OutboundEngine vs. Referral Factory

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OutboundEngine
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
OutboundEngine provides a hands-off way for small business owners to market and grow their business. The product aims to provide small businesses with what big companies have achieved with marketing automation. The service aims to help users keep in touch with clients and prospects with professionally designed, branded campaigns. Benefits include: driving engagement, surfacing warm leads from current contacts, generating referrals and repeat business from their existing contacts, social…
$199
per user
Referral Factory
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Referral Factory offers a fast way to launch a referral program or an affiliate program. With the no-code referral program software, users can: 👉 Build a customer referral program in seconds using an AI-powered referral program generator. 👉 Create a fully branded, high-converting affiliate program in just a few clicks 👉 Access an affiliate network of 100 000+ verified affiliates ready to promote the business, at no extra cost. 👉 Integrate with over 3000 apps,…
$95
per month
Pricing
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Editions & Modules
Essential
$199
per user
Value
$299
per user
Premium
$499
per user
Starter
$95
per month
Basic
$200
per month
Pro
$400
per month
Enterprise
$1,000
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$99 per userNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMore information is available on the vendor's website.Discount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Considered Both Products
OutboundEngine
Chose OutboundEngine
I do not use any other similar products at this time. Several of the options that are available to me (CRMs) offer similar options but are more effort on my side. OutboundEngine is more or less automatic and I love that!
Chose OutboundEngine
I've always done my own newsletters etc. so I don't have experience with other companies that provide content services.
Chose OutboundEngine
I selected it for the ability to have an automated system do 3 things all at once, social media posts, emails and the instant communication with the chat box. I have never seen a chat come through that lead to a helpful client touchpoint. I have never used another product but …
Chose OutboundEngine
I have not opted for others. However, I do add my own offerings and content making me realize just how easy and cost-effective this is to do in spite of the volume OE provides. I do like postings to attract others and not be the same as others in my community.
Chose OutboundEngine
OutboundEngine is more of a general information program that with more frequent postings. My clients are more interested in this type of postings, than one on a home I sold or open house that I am doing. However, I do have a free email program that I use several times a month …
Chose OutboundEngine
have used others in the past Personally I have not received any benefit in productivity from the program yes it tells me who is looking and who is most active. but that is it
Chose OutboundEngine
I also use PressLike. What I like about OutboundEngine is it uses my email database to send relative topics to my clients along with social media postings. PressLike offers primarily social media, but offers more customizable ways to market myself, my listings and any other …
Chose OutboundEngine
Intouch systems was a service I used but I don't think it is any of the ones referenced in the list. I constantly had to go in and repost things because it couldn't post to my accounts. It did also send out emails, but it wasn't getting on my social media. It was 1/3 the price …
Chose OutboundEngine
It’s easier for me. They handle everything and they notify me and send me my stats and it’s more affordable.
Chose OutboundEngine
N/A never tried anyone else.
Chose OutboundEngine
BNTouch is great for creating and sending mass emails but misses the automated feature entirely.
Chose OutboundEngine
There really aren't a lot of companies out there with good Real Estate Chat solutions.
Chose OutboundEngine
OBE has automated emails, that are industry-specific, so I don't have to create them. On the surface, this is a plus, but my lead generation results have been very poor. Started writing my own emails, now the advantage from OBE is gone. OBE has social media posts, this is a …
Chose OutboundEngine
Much easier to use. Representative actively engages and schedules monthly meetings and training.
Chose OutboundEngine
Affordability is important and OutboundEngine is affordable. I like the expertise in this field they have. I really appreciate they don’t constantly bother me trying to sell me more services, etc. Any time I have needed to call the company, their reps are always available. …
Chose OutboundEngine
OutboundEngine has better staff support, a higher level of website maintenance/knowledge for future clients.
Chose OutboundEngine
My company offers a service called Octopost where they post to my social media platforms, but I don't feel like the content is as good and it doesn't reach as much of my database as the OutboundEngine newsletters do.
Chose OutboundEngine
I selected OutboundEngine after hearing about it from a friend. I had never used a similar product before.
Referral Factory
Chose Referral Factory
Referral Factory simplicity and ease of use is what makes them a strong contender, and it is now our go-to for referral campaigns within our company. With their software we no longer need to allocate developer hours to setup our campaigns leaving them free to work on the …
