Autoklose, a VanillaSoft brand, is an SEP solution, presenting a combined package of sales email automation and tracking, contact and email campaign management with sequence templates and optimization.
$59.99
per month per user
iContact
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
iContact is an email marketing solution that was acquired by Vocus in 2012. The product is integrated with Facebook and Twitter and is aimed at SMBs with unlimited sending as a key feature.
$15
per month
Pricing
Autoklose
iContact
Editions & Modules
Auto Kloser
$59.99
per month per user
Advanced Kloser
$69.99
per month per user
Accelerated Kloser
$99.99
per month per user
1500 Users
$15.00
per month
2500 Users
$25.00
per month
5000 Users
$45.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autoklose
iContact
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
Optional
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autoklose
iContact
Features
Autoklose
iContact
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Autoklose
-
Ratings
iContact
6.6
Ratings
19% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor
00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
Dynamic content
00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content
00 Ratings
5.00 Ratings
Landing pages
00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
A/B testing
00 Ratings
5.00 Ratings
Mobile optimization
00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting
00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
List management
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences
00 Ratings
6.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Autoklose
-
Ratings
iContact
8.0
Ratings
4% above category average
Dashboards
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Standard reports
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Custom reports
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
I would recommend Autoklose to smaller teams that do not have the tools and processes in place for conducting sales outreach or business development activities. I would also recommend it to Sales development reps who are relying on manually managing their sales outreach without the benefits of automation. I'd also recommend it if they are trying to do the above while using a CRM like Pipedrive, as Autoklose works well with some CRMs.
iContact is a great option for small businesses. It doesn't have enough features to create the demands of a large corporation. Of course the price goes up exponentially with more subscribers, which would also make it beneficial for small businesses. If you have too many lists to add people to it can get a little crazy too.
Customer service is wonderful! They are always helpful, guiding and available for any odd question, even if those questions are training for a newbie to the email world.
Building forms for data collection and the code generator the for the site is very easy.
Ensuring double opt-in is extremely straightforward.
Including unsubscribe on every message automatically means we never have to worry about CAN-SPAM.
The system is not designed to send out hundreds of emails within the hour. Thus if you have timely information, and you have a large list, it will generally take many hours to execute.
Related to the above, timing of email delivery does jot exist nor can it be customized by timezone.
Every time you edit or sometimes open an email it brings it to the top of the list. I would prefer my email to go to the top only after I send it out to my subscribers.
When I add a new contact I sometimes copy and paste the email. This is not allowed sometimes and I have to manually type the email in.
LinkedIn will not allow you to add pictures anymore when sending emails out.
After 4 years of using iContact we finally cut the cord. It was hard to justify staying with them when it seemed like they had some of the most outdated software in the industry, some of the worst deliverability, and were in general extremely lacking in customization. They are a decent ESP for a great price point, so if that is your main concern it may be worth it, but if you want to have your emails you are paying for hit inboxes (not spam folders) then look into someone else that guarantees great deliverability.
It is well set out from a user interface perspective and once you understand how it works you understand the power and the logic of how it is done. Like any software it helps to be a frequent user, but Autoklose lets you set up campaigns in the shortest possible time based on experience with other systems that I have used.
I rate iContact as an easy to use program due to its user friendly dashboard and user interface. Most companies of small to medium size do not have a dedicated marketer, therefore it is someone multitasking who may or may not have this kind of experience. iContact makes it relatively simple and can actually expand one's knowledge in the area of business promotion.
iContact is regularly up and running. Only once has it been unavailable for maintenance, which is to be expected and even desired for optimal performance when needed.
Our Autoklose rep is amazing! Jelena has always gotten back to us within 24 hours, despite living on a different continent. She is completely proficient with the tool and is usually able to answer our questions with a brief email or short virtual meeting.
They have always been responsive to any issues or concerns that have arisen with our account. Our customer account manager participates in our monthly county-wide communicators meetings via telephone to ensure that we are getting the most from the service. He also analyzes our lists to help us weed out inactive contacts.
Autoklose was very reasonably priced compared to the three competitors that I reviewed, but the features were far less robust than Outreach, so I ultimately decided to leave Autoklose after some time. And I went with Outreach, but I still had a great experience with Autoklose, and I'm able to give them great scores for their product and their service. Salesloft was less robust, and Mailshake wasn't sophisticated enough for my needs.
We selected iContact because it was available at the time, and in our price range. I inherited it at the school. If it had been the program it is now back then, I would not have chosen it. At the moment, we are too busy to fully vet another program, so we are stuck with this one. It does get the job done. It is great for a small business with small needs, but once you start expanding and having more intricate needs, it does not compete with others like MailChimp
iContact stays the same with the number of users added or taken away. It certainly remains reliable despite increased usage, and so, can be considered scaleable in that aspect.
Increased Employee Efficiency - once a template is created, it is very easy to edit the content within the template with minimal or no assistance from developers.
Domain Reputation - if you aren't careful, it is very easy to hurt your domain reputation when using iContact. Make sure the person in charge of email marketing knows the risks of email marketing or is willing to closely work with iContact's customer service to follow best practices.
Increased Lead Conversion - through the use of automated email functionality, you can stay in the forefront of your customer's minds. This increases conversions by reminding customers that you are there to provide the goods or services that they may need periodically or in the future.