Infusionsoft vs. Salesforce – A Struggle of Unequal

Customer Relationship Management is the backbone of any business today and is now the fastest-growing software and service market. It is valued at $120 billion and offers 581 CRM platforms.

CRM helps you supervise your customers and relationships with them. However, not all solutions can take your business to the next level.

Some CRMs are more market-oriented, while others are more sales-driven or centered on customer support features. Therefore, it is so important to understand your specific needs and current problems to choose the right platform.

Truth be told, the more integrated your systems are, the easier it is for your industry and employees. When all is in one place, you can gain a more transparent witness of your firm's health, which will help drive the change that propels your organization forward.

Unequal what? This sounds unfinished.

Salesforce vs. Infusionsoft: Vendors Overview

We’ll be comparing solutions from Salesforce and Infusionsoft (also known as Keap). Both offer intelligent and proven systems popular with customers and have received many accolades.

About Salesforce

The company has been around for 21 years and has made several high-value acquisitions to solidify its leadership in the CRM world. With an estimated market share of 35%, it is one of the best-known pieces of CRM software that collects customer data and automates the sales process. The company also provides a PaaS solution called Force.com, as well as the AppExchange portfolio of integrated third-party apps. Over 150,000 companies have been successful with Salesforce solutions.

About Infusionsoft

The company has been around for about the same time as Salesforce. In 2019, they switched to Keap and created a small business email marketing solution. Infusionsoft’s versatile tool allows businesses to expand their client base while maintaining engagement with existing customers to increase sales. Infusionsoft is currently used by over 35,000 companies.

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Who is this software for?

• Infusionsoft is a one-stop sales and marketing automation tool that combines CRM, email advertising, and e-commerce. It targets individual clients and small firms who want their technology stack to remain simple and powerful.
• As an enterprise-grade CRM solution, Salesforce can serve both small-scale and large businesses. It also targets a wide range of customers.

Salesforce benefits

• It hosts the data in the cloud. This is important, as it protects customer information. The cloud is easily accessible, and companies can log in from anywhere around the world. This helps businesses increase productivity and collaborate easily.
• They provide a product that benefits and pleases users.
• Compatibility. Salesforce is compatible with all the browsers that companies use today. Due to this fact, companies can use platforms like Chatter to find employees.
• Easy startup. Salesforce requires no special hardware to set up, and with the help of experienced professionals, the process is quick and easy.
• Full range of CRM services. When companies gain Salesforce, they get a SaaS product. This program ensures that Salesforce applies during all stages of the customer relationship.
• Low training costs. Trailhead is an open-source learning platform that helps users learn the Salesforce platform, improve their skills and abilities, and become advanced users.
• Small Business Solutions. Salesforce has many standalone apps and, accordingly, price tiers. Small Business Solutions pricing starts at $25 per user per month and scales infinitely depending on your needs.

Disadvantages of Salesforce

• A limited number of emails. With Salesforce, you can only send 1000 emails per day. Therefore, for those who need to send thousands of emails a day, another program is suitable.
• Paid add-ons. Additional products must be purchased to get the most out of the software. Free apps can be downloaded from AppExchange, where there are over 5,000 ready-to-install solutions to help solve any business challenge.
• Single-user system. Salesforce uses a single-user system in the cloud. This means that the client's solution will update when Salesforce wants it. Fortunately, the admin can control when to update the cloud.

Infusionsoft benefits

• The convenient interface. It includes a drag-and-drop campaign editor in software for easy access and convenience of use.
• The software can track thousands of clients to ensure the best value for your business.
• Smart e-commerce tools. These are payment processing, invoices, order forms, and inventory tracking.
• Deep segmentation. It features a tagging function for accurate marketing processes.
• Lots of integrations. Infusionsoft's store offers over 300 apps and extensions. Their purchase will entail additional costs.

Disadvantages of Infusionsoft

• High start-up costs. Infusionsoft charges a one-time $999 setup fee. Billing is charged monthly on a sliding scale, starting with less than 2500 contacts. All new users must sign up for the Onboarding Program, starting at $99.
• Poor deliverability. Many users report that deliverability is not as good as that of other companies. Additionally, it has no built-in split testing capabilities.
• High training cost. Infusionsoft charges $1,500 for a mandatory onboarding of four hours with a mentor to learn the software and launch your first campaign.
• CRM is simple. It has no support for social platforms and real-time sales alerts.
• Email delivery may be erratic. You cannot use your servers to send emails and must rely on Infusionsoft's servers.

Comparison of Salesforce vs. Infusionsoft

In this section, let's look at the features that differentiate Salesforce and Infusionsoft.

What are the similarities between Infusionsoft vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

They both offer necessary objects like contacts and opportunities, and with similar elements. You can create invoices and quotes to optimize sales to meet customer needs and track leads and their activity.

But Salesforce and Infusionsoft can't be compared in terms of interchangeability. There are a couple of features that overlap. Everything else is arranged differently.

