Features, prices, advantages and disadvantages

Act! is a contact manager turned customer relationship management software and marketing solution. The software is simple and has a customer-centric approach to managing and tracking customer engagement and sales opportunities. Act! It has time management features that ensure that every user or salesperson can access notes, tasks, information and appointments, whether in the office or on the go, to make effective sales.

Act! It is marketed as the most ideal solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Since CRM software includes Act! Offers are generally basic sales and marketing automation tools, there are some alternatives to consider as well before making the decision to invest in a single provider.

Prices

• Free Trial: No credit card or download required for a 14-day free trial.
• Cloud based: $30 per user per month for CRM + Marketing Automation.
• Cloud-based with desktop sync: $40 per user per month for CRM + Marketing Automation.
• On site: $37.50 per user per month for CRM + Marketing Automation.
• Select AMA: Get 25,000 emails to unlimited contacts for $70 per account per month.
• Full AMA: Get 50,000 emails to unlimited contacts for $199 per account per month.
• AMA Advanced: Get 100,000 emails to unlimited contacts for $399 per account per month.
• Accessories: Get additional cloud storage for $5 per month or enhanced support or custom tables for $10 per user per month.

Key Features of Act!

Template editor and workflow designer.

Act! has over 170 sample templates to use in marketing content (Figure A). Users can select a pre-made template or import an existing one into the software's HTML editor. Users can create and edit content for mobile-friendly emails, newsletters, or other marketing materials with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop tool that can be shared with entire teams. These templates help organizations ramp up their marketing efforts with consistent messaging and branding.

Landing pages and forms

Sales and marketing teams can use a template or start from scratch to create a branded landing page or intake form for a website (Figure B). These landing pages can be loaded and used to capture new leads. Prospects submit information requested on the landing page in exchange for a subscription to a survey or newsletter, such as name, job title, and email address. This feature captures and funnels new leads to Act! database as new contacts with automatically assigned follow-up activities.

Prioritized task lists

Users and administrators can manage all sales activities with Act! prioritized task listFigure C). This helps individual users and sales reps know exactly where to focus their efforts during the workday or week. Users are then reminded of various administrative tasks, such as document tracking or sales actions, such as blocking cold calls. Having a task list with automated prioritization helps reps reduce time spent simply organizing tasks.

Sales channel management

Act! Sales pipeline management includes opportunity tracking, pipeline and sales process management, and access to actionable information (Figure D). Users can access and track all incoming leads and projects. Admin users can even evaluate channels by product, territory, sales stage, or agent for complete transparency. Ultimately, these visualizations help organizations see progress and strategies from a bird's eye view while also providing insight into the details.

Act! pros and cons

Alternatives to acting!

From Act! markets the CRM solution for small and medium-sized businesses, it makes sense to compare it to other popular SMB CRMs, such as Salesforce and HubSpot, which have similar pricing and core features. Act! It also focuses on its sales and marketing functions, making it comparable to Zoho CRM and that platform's leading multi-channel marketing tools.

Act! lines up well compared to these big-name competitors when it comes to industry standards for what users expect from a basic customer relationship management tool.

*Pricing details are based on annual subscription rates.

CRM

Zoho CRM is another powerful CRM software with tools that can host any organization's sales and marketing efforts, similar to Act! Zoho's multi-channel marketing integrates with major social media platforms and funnels high-value leads onto the platform for sales reps to start engaging and nurturing. Zoho CRM marketing automations are more robust than Act! Zoho CRM also has a free lifetime basic option for smaller organizations that want to experiment with CRM software beyond a trial or demo.

SEE: Check out our full individual review of Zoho CRM.

Sales force

Salesforce is powerful software with reporting dashboards, multiple channel managers, and even built-in phone dialers. Salesforce offers more advanced reporting and analytics features than Act! This makes Salesforce a better choice for organizations with complex sales cycles. With its numerous paid tiers, the CRM platform is scalable for organizations of different sizes.

SEE: To learn more, explore our full Salesforce review.

HubSpot

HubSpot is not open source software per se, but with its strong integration capabilities, users can develop their own applications to integrate with the platform. Like Act!, some of the add-on features can be expensive, but HubSpot is another small, business-friendly software with a solid free tier. HubSpot's free tier allows up to 2,500 users with more integration options for native and third-party apps, making it a very competitively priced option.

SEE: Read our full HubSpot review for a full breakdown of their offerings.

Review methodology

To review and critique Act!, I used an internal rubric to rate the CRM software and its core offerings. Our rubric consists of criteria and sub-criteria defined around the most important factors when evaluating any general CRM software. Rely on Act!'s own online resources, plus comments, ratings and reviews from real users.

The following is the breakdown of the criteria used to rate ¡Actúa!:

• Cost: It weighted 25% of the total score.
• Main features: It weighted 25% of the total score.
• Customizations: It weighted 15% of the total score.
• Integrations: It weighted 15% of the total score.
• Easy to use: It weighted 10% of the total score.
• Customer Support: It weighted 10% of the total score.