Ontraport is a great choice because it offers all-in-one tools to manage customers, marketing, and sales in one platform. The 14-day free trial lets you test everything without any risk, helping you decide if it’s the right fit for your business. It’s easy to use and offers powerful features to streamline your business tasks.
- All-in-one marketing automation and CRM platform.
- User-friendly interface with customizable workflows.
- Robust email marketing tools and analytics.
- Strong integration capabilities with third-party apps.
- Great for small to medium-sized businesses.
- Can be overwhelming for beginners.
- Pricing may be higher compared to some competitors.
Price: $24/month
When choosing a tool to manage your business, you often have to decide between simplicity or powerful features. Ontraport, a business automation platform, aims to combine both.
After trying out several CRM and automation tools, I can say that Ontraport does a good job balancing ease of use with strong capabilities.
In this Ontraport review, I’ll share my experience with Ontraport, its main features, its pros and cons, and why it could be the right tool to help grow your business.
What Actually Is Ontraport?
Ontraport is an all-in-one tool created to help small businesses and entrepreneurs manage their operations in one place. It combines customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, and sales tools, making tasks like sending emails, tracking leads, and setting up marketing funnels easier.
Founded in 2006 in Santa Barbara, California, Ontraport also supports building websites and processing payments. It serves as a central platform that keeps your contacts organized, automates your marketing efforts, and helps grow your business.
This makes it especially useful for coaches, agencies, and online stores looking to simplify their processes and boost efficiency.
Who is Ontraport for?
- Small to medium-sized businesses: Whether you are just starting or are growing rapidly, Ontraport can scale with your needs.
- Online retailers: With its eCommerce and sales automation features, Ontraport is perfect for running online stores.
- Digital marketers: If you are a digital marketer looking to streamline your lead generation, nurturing, and sales conversion, Ontraport is a solid option.
- Entrepreneurs and Solopreneurs: The platform helps manage day-to-day operations and customer relationships effectively.
Ontraport is a cloud-based platform, meaning you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. It operates through a user-friendly interface that offers drag-and-drop tools for creating workflows, forms, emails, and landing pages.
Once you’ve set up your workflows and automation, Ontraport takes care of the execution, sending emails, tracking leads, updating your CRM, and more without manual intervention.
The platform operates on a subscription basis, with several pricing tiers depending on your business size and needs. Ontraport also offers a 14-day free trial, allowing users to test out its features before committing.
Benefits of Using Ontraport
- Saves Time: By automating repetitive tasks like follow-ups, email campaigns, and lead management, Ontraport frees up valuable time for businesses to focus on high-level strategy.
- Increases Efficiency: Ontraport’s all-in-one solution eliminates the need for multiple tools and integrations, streamlining processes and reducing friction between different software systems.
- Improves Customer Engagement: With powerful email automation, personalized communication, and lead nurturing, Ontraport helps businesses keep their customers engaged and build long-term relationships.
- Scalable: Ontraport grows with your business. As your needs change, you can customize workflows, reporting, and automation to suit your evolving operations.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Ontraport’s reporting and analytics give you real-time insights into campaign performance, sales activities, and customer behaviors, empowering you to make informed, data-backed decisions.
Ontraport is a comprehensive, scalable, and user-friendly marketing automation and CRM platform that offers businesses a powerful set of tools to automate their marketing efforts, nurture customer relationships, and streamline their operations.
With its customizable workflows, robust email marketing tools, detailed reporting, and CRM system, Ontraport is a great choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking to scale their marketing and sales processes.
While Ontraport’s pricing may be on the higher end for smaller businesses or startups, the value it offers in terms of automation, reporting, and integrations makes it an excellent investment for businesses that want to optimize their marketing and sales efforts.
Key Features of Ontraport
1. Marketing Automation
Ontraport’s marketing automation tools are among the platform’s most powerful and versatile features. This feature allows businesses to automate repetitive marketing tasks, helping them save time and improve efficiency. With Ontraport’s visual workflow builder, you can create automated workflows that trigger actions based on specific customer behaviors or data points.