Chose Referral Factory
The fact that they offer campaign managers that are referral marketing experts in the enterprise plan is a GREAT help.
Chose Referral Factory
I was using a few other products, but they were quite expensive down the road, so I would decide to go with Referral Factory instead.
Chose Referral Factory
I have not use any other referral programs.
Chose Referral Factory
Referral Factory fits our needs exactly. We originally switched because Referral Factory offered more features and reasonable pricing, but the superior customer support persuaded us to stick with Referral Factory.
Chose Referral Factory
Referral factory has following features that I find more helpful in achieving my business needs:
1. Customization
2. Data Analytics
Chose Referral Factory
I was using a few other places but they were very expensive so I would decide to go with Referral Factory. I do not have to play anually for this software to use, so monthly makes it more beginner friendly aswell and I could easily test it out and see if I would continue or …
Chose Referral Factory
Referral Factory also provides detailed guidelines in various methods such as chatbots, videos, and articles. HubSpot Academy provides articles and videos to teach its users how to use marketing techniques to maximize the performance of the campaigns. Referral Factory provides …
Chose Referral Factory
I currently have not evaluated any other products like Referral Factory.
Chose Referral Factory
We tried to use multiple different software but we found them very difficult to work with. Our team is based 100% remotely and we had to find a useful tool that anyone can use. So far very happy with this purchase and we cannot wait for new features to come....
Chose Referral Factory
We looked at a few other places but they were so expensive that we decided to go with Referral Factory. We liked that we didn't have to pay annually, which meant we could test it to see if it worked and then decide whether to continue. We are glad that we did continue as it has …
Chose Referral Factory
Referral Factory was much more affordable--as a startup, every penny counts.
It also has way more flexibility and social media sharing options--plus Referral Factory has templates to help SaaS businesses like ours build programs.
Chose Referral Factory
Referral Factory gave me more flexibility to customize my referral program and make changes or edits when needed. I can have more than one campaign so I can test different rewards and messages in my program. It's also the most affordable solution on the market.
Features
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
OutboundEngine
8.1
Ratings
9% above category average
Referral Factory
-
Ratings
Mobile optimization8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
List management7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
OutboundEngine
5.6
Ratings
19% below category average
Referral Factory
-
Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks5.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
OutboundEngine
7.8
Ratings
16% above category average
Referral Factory
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Small Businesses
LocaliQ
LocaliQ
Score 9.0 out of 10
OutboundEngine
OutboundEngine
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LocaliQ
LocaliQ
Score 9.0 out of 10
OutboundEngine
OutboundEngine
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Kentico Xperience
Kentico Xperience
Score 8.1 out of 10
Influitive
Influitive
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.9
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
OutboundEngineReferral Factory
Likelihood to Recommend
OutboundEngine does a referral campaign and I've been able to close a couple of deals based on getting in touch with people who engage with this campaign and state they could use my services in the next 6 months. This is a great follow up tool for those you may or may not know are going to be needing your services.
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As a digital marketing manager of multiple clients, one of the biggest challenge is to build brand awareness and acquire new customers with good lifetime value; Referral Factory is a perfect tool to leverage current client base to generate new clients and adds loyalty to the current clientele. However when the services are personalized to each client and each client have different requirements than Referral system is least appropriate.
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Pros
  • The content that they generate to send to our clients is relevant and the clients want to engage with us. It makes us appear more professional and consistent, even though we are a smaller company.
  • It helps us stay in touch with clients and helps us stay top of mind. We are able to generate more new business leads if we are in consistent contact with current, former, and potential clients.
  • Their customer service and support is outstanding. All my questions were answered and I went into the program feeling confident and knowledgeable.
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  • Referral Factory offers good templates for the landing pages that can be easily adjusted
  • Campaigns are based on spreading links among friends and followers - it has good leads stats in the end
  • Integrations with Pipedrive, HubSpot and Zapier help to track the campaigns
  • Interface is easy to understand
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Cons
