Building a solid email list and engaging with regular contact with the recipients is crucial. It helps to ensure that they are always up to date with any news you may wish to share. Email can also be a great tool for making customers aware of deals or offers, and putting a time limit on these. This process is also an important part of building a trustworthy long-term relationship between consumer and brand.
With this in mind, email automation has been a rapidly growing market for a while, and there are a whole host of services and providers to choose from. Some of these names are painfully familiar for anyone who has run the gauntlet of email automation; GetResponse, AWeber, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Drip…there is a high chance you will have either been on the receiving end of one of these or grappled with it yourself.
Now, stressed business owners and marketers can enjoy Actionetics: an email marketing solution designed to work in your favour.
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What Is Actionetics?
Are you sick and tired of having to search across multiple problems for your email needs? Looking for a succinct, all-in one solution?
Welcome to Actionetics!
Actionetics is an email marketing automation platform, which works hand in hand with ClickFunnels.
It offers an interesting option for those looking to integrate their software and streamline their technology.
Rather than having to worry about multiple contacts and brands, you can save time and effort with all your email needs in one place.
How Does It Work?
Actionetics is not only fairly new to the email automation game, but to ClickFunnels itself, joining the line in 2015. In many ways, the operation is identical to other email services; you can store contacts, generate new email lists, and send out any automated or broadcast emails. You can also judge contact engagement through the ‘Action Score’, and receive vital data and figures.
There are a few points to bear in mind; the integration with ClickFunnels is complete; there is no option to embed a form to a WordPress site or combine Actionetics with Thrive Leads, OptinMonster or any other popular lead generation software.
In addition, only sales funnels created using the ClickFunnels tech will be compatible, and part of this requires integration with a separate SMTP service before you will actually be able to send out emails.
As with any option, there are some major pros and cons to the tool, and it is important to understand these before you commit to the new product.
What’s Inside?
If you take the step to upgrade your ClickFunnels account and join the Actionetics family, there are four main areas of the site you will be interacting with; Contacts, Email Lists, Broadcasts and Action Funnels. Each section is simple, clear and easy to access, and the overall process helps put marketers firmly back in charge.
What Are The Advantages?
So just what helps to set Actionetics apart from the competition? To help you decide, we have put together the main advantages below.
Increased number of contacts
Most email providers will offer a pricing structure which sees the cost increase significantly as the number of contacts you add grows; Actionetics does not charge based on the number of contacts in your account.
As an example, Ontraport will cost you $297 per month once you have just 10,000 contacts, while ActiveCampaign will set you back $399 per month for 25,000 on their Plus Plan – and these are pretty small numbers once you have started to take your email marketing seriously. This can quickly add up to a significant figure, and see your profit dwindling with each new contact.
Actionetics, on the other hand, will allow you to add unlimited contacts at no extra cost – a real plus point.
Creation of SmartLists
The ability to create an email list is not exclusive to Actionetics, but the chance to generate SmartLists is. This is a tool which does the hard work for you and will add or remove contacts from a list, according to the rules you set.
These rules could be around:
- Contact – matching a contact using their Action Score, email and name
- Funnel Rules – matching a contact who has reached a certain step within the funnel.
- Email Step Rules – this allows you to match to a contact who has opened a specific email in the funnel
- Product Rules – matching a customer who has purchased a specific product.
This trick is a huge time saver, and allows you to automatically segment emails to reach their destination, with no extra effort on your part – simply select the option for ‘Smart Lists’ when creating a new email list.
The benefits are huge; you can create an exclusive ‘VIP List’, or a ‘Special Offer’ for those who are stuck at a certain stage or have purchased your product.
Email delivery is far more flexible
Most email providers on the market will take charge of actually sending the emails themselves. Actionetics differ in their approach by relying on a separate SMTP service to send the emails, and this allows a much greater degree of flexibility across the whole process.
Providers such as MailChimp or ActiveCampaign can restrict the type of email marketing you can provide; for example blocking affiliate emails. A separate SMTP service negates this concern, leaving you free to send the type of marketing which is best for your business.
It can also help to avoid issues with deliverability; unlike some other providers, not sharing a server means that you cannot be negatively impacted by the actions or emails of other users.
Greater flexibility with Action Funnels
Actionetics also allow a greater level of flexibility when creating Action Funnels; Actionetics way of creating automations.
The Actions available include integration with third-party services such as Shopify or Facebook, helping to create a smooth, seamless experience for customers. Business owners will also be able to maximize their use of Facebook Ads by adding contacts who can later be retargeted with ads, saving you time and increasing exposure.
Super user-friendly
One of the major advantages to Actionetics is that it is simple, clear and user-friendly. There are a wide variety of practical guides on the site which are invaluable, and there are plenty of options for chat support.
The Downsides
Actionetics is a tool which can be a valuable asset to busy business owners. It allows huge flexibility and interaction, as well as a whole host of useful time-saving tips and tricks.
As with any new venture, however, there are some disadvantages to bear in mind, and these are mainly focused on those who value creativity and flexibility as major priorities in their marketing campaigns. When it comes to individuality and flexibility, Actionetics does fall down in a way which could be an issue for some users.
You are totally dependent on ClickFunnels
Actionetics is hopelessly devoted to ClickFunnels, and this means that you will be too. Everything works together seamlessly, and this has pros and cons. As long as you are happy integrating everything through the service this is not a major issue.
It could, however, be tricky if you move away from the service in the future. In this event, you would need to move all contacts and data across manually. While not impossible, this is a time-consuming and tedious process and can be frustrating.
Small lists could cost you
Actionetics will not charge you extra for having a huge email list. This is obviously a benefit for those lucky enough to be in such a position, but those with smaller lists may struggle to justify the $297 price tag.
No scope for custom fields
Other email services will provide extensive support for adding your own custom fields. For users more used to greater flexibility and freedom, this could be a frustrating omission.
So Is It Worth It?
So, is Actionetics really worth the ClickFunnels upgrade, not to mention the $297 price tag?
The short answer is that it really depends on your business.
There are a lot of advantages to Actionetics, mostly focused around convenience and ease of use.
On the plus side, you can integrate all your marketing tools into one system. Users can also take the chance to automatically segment email lists. You will also not be charged for a big list – all major benefits.
On the other hand, smaller businesses may struggle to see the benefits in exchange for a high price tag, considering the range of alternative providers. Moving away from ClickFunnels could also be a headache, and this could be a deal-breaker for some customers.
It is important to consider the individual needs of your business, and the extent to which you rely on email marketing. Budget is the major sticking point of the product, and could leave smaller set-ups out of pocket rather than helping them save.
In Conclusion
When used correctly Actionetics is a tool which can transform the way you engage with and reach consumers. Complex tasks can be automated and simplified, saving valuable time and effort – this is a real bonus for anyone! Business owners can work smarter not harder, and the customers are the ones who reap the rewards.
While perhaps not a good fit for smaller companies, Actionetics is a serious tool for transforming marketing. In the right pair of hands, this is well worth a try!