Key Benefits:
- Behavior-based automation: Automate follow-ups, email sequences, and even lead scoring based on customer actions such as form submissions, email opens, or clicks.
- Customizable workflows: Build workflows from scratch with a drag-and-drop builder, allowing you to design tailored automation strategies.
- Lead nurturing: Automatically nurture leads by sending personalized content at the right time, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
This feature is ideal for businesses looking to automate their lead nurturing, follow-up emails, or even customer retention campaigns.
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Ontraport’s CRM is designed to help businesses manage customer data in a central location. The CRM not only tracks customer interactions but also segments contacts based on various factors like demographics, interests, or actions. This segmentation helps businesses target specific customer groups with personalized campaigns.
Key Benefits:
- Centralized customer data: Keep track of every touchpoint with your customers, from emails to purchases, ensuring that you have a comprehensive view of your relationship with them.
- Contact segmentation: Organize and segment your contacts based on multiple attributes such as behavior, location, or preferences.
- Lead scoring: Assign a score to leads based on their engagement level, helping your sales team prioritize follow-ups more effectively.
Ontraport’s CRM helps businesses build stronger customer relationships by giving them a deeper understanding of their contacts’ behaviors and needs.
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing is at the heart of Ontraport’s platform, providing businesses with robust tools to create and send personalized, automated email campaigns. Whether you are sending a one-time promotional email or setting up a comprehensive email sequence, Ontraport makes it easy to reach your audience with relevant content.
Key Benefits:
- Automated email sequences: Set up multi-step email campaigns that nurture leads over time, triggered by specific actions or dates.
- Personalization: Personalize emails based on the contact’s name, preferences, or behaviors, which significantly increases engagement.
- Templates & Drag-and-Drop Editor: Ontraport offers a range of email templates and a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to design professional-looking emails without needing coding skills.
- A/B testing: Run tests on your email subject lines, content, and design to determine which version performs best with your audience.
This feature is perfect for businesses looking to increase their email engagement through automation and personalization.
4. Landing Pages and Forms
Creating high-converting landing pages and forms is crucial for lead generation, and Ontraport makes this process simple. You can easily design landing pages and capture forms that integrate directly with your email marketing and CRM systems. Ontraport even provides A/B testing for landing pages to optimize performance.
Key Benefits:
- Drag-and-drop builder: Design landing pages without any coding knowledge using Ontraport’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
- Customizable templates: Choose from a variety of customizable templates that are proven to convert.
- Lead capture forms: Create forms that automatically add contacts to your CRM, ensuring a seamless lead capture process./B testing: Test multiple landing page designs and form types to optimize conversion rates.
This feature is ideal for businesses that want to create high-converting lead capture pages that integrate seamlessly with their marketing automation system.
5. Sales Pipelines
Ontraport offers powerful sales pipeline management tools that help businesses track leads and opportunities through the sales process. The platform allows you to visualize your sales funnel, move deals between stages, and automate follow-ups to keep prospects engaged.
Key Benefits:
- Visual sales funnel: Get a clear, visual overview of your sales pipeline, so you can easily track the status of each opportunity.
- Customizable pipeline stages: Define custom stages for your sales process to match your unique sales cycle.
- Task automation: Set up automated tasks, reminders, and follow-ups to ensure no lead slips through the cracks.
- Deal tracking: Track each deal’s progress through the sales funnel and get notified when action is needed.
Ontraport’s sales pipelines allow businesses to stay organized and close more deals by ensuring every prospect receives timely attention.
6. Reporting & Analytics
Ontraport provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that give you insights into the performance of your marketing campaigns, sales activities, and customer behaviors. With these detailed analytics, businesses can optimize their strategies to achieve better results.
Key Benefits:
- Customizable dashboards: Create personalized dashboards that display the metrics most important to your business, such as email open rates, conversion rates, and lead activity.
- Advanced reporting: Run detailed reports on campaigns, sales performance, and customer interactions, helping you track ROI and identify areas for improvement.