  • Logging into Outbound Engine on my phone is difficult because I can't save the login name and password. Being able to save it would be very helpful.
  • Posting my new listings on social media would help if that's possible.
  • Being informed of what you're posting on social media and when would also be helpful.
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  • The UI needs some improvement to really smooth out the workflows. Overall it's not bad, but could always be better.
  • There isn't good documentation on how to configure and use the solution. It's like they assumed they built to be obvious enough to where anyone can figure it out, but for things that have more nuances, users could really benefit from some tooltips and/or documentation.
  • Pricing is pretty high, it would be nice to have a lower tier so businesses with a small income stream can start to benefit from referral programs.
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Likelihood to Renew
AS my business is beginning to change and with volatility in the market, I have to rely seriously on a budget. That and nearing retirement consideration has me more likely to opt out in the near future.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Overall, OutboundEngine is very user friendly. It is simple to set up and explore, and if there are any issues or questions, the customer service team and account managers are always available to help. They are very knowledgeable and were able to explain everything in detail to me. The program is easy to navigate and helps me stay organized, and an uncomplicated and straightforward solution was exactly what I was looking for
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Referral Factory's overall usability is great. The interface was really easy to learn and use and there are also helpful video tutorials if you have any questions along the way while building your new campaign. The process of sharing the referral link is also really easy and Referral Factory provides multiple methods of sharing the link which is a nice feature as well.
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Reliability and Availability
I don't recall having any issues needing to contact OutboundEngine. I believe maybe I once emailed about an issue and got a quick response. I also believe I may have messaged through the app and gotten a response. To my knowledge, there has been nothing like app errors or outages.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
The customer service was excellent! Everyone I spoke to was kind and knowledgeable. My account manager was easily reachable. Setup of the OutboundEngine program was explained really thoroughly, and we knew how we could best use the product to meet the needs of our clients and get our online and social media presence off the ground.
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We have been very grateful for the ongoing support from the Referral Factory team who have gone above and beyond not only to help us get set up but have provided great insight into how to optimise our campaign
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Alternatives Considered
I selected it for the ability to have an automated system do 3 things all at once, social media posts, emails and the instant communication with the chat box. I have never seen a chat come through that lead to a helpful client touchpoint. I have never used another product but have since begun to weigh some of the less expensive options.
Read full review
Referral Factory simplicity and ease of use is what makes them a strong contender, and it is now our go-to for referral campaigns within our company. With their software we no longer need to allocate developer hours to setup our campaigns leaving them free to work on the company websites.
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Return on Investment
  • Outbound Engine keeps me top of mind by automatically sending articles to my database and posting to my facebook.
  • I spend zero time researching and writing articles.
  • I spend zero time taking great pictures.
  • I spend zero time dealing with mailing lists.
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  • Referral Factory has a great impact on acquiring new customers. Referral marketing acts like an online word-of-mouth so referred customers tend to have a higher conversion rate.
  • Referral Factory also helps increase brand awareness of your company as it incentivizes current customers to share their positive experiences with their network.
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ScreenShots

OutboundEngine Screenshots

Screenshot of Automated Social Media MarketingScreenshot of A personalized snapshot of your account activity and warmest leads.Screenshot of Personally designed, tested, and automated emails

Referral Factory Screenshots

Screenshot of a shot of the AI-powered referral program generator, used to create an affiliate program with one click.Screenshot of some of the native integrations offered, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, and Intercom. For more advanced setups, use Zapier, Make, Webhooks, or the included API.Screenshot of an example of some of the 200+ vouchers, digital cash cards, charity donations, discounts, and coupons used to issue rewards through Stripe, Paypal, Webhooks, Make, or Zapier. Or manually, if preferred.Screenshot of where to tap into a network of 100,000+ verified affiliates. This lets users launch campaign with built-in promoters ready to offer referrals.