iContact Reviews

Pros

iContact is easy to use in most cases. There are tons of different templates and creating your own email template is a breeze. If you get one of the Pro plans they'll even help you make templates for future use, so that's great, too.

There are plenty of ways to upload data and keep track of that data. In fact I tend to use iContact to export my data for use on other platforms because it keeps everything so nicely. My point of sale doesn't even allow the breadth of exports and options that iContact does, so it's more than just an email platform to me.

Automation is visually very simple and means that I know I'm reaching my audience at the correct times. I no longer have to manually send each email, and with the automation there are tons of options to segment in addition. This means I'm not sending frivolous emails, so that keeps our open rate high.

Cons

I have three businesses that have to be kept separate and my only big complaint is that I can't copy automation plans or other things back and forth between them. So a lot of time is wasted redoing certain campaigns between the locations.

I also think the social connectivity needs to be updated. Twitter for one is outdated and the actual website allows much more text to be posted than in-app. They're several updates behind on Twitter.

Pros

When I want to send out an email, I go into my list of prior emails, make changes, and send. It's very easy. It has all of the functionality we need for sending out bulk emails.

Cons

The editor is a bit clunky. It does take a bit of time to create a new email format. Sometimes it doesn't behave like it is supposed to. But once you save that new format you can use it over and over.

Pros

Confluence impressed me with its capability as a collaborative platform that facilitates teamwork in creating, sharing documents, thoughts, and strategies. It has a user-friendly layout that is easy to use and its adaptability to team's requirements is beneficial. The search feature that scans all the content and documents was particularly useful in finding the information required quickly.

Cons

A downside of Confluence is the steep learning curve. It can be challenging to learn all the features and how to utilize them efficiently.

Pros

The new email templates are nice and easy to use once you get the hang of it. The analytics and insights are helpful in gauging how many people are seeing our messages. I also like the ease with which we can add and remove contacts.

Cons

The new templates are easier to use than the original email layout, but there are an awful lot of steps in the formatting. I feel like that process could be streamlined. Also, I understand that our account doesn't allow for tons of file storage, but it would be nice if the individual file/asset upload size was a bit bigger. I also think that there could be a more user-friendly way to re-verify contacts. We have over 8,000 contacts we email regularly but the process to re-verify contacts to keep our lists healthy is really confusing.

Pros

Many-to-many relationships of all entities (except subscription to one list). Very flexible. Also ability to select multiple segments or exclude them.

Cons

Would like to be able to insert an image with text scrolling around it. ((Captions do not do that.) MailChimp allows this!

Pros

It's extremely easy to deploy automated marketing campaigns, newsletters, quick information to your target audience using this platform. I enjoyed the ease of use in terms of sending out an email. It's nice for small business owners who don't have the time, energy, or resources to allocate to figuring out an email marketing platform.

Cons

I love this platform, but it's extremely out-of-date compared to other email platforms. For example, it's impossible to edit a template. For it being 2022, I would assume this would be easier from a user-friendly perspective.

Alternatives Considered

Higher Logic Thrive

Reasons for Switching to iContact

Ultimately the price point is what led our small business to choose iContact

Pros

For me it had to be easy. We use iContact not only for our own email marketing but also for dozens of clients who we do newsletters for. That means, we can be managing 50+ accounts at one time. That is a feature that was non negotiable.

We had to make sure that the data wasn't commingled among clients and that each client could have their own account access info and get their own reports, etc. Ease was critical as we have different aged clients with different levels of technology knowledge.

Cons

I don't have any pet peeves with this product. I've been using it for 10 years so I'm coming up with zero cons.

Pros

We've used iContact for several years and their Customer Service personnel are wonderful. They go above and beyond, are extremely professional and so helpful always.

Cons

I wish it were easier to remove contacts and easier to move contacts around to different lists.

