iContact

Avantages

iContact is easy to use in most cases. There are tons of different templates and creating your own email template is a breeze. If you get one of the Pro plans they'll even help you make templates for future use, so that's great, too.

There are plenty of ways to upload data and keep track of that data. In fact I tend to use iContact to export my data for use on other platforms because it keeps everything so nicely. My point of sale doesn't even allow the breadth of exports and options that iContact does, so it's more than just an email platform to me.

Automation is visually very simple and means that I know I'm reaching my audience at the correct times. I no longer have to manually send each email, and with the automation there are tons of options to segment in addition. This means I'm not sending frivolous emails, so that keeps our open rate high.

Inconvénients

I have three businesses that have to be kept separate and my only big complaint is that I can't copy automation plans or other things back and forth between them. So a lot of time is wasted redoing certain campaigns between the locations.

I also think the social connectivity needs to be updated. Twitter for one is outdated and the actual website allows much more text to be posted than in-app. They're several updates behind on Twitter.

Avantages

When I want to send out an email, I go into my list of prior emails, make changes, and send. It's very easy. It has all of the functionality we need for sending out bulk emails.

Inconvénients

The editor is a bit clunky. It does take a bit of time to create a new email format. Sometimes it doesn't behave like it is supposed to. But once you save that new format you can use it over and over.

Avantages

The new email templates are nice and easy to use once you get the hang of it. The analytics and insights are helpful in gauging how many people are seeing our messages. I also like the ease with which we can add and remove contacts.

Inconvénients

The new templates are easier to use than the original email layout, but there are an awful lot of steps in the formatting. I feel like that process could be streamlined. Also, I understand that our account doesn't allow for tons of file storage, but it would be nice if the individual file/asset upload size was a bit bigger. I also think that there could be a more user-friendly way to re-verify contacts. We have over 8,000 contacts we email regularly but the process to re-verify contacts to keep our lists healthy is really confusing.

Avantages

It's extremely easy to deploy automated marketing campaigns, newsletters, quick information to your target audience using this platform. I enjoyed the ease of use in terms of sending out an email. It's nice for small business owners who don't have the time, energy, or resources to allocate to figuring out an email marketing platform.

Inconvénients

I love this platform, but it's extremely out-of-date compared to other email platforms. For example, it's impossible to edit a template. For it being 2022, I would assume this would be easier from a user-friendly perspective.

Avantages

For me it had to be easy. We use iContact not only for our own email marketing but also for dozens of clients who we do newsletters for. That means, we can be managing 50+ accounts at one time. That is a feature that was non negotiable.

We had to make sure that the data wasn't commingled among clients and that each client could have their own account access info and get their own reports, etc. Ease was critical as we have different aged clients with different levels of technology knowledge.

Inconvénients

I don't have any pet peeves with this product. I've been using it for 10 years so I'm coming up with zero cons.