ActiveCampaign vs Marketo
A Review & Comparison
[Updated 2020]

ActiveCampaign

If you’re looking for an effective email marketing solution, ActiveCampaign is highly recommended for small to mid-scale companies looking for a tried and tested marketing automation software. By using ActiveCampaign you will not only save tons of time but it will also help you boost sales.

The user interface of this software is easy to understand and has several functions and features that will make daily mundane routines easy. Setting up lists in ActiveCampaign is fast, and extremely simple, not to mention the automation features of this software keeps you connected with your prospects by providing regular updates and newsletters.

Online businesses that rely heavily on email marketing will benefit from ActiveCampaign’s email deliverability rates since they are some of the highest in the industry and is suitable for both B2B and B2C businesses.

Text message marketing is an area where ActiveCampaign does lack, however, and this could be greatly improved, which would make this software one of the undisputed go-to software solutions in the world of marketing automation.

Marketo

As opposed to ActiveCampaign, Marketo is more suitable for large marketing and sales teams. These teams require central hubs for campaigns and have to complete repetitive tasks for generating leads to increase sales.

What makes Marketo unique is the different modules that can improve performance in a variety of ways, however, the Module costs can start to add up, which is counterproductive for businesses and the reason why Marketo is not recommended for smaller teams/businesses.

Marketo’s users rave about its workflow functions which allow you to make advance sales and lead qualifying processes for automating complex manual tasks.

With the rise of digital marketing, lead scoring has become more critical than ever and Marketo has a lead scoring system to gauge a lead’s suitability before you make efforts to try and convert.

If there is one major con about Marketo, it is its analytics reporting, which would really do with a more comprehensive data reporting suite.

Key Difference

Besides their suitability for different business sizes, there are a couple of other notable differences too. The ‘Unlimited sending’  feature that you find in ActiveCampaign is absent in Marketo, and it also lacks a chrome extension feature, which is a big miss, especially since Chrome is the preferred browser for people around the world.

Above all ActiveCampaign is a more robust and end-to-end solution for your marketing needs, and this is where Marketo falls short.

ActiveCampaign Tool Ratings

• • Price: 3.5/5
  • Features: 4/5
  • Customer Support: 4/5
  • Integration: 3.5/5
  • Overall: 4.5/5

Marketo Tool Ratings

• • Price: 3/5
  • Features: 4/5
  • Customer Support: 4/5
  • Integration: 3.5/5
  • Overall: 4/5

Conclusion

These marketing tools have been designed for the same goal of complete automation in mind, however, their approaches to providing the solution are vastly different. The key is that they both save businesses time and expensive resources so they can focus on other important tasks.

Small-scale online businesses should choose ActiveCampaign for features designed specifically for them.

Premium businesses should choose Marketo because it is comparatively expensive. It also offers a wide array of features that don’t apply to smaller businesses.