​An often debated comparison in the digital marketing technology that I see is:

I’m in both customer Facebook groups and this debate comes up fairly often and I often find myself tempted to go on a long Facebook comment rant about the subject.

(Typically I am about 80-85% successful at holding myself back)

To start it is important for me to note that I’m an Infusionsoft Certified Partner and I primarily run Prior Marketing Solutions using Infusionsoft.

However, I am also an ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant and many of my past and current Infusionsoft and ActiveCampaign customers also use ClickFunnels.

Which will lead me to the biggest theme of this post.

Both are good at different things and are not necessarily mutually exclusive of each other.

That being said… lets meet the challengers:

ClickFunnels:

When Russell Brunson introduced ClickFunnels to the scene a few years ago, it was positioned itself as an easy “all-in-one” Digital Marketing solution for small businesses. Specifically it is meant to easily build out a wide variety of different sales funnels.

Everything about ClickFunnels is simplified (on purpose) and it is designed for entry level entrepreneurs. (Granted, many experienced marketers and entrepreneurs choose to use it)

ClickFunnel’s core Drag-and-drop landing page builder feature is very solid, easy-to-use and comes with a lot of pre-built designs. You can also build out order forms & make sales using their builder.

This landing page builder is combined with the ability to map out different “Funnel Steps”, as well as the ability to test out different landing page/order form variations.

These Funnel Steps are then trackable to where you can easily see the strength and weaknesses of your sales funnel.

In my opinion – this core functionality is great. (Although, their split-testing feature is very basic and often buggy)

Where ClickFunnels falls off is their OTHER features…

ClickFunnels also offers email marketing automation,  membership website and affiliate tracking features.

Without getting into way too much detail… these features are simply novelties and will present a lot of challenges to users when tested with any level of scale.  These features are very basic and provide very little (if any) ability to do anything outside of a kindergarten level use of these features.

But again,  it’s core functionality (landing page / order form builder) is very solid, especially when you are first getting started. 

Also I think it is important to note, while Infusionsoft’s customer support team doesn’t have reputation of being “best-in-class”… they are still way better than ClickFunnels’s team.

Simply put… ClickFunnel’s customer support team is absolutely awful. And every funnel is self hosted on their servers so if something goes wrong, you aren’t left with many options. 

I personally have found that if a CF technical support issue requires a sliver critical thought or is at all related to an issue caused by their platform… 85% of the time they are either not able to help or end up escalating the issue to their developers (who most of the time won’t fix your issue in a timely matter).

I don’t think it’s fair to say the customer support thing is a “deal breaker”… but it’s definitely something to consider.  

Infusionsoft:

To start, Infusionsoft is hands down a more superior CRM (Customer Relationship Management Platform) & Marketing Automation platform  than Clickfunnels.

3 things that are typically good to look for in a good CRM are:

• What data about your leads and customers does the CRM store?
• How well does it track leads through a sales pipeline?
• What kind of reporting can you get out of it to make management decisions?

Infusionsoft does a great job with all of those categories and for the most part, when a feature is not available natively (built inside of Infusionsoft) you can fill in the gap with a 3rd party tool.

Simply put… ClickFunnels is not a true CRM. It stores minimal data about a customer. It has sales pipeline functionality and reporting is extremely basic.

What makes Infusionsoft extremely powerful is that it is also a very good marketing automation & e-commerce platform.  This means your CRM, Email Marketing & E-Commerce are all in the same place, and “infused” with each other. 

In terms of Email Marketing Automation… Infusionsoft also has Clickfunnels beat. ClickFunnel’s marketing automation potential is not anywhere near as robust as Infusionsoft’s, which allows you to communicate to very specific groups of leads/customers in different ways than each other. 

Overall Infusionsoft, provides a lot more E-Commerce Reporting  & “background” features compared to Clickfunnels, but from a design and ease-of-use perspective,  ClickFunnel’s landing pages / order forms beats Infusionsoft’s Landing Pages / Order Forms.

