Back in the 1970s, the world’s first email kicked off a brand-new era of communication and marketing. Now, with 4.6bn email users globally, email is more popular than ever. For businesses striving to connect with audiences and increase conversions using the undeniable power of email marketing, success starts with choosing the right platform.
Choosing an email marketing software is a big deal. It can make or break your efforts – impacting how effectively you engage with your subscribers, nurture leads, and drive conversions.
Our founder, Deanna is a self-confessed automation nerd 🤓and has helped 100s of businesses save time, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience by implementing strategic, automated email campaigns. In this post, we’ll draw from Deanna’s expertise to discuss two popular email marketing platforms – ActiveCampaign vs tinyEmail, to help you pick the tool best suited to your needs.
Overview of ActiveCampaign
What is ActiveCampaign?
Founded in 2003, ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one platform for email marketing, marketing automation, sales, customer relationship management, and messaging. Although ActiveCampaign is predominantly used as an email marketing platform, it can also be used for lead scoring, as a fully-fledged CRM, and for building web forms and landing pages.
Pros of ActiveCampaign
When considering ActiveCampaign vs tinyEmail, the former is particularly beneficial for data-driven marketing teams due to its advanced analytics, comprehensive reporting capabilities, and industry-leading automation features. Its robust automation allows you to create custom workflows based on various factors, such as subscription details, sales history, and customer actions – providing a tailored experience for your customers.
Cons of ActiveCampaign
One potential drawback of ActiveCampaign is that it can have a relatively steep learning curve compared to other platforms that prioritise user-friendliness over advanced features. While ActiveCampaign offers a rich array of functionalities, mastering them can require an investment of time and effort – or the help of an expert team 😉
Overview of tinyEmail
What is tinyEmail?
Founded just recently – in 2021 – tinyEmail is an easy-to-use marketing automation platform that simplifies and streamlines the process of creating and sending emails. Using the power of AI to enhance campaigns, tinyEmail has some impressive features including customisable templates, AI-powered subject line generation, ready-made brand kits, advanced analytics, and URL-based attribution.
Pros of tinyEmail
Aside from its very simple user interface, the main pro of using tinyEmail is that, just like ActiveCampaign, it has great email segmentation capabilities. This means that you can divide your subscribers into groups based on their demographics, actions, and interests. This allows you to send highly relevant and personalised emails that encourage engagement.
For example, a health and wellness coach based in Sydney might have a primary target audience of women aged 35-45. They might then split their email subscribers into those who have used their coaching services before and those who haven’t. By segmenting the audience, emails sent to each group could be tailored to speak to their different needs and interests – making conversions more likely.
Cons of tinyEmail
Despite its simplicity and budget-friendly pricing, there are some limitations of tinyEmail – especially if you’re looking for an advanced solution. As a relative newcomer in the automation platform market, tinyEmail still has some features that are a work in progress; its social media integration capabilities are limited and if you’re looking for in-depth analytics, you might want to go for a more comprehensive platform.
Detailed Comparison
Ease of Use
When taking a more in-depth look at ActiveCampaign vs tinyEmail, ActiveCampaign can come across as more complex due to the comprehensive set of tools and features it offers. But once you have a play around with it, the steeper learning curve soon becomes worth it. In contrast, tinyEmail commits to simplicity, offering an intuitive interface that caters to users of all levels.
Features and Capabilities
tinyEmail streamlines the email campaign creation process by providing an array of tools like pre-designed templates and dynamic content for a personalised touch. Although tinyEmail excels in simplifying the creation of basic email campaigns, its advanced automation functionalities are somewhat constrained.
In contrast, ActiveCampaign stands out for its versatility, offering an extensive feature set that includes a powerful email editor with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. ActiveCampaign also allows users to craft intricate workflows that dynamically respond to subscriber behaviour, resulting in highly targeted and personalised campaigns.
Pricing
When it comes to the pricing and value of ActiveCampaign vs tinyEmail, there’s a notable difference in pricing models. ActiveCampaign adopts a list-size-oriented price structure whereas tinyEmail takes a different approach by charging based on the monthly volume of emails you want to send, allowing you the flexibility to upload as many contacts as you need.
Designed for up to five users, ActiveCampaign’s most popular option is their Professional pricing plan, at A$224/month. It includes lead scoring, landing pages, predictive sending (AI), split automations, Salesforce integration, Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration, site messages, attribution reporting, and more.
At $65/month, tinyEmail’s most popular ‘Pro’ plan includes unlimited subscribers, unlimited pre-built segments, an AI subject line assistant, a custom domain, priority support, and dedicated IP.