- Conversion tracking: Measure the effectiveness of your landing pages, emails, and campaigns by tracking how many leads are converting into customers.
Ontraport’s analytics tools enable businesses to make data-driven decisions and continuously optimize their marketing strategies for maximum impact.
7. A/B Testing
A/B testing is crucial for optimizing marketing strategies, and Ontraport makes it easy to run tests on emails, landing pages, and even entire marketing campaigns. By comparing two or more versions of a campaign, businesses can identify what resonates best with their audience and improve overall performance.
Key Benefits:
- Test multiple variables: Run A/B tests on different aspects of your marketing, such as email subject lines, content, landing page designs, and calls-to-action.
- Improved decision-making: Make informed decisions based on real data, improving the likelihood of campaign success.
- Increase conversions: Optimize every aspect of your marketing to boost conversions and drive better results.
A/B testing is a powerful way to continuously improve your marketing efforts, and Ontraport offers an easy-to-use platform for running these tests.
8. Integrations
Ontraport integrates with a wide variety of third-party tools and platforms, allowing businesses to connect their existing systems and automate workflows across different applications. From payment gateways to CRM systems, Ontraport makes it easy to bring all your tools together into a single ecosystem.
Key Benefits:
- Seamless tool integration: Ontraport integrates with popular tools like Zapier, Shopify, PayPal, and WordPress, ensuring that your systems work together efficiently.
- Centralized data: By integrating your tools, you can centralize your data in one platform, providing a complete view of your business activities.
- Automate cross-platform workflows: Ontraport’s integrations allow you to automate tasks across multiple platforms, saving time and reducing manual effort.
Integrations are crucial for businesses using a variety of tools, and Ontraport’s wide range of integrations makes it easy to connect everything in one place.
About Ontraport 14 Day Free Trial
Ontraport offers a 14-day free trial that lets you explore its all-in-one business platform without any upfront cost. Designed for small businesses, entrepreneurs, coaches, agencies, and online stores, this trial provides full access to the Pro plan, allowing you to test its powerful tools for managing customers, marketing, and sales in one place.
To start, visit Ontraport’s website, go to the pricing page, and click “Start free trial.” Fill out a simple form with your business details no credit card is needed.
Once signed up, you get instant access to the platform, complete with sample data like contact lists and prebuilt funnels to help you dive in.
What You will get with Free Trial?
- 14-Day Full Access: Use all Pro plan features for two weeks.
- Complete Toolset: Experiment with CRM, email marketing, sales pipelines, payment processing, and website building.
- Sample Data Included: Test with preloaded contacts and funnels to see how it works.
- No Credit Card Required: Sign up without payment details.
- Quick Setup: Create your account in minutes on Ontraport’s website.
- Hands-On Testing: Build campaigns, import contacts, and try automation rules.
- Support Available: Get help via live chat and setup guides.
- Seamless Upgrade: Switch to a paid plan from the dashboard to continue after the trial.
The trial lets you see how Ontraport streamlines tasks like sending emails, tracking leads, and automating workflows. If you don’t upgrade after 14 days, your access ends. It’s a risk-free way to check if Ontraport fits your business needs.
Pricing Plans After Free Trial
One of the first things potential users want to know about any software tool is pricing. Ontraport offers several plans to suit businesses of all sizes. Below is a breakdown of its pricing structure:
| Plan | Price Starting at |
|---|---|
| Basic | $24/month |
| Plus | $83/month |
| Pro | $124/month |
| Enterprise | $249/month |
This Ontraport Review confirms all plans include unlimited emails for listed contacts, mobile access, and new-user onboarding support. A free 14-day trial is also available, which you should try before committing.
My Personal Experience with Ontraport
My experience with Ontraport has been incredibly positive, especially in streamlining my marketing and sales processes. As a small business owner, I always faced challenges in managing customer relationships and automating marketing tasks.
Ontraport has made these aspects significantly easier. The onboarding process was smooth, with clear tutorials guiding me through setting up the system, and the drag-and-drop automation builder was a game-changer. It allowed me to create email sequences and workflows without needing any technical knowledge, saving me a lot of time.
