When it comes to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), email marketing and ecommerce marketing, it seems that any number of options might suffice. In fact, the market is glutted with seemingly identical products with identical capabilities. How do you go about finding the best choice out there? When it comes to email marketing, CRM and ecommerce, you certainly need to know what’s out there and what features you need, such as emailing, lead nurturing and management, affiliate management and sales automation. Consider Infusionsoft – a low priced software solution that offers all of the above in one package. What stands out about InfusionSoft is that it bring together, your customer relationship mangement, marketing and sales. With a history dating back to 2001, the product certainly must offer customers something of value, even though the price point is relatively low for a CRM.

Infusionsoft offers a number of benefits for users. For instance, it provides web forms, outbound email and lead nurturing. This is important for numerous professionals. For instance, a blogger with multiple websites can easily manage all of them through this single program.

Even those who sell physical products can benefit. As an example, a florist seeking a means to increase customer satisfaction, repeat business and customer service was able to integrate InfusionSoft in her business. The program enabled her to provide automatic follow-ups with customers, setup appointment reminders, create targeted email promotions and more.

The program also offers lead scoring, though this is a bit less functional than other elements of the product. In addition, a skilled person can also integrate the API with SalesForce.com, though this is certainly not something that beginners will want to try.

InfusionSoft also provides a number of other features, such as the tiered membership system. For example, the lowest tier offers up to 10,000 leads and 25,000 emails. However, the next pricing tier offers 100,000 leads and 100,000 emails, in conjunction with other features such as sales automation, affiliate management and the aforementioned API.

Of course, this might all be overkill if you don’t truly need all of that functionality (but the increase in emails and leads is enticing!). The lower tier platform is ideal for those with a limited contact base not likely to expand in the near future, such as a high school. The higher tier platform is the best solution for those with a large contact base, or one that experiences constant growth. Examples of this would be a blog with 100,000 readers, a company engaged in an active, growing affiliate marketing and numerous others.

Within InfusionSoft, users can import lists and activate fax, phone or email broadcasts, as well as using direct mail features or even call center functionality. The CRM features lend themselves to telemarketing, though advanced telemarketing operations will want something a bit more specific and robust.

Users are also able to create landing pages within the program, but since InfusionSoft doesn’t host the program, it is necessary to export the HTML to their own sites after creation. This is an ideal solution for many, though. Consider the florist previously mentioned. She could easily create individual landing pages for use with her targeted email campaigns.

Infusionsoft users are also able to manage specific web-user permissions through the program. This allows administrators to set privileges for website visitors and regular users, as well as for other employees that make use of the software.

You will also find that the program offers some decent functionality when it comes to tracking marketing costs. With the ability to assign a fixed cost or a CPR to any lead, as well as the ability to add piece costs to messages inside sequences, the program is actually a bit better than some more expensive options on the market today.

In short, if you need e-mail marketing, a CRM, and eCommerce all working together in one automatic system, then Infusionsoft is right for you.

Pros:

• Simple and easy to use

• Very low learning curve

• Offers good functionality for the price

• Tiered pricing plans to fit any small business budget

• Incorporates numerous capabilities necessary for lead nurturing and increased profitability

• Pulls all yourmarketing efforts together

Cons:

• Tiered pricing may leave some users wanting more (i.e. those who opt for the lower price point because they don’t need the additional features might wish for the increased number of emails and leads)

• Missing some controls that are found with higher-priced options on the market

• No automated integration with SalesForce.com

• Lead scoring is basic at best and very limited

Alternatives to Infusionsoft:

Infusionsoft is a terrific tool, but it does lack some functionality that users might need. If you find yourself in this situation, there are two other programs that can offer you the functionality that InfusionSoft lacks – iContact, 1Shoppingcart, and SugarCRM both offer advanced functionality for those with a need for more robust support.

However, InfusionSoft remains the best choice for small to medium sized businesses who need a powerful CRM tool, but do not need the full functionality of the higher-end programs available on the market.

What do others think about InfusionSoft?

