ClickFunnels vs Infusionsoft Comparison: The Newcomer Challenges the Incumbent

Opt-in forms and landing pages

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft both include powerful landing page builders that let you create your own custom landing pages. Both applications come with landing page templates that are easy to customize to your specific design and conversion needs.

The landing page builder in ClickFunnels is extremely easy to use. It has a drag-and-drop user interface that anyone can pick up and understand in minutes. Adding a headline, picture or any other element to the page is as easy as dragging and dropping it into place.

Some of the elements you can add to your landing pages in ClickFunnels include videos, which can be configured to autoplay whenever a user reaches your landing page, and live countdown timers that create a sense of urgency and improve conversions.

You can also add an “Add to Cart” button to your landing page, effectively turning it into a sales or product page using the built-in sales processing features included in ClickFunnels.

All in all, the key focus of the landing page builder in ClickFunnels is simplicity. This is software that anyone, from a total beginner to an experienced designer, can pick up and use confidently with just a few minutes of practice.

The landing page builder in Infusionsoft, on the other hand, is designed from the ground up for power and flexibility. The user interface is a simple drag-and-drop one, making it easy even for total beginners to design landing pages.

Like ClickFunnels, the landing page builder in Infusionsoft comes with a large range of premade templates. You can choose from a variety of short landing page templates, long-form pages and other designs, all of which are easy to customize.

Infusionsoft’s landing page builder also includes all of the page elements you’d expect, ranging from headings and embedded YouTube videos to custom form fields, social media widgets and paragraphs, bullet points and other blocks of text.

If you also use Infusionsoft for your email marketing (which you’ll want to do, assuming you use it for landing page design), you can program your landing page so that fields (such as name or email address) are populated automatically when a subscriber clicks through from their email.

While the Infusionsoft landing page builder isn’t hard to use in any sense (quite the opposite, in fact), it’s not quite as simple as ClickFunnels. Expect to spend five to 15 minutes tinkering with the landing page builder before you feel totally comfortable designing your own page.

On the whole, both applications have great landing page builders that can be used to design anything from an opt-in page to a full sales page. Infusionsoft has the edge in total features, while ClickFunnels is ever so slightly easier for non-designers to use.

Sales Funnels

One huge advantage of ClickFunnels is that it includes a huge range of pre-built funnels that you can use to educate your customers about the benefits of your product and increase your conversion rate.

ClickFunnels comes with six pre-built funnels, all of which are easy to customize. The funnels that come with the software are:

• A Best Seller Book funnel for authors aiming to sell physical books or eBooks to a targeted list of customers.
• A Product Launch funnel for marketers with an upcoming product who want to warm up their audience and have a successful launch day.
• A Perfect Webinar funnel for people aiming to build the biggest possible audience for an informational or promotional webinar.
• A Real Stuff funnel for businesses that sell physical goods, either through Amazon or using an eCommerce platform.
• A Fishbowl funnel for offline, brick and mortar companies interested in generating local leads and increasing foot traffic.
• A Network Marketing Bridge funnel for network marketers interested in generating leads and expanding their sales network.

While Infusionsoft can also be used to create powerful and effective sales funnels, it’s nowhere near as easy to use as ClickFunnels. The simplicity and pre-built funnels ClickFunnels make it ideal for small teams and solo marketers, whereas larger teams might prefer Infusionsoft.  

Email marketing automation and broadcasts

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft both include email marketing automation features. Just like with landing pages, ClickFunnels wins in user-friendliness and simplicity, while Infusionsoft offers a range of features unmatched by any other email marketing application.

Since Infusionsoft is by far the most powerful platform around for email marketing, let’s take a look at its Campaign Builder first.

Infusionsoft features a very powerful marketing automation platform. Campaigns are created on a blank canvas, onto which you can add automation rules that dictate when, how and to whom the software should send marketing content.

