Customer.io Review: Are you using it for sales emails?

Are you a business owner, or do you work in a lead-generation company and looking for an honest review of Customer.io?

Then, this article is just for you!

As someone who understands the difficulties of getting a response from potential customers, I have written an in-depth analysis of Customer.io based on my experience and research.

You might know the tool's capabilities if you currently use Customer.io for email marketing.

However, if you're still struggling to get the desired results, this Customer.io review is for you, as you might be considering Customer.io for your sales outreach processes.

We will help you understand the difference between email marketing and sales outreach platform (in the B2B world) and how to create targeted and personalized campaigns to grab your customers' attention.

This is not a sales pitch but an evaluation of the platform's best and worst features, real-world examples, pricing breakdown, and an analysis of its most popular features.

Additionally, I will provide an alternative if you encounter any difficulties while using the tool.

So sit back, relax, and let's dive into the Customer.io world to help you make an informed decision!

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What exactly Customer.io does?

Customer.io is an email marketing platform that enables users to develop and send personalized emails using transactional and behavioral campaigns.

Here are some of the key features of the platform:

The platform has various interconnected objects, and here is the explanation of the same with each object:

People:

• The "People" object is the most important thing in Customer.io. It holds information about the users who use the service.
• Each user has a profile with different details like their traits, activity, and history with the service.

Segments:

• "Segments" are groups of users that have something in common. Segments can be created manually or automatically based on certain criteria.

Campaigns, Broadcasts, and Transactional Messages:

• "Campaigns" and "Broadcasts" are ways to send messages to groups of users through email, SMS, push messages, or in-app messages.
• "Transactional messages" are messages that users can send in response to something their users do in the app.

Workspaces:

• Each Workspace is a separate container with people, campaigns, and broadcasts.
• Each Workspace keeps its data and settings, and they don't mix with other Workspaces.

Integration:

• Users can use the Customer.io API to build custom tools with Customer.io. This lets them send data to Customer.io at specific times and in specific ways that suit their organization's needs.

What are the Pros and Cons of Customer.io?

Customer.io Review: top 5 features where customer.io shines

Here are 5 features where Customer.io shines:

Email automation:

• Easy creation of complex email campaigns with accurate data.
• Flexible integration with CRM platforms and easy monitoring and debugging.

[ Honest Customer.io review]

Customer support:

• Good customer and technical support team with quick responses and open to feedback.
• Documentation and community pages serve as great resources for inspiration and troubleshooting.

Personalization:

• Customizable messaging with A/B testing for measuring campaign success.

Analytics:

• Straightforward analytics for tracking customer engagement and campaign success.
• A full preview of emails, details of events received by a user, and correct segmentation check.

All-in-one communication system:

• Streamlined messaging across multiple channels with flexible workflows.
• Smooth database connection and powerful collaboration tools.

The downsides of Customer.io

Here are the top 5 cons of Customer.io:

Limited Flexibility on Contracts:

• Users cannot adjust their usage contract monthly, resulting in paying for unused profiles until the year ends.
• This inflexibility can waste money and resources.

[ Here is what customer thinks about their monthly contracts👇]

Poor User Interface:

• The UI of Customer.io is not intuitive, making navigating and completing tasks challenging.
• Compared to other email platforms, such as MailChimp and Constant Contact, the UI is not user-friendly and can lead to frustration.

[ Real Customer.io review👇]

Weak Segmentation Tool:

• Users cannot create segments based on two other lists or segments, and SMS short links are not an option.
• This can make it challenging to manage and analyze subscriber lists effectively.

Clunky Email Editor:

• The email editor in Customer.io is not user-friendly and can be slow to load.
• Although the platform allows editing the HTML of an email directly, the editor they provide can be confusing and frustrating for users.

Limited Reporting and Search Features:

• Reporting in the tool is weak, and search fields are limited to just the user's email address.
• There are no folders to organize campaigns or saved views, and poor filtering makes managing and analyzing email campaigns challenging.

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How is Customer.io priced?

Customer.io offers three different pricing plans that cater to businesses of varying sizes and stages of growth.

The Essentials plan is perfect for small teams and startups. It costs $100 per month and can manage up to 5,000 profiles. It can send emails, push, in-app, and SMS messages. It also has useful tools like a visual workflow builder and segmentation tools. Users can create up to two workspaces with this plan.

• While the Essentials plan offers a range of features, businesses that require more profiles must pay an additional $0.009 per profile.
• However, with email and community support, the Essentials plan provides a solid foundation for startups and small businesses.

The Premium plan is for high-growth companies and includes everything in the Essentials plan, including custom data and message volume, premium product features, additional workspaces, a 90-day onboarding program, premium email, and chat support, managed deliverability, dedicated IPs, pro parcel licenses, and HIPAA compliance. The price of the Premium plan is not disclosed.

• While the additional features in the Premium plan are beneficial, the undisclosed price may be a drawback for some businesses.

The Enterprise plan is for large companies that want to provide top-notch customer experiences. It includes everything in the Premium plan, including managed infrastructure, a dedicated customer success manager, quarterly success reviews, enterprise technical support, audit logging and data governance, parcel business licenses, migration support, and other features.

• The Enterprise plan's features and capabilities come with an undisclosed price, but it may be worth it for companies with complex needs and high volumes of customer data.