However, Infusionsoft has put in a significant amount of resources in developing their own drag-and-drop landing page builder.  I wouldn’t say that their new builder is quite at the level as ClickFunnel’s… but they are definitely getting closer.

… And rumor is Infusionsoft plans to release a drag-and-drop order form feature in the next few weeks/months.

If you can’t wait that long, then Infusionsoft has a HUGE market of 3rd-party integrations.

(Spiffy is an easy way to make to make your Infusionsoft Order forms way nicer)

In fact you can easily integrate Infusionsoft with ClickFunnels.  (and this integration is not half bad).

Comparison of Infusionsoft & ClickFunnels:

Membership Websites	3rd Party Tool Required (Memberium is Awesome)	Bad
Marketing Automation	Very Good	Bad
Integrations	Very Good	Bad
Email Marketing	Good	Bad
CRM	Very Good	Basic
Reporting	Very Good	Basic
Ease-Of-Use	Small Learning Curve	Easy
Sales Automation	Very Good	N/A
Affiliate Tracking	Good	Very Bad
Customer Support	Decent	Very Bad
Landing Pages	Good. Work In Progress	Very Good
Order Forms	Bad 3rd Party Solutions Can Improve	Very Good

In conclusion:

Infusionsoft is a better “all-in-one” marketing platform than ClickFunnels.

Honestly, ClickFunnels should not be in the “all-in-one” space. If they were to focus more energy on growing their core landing builder/order builder feature, as well as stabilizing their API and customer service situation I would be a much much bigger fan.

Instead, I think they mislead their customers & market base by positioning themselves as a Infusionsoft competitor, when in reality they are not. 

Overall, in terms of fire power, I don’t think Clickfunnels come anywhere close to most of the features that Infusionsoft provides. 

NOW That Said – ClickFunnels + Infusionsoft is not a bad combination by any means.  They compliment each other well.

PERSONALLY.  My favorite technology stack for Sales Funnels is: 

• Infusionsoft – CRM, Marketing Automation + 
• ThriveThemes / Architect – For Landing Pages
• ThriveCart (Unrelated to ThriveThemes) – For order forms

What is your opinion about these two marketing tools?  Agree? Disagree? Comment below:

Startup Stock Photos

In terms of sales, one of the most valuable tools that all marketers have in their arsenal is and will always be good, old-fashioned word of mouth. One customer uses your product or service and walks away satisfied. They tell two people, those two people each tell five more and pretty soon you’ve got a steady stream of new leads beating down your door to see what the fuss is about

In many ways, referral partners and affiliates are the 21st century, digital version of this very basic concept. Obtaining a referral partner is often something that happens organically, but businesses CAN help speed this process along through a number of important strategies.

Referral Partners and Affiliates: The Basics

A referral partner is typically a blogger, a particular website or some other type of publisher that produces content that would be of interest to the specific people you’re trying to reach. A referral partner with a significant email list that appeals to your target audience, for example, is one example of this idea in action. They could send out an email to their list that mentions your product or service and, as you already know their recipients are in your target audience, you will have a much higher click through and even sale rate than you would via more general means.

The Benefits of Using Referral Partner Strategies

To that end, referral partners can be a truly excellent source of traffic for your sales funnel. As your network of referral partners increases, so do the number of mentions your brand gets on the Web. That activity brings more eyes onto your products and services, creating more leads and more opportunities. The cycle then repeats itself as more relevant content makes its way online.

Referral links can also be a great way to help keep track of which efforts are performing to your expectations. You can track leads that come from a particular email address, for example, by setting that source up as a dummy referral partner and paying attention to the level of attention it can generate.

If you’re an existing Infusionsoft user, you’ll no doubt be pleased to know that adding referral partners inside of Infusionsoft is a whole lot easier than you may have initially thought.

To find out more, watch this tutorial that I’ve recorded that will help you shed valuable insight on this important process.