For example, after a subscriber opts in to receive your emails, you can add them to a specific autoresponder list. If they complete the list without purchasing something, you can schedule a specific reminder email. If they buy something, you can add them to another list automatically.

Since Infusionsoft also includes a CRM tool, it allows you to integrate your email marketing with offline, “real life” marketing and sales processes, such as a phone or SMS follow-up campaign.

Infusionsoft is designed with email marketing at its center, meaning the emails you send from the platform look fantastic. Emails sent using Infusionsoft are responsive and designed to look, read and convert well on full resolution desktop and laptop PCs, tablets and mobile devices.

You can also track your campaign’s performance from within Infusionsoft using the application’s built-in analytics tools. Infusionsoft even includes A/B testing features that let you optimize your emails for higher open, clickthrough, response and conversion rates.

While the vanilla version of ClickFunnels doesn’t include any marketing automation features, the Actionetics module (which is available at a higher monthly fee) adds smart action funnels that let you automate your email and SMS marketing campaign.

Like Infusionsoft, you can create custom follow-up sequences for users that opt in to your email list, as well as customized behavior rules that let you send different content to subscribers, new customers, repeat customers and other custom groups.

ClickFunnels also integrates with marketing automation software like MailChimp, ConvertKit and Drip, meaning you can use your existing marketing automation software if you prefer a familiar interface.

Overall, Infusionsoft is definitely the more powerful of the two applications from an automation perspective. However, ClickFunnels is no slouch, and its ability to integrate with other marketing automation tools means you can access most features at a relatively low monthly cost.

Pros & Cons of ClickFunnels

The key benefit of ClickFunnels is its simplicity and all-in-one design. This means that just about every feature you could need is accessible from within the application. It also means that you’re not going to get the same level of depth as you would from a variety of enterprise-grade tools.

Pros

• If you run a small business or you’re a solo marketer, you’ll find almost all of the tools you’ll need to promote your products, collect leads and build funnels in ClickFunnels, meaning there’s less of a need for you to invest in a suite of separate tools.
• ClickFunnels includes shopping cart and checkout tools, meaning you can make sales without having to integrate with a third party eCommerce platform such as Shopify.
• The simple landing page builder in ClickFunnels lets you build landing pages and sales pages in just a few minutes, with drag-and-drop video and other rich media to improve conversions and campaign performance.
• The pre-made funnels included with ClickFunnels are extremely convenient for small businesses that don’t want to build a funnel from scratch.
• ClickFunnels offers email marketing automation via the Actionetics module, and also integrates with a variety of email and SMS marketing automation tools.
• Because ClickFunnels combines a variety of tools in one application, there’s no need for you to switch between tabs. Instead, everything is easy to manage from one interface.

Cons

• ClickFunnels is an all-in-one application, which means there’s less focus on depth or power and a much bigger focus on including a range of different tools in one product.
• While the ClickFunnels landing page builder is easy to use, it’s not as powerful as the landing page builder in Infusionsoft. If you spend a lot of your marketing budget on PPC advertising, you might feel limited by its narrow range of features and design options.

Overall

ClickFunnels is excellent software, as long as you’re part of the intended audience. If you’re a solo marketer, information product develop or small business owner, you’ll find a lot of value in ClickFunnels. If you run a mid-sized or large business, you might find it slightly lacking.

Pros & Cons of Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft’s biggest strength is its power. If you run a mid-sized or large business and need a powerful marketing arsenal, you’ll find a lot to like about Infusionsoft. However, a steep learning curve means Infusionsoft isn’t the best option for small businesses and solo marketers.