InfusionSoft offers most users a more than adequate experience. This software incorporates numerous common capabilities needed by online marketers, as well as several highly polished options that are often lacking with higher-end products. However, there are a few functions missing that you might require.

TheWebReviewer.com – “Infusionsoft IS the most powerful small business CRM tool in the business. “

GreasedSkid.com – “Having CRM, email, and shopping cart all integrated together is great! It really saves a bunch of time over trying to use separate systems.”

Free Trial: Try Infusionsoft Free For 15 Days

We compared iContract vs Constant Contract with our AR Appraisal Rankings® method

Our Choice: iContract

       1.  iContract

       2.  Constant Contract

Why?: iContract offers better support and reporting and best value for your money across all tiers.

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As ecommerce has exploded on the scene, so has the need for better marketing. Email marketing is one of the most powerful solutions for any online business, regardless of that business’ size or scope. However, finding the right email marketing solution can be quite time consuming. What makes a good program? What sets one option apart from another one?

To be a worthy contender, an email marketing program should offer you a simple way to build a contact list, as well as the ability to store a large number of contacts. In addition, you should look for email client integration (Outlook, and Outlook Express for example), as well as with other common tools like Excel. You should also be able to customize your contact list by demographics, or by any other criteria that you might need to use. Lastly, any email marketing program should give you the ability to increase deliverability while simultaneously reducing lost messages.

Out of the vast industry that has grown up, there are two top contenders – iContact and Constant Contact®. Both are email marketing programs that offer a full baseline of features. However, they are not created equal. iContact offers both better functionality and more advanced tools.

iContact

iContact is more than efficient and effective – it’s powerful and simple to use, as well. One of the most impressive things the program is capable of is the ability to create surveys. It can also help you manage the results of those surveys, which increases your ability to create two-way communication with your contacts.

iContact also offers a Spam Test feature that helps you reduce the number of lost messages and increase the deliverability of your emails. In this day of stringent spam guards, it is essential to your marketing that your emails not be perceived as spam.

Another high point to iContact is the easy ability to create new email campaigns. The program offers a systematic approach to doing this that takes the time, hassle and headache out of it. It offers HTML, plain text, webpage, template and other options for your consideration, as well as allowing you to preview the message before sending it out.

Pros:

• Simple and easy to use

• Powerful, class-leading features

• Autoresponder support

• Low price

Cons:

• Only .5 MB of image hosting is included

• Extremely advanced users may want more functions

Constant Contact

Constant Contact® is another prevailing email marketing solution for your needs. The program offers a good set of features, though not as many as iContact. In addition, it provides a good help system if you encounter problems while using the system.

Constant Contact® offers a very simple approach to email list creation, allowing you to import them from any email client. In addition, it offers you the ability to create different email lists through a systematic process. Email campaign creation is also solid, with the ability to edit and change templates as you wish.

However, Constant Contact® does not let you create web forms and their image hosting capacity is virtually nil. It also does not offer the same comprehensive reporting solutions found with iContact.

Pros:

• A solid, reliable program

• Offers a decent number of features

Cons:

• More expensive than other options

• Does not feature robust reporting

• Cannot create web forms

• Almost no image hosting (limit of 5 images)

And the Winner Is – iContact

As you might imagine, iContact<;/a> is the winner in this contest. The program offers better support, better reporting and all at a lower prices across all tiers. It also offers you numerous tools in the email campaign creation process. It's important to try both to see which will suite your needs, but given our research, we select iContact as the clear winner.

What others say about iContact:

TopTenReviews.com – “With a complete lineup of tools, easy to use interface, and several innovative features, iContact is the best email marketing service we’ve seen.”

EmailHQ.org – “Manufactured by Broadwick Corporation, the iContact email marketing service provides uncomplicated and clear-cut features designed for today’s modern growing businesses.”

CompareCRM.com – “iContact allows businesses, non-profit organizations, and associations to easily create, publish, and track email newsletters, surveys, blogs, autoresponders, and RSS feeds.”

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