Marketing and e-commerce

This is by far the feature where the two systems differ the most.

• Infusionsoft is completely focused on marketing automation and e-commerce. Online forms can capture activity and appear in the dashboard, and leads can be generated through follow-up campaigns launched automatically. Infusionsoft can also import contact lists and link to websites and social networks. The Campaign Builder, a trick of Infusionsoft, is a visual workflow and can do everything from targeting leads circularly to designing a landing page and even enabling shopping cart functionality.

Infusionsoft also has built-in functionality to support e-commerce with invoices, orders, and shipping options, and can work with third-party sites.

Salesforce proffers marketing automation and e-commerce capabilities as separate clouds. The packages include only basic campaign features. Therefore, to get a deployed marketing tool, buy Salesforce Marketing Cloud or, for example, Pardot, the leading B2B automation software.

Marketing Cloud delivers a flawlessly personalized customer journey across email, mobile, social, digital, and DMP. There are many possibilities for built-in automation, segmentation, and 1-1 path building. Salesforce also uses Einstein's AI in most of its clouds as a powerful tool for improving interaction and data analysis.

However, Salesforce is not an eCommerce helper, and you can't run drip campaigns or develop funnels that automatically start when certain events occur. For this purpose, you will need to purchase a product such as Exact Target or Vertical Response on the AppExchange.

Sales line and opportunities

Infusionsoft has a deal-oriented Opportunities facility. It allows you to manage sales, track closing deals, and review the number of opportunities.

Salesforce also has an Opportunity object and can provide a managed sale as well. A configurable feature can provide automation with flows and process builders. Salesforce also offers features to support your sales funnel, such as enterprise territory management, and reports and dashboards tailored for sales.

Contact and customer management

In the Infusionsoft contact object, the user can search for contacts and use a series of icons to view related items such as actions, orders, and tags. Appointments can also appear in contact and any associated emails, and campaigns can be associated with that contact.

Salesforce contains everything Infusionsoft has, with a little more functionality. While custom fields can be added in both Infusionsoft and Salesforce, SF allows them to be placed among the standard fields on the page layout. Infusionsoft has a separate tab for custom fields. Besides, Salesforce Chatter can display internal conversations (or even external in some cases) and other information.

Reporting and analytics

Infusionsoft provides an interactive customer experience to give you a complete overview of the effectiveness of your marketing and sales campaigns.

Salesforce offers advanced reporting and analytics to help you identify performance issues, forecast sales, and more. Sales reps can also make key decisions on the go using the mobile app.

Plans and prices

Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing plans start at $25 user/month, to over $300 for an unlimited package. The Email, Mobile, and Web Marketing Studio package costs $400/month. Social Media Marketing costs $1000/month and Digital Advertising at $1,250/month. Salesforce offers high-level B2B marketing automation software Pardot starting at $ 1,250 per 10,000 contacts.

The price rises are connected by additional features.

The cheapest Infusionsoft plan starts at $199 per month. This gives you 2,500 contacts and 12,500 emails per month. Most users will choose the Full plan with 10,000 contacts starting at $379 per month, as 2,500 contacts is quite low.

Both Salesforce and Infusionsoft give you free trials to test your software before purchasing them.

Support service

Each Salesforce subscription comes with a standard support plan from 8 am to 8 pm and includes access to training, consulting, and expert help through its cloud services program. For those requiring 24/7 support, you can purchase Premier and Premier Plus programs.

Infusionsoft phone support is offered during certain hours of the day, but the website provides 24/7 answers. They offer chat boxes on their website to inquire about customer concerns and have added overseas customer support. There are also many helpful resources, training sessions, and personalized support options available.

Desktop and mobile platforms

Salesforce is available on Macintosh and Windows desktop platforms, and Android, IOS mobile platforms. Infusionsoft is available on desktop web application platforms and iOS and Android mobile platforms.

Automate emails Infusionsoft vs. Salesforce

With Infusionsoft, you can create any type of letter with its easy-to-use system. This editor accepts HTML's input. You can also send emails to any group on your contact list, and it simplifies email-related tasks and has 99% spam integration to ensure your respondents receive inbox messages.

With Salesforce, companies can create mailing lists and purchase advanced features activated through customer service. Salesforce allows you to merge letters and register to create complex lists, but the process is less automated than Infusionsoft and requires more manual input.

However, there are some issues with both platforms. Infusionsoft has several rules that can restrict the import of email addresses. Salesforce, on the other hand, offers two modes for sending emails. The Outlook submit option may not add files to the Salesforce database, but the submit and add button option fixes that.

Conclusion

Business owners looking for a custom marketing automation platform face a wide range of choices, but if we talk about these two players, then for small and mid-sized businesses, Infusionsoft is a sufficient solution at a lower price. Salesforce is much more scalable than Infusionsoft if you plan to grow a company with over 200 employees, but redundant for smaller organizations and some B2C businesses. In the end, the needs of your business will determine the winner in the Salesforce vs. Infusionsoft battle.