Top 3 Lesser known features about Customer.io

Here are three lesser-known features of Customer.io that are worth exploring:

Complex workflows:

• You may drag and drop messages, time delays, webhooks, and branches and leave notes inline for yourself and your team using this tool.
• Every step in the workflow is clear from the main page for stakeholders and new team members.

Manage Leads and Customers in One Workspace:

• You can add people using their ID and/or email and update those identifiers later without complicated profile merging.
• You can also choose how to identify people (ID only or email/ID) and maintain their history as they progress from a lead to a customer.

Ad Audience Sync:

• This feature ensures businesses target the right audiences by syncing their segments from Customer.io to their ad platforms.
• This eliminates the need for manual data entry and simplifies the process of keeping your ad audiences up to date.

What have we learned so far about Customer.io?

Below are five points summarizing the Customer.io tool:

1. Customer.io is an email marketing tool for creating and delivering customized messages via transactional and behavioral campaigns.
2. A workspace contains a variety of objects, including broadcasts, campaigns, and people. Each Workspace maintains its unique data and settings, which are kept separate from other Workspaces.
3. Customer.io offers email automation, flexible integration with CRM platforms, personalized messaging, and analytics.
4. The cons of Customer.io include limited flexibility on contracts, a poor user interface, weak segmentation tools, a clunky email editor, and limited reporting and search features.
5. Customer.io offers three pricing plans - Essentials, Premium, and Enterprise - catering to businesses of different sizes and stages of growth. Additionally, the platform features complex workflows, webhooks, API integration, and a REST API.

You can go for alternatives similar to Customer.io for your email marketing efforts if the tool is not exceeding your expectations.

But before we hunt for an alternative at all, let's first understand the email and sales platforms.

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What is an Email Marketing Platform, and How does it differ from a Sales Outreach tool?

An email marketing platform is software that businesses use to create and send emails to their customers or subscribers.

• It allows businesses to create targeted email campaigns, automate email sequences, and track email metrics like open and click-through rates.
• An email marketing platform is designed to help businesses build and maintain relationships with their audience through email communication.

On the other hand, a sales outreach tool is software that helps businesses reach out to potential customers and make sales.

• It typically includes features like prospecting, email tracking, and lead management.
• A sales outreach tool primarily focuses on generating new leads and converting them into customers through targeted outreach.

Are you still relying on an email marketing tool to handle your sales outreach?

If sales outreach is what you’re looking for, then it might be time to consider a better option, like Salesrobot.

Don't just take my word for it – let me show you why our platform is the real deal, with hard facts and glowing reviews from satisfied customers.

Salesrobot - Best Alternative to Customer.io for all your Sales outreach efforts!

Salesrobot is a sales platform that lets you reach out to potential customers through email and LinkedIn.

This platform can boost your sales pipeline by automating and personalizing your outreach.

With Salesrobot, you can create customized Email and LinkedIn Sequences to perform cold outreach while still giving a personal touch efficiently.

Here are why you must choose Salesrobot for an effective Sales Outreach!

1. Automated email sequences that save time and increase outbound sales.
2. LinkedIn automation enables sending up to 200 messages per week and connection requests without usual limitations.
3. Hyper-personalization through pre-designed templates for customized LinkedIn interactions with group members and event attendees, promoting engagement and streamlining bulk messaging capabilities.
4. Salesrobot delivers smart and secure campaigns, round-the-clock client support, and seamless functionality to avoid triggering LinkedIn's algorithm.

[ Here’s a real customer review on Salesrobot(previously Sendzilla)👇]

5. Personalized follow-up messages, engagement sequences, and the ability to manage multiple LinkedIn profiles with its user-friendly interface.

[Here’s what our personalized human-like interactions look like👇]

6. Seamless integration with popular software like Hyperise and Zapier for easy data export to databases or CRMs.
7. Prospect insights for data-driven decision-making and extensive reporting tools for real-time progress tracking and evaluation of sales campaigns.
8. Automated feature for sending birthday and congratulations wishes to prospects.

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How is Salesrobot priced?

Unlocking all of Salesrobot's powerful features is just a click away with our comprehensive plan priced at an unbeatable $99 per monthly account.

Forget the hassle of contracts and being locked into an expensive pricing plan like you would with Customer.io.

What's even better is that you can try Salesrobot risk-free for 14 days without having to provide your credit card information.

That's right; you can test drive our platform and experience the game-changing benefits firsthand without any commitment.

Finally, Here’s what you can take!

So the Bottom line is -

If you want an email marketing tool that automates your marketing efforts through emails, opt for Customer.io (which has its cons to consider).

And if you are unaware of sales outreach/lead generation and making the mistake of utilizing the customer.io platform for all your sales outreach process, switch to Salesrobot for an effective sales outreach to nurture your potential leads and finally close the deal with more conversions.

Hope this Customer.io review was helpful!

Founder's Corner:

While email marketing is a great tool for keeping in touch with your current customers and promoting your brand, it's not necessarily the best option for lead generation. For example, if you're a B2B company looking to reach potential clients, a targeted sales outreach approach may be more effective.

Let's say you're a startup that provides software solutions for small businesses. Instead of sending out a mass email campaign to potential clients, you could use a sales outreach platform like Salesrobot to create a targeted list of small business owners in your area and send personalized messages that address their specific pain points.

This approach will likely result in successful conversions and ultimately help you grow your business.

So, if you're looking to generate leads and close more deals, choosing the right tool for the job is important. And in many cases, a sales outreach platform may be the better choice over a traditional email marketing platform.