One of the most impactful features for me is the email marketing automation. I can easily set up personalized email campaigns based on customer behavior, such as when someone fills out a form or clicks on a link in a previous email.
The integration with the CRM allows for a seamless connection between my contacts and the email campaigns I run, ensuring I stay engaged with leads at the right time. Additionally, Ontraport’s CRM has helped me manage leads and track customer interactions effectively, allowing me to prioritize follow-ups based on engagement levels.
I’ve also been impressed with Ontraport’s reporting and analytics tools. The detailed insights into my campaigns have been invaluable, enabling me to make data-driven decisions and optimize my strategies for better results. Customer support has been excellent, with fast responses whenever I’ve had questions or needed help.
Why I recommend Ontraport:
- All-in-one functionality: I don’t have to juggle multiple tools anymore. From email marketing to customer relationship management, everything is integrated into one platform.
- Customization: Ontraport’s automation features let me personalize workflows based on specific customer actions, helping me engage with them at the right time.
- Time-saving: Automated follow-ups, email sequences, and form submissions have freed up time for me to focus on growing my business.
While there’s a learning curve, especially with more advanced features, I’ve found the platform to be intuitive overall. In conclusion, Ontraport has been an indispensable tool for my business, saving time, improving customer engagement, and allowing me to scale my marketing efforts effectively.
The Good: What I Absolutely Love About Ontraport
After years of using this platform as the central nervous system for my entire business, I have come to rely on its incredible power. It is not just a tool. It is a complete operating system. Here are the specific things that have made me a loyal and passionate user.
It is a True all-in-one One System
This is the most important concept to understand, and it is the platform’s greatest strength. Before Ontraport, my business was a chaotic mess of different software tools stitched together with digital duct tape. I had one tool for my email marketing, another for my CRM, a separate landing page builder, and yet another platform to host my membership courses. Nothing talked to anything else.
Ontraport replaced all of them. My contacts, my emails, my sales pages, my payments, and my courses all live under one roof. When a customer buys a product, they are instantly and flawlessly tagged in the CRM and granted access to the right membership level. There is no external connector that can break. This seamless, native integration has saved me hundreds of hours of technical headaches and has made my business infinitely more reliable.
The Campaign Builder is a Visual Masterpiece
The heart of the platform is its visual campaign builder. This is where you build your marketing automation, and it is an absolute work of art for a marketing nerd like me. It is a giant digital canvas where you map out your entire customer journey visually.
I can drag and drop different triggers and actions onto the canvas. For example, a new contact filling out a form is a trigger. I can then draw a line from that trigger to an action, like sending a welcome email. Then I can add a delay, and draw another line to another action, like sending a follow up email. I can add goals and “if this, then that” logic. For instance, if a contact clicks a link in an email, they are moved down one path. If they do not click, they are moved down another.
Being able to see my entire, complex marketing funnel laid out visually on one screen is a complete game changer. It allows me to understand, troubleshoot, and optimize my customer journeys in a way that is simply impossible with a traditional, linear automation builder.
The CRM is Incredibly Deep and Powerful
Many platforms say they have a CRM, but what they really have is just a simple email list. Ontraport has a true, professional grade Customer Relationship Management system.
When I open a contact record for one of my customers, I see everything. I see every email they have ever opened or clicked. I see every webpage they have visited on my site. I see every product they have ever purchased. I see a complete log of all our communications. All of this information is stored in one single, unified place.
This is incredibly powerful. When a customer contacts my support team, we have their entire history right in front of us, allowing us to provide incredibly personalized and effective support. It is a level of data and insight that a simple email platform could never provide.
The Built In Membership Site is a Huge Value
This feature alone has saved me a significant amount of money every single month. Before Ontraport, I was considering a separate, expensive platform just to host my online courses. I was so relieved to discover that a complete and powerful membership site builder is included with my subscription.
