ActiveCampaign’s CRM supports highly granular, conditional-branching logic (if/then statements based on site visits or lead scores), which is significantly more complex than the template-based automations found in Brevo and Mailchimp. It has a high degree of automation, sending emails based on a deal’s pipeline stage without additional input from me.
(Credit: ActiveCampaign/PCMag)
It also includes a built-in, AI-driven lead scoring system that uses predictive AI to remove the manual tedium and guesswork of conventional lead scoring. Conventional lead scoring assigns a point value to actions that might lead to a sale, like clicking a link or visiting a pricing page. When a threshold is reached, sales steps in.
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This is a valuable tool, but it has its share of flaws. For example, a lead can accrue hundreds of points just by being a digital window shopper, with no intention to buy. With predictive lead scoring, AI automatically analyzes past customer data to identify patterns that may lead to conversion. There is no guesswork or assumptions like in conventional lead scoring: predictive scoring uses machine learning to identify what actually drives sales. This is an especially powerful tool, similar to HubSpot’s “Likelihood to Close” and Salesforce’s “Einstein AI.” However, it is only available with ActiveCampaign’s Professional and Enterprise plans.
ActiveCampaign has a steeper learning curve as a result, since it is designed for multi-layered workflows rather than simple contact management. The CRM also integrates a sales pipeline tool that bridges marketing actions with sales tasks, adding another layer of complexity. When you factor hundreds of integrations and pre-built automation “recipes,” the result is a beefy CRM that can easily intimidate non-technical newbies.
On the flipside, ActiveCampaign is less complex than the services offered by the enterprise-level HubSpot Marketing Hub because, while the former has robust email-centric management, the latter provides advanced sales operations tools that underpin the platform, such as forecasting, sales playbooks, and complex lead rotation. HubSpot also has built-in social media management tools that ActiveCampaign lacks. HubSpot is a business-wide platform with workflows for all departments, not just marketing, unlike ActiveCampaign.
