Ontraport email UI / UX deficiencies...

Michael Russer

I am at expert level with several other CRMs including Infusion Soft and ActiveCampaign. What I've noticed is that Ontraport's email UI / UX leaves much to be desired compared say to ActiveCampaign (AC).

In addition to AC's much more robust and intuitive email editor, it allows A/B testing with marketers in mind. You can set up A/B tests within the message so that the system will send out say 10% using "A" and 10% to "B" and then a day or two later will send out the balance of the 80% to the "winner" based upon specific outcomes (say clickthroughs). This is currently impossible within ON.

Many email messages are one-off so setting up an A/B campaign is pointless.

Honestly, if this does not get addressed soon I am seriously considering going back to AC for our marketing / CRM when things slow down towards the end of this year.

Not trying to be harsh here - however, you really need to know what your competition is doing.

Hope this helps...

Michael Russer

September 28, 2020 22:23

Official comment

Thanks Michael. Of course, we're well aware of what our competitors are doing and we're aware that this feature isn't available in Ontraport now, as it is in some other systems.

We've prioritized other projects than this one because in the VAST majority of cases, people who broadcast emails want them out now... not 20% now and 80% in 2 days. Therefore, this feature is left unused 99% of the time. That's not to say it's not useful for a few businesses, but it's never made it to the top of our list.

Of course, as an expert in these systems, you'll also be aware that moving back to ActiveCampaign will cost you literally hundreds of other features... but of course that's your choice to make. Different systems for different folks.

We do agree that Ontramail is due for a refresh, and that's scheduled for next year. It will be rebuilt to roughly match the functionality/UX of Ontraport Pages. Hope that helps you plan.

Thanks for the feedback!

Landon Ray September 28, 2020 22:29

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2 comments

Just to comment specifically on the A/B testing for one-off broadcast emails - we're just migrating from AC now, and I think that is the feature we'll miss the most.

We use it for every one of our broadcast emails with just a 3-4 hour testing window, allowing us to easily test subject lines on one-off emails and send the bulk of messages using the winning subject (can be opens or clicks). e.g. 20% to each test > wait 4 hours > send remaining 60% the winning subject/message, so 80% of total subscribers get the 'winning' message.

AC's implementation of this is incredibly easy to use, so it only takes an extra couple of clicks. It's such an easy point of optimization, that we make sure (*made sure) to do it on every broadcast - and the difference really stacks up.

Given OP handles broadcast emails a little differently, perhaps a simpler implementation could piggyback on the existing 'split' campaign function, allowing a 'split test until winner is achieved for clicks/opens, then send traffic to winner'?

To achieve the same end result as the AC solution, we'd then just need to throw an regular 'split' above it (say, 40% to the new split testing condition, and 60% to a 4hr wait).

Just an idea, without having to re-engineer the way one-off/broadcast emails are handled.

Mike Brown October 06, 2020 00:53 0 votes