| Functionality | 6 <p>ActiveCampaign is a fairly basic email outbound tool that also packages a decently strong native CRM. As such if these are the areas you're focused on, then the tool covers the basics well. However, it lacks any kind of native prospecting database and offers no support for core channels such as phone outbound - so if you need these, you're better off looking elsewhere.</p> | 7 <p>Close is primarily a CRM. That being said it does offer fairly strong multi-channel (email, phone, SMS) outbound capabilities. It's native dialer and adjacent functionalities are particularly strong. Additionally, given its focus as a CRM, it excels in areas such as pipeline tracking and deal management.</p> |
| Ease of Use | 7 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It would take an average small business employee less than an hour to properly figure out the functionalities of this software - a great learning curve if you ask us. The layout is also extremely intuitive, making this a beginner-friendly piece of software.</span></p> | 7 <p>Though Close is focused on power users, we were pleased by how intuitive the platform is to use. It's core sequencing interface is very well presented and familiar. Additionally, even more advanced features such as call transcript analysis are very well presented and not overwhelming. It would take an average SMB employee around 30 minutes to master its use.</p> |
| Look and feel | 4 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We found ActiveCampaign's interface to generally be intuitive, especially with regards to sequencing and email drafting. However, the frustratingly slow loading times (more than 4 seconds in many cases) can be a real deal-breaker.</span></p> | 8 <p>When compared with most tools in the sales engagement space, Close presents itself as one of the best designed and easiest to use tools on the market. Though lacking in colour, we appreciated its modern aesthetic and fast page load times.</p> |
| Customisability | 5 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ActiveCampaign offers the usual channels around customization including things like setting up custom workflows, using their AI to draft sequences etc. However, we would like to see more granularity when it comes to making custom reports and dashboards from an analytics perspective.</span></p> | 8 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Close offers significant customization for fields, workflows, and pipeline stages. You can create custom data objects to track items beyond people and companies, such as partnerships. It also supports extremely granular custom filters to target contacts and leads when setting up sequences.</span></p> |
| Ease of Setup | 6 <p>ActiveCampaign offers a self-serve trial – it takes around 10-20 minutes to finish basic setup, and fully customising workflows takes 1-2 days at most. We especially appreciated how easy it was to use AI to draft sequences and emails despite the lack of proper templates.</p> | 6 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Close offers a free trial without need to speak to sales. Completing basic setup is simple, taking around 10 minutes to import contacts and set up pipelines. However, fully setting up the platform and upskilling your reps can take up to a week, given Close's powerful and rich outbound functionality.</span></p> |
| Customer Support | 8 <p>The primary channel for support is live chat. When tested, we found response times to be swift (when in working hours which are <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3am-11pm CT) and helpful. Additionally, ActiveCampaign also provide a decent support centre too.</span></p> | 7 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can only contact Close's support team via email, however the team is often helpful and replies within 15 minutes. Close also offers a lot of helpful onboarding guidance and high quality self-help resources.</span></p> |
| Integratability | 7 <p>ActiveCampaign offers a fairly large array of integrations which covers most of the tooling you'd expect (HubSpot is notably absent). That being said, we would like to have seen native integrations with more prospecting databases such as Apollo (though this can be configured through an automation platform like Zapier).</p> | 4 <p>Close lacks native integrations with a lot of tools we'd like to have seen such as Apollo or other prospecting databases. That being said, we did appreciate the integration with Zapier through which you are able to connect to a much broader array of tooling.</p> |
| Ease of Migration | 6 <p>ActiveCampaign offers self serve export functionality directly within its web app. Additionally, it offers an API through which you can interact with data on the platform programatically too.</p> | 7 <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Close allows users to export key data via self-serve. Export of most other data is also available via API or on request.</span></p> |