It works beautifully. I can create professional looking courses, structure them into modules and lessons, and upload my video content. The best part is the deep integration. I can automatically grant a new customer access to a specific course, or even a specific lesson, the moment they make a purchase. I can also drip feed content to my members over time. It is a robust solution that has allowed me to build a profitable online course business without needing yet another monthly subscription.
The Bads: My Honest Criticisms of Ontraport
As much as I am a huge fan of this platform, it would be dishonest to pretend it is perfect. No tool is. It is a professional grade system, and with that power comes some significant challenges. Here are the things you absolutely must be aware of before you make the investment.
The Learning Curve is Very, Very Steep
Let me be completely clear about this. This is not a tool you will master in a single afternoon. Ontraport is a deep and complex platform with an enormous number of features. When I first logged in, I felt a real sense of overwhelm. There are so many menus, so many settings, and so many possibilities.
You must be prepared to invest real time in learning how the system works. You will need to go through their excellent training videos and read their documentation. It is not an intuitive, “plug and play” system for a complete beginner. However, I want to emphasize that the time you invest in learning this platform is an investment in building a real, scalable business system. The payoff is immense, but you have to be willing to do the initial work.
The User Interface is Powerful, Not Pretty
This is my other main critique. The user interface can feel a bit clunky and, at times, a little dated. It is incredibly powerful and functional, but it does not have the beautiful, modern, and slick design of some of the newer software on the market.
It feels like it was designed by engineers for engineers. Everything works, and it works reliably, but finding the right setting can sometimes feel like you are navigating a complex spreadsheet. This is purely an aesthetic point. It does not affect the performance of the platform at all. But if you are a user who really values a beautiful and elegant software experience, you might find the interface a little utilitarian.
It is a Premium Investment
This is a premium, professional tool, and it has a premium price tag to match. It is not for the casual hobbyist or the brand new business owner on an absolute shoestring budget. The monthly fee is a serious commitment.
I believe the value is absolutely there. As I said, it replaced several other tools and saved me money in the long run. But the upfront monthly cost can be a significant barrier for a business that is not yet generating consistent revenue. You have to be ready to use its powerful features to get a positive return on your investment.
The “All In One” Tradeoff
This is a more nuanced point. The incredible strength of the platform is that it does everything. The flip side is that some of its individual tools might not be as feature rich as a highly specialized, standalone competitor. For example, a dedicated landing page builder that costs a hundred dollars a month on its own might have a few more niche design widgets. An enterprise level email platform might have a few more hyper specific reporting features.
For me, this is a trade off I am more than happy to make. I would rather have a tool that is ninety five percent as good but is perfectly and seamlessly integrated than have a one hundred percent tool that causes me constant technical headaches. But it is a trade off you should be aware of.
Ontraport Review: Pros & Cons
Pros
- Combines CRM, email marketing, automation, and e-commerce in one platform.
- Quick and helpful customer service for setup and troubleshooting.
- Allows custom objects and databases to fit unique business needs.
- Ensures better email reputation and delivery rates.
Cons
- Can be challenging for new users, especially with complex workflows.
- Some users find the interface overwhelming due to its advanced features.
Customer Support Offered by Ontraport
Ontraport offers robust customer support designed to assist users at every stage of their journey, from onboarding to troubleshooting advanced features. Their support channels include live chat, which is available during business hours for quick assistance, and email support for more detailed inquiries.
Additionally, Ontraport provides screen sharing sessions, allowing support agents to assist users in real-time by viewing their screen, which is especially helpful for more complex issues.
Support is available Monday through Friday, from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM PST, and on Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM PST (email support only). On Sundays, live support is available from 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM PST.
For users needing additional resources, Ontraport provides Ontraport University, a collection of video tutorials, and a Support Center filled with helpful articles. There’s also a Facebook User Community where users can exchange tips and experiences.
For enterprise-level clients, Ontraport offers VIP Support, which includes a dedicated support representative, launch assistance, and advanced troubleshooting to ensure smooth business operations. Overall, Ontraport’s customer support is comprehensive, offering multiple ways to access help and providing extensive resources to ensure users can get the most out of the platform.
