Leadpages' Drip vs. Keap CRM vs. Ontraport Marketing Automation

Is It Really "Drip vs. Keap vs. Ontraport"?

I first wrote this a couple of years ago when Leadpages, which I have used extensively over the years and really loved, announced that they had purchased their "favorite marketing automation tool," Drip.

Naturally, my friends and associates in the online community asked me if I have a "Drip vs. Infusionsoft" writeup, so I dove right in to create that, and since I was already plugging away, I figured I'd add Ontraport to the mix as well.

While I was also an affiliate of Drip and I like what they are doing, looking at "Drip vs. Keap" can start to get confusing.

Drip is now offering:

• Webforms and Popups (popups can be effective in lead capture. Keap does not offer this, but Ontraport does.)
• Email marketing, Segmentation & Personalization, which both Keap and Ontraport offer
• Automation and Reporting, which both Keap and Ontraport offer
• Drip offers multi-step surveys, which is unique to them, and another powerful way to collect leads and nurture them

The differences come in the form of:

• True CRM capabilities, which Drip is not
  • Deal tracking
  • Lead scoring
  • Pipeline creation
  • Quoting/Invoicing
• Drip is not really built for brick-and-mortar businesses. Even their homepage says, "We help ecom brands build customer relationships that last.")
• Business phone line
• SMS marketing
• Direct mail integrations

All Three Do Marketing Automation

Drip is open, honest, and direct about what it is they do: "We help ecom brands build customer relationships that last."

They do it with a lightweight platform that is visually appealing with a vertical drag-and-drop sequence builder that is almost as sexy as Ginger on Gilligan's Island. (Look her up, you young whipper snappers. She was sexy!)

Keap also does marketing automation with the first (in their space) drag-and-drop workflow builder.

Since Ontraport 5.0, they now have a nice drag-and-drop/visual workflow editor.

(See my Ontraport vs. Keap writeup for more details on those tools.)

Drip vs. Keap vs. Ontraport Pricing

Drip offers a Basic package at $39/mo, which gets you 2,500 Subscribers and unlimited email sends, but only up to a certain list size. As you grow, you will pay a lot more with Drip, and they'll limit how many emails you can send without additional fees.

With Keap's Pro package, you'll pay $149/mo, which also includes 2,500 Contacts, unlimited emails, and two user licenses.

When it comes to Drip vs. Ontraport, Ontraport offers its own Basic package at $24/mo for up to 500 contacts, unlimited email, and a one-user license. 

What happens when you are successful with Drip's marketing automation and you need more than 2,500 contacts?

• You'll pay $89/mo for 5,000 contacts.
• You'll pay $154/mo for 10,000 contacts.
• You'll pay $289/mo for 20,000 contacts.

So in a nutshell, i.e., not completely, not 100%, not down to the gnat's ass, the pricing looks like this (platforms listed in alphabetical order):

Sales and Marketing Automation

In the "sales and" part of "Sales and Marketing Automation," there is a key differentiator when considering Drip vs. Keap vs. Ontraport.

Drip is not a CRM or sales automation engine.

That means you'll have to integrate this with Salesforce or Zoho or Sugar or some other 3rd party CRM if you need to track deals through your various stages.

If you're purely an online marketer and/or close all of your deals via one call closes, then you probably don't even need a CRM.

Additionally, with Drip, you'll need a 3rd party shopping cart such as Shopify or 1ShoppingCart if you want to take orders online. 

The benefit of running your business like this is that you can implement "best of breed" components in each phase of your business.

Salesforce is the 800 lb gorilla in the CRM space. Shopify is a beautiful, powerful shopping cart (and a great website/blog platform as well). 

However, the more tools you piece together, the more likely complications will arise.

What happens when your prospect takes you up on your 10% off offer, and the Drip API doesn't fire properly because it needs to be updated?

Not only will your new customer NOT get the product they ordered, they'll also get the "Final offer of 20% off" email the next day.

Now you risk not only profit but maybe the customer altogether, not to mention your reputation.

When you have Drip connected to Salesforce connected to Shopify connected to Zapier connected to Drip connected to Zapier...things can and will go wrong.

You will have four tech support lines to call and troubleshoot when you build your sales and marketing automation system this way, which may be worth it because you're getting the best of breed, but you need to be aware of what you're getting into.

The more pieces and parts you connect also further cuts into Drip's "10% of the sticker price" argument.

If you're paying $49/mo for Drip + $27/mo for Shopify + $20/mo for Zapier + $50/mo for Salesforce ($25/mo/user for two users), you're up to $146/mo for just the basic editions of all of these tools, and how long do you plan on running a "basic" business? 

Month-to-Month Contracts

It also eats into Drip's flexible pricing / no-contract model. What good is a month-to-month contract with your marketing automation engine if your Salesforce CRM locks you into a 12-month contract?

Ontraport not only offers a month-to-month contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee, they also offer two months free if you pay for a year.

And while Infusionsoft is moving towards an annual contract, they are still month-to-month as well.

The Truth About "Ease of Use"

Drip has great marketing that supports its beautiful interface, and they really drive home the point that they are "easy to use." 

While I will hand it to them that it is easy to use Drip, you need to realize that if you need

• a CRM,
• a shopping cart,
• landing pages,…

You'll need to go buy, learn, and integrate those tools into Drip.

So that's like In-N-Out saying, "we have an easy-to-order" menu, which is true, as long as you don't want a grilled chicken or tuna melt sandwich or a salad or fresh fruit instead of fries.

Now don't get me wrong, I've probably eaten 1,000 pounds of In-N-Out burgers and fries since moving to SoCal in 2004, but I go next door to Miguel's Jr for the best burritos, and I go to Vince's for the best meatball sandwiches. 

And sometimes, when my family of 9 can't decide, we park in the middle, and some go get burgers, some go get burritos, and since In-N-Out is always more crowded, the burger-eaters usually bring their food to Miguel's so we can all eat together.

That's what you'll be doing with Drip if you need a CRM, a shopping cart, and/or landing pages. (Good thing Leapages bought Drip to help alleviate some of the mixing and matching.) 

Drip Is Great at ONLY Marketing Automation

So if you want/need best-of-class and/or you only need email marketing automation, then get Drip. It's a beautiful, elegant, well-oiled machine, and I hope Keap, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Nimble, and Ontraport learn from what they are doing right.

At the end of the day, Drip focuses on just a few things around marketing automation, triggering, and reporting but does them well.

Now with their Leadpages merger, I expect to see even more coming from them on a regular basis, and I'm happy to recommend them to you if you are either looking to upgrade from MailChimp or ConstantContact or Aweber and/or don't need the expense of an Eloqua or Marketo for their current marketing automation.

For those that need a CRM, a shopping cart, membership site integration, affiliate marketing, and more, Drip may not be the tool for you.

That's when I'd direct you over to take the free Best CRM For Me survey to see what would be best for your current needs.

Or feel free to contact me, and let's arrange a time to dig in and peel this onion until we find the tool that's right for you.

Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.