Ontraport vs Infusionsoft

I spent three days last week at Ontraport’s office (formerly Office AutoPilot) in Santa Barbara.  I’ll admit that part of the reason I was happy to go up there was to surf Rincon – a world class break when it’s on.  I did get some great surf, which was nice. 

But, the real reason I was there was to become certified on Ontraport.  Some have conjectured that I was there as a “spy” for Infusionsoft, which wasn’t the case.  I was there only to expand my own ability to serve my clients.  Being familiar with the abilities of the different software programs that my clients use is important for me to be able to best help them.

So, below I’ve written up a short comparison of Ontraport and Infusionsoft.  I’ve tried to be as open and honest as possible in my assessment.  Instead of trying to line up a head-to-head comparison, I’ve just listed a few advantages and disadvantages.

• Ontraport has PURLs (personalized URLs).  This can be really helpful in providing simple URLs in print media (direct mail, magazine ads, etc).  I’d like to see a test that proves or disproves their effectiveness in email.  I don’t think they’d have much advantage in email, but that’s just my opinion.  You can always write anchor text that is personalized.  Infusionsoft doesn’t have this feature, but there are 3rd party apps that integrate with Infusionsoft to provide PURLs.
• Campaign Builder.  Infusionsoft has a visual, drag-and-drop campaign builder that makes building campaigns enjoyable.  Building campaigns in Ontraport is painful.  Even in Ontraport 3.0 (the version they launched in beta last week at Ontrapalooza) everything is pretty disjointed.  You have to go to multiple places to create all of your campaign elements.  Then you have to document outside of the app where everything is and how it all connects.  In my opinion, this is a huge drawback to Ontraport.  It’s like using Infusionsoft over 2 years ago.  If time is important to you, then Infusionsoft will save you lots of time.  You can build campaigns 3-4 times faster in Infusionsoft.
• Ontraport has built-in postcards.  You can design your own postcard within Ontraport and have it sent out in a one-off scenario as part of a campaign step or a broadcast.  Infusionsoft doesn’t have postcards within your account, but there are 3rd party apps that integrate to provide similar functionality.
• Built in SMS.  In Ontraport 3.0, you can setup and send two-way SMS messages right from within the app.  Again, Infusionsoft has 3rd party apps that integrate for similar functionality.
• Groups vs. tags.  Infusionsoft switched from using the word “groups” to “tags” a few years ago.  Tags are a way to label contacts for any reason.  Saved searches in Infusionsoft allow you to set a search based on any criteria and a pull a dynamic list at any time.  In Ontraport, groups are essentially saved searches.  And the language around tags is weird.  Instead of applying a tag to a contact, you apply a contact to a tag.  These are little things, but they leave the user confused at times.
• Ontraport currently does not have a Quickbooks export or integration.  Infusionsoft can export directly into an .iif file to be imported into Quickbooks.
• Reporting.  Reporting has never been a strength of Infusionsoft, but if you know what you’re looking for and how to alter the searches, you can generally get the data you need.  In Ontraport, aside from a basic dashboard, reporting is almost non-existent.
• Membership levels.  If you have a membership site, and you’d like to drip out content to people in one membership, you have to create a membership level for each item of content in Ontraport.  In Infusionsoft, this is much easier, you can just apply a tag for each item of content.
• In Ontraport 2.4 there are no promo codes or any way to discount a product in an order form.  Ontraport 3.0 does allow this functionality.  Infusionsoft allows for a lot of flexibility in this area.  You can set up promotions, discounts, and free trials based on a number of different criteria.
• Shopping Cart.  Infusionsoft has a fully functional shopping cart solution.  Ontraport only offers basic order forms.
• One-click upsells.  Ontraport has one-click upsells built in.  Infusionsoft does not.  But, again, there are 3rd party apps that integrate to allow one-click upsells.
• Split testing.  Ontraport has split testing out of the box.  You can split test landing pages, emails, sequences, etc.  Infusionsoft does not have this functionality.
• Websites.  Ontraport has built in WordPress sites and are fully integrated so you can track page visits and trigger actions based on site activity.  This also includes built-in geolocation by IP address.  Infusionsoft does not have this functionality, but 3rd party apps integrate for this functionality.
• Content Publishing.  Ontraport allows a user to package his/her own campaign content and import it into another user’s account through its OATS program.  Infusionsoft doesn’t provide this ability.  But, based on the campaigns you can import from the Marketplace, you can tell that this functionality is on its way and it will hopefully be very slick.

Those are just a few of the things I can think of off the top of my head.  In the end, the decision to go with Infusionsoft or Ontraport is a personal one, based on your requirements.  If you’re looking at these two solutions and having a hard time deciding which to go with, reach out and I’m happy to help you make the right decision for your business.