In fact, it is even better than most WordPress page builders that you will come across.

Instapage is not only powerful, accessible and easy-to-use, but it is especially great for beginners. With this tool, you actually have the power to place things where you desire.

The tool is by far not the cheapest one out there, but you will not be disappointed if you wanted an optimization-oriented and high-powered landing page builder.