Pros

I appreciate the ease of use and comprehensive features that iContact provides. Its user-friendly interface makes it a breeze to create and send emails, newsletters, and surveys. Furthermore, the drag-and-drop editor simplifies customizing email content and the analytics tools offer comprehensive insight into your email campaigns. Additionally, iContact's integration with services such as Salesforce allow you to manage your contacts and campaigns from one centralized location.

Cons

Some of the most common issues people have with iContact include its lack of flexibility, limited features, and high cost.

Pros

Good email marketing tool. Multiple options within the platform and great capacity for audience segmentation.

Cons

The Marketing automation part is fine, but I found another much more complete tool. That's why I changed.

Pros

When our company first switched to Icontact from our email provider, we were very satisfied as their responsive technical support, quick setup, and easy to use interface was a perfect email solution. Icontact is a solid choice for small to medium sized companies looking to grow their list in a comfortable environment. You will get better support from regular technical support and they are more willing to work with you, and quickly resolve any issues. Their email deliverability is above average.

Cons

Their templates leave much to be desired. If you have some html/css knowledge and are creative, then you can modify theirs or create your own. Sometimes our emails would end up in spam, without explanation from Icontact. Icontact is a good company, however if you are considering in moving to Enterprise account, you may consider looking elsewhere. Stick with regular technical support plans due urgent issues being resolved quicker. They have a deliverability team but they may disable sending and removing large amounts of emails without a warning which is very strange especially if you need to send out emails the next day.

Pros

At our business, we appreciate the timed releases, simple platform, and easy-to-access data following an email release.

Cons

The only thing we wish there could be an improvement on is ease of design. It seems like there are some quirks where we try to change a font color and it snaps back to the original, forcing us to go into HTML mode to edit. Thankfully, it's easy to switch between "design-mode" and "HTML mode."

Pros

It's easy to use as long as you don't try to get creative. I also like that you can copy a previous email and use it as a template for a new email - much quicker.

Cons

Sometimes it won't send test messages, and, a few months ago the Facebook connection feature stopped working so I haven't been able to use it. Also, it's a pain to include pictures in an email. The text wrapping feature does not work. I get it looking great in the program, but as soon as I send the email or test it, it gets all messed up. Lastly, the links get corrupted if you try to copy and paste them in a lot, so that is frustrating if you have to redo all the links sometimes.

Pros

I appreciate the ability to maintain a large number of segmented mailing lists. It's easy to view and compare engagement at a glance through open and click through rates. AB testing is easy and efficient.

Cons

Email builder can be a little restrictive, I'd prefer more freedom and flexibility.
Support are US based and support for premium users is restricted to relatively limited times for those of us based in Central Europe.
Unsure yet whether iContact are GDPR compliant/

Pros

The software has come a long way from its earlier stages. The editor is VERY user friendly, but of course has its quirks just like any email software. iContact has worked the best for us, and given us the ability to create an email marketing strategy that is fine tuned to our audience and what they respond to. There is a lot of flexibility and functions that make this product easily tailored to your specific needs as a brand or business. One of our favorite things though, is the support team and specifically our own specialist that has an answer for every problem. He has gone above and beyond to make our experience as smooth and effective as possible.

Cons

As we mentioned, there are quirks with any email software. In particular there are some design/layout functionalities in the new editor that sometimes don't line up just right - or at least don't give us the full access to configure the email certain ways. But we always find an alternative way to make it work.

Pros

It's practically point and click - if it's not, a simple phone call and it becomes that! I love having a 'person' connected to our account - so I may frequently utilize their expertise. Many other companies do NOT offer phone help - which is a deterrent.

Cons

I do wish integrating forms into our website is easier - but it seems to be a hassle. Mainly because we've spent over a year creating our own forms to find out it isn't compatible with iContact. We're working on a solution but it is tiresome.

Pros

Our e-mails always get into the inbox, and we have a dedicated account manager. We've saved by switching from a competing ESP. Received same level of service for 1/4 the cost.