Additional Resources
Beyond direct support, Ontraport provides a wealth of resources to help users:
- Ontraport University: A comprehensive library of over 150 video tutorials covering various aspects of the platform, including marketing, sales, payments, and no-code web apps.
- Support Center: An extensive collection of how-to articles and guides organized by feature, allowing users to find solutions to common issues and learn best practices.
- Facebook User Community: A vibrant community where users can ask questions, share experiences, and learn from each other.
- Certified Experts: For specialized needs, users can connect with Ontraport Certified Experts who offer strategic guidance and implementation support
Ontraport User Experience and Reputation: My Personal Take
When you are considering investing in a platform that will become the very core of your business, the features and the price are only part of the story. The other, equally important part is the user experience. What does it actually feel like to use this tool every single day? And what is the company’s reputation in the industry? Is it a flash in the pan, or is it a stable and reliable partner for the long haul?
After years of building my business on this platform, I have some very clear and honest thoughts on both of these crucial aspects.
My Honest Take on the User Experience
I will be very direct with you. The user experience of Ontraport is a tale of two cities. On one hand, it is incredibly powerful and empowering. On the other hand, it can be complex and demanding.
When I am inside the visual campaign builder, mapping out a complex customer journey with different rules and goals, the experience is exhilarating. I feel like a true marketing strategist with a god’s eye view of my entire business. The ability to see my whole funnel on one screen and understand how all the pieces connect is a user experience that no other tool I have used has been able to match. It is the experience of being in complete control.
However, when I am trying to find a very specific setting buried deep within the administrative menus, the experience can sometimes feel a bit clunky. The user interface is not what I would describe as “beautiful” or “elegant” in the way some modern, design-focused software is. It is highly functional and data-rich, but it prioritizes power over prettiness. It feels like a professional’s tool, like the cockpit of an airplane. There are a lot of buttons and dials, and you need to invest the time to learn what they all do.
This is the most important takeaway about the user experience: it is a platform for builders, not for casual users. It does not hold your hand in the same way that simpler, more basic tools do. It gives you an incredibly powerful set of building blocks and the freedom to build almost anything you can imagine. This is incredibly liberating, but it also means there is a significant learning curve.
My overall feeling about the user experience is this: while it may not always be the prettiest, the feeling of confidence I get from its sheer power and reliability is a user experience that I would not trade for anything. I know that once I build something in Ontraport, it will work, and it will work exactly as I designed it to.
Customer Ratings Summary of Ontraport
Here’s a summary table of how Ontraport stacks up based on customer feedback:
| Feature | Rating (out of 5) |
|---|---|
| Good Value for Money | 4.5 |
| Features | 4.7 |
| Return Policy | 4.0 |
| Shipping & Delivery | N/A |
| Customer Service | 4.8 |
| Price & Quality | 4.3 |
| Ease of Use | 4.2 |
FAQs About Ontraport Review
What makes Ontraport different from other marketing automation tools?
Ontraport offers an all-in-one solution with advanced automation features, making it easier to manage customer relationships and marketing campaigns.
Is Ontraport easy to use?
While it can be challenging for beginners, the platform is well-organized, and its drag-and-drop builder makes it more user-friendly.
Can I integrate Ontraport with third-party tools?
Yes, Ontraport integrates with many third-party apps like WordPress, PayPal, and Shopify, though some integrations may require additional setup.
Is Ontraport suitable for small businesses?
Absolutely. Ontraport is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and scales as your business grows.
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Final Thoughts on Ontraport
To conclude this Ontraport Review, the platform remains a leader for businesses seeking seamless marketing, CRM, automation, and e-commerce in one package. While it requires investment—in time, learning, and resources—the results are impressive. It provides ample resources, such as tutorials and customer support, to help users navigate and make the most of the platform.
Ultimately, Ontraport is an excellent investment for businesses that need to automate complex marketing tasks, manage leads effectively, and integrate different aspects of their marketing and sales efforts in one place. If you’re ready to streamline your marketing and customer management, Ontraport could be the solution to help you scale efficiently and effectively.