Pros

• Infusionsoft is an all-in-one platform that includes everything from an email marketing automation application to a CRM tool. If you run a mid-sized business and need a tool that can do almost everything sales or marketing related, this is a great choice.
• Infusionsoft comes with a large variety of email templates, all of which are great looking, easy to customize and 100% responsive.
• The landing page builder in Infusionsoft is much more powerful than the page builder in ClickFunnels, making it a better choice if you need to design lots of landing pages, sales pages and opt-in forms.
• The sales and customer relationship management tools included in Infusionsoft are a huge help if your business has a dedicated sales team.
• If your business depends heavily on email marketing for lead generation and revenue, the huge range of options available in Infusionsoft can be very helpful.
• Infusionsoft includes a complete affiliate management platform, meaning you can track affiliate sales and manage your affiliate program without having to use a third-party tool.

Cons

• Of all the marketing automation tools on the market, Infusionsoft has the steepest initial learning curve.
• To begin using Infusionsoft, you’ll need to purchase a Kickstart training program for $699 or more. This can be a major annoyance for small businesses with a limited budget.
• Although it’s not common, some users have reported that Infusionsoft emails don’t reach their intended recipients due to deliverability issues.

Overall

Infusionsoft is arguably the most powerful digital marketing platform on the market. It’s powerful, packed with features and ideal for growing your business. However, it’s far from easy to use and requires the purchase of an expensive training package.

Pricing

ClickFunnels is priced from $97 per month. As part of the cheapest ClickFunnels plan, you’ll be able to create up to 100 pages and 20 funnels. Your total traffic will be capped at 20,000 visitors per month and you’ll be able to add an unlimited number of contacts/subscribers.

The basic $97 per month ClickFunnels plan includes features like pre-made funnel templates, A/B testing and online webinars. You can also process payments from your customers, albeit with a 2.9% service fee.

The full version of ClickFunnels, which includes Actionetics and Backpack, is available as part of a $297 per month Etison Suite. These add-ons let you manage an affiliate program, add email marketing automation and create an unlimited number of landing pages and funnels.

ClickFunnels include a feature table comparing the two plans, which you can view here. Both of the plans are available as part of a 14-day free trial, giving you the opportunity to try the tools at no cost.

Infusionsoft is, to put it lightly, a little more expensive. The cheapest plan, which provides access for three users and has a limit of 2,500 contacts and 12,500 emails per month, costs $199 every month and only offers access to the email marketing automation and CRM tools.

For full access to Infusionsoft’s features, you’ll need to sign up for the $599 a month Team plan, which includes the CRM, marketing automation, sales automation and eCommerce features and up to 100,000 emails per month for 10 different users.

To become an Infusionsoft customer, you’ll need to sign up for a Kickstart training course. These start from $699 and can cost up to $1,699 per month for the full Kickstart Plus course.

Final Verdict

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft are both excellent products. While they share several common features, they’re designed with different audiences in mind.

If you’re a solo marketer, small business owner or the manager of a small marketing team, you’ll probably prefer ClickFunnels. It’s easier to use, less expensive and includes the vast majority of the tools you’ll need if your business needs to create effective, scalable sales funnels.

You’ll particularly like ClickFunnels if your business sells virtual or physical products online and needs software that can manage payments and customers as well as just marketing.

If you’re part of a larger business and you need a powerful marketing automation platform, you’ll like the huge range of features available in Infusionsoft. It’s more powerful than ClickFunnels, as well as more flexible and comprehensive.

The only downside to Infusionsoft is that it’s quite challenging to use, meaning you (or your team members) will need to complete the Kickstart training course before you can confidently use the software to build campaigns.

All in all, ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft are both great tools. The difference between them is the target audience they’re built for. If you run a small business and need an all-in-one tool to grow your sales, you’ll love ClickFunnels. If you’re part of a bigger business, you’ll like Infusionsoft.

What’s your favorite marketing software?

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft are both powerful marketing applications, but they’re definitely not the only solutions in this category. From low-cost, single-user tools to enterprise software, there are a wide range of online marketing tools available for today’s digital business owner.

Do you have a favorite marketing application? If so, let us know in the comments so that we can get a better understanding of the products you depend on to run, operate and grow your online business.