Act-On Software vs. Retainly

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act-On
Score 8.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Act-On is an adaptive marketing platform designed to drive personal and purposeful multi-channel marketing. Its foci are inbound and outbound marketing, for enabling a tighter alignment with sales and turning data into actionable insights.
$900
per month
Retainly
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Retainly is an automated engagement platform that helps businesses maximize customer retention. The app enables users to automate emails, web push notifications, and SMS messages to retain customers and drive lifetime value. Retention & LTV: Increasingly business leaders are expecting marketing and product teams to play a key role in the growth – and customer retention is the critical platform on which…N/A
Pricing
Act-On SoftwareRetainly
Editions & Modules
Professional
$900
per month
Enterprise
$2,000+
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act-OnRetainly
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThe Professional package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. The Enterprise allows for much more customization, the package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. Annual contract required for all packages.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Act-On SoftwareRetainly
Features
Act-On SoftwareRetainly
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.6
Ratings
12% above category average
Retainly
8.3
Ratings
9% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor9.10 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Dynamic content9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.20 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Landing pages8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.10 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.10 Ratings3.60 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
List management9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.20 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.6
Ratings
10% above category average
Retainly
9.1
Ratings
15% above category average
Lead nurturing automation9.10 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading9.10 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Data quality management9.10 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.30 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Retainly
-
Ratings
Calendaring6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
9.1
Ratings
19% above category average
Retainly
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.5
Ratings
15% above category average
Retainly
9.0
Ratings
21% above category average
Dashboards8.20 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Standard reports9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Custom reports8.20 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.3
Ratings
11% above category average
Retainly
8.5
Ratings
13% above category average
API9.10 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals9.10 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Customizability7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.10 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
User Ratings
Act-On SoftwareRetainly
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act-On SoftwareRetainly
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have MS Dynamics CRM, this is the automation platform for you and your operations. Act-On Software easily syncs with dynamics, and we've never had a problem with this since we set ours up years ago. If you use a different CRM, I'd check to see if other options might make more sense. Having that ability for the systems to seamlessly talk is critical.
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As for me, the workflow creation process is just great. It allows for creating custom interaction with the client base. Also, our team adored the way A/B tests can run as part of different workflows.
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Pros
  • The templates are easy to use and set up campaigns.
  • It's simple to use, and the email editor features a drag-and-drop interface.
  • It's easy to set up a drip campaign or a series of scheduled emails.
  • It has the flexibility of having a variety of scheduling options and the use of user experience automation.
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  • Segments creation
  • Workflow creation
  • Workspace creation
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Cons
  • Building email and landing page templates are difficult, the drag and drop builder is not straightforward, and requires coding knowledge
  • The workflow tool is cumbersome and not as intuitive as I'd expect a best in class marketing software's to be
  • Domain connections and domain management functionality made it difficult to manage multiple company domains and subdomains for pages
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  • Analytics can be improved
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Likelihood to Renew
It's my single biggest asset in my current role. With limited resources, its enabled Anachron to punch well above our weight marketing wise and although we're still at the beginning of our journey I know the system can scale with us
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No answers on this topic
Usability
It's good, but not quite brilliant. Some parts of the interface are still a bit outdated. The product has been evolving very fast, though, and I believe in a few months it will be up there with the best of them, interface wise as well.
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No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
I have always found them quick to respond to my query by web inquiry. In those instances when I call, I have always reached help quickly. They are conscientious and skilled in discussing my concern and finding a solution to my problem. Other tech organizations should use Act-On as a model for top-notch customer service.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Sometimes the server loading speed is a little slow but most often runs fine and if it doesn't their tech support is quick to respond
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Since we start using Act-on for ourselves and our clients, we have been supported very well. Often we need to integrate with legacy systems and we find the support team on our side during the whole endeavor. Always asking if they can help us further, always willing to do a better job. The support of Act-On is one of the main differentiators
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No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
Dan D. was great. He took the time to understand how I needed the program to run, and was very flexible to our special CRM setup.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
The system is very user friendly, I think we were up and running within a day or so of having the product. It took very few online training for me to learn a large chunk of the functionality of this system.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
What impressed me most is that Act-On showed full committment in making our implementation successful, even when it required additional support from their team. This gave me a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. Most other software software vendors are not anywhere close to being this responsive and effective
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We chose Act-On for its ability to support our customers within a single account. The Marketing Network is a huge benefit to our business and the offerings we provide to our customers. In previously working with Hubpsot and Salesforce, we found the support to be lacking - often being referred to a forum or landing page rather than getting hands-on guided help from a knowledgeable person on their team. We LOVE Act-On and the team that they have servicing our account!
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Retainly is more user-friendly and less complicated than eSputnik. Retainly does not have odd features you do not need. eSputnik has more email templates and that is why I used to like it a lot. But for me, Retainly is more comfortable now.
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Scalability
Before I feel like I need more features, the Act-On customer service reps are contacting me telling about new features as part of my account.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Positive- quick setup for webinars between 3 different tools, made it easy to do in high volume
  • Negative- lots of processes with the designer tools that made email/landing page design take longer than it should have, costing man hours
  • Positive- email automation with different types of campaigns we could have flowing at once or could span across multiple audience segments made it so we could consistently create touch points and increase our engagement, thus our ROI over time
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  • Set - up automated workflow sequences across the customer journey
  • Less manual intervention to manage campaign
  • 15 % Reduce of drop-offs in the customer experience
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ScreenShots

Act-On Screenshots

Screenshot of the Automated Journey Builder. Here, users can personalize customer interactions from awareness to loyalty.Screenshot of the Analytics Dashboard. This is used to compare performance over time, filter by segment, and export report components.Screenshot of the Email Composer. Here is where users design emails optimized for desktop and mobile with a drag and drop builder.

Retainly Screenshots

Screenshot of Here you can access your project overview and other important project-wide information.Screenshot of Create simple and extended dynamic Segments.Screenshot of Create new and manage existing workspaces.Screenshot of Connect Retainlys' and 3d party integrations.Screenshot of Access and create automated workflows, review workflow analytics.