One thing to note is that ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, whereas tinyEmail only offers a 7-day free trial, requiring a credit card signup. Although, overall, tinyEmail is a slightly cheaper option, it also offers fewer features than ActiveCampaign, so it depends on your specific needs and budget.
Customer Support and Resources
Both platforms are relatively easy to set up and offer good levels of support. ActiveCampaign offers in-depth tutorials, community support, and help documents via their Education Centre to ensure a smooth journey – even if you’re not a complete tech nerd. For higher-tier platform users, ActiveCampaign also provides help via live chat, email, and phone.
Ideal User Base for Each Platform
Who Should Choose ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign really does have it all. It’s got email, landing pages, SMS, and (way) more. It has incredible automation and segmentation capabilities and integrates with almost 1,000 apps. It also has an extensive team who are consistently working to make the product even better.
ActiveCampaign is worth considering if you have a growing business and anticipate more sophisticated automation needs in the future because it’s robust enough to grow with you as your business needs (and email list) grow. Because of this scalability, when you sign up with ActiveCampaign, you can use it for life and avoid the hassle, time, and cost of having to migrate from a less comprehensive platform.
Who Should Choose tinyEmail?
tinyEmail is a great choice for smaller businesses, one-person bands and those on a budget. Although their offering is more basic (at the time of writing this post), the tinyEmail team is adding new features all the time – meaning that if you just hang in there, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to do even more cool stuff with it.
Final Thoughts
As with choosing any tool or platform, your choice depends on the size of your business, your budget, what features will most benefit your audience, and ultimately, which you enjoy using the most.
For some, ActiveCampaign’s feature-rich offering makes it a no-brainer; it’s got everything you need and then some – including over 900 integrations in their app marketplace. Although it only offers 300 integrations in comparison, tinyEmail is a cheaper option. The benefit of both platforms is that you can take them for a spin with a free trial to see what will work best when it comes to actually using them.
Take the Next Step in Your Email Marketing Journey (CTA)
As you embark on your email marketing journey, selecting the right tool is an important step to reaching your business objectives. At Notice & Co., we understand the significance of this decision and are here to guide you every step of the way. Whether you’re a startup looking to establish a robust online presence or an established business seeking to enhance your outreach, our services are designed to elevate your email marketing strategy.
To have a no-obligation chat about your marketing automation needs, book a free Discovery Call today.
FAQs
Are there any hidden costs or additional fees with ActiveCampaign and tinyEmail?
ActiveCampaign offers two distinct categories of plans: Marketing and Sales, which can be signed up for separately or as a bundled package. The Marketing plans, comprising Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise, range from $44 to $224 per month. The Sales plans, including Plus, Professional, and Enterprise (with pricing available upon contacting sales), start at $29 per month. As of October 2023, ActiveCampaign also has sending limits, which can be viewed here. If you are on a monthly plan, your email send limit will reset on the first day of your monthly billing cycle.
tinyEmail’s Free plan accommodates up to 500 contacts, offering limited AI subject line assistant uses and basic features. The Standard plan, priced at $15 per month, provides unlimited subscribers, premium templates, and additional AI subject line assistant uses. The Pro plan, at $65 per month, includes all Standard features plus advanced benefits like a custom domain and dedicated IP.
Can I create and manage email campaigns on mobile devices with these platforms?
Both platforms have mobile accessibility, allowing you to efficiently handle campaigns, access analytics, and monitor automation processes through a dedicated mobile app.
With the ActiveCampaign mobile app, you can view and manage tasks assigned to you, but your plan type determines which mobile app features you can access.
Is technical expertise required to use ActiveCampaign or tinyEmail effectively?
tinyEmail offers a simpler experience, minimising the need for extensive technical expertise. In contrast, ActiveCampaign’s feature-rich platform offers more advanced capabilities with 1000s of incredible resources on their site to ensure you can make the most of them without having prior marketing automation knowledge.
To make things even easier, our founder Deanna has created an ActiveCampaign Starter Course. For just $27, you get access to 10x short video modules that share our tried and tested process for setting up an ActiveCampaign account – without the usual headaches
How quickly can I expect to see results from using ActiveCampaign or tinyEmail?
The timeline for seeing results from using ActiveCampaign vs tinyEmail varies based on several factors, including the complexity of your campaigns, the effectiveness of the email content, the size and engagement level of your audience, and the consistency of your efforts. At a minimum, you should expect several weeks to a few months to become proficient with either platform and to start seeing results.
When you choose ActiveCampaign, you’ll be establishing a foundation for long-term marketing success. While the initial setup may require more time, the benefit is a scalable, comprehensive solution that can grow with your business.