Cons

Difficult to get account issues taken care of when your account manager is out of the office. Difficult to do real time segments. For example, if I want to exclude anyone who has not opened any e-mails in the past 180 days, there is not a way for me to create a segment based on that criteria that updates on its own, that is, if someone who was on the 180-day non-opener list decides to open an old e-mail, they should automatically drop off that list. Similarly, someone who was not on the non opener list yesterday who hits 180 days without opening today, should be added to that segment. Other ESPs have this ability.

Pros

The ability to schedule emails to go out over the weekend. When I am home relaxing, the software is reaching out to qualified candidates on my behalf.

Cons

When I send myself a test message from iContact or send a test message to a co-worker in the same office, probably 50% of the time, the test message is found in our junk mail.

Pros

This product is very easy to use. Upload an excel file or files and GO! It is easily organized by any criteria you decide and uploaded so you can start using immediately. I love being able to email a 1000 or a 100 clients in one email blast. It is making me money. :)

Cons

The DO NOT CONTACT feature. We should receive at least one email asking us to remove from a database before being placed on DNC.

Pros

I love the flexibility this software offers. The drag-and-drop capability makes it possible to create any look you want, and the ability to reuse content from previous sends has made my life easy. We can also manage any number of separate client folders for sends on their behalf. The support team is great and our strategic account manager has been a fantastic resource for understanding the analytics and recommending ways to improve our stats.

Cons

Some of the capability can be tricky as a new user, so that makes it difficult to have others step in and be able to quickly create messages. Training is key. I also wish there was a better way to connect our internal contacts database with the iContact database, right now I have to manually upload contact lists regularly.

Pros

iContact is super intuitive and easy to use, and with every update, more. I rarely have issues with the software, but when I do, my advisor is always available and is quick to help with solutions. He also has helped us increase our opens and clicks exponentially.

Cons

The only con I have is that there isn't a way to export Survey reports as a pdf. There's a workaround, but that would make my life just a little easier.

Pros

The software is easy to use, even for the most novice of users and advanced pros. We can create beautiful emails for every project big or small. Our account houses over 22,000 emails in our data base and we've never been concerned about the safety of our account knowing iContact is a robust program that takes our clients confidentiality at the top of its priorities.
The software is easy to learn, so easy, we even train our interns on the program so they can help with all of our email marketing.
The analytics are easy to read and give full detail on all of the insights of each email we send.

Cons

You can have multiple people signed into the account at once, but you don't know when someone else is signed in.

Pros

Makes responsive emails quickly, once you create your basic template/style
Customer Service & Account reps are friendly
Good value
I used MailChimp elsewhere before iContact and I think iContact's pretty good. They updated the email designer this past year with a responsive drag and drop format that makes our emails easier to view on mobile devices and easier for the less digital-savvy members of the team to use.
We send a lot of emails to a lot of people and really don't pay that much to do it. Other services may offer more bells and whistles --I don't know, I haven't looked -- but for where we are now, we're satisfied.
For perspective, our usual list has <70,000 emails on it, and we send a couple times a month.

Cons

Creating list segments is tough without planning ahead
Bullets don't center with the text
Not 100% customizable, but hey, it's responsive!
Integrate social sending with Hootsuite or Nuvi (<-- wishlist item)

Pros

For the most part, it is easy to navigate. I like that it is compatible with almost any type of HTML code.

Cons

I don't like how it's set up to tag contacts. My company never uses the feature because it's way too complicated and frustrating. The HTML designers also do an okay job of creating templates from scratch. The most recent one I received had too much coding and took me hours to add in content.

Pros

I'm very happy with all the great templates and designs! The navigation has also improved a great deal. It's easy to be creative and put out a great informational product to my guests. I also appreciate the information that I can see what worked best within the email I sent, by watching open, clicks, etc.

Cons

This software is a big improvement from the previous software, so it's difficult for me to say what I like least. I don't have any complaints.