ActiveCampaign is one of many ESPs (Email Service Providers) in the world. And while they might have different bells and whistles, they’ll all help you accomplish your email marketing goals.

For example, some ESPs have better automation workflow options than others, and some have better email templates for you to choose from.

There are also different price points and pay structures among ESPs. Some charge you per contact on your account; others charge per send. No matter these differences, however, all ESPs have the same essential functions you’ll need to organize your contacts and send emails to your list.

That means choosing between the Mailchimps or the Convertkits or the Sendinblues or the Campaign Monitors of the email marketing world, comes down to your specific goals and which platform is best suited to meet those goals…and probably your budget.

The question is, when you’re deciding between two or three email service providers and the financial investment is fairly equal, what tips you in one direction or another?

You can always look at customer reviews—a tried-and-true method. Whether you’re yelping a restaurant or thinking about finally hitting “Place your order” on Amazon, customer reviews help you make important buying decisions.

You can also read customer testimonials. These are always handpicked by a company, so the testimonial will undoubtedly sing the company’s praises, but pay attention to what people say. An ethical company won’t alter anyone’s opinion. If testimonials discuss solutions to the specific problems you have or talk about a neat feature that you want in your software, then you might have found the right product for your needs.

However, there’s no way to know how much you’ll like a product or service until you try it for yourself.

So what I find that makes the biggest difference in whether I’ll use a SaaS (Software as a Service) product long-term is not its features and functions; it’s the people behind the product.

As a professional, I’ve used Mailchimp, Convertkit, and ActiveCampaign for my employers’ email marketing. Although I have no complaints about any of those email service providers, I’m currently an ActiveCampaign evangelist because of the company’s commitment to customers like me.

So, here are the top two reasons I’m in love with ActiveCampaign.

1. ActiveCampaign Has a Stellar Support Team

ActiveCampaign’s (AC) live chat support is available Monday — Thursday from 9 am — 11 pm, Central Standard Time (CST) and Friday from 9 am — 4:30 pm, Central Standard Time (CST). While 24/7 support is deeply revered, when you speak with a live AC chat agent, you get answers to all of your questions without being rushed.

(👉🏾 I’ve also always been number one in the support queue 🤷🏾‍♂️).

Based on my experience, ActiveCampaign chat agents will devote as much time as needed to help you with your issue. When I was an ActiveCampaign beginner, I once chatted with support for over an hour troubleshooting my automations and getting suggestions for making them better.

My favorite aspect of chatting with support is utilizing the ActiveCampaign screen share feature. Screen sharing makes it easy for AC agents to assist you because they can see exactly what’s got you stuck.

ActiveCampaign can also help you in unexpected ways.

ActiveCampaign reps once recorded a personalized tutorial for my employers as a follow-up to a support chat. They took a screen recording of my employer’s website and provided commentary that supported my vision of revamping our email marketing strategy.

Not only is this an example of ActiveCampaign going above and beyond to resolve my support ticket, but they helped me get the “OK” from my then-bosses to move forward with a new strategy that focused on email marketing best practices.

Experiences like the ones I’ve had with AC support have turned me into a loyal ass customer. I truly feel like ActiveCampaign has my back and will take every measure to make sure my email marketing is successful.

2. ActiveCampaign Invests in Your Learning

Most, if not all, ESPs have a blog or resources for learning about email marketing and using their platform. Many even host webinars to teach you what’s what in email and how to get the most out of their platform. (Hubspot is one of those great resources by the way).

But ActiveCampaign has truly doubled down on this investment. In fact, they have their own university where you can take courses at any level to learn about email marketing or brush up on your skills.

If you’re just getting started, there are onboarding courses you can take, and there are accelerated onboarding courses for those who can absorb information faster. Most of the courses are prerecorded, so you can take them at your own pace, but ActiveCampaign also hosts live classes weekly.

If you miss a class that you’ve registered for, you’ll receive a replay the following day via email, but the benefit of taking a live class is that you get to ask questions specific to your account and get answers in real time.

And if you’re the kind of person who absorbs more when you’re face-to-face with an instructor, ActiveCampaign hosts in-depth, in-person workshops that teach everything from getting started with ActiveCampaign to contact management, segmentation, automation workflow, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). These sessions are called Study Halls, and you don’t have to be an ActiveCampaign customer to attend.

There is a fee for Study Halls, but you get in-person training, the ability to test out ActiveCampaign’s interface, and general email marketing tips from the facilitators.

I attended one of ActiveCampaign’s Study Halls in Los Angeles in March of 2023 to try it out. The facilitator took the time to answer all of my questions during and after the half-day workshop, and I found that both beginners and experienced ActiveCampaign users were given time, attention, and sound email marketing and CRM advice.

Not convinced about ActiveCampaign? Consider this:

Joanna Wiebe from Copyhackers is an ActiveCampaign customer.

That name might not mean anything to you, but Jo @ Copyhackers is one of the top copywriters in the world…like, actually. She’s built several successful businesses and made tons of moolah 💰 with conversion copywriting — alllll of the content over at Copyhackers has taught me a lot.

If ActiveCampaign is good enough for the founder of Copyhackers, who knows marketing and copywriting like the back of her hand—no, better than the back of her hand—then it must be a damn good option.

How do I know Joanna Wiebe uses ActiveCampaign?

I’m on her email list, of course. I open EVERY email Joanna sends, and as serendipity would have it, as I was drafting this article, she sent an email mentioning that she uses ActiveCampaign and loves it!

I was already a fan of ActiveCampaign, but Joanna’s seal of approval confirmed that I have great taste.

Still not convinced? Consider this:

ActiveCampaign is ranked #30 in G2’s list of the 100 Best Software Products to use in 2023 — 30 out of all SaaS products, not just email marketing tools. And as of a couple of weeks before publishing this article, they added 100 new templates to their platform.

The one limitation that pains me

ActiveCampaign currently cannot send one-off campaigns according to timezone. You can, however, send based on timezone by using an automation.

This has been a pain point of mine, so I asked about it at the AC Study Hall I attended. The facilitator told me they are aware of this pain point, and there are high hopes that the timezone-send feature will be added by their hardworking product team.

Despite this downside, ActiveCampaign’s onboarding, workshops, and 5-star support are super helpful when you’re new at email or just slammed. If you think that makes ActiveCampaign worth a try, they have a 14-day free trial offer.