Act! Emarketing End of Life Notice
Some of you may still be utilizing Act! emarketing (AEM), the email marketing program native to Act! that was introduced with Act! v17. Act! has announced that AEM will be discontinued on 12/31/2020 and is being replaced by Act! Marketing Automation (AMA)*, a more robust built-in emarketing tool. If you are currently using AEM, please reach out to us for more information on how to transition your email marketing to Act! Marketing Automation (AMA).
What is Act! Marketing Automation (AMA)?
Simply put, marketing automation is in the same field as email marketing - except more powerful and smarter. Managing your emarketing campaigns can require a lot of time from your employees. From creating templates to managing send lists to sending blasts, the tasks can build up. Also, tracking open and click results and assigning follow-up can become tedious. Marketing Automation can alleviate some of these steps with automation based on rules you set up.
For example, if someone, clicks on a particular link, Marketing Automation can automatically send follow-up emails based on their interest or assign an Act! activity for the appropriate salesperson. With Act! Marketing Automation you can manage newsletters to automatically be sent out, create a sign-up form that imports that data into your Act! CRM database without website design skills or help from IT, and more. Read more about Act! Marketing Automation.
*Please note - AMA is only an option for Act! clients with current subscriptions and is not compatible with Act! Pro.
AMA Frequently Asked Questions:
I am currently on a paid AEM subscription. What will happen to my paid subscription?
Your AEM subscription will continue to be accessible until your next Act! Premium annual subscription renewal as long as your renewal date is prior to December 2020. If your renewal date is coming up within the next several months, we advise reaching out to us ASAP to get transitioned to AMA prior to your next renewal. If you don’t have a lot of time before your next Act! renewal, we can prorate your AEM subscription until December 2020, if necessary, so you can continue to access AEM while you make the transition to AMA.
What should I do to make the transition to AMA?
We recommend that the first step for migration is to educate yourself. We recommend that you attend a free informational webinar hosted by Act! on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM Eastern. This is a 30-minute webinar that provides a high-level overview of AMA. This should give you a good idea of what AMA looks like, basic functionality, and will get you interested in some of the features that are available to you. Please bear in mind that this webinar overview by Act! is focused on their cloud-hosted product called “Growth Suite” which combines Act! Premium CRM hosted on Act!’s cloud platform with Act! Marketing Automation. For those of you who host Act! on-premise AMA is available to you as an addon to your current subscription. You are not required to move to Act!’s cloud platform.
The next step is to learn more about AMA and review the list of features available the three levels of AMA. This should help you determine which level of AMA is most appropriate for your organization.
Once you’ve done your homework, reach out to us to get AMA added to your subscription and answer any remaining questions you may have.
I’m on Act! Pro. Can I use Act! Marketing Automation with my current Act! program?
Unfortunately, no. Act! Marketing Automation utilizes the Act! API to send information from your system to the Act! server that sends out your email blasts. The Act! API is only available to those on a current Act! Premium annual subscription. The good news, though, is that there are a great pricing rates available through June 30th, 2020 to Act! Pro users wishing to upgrade to a Premium Act! subscription. Please contact us for more details.
Once I have AMA, how do I learn more about using it?
We offer a few options for AMA training. We have a series of two Act! Skill Builder Webinars (ASBWs) covering AMA. These are held regularly and are available for $25/attendee or you can purchase 3 ASBWs and get the 4th free.
If you find yourself wanting more in-depth, personalized training, we also offer a custom AMA training that takes place over three 1.5-hour training sessions. You can read more about this training here. For a full agenda, pricing and more info, please contact us.
Do I have to move my Act! to Cloud-hosting in order to use AMA?
No. You can continue to self-host your Act! Premium database and use AMA as an addon to your current Act! Premium on-premise version of Act!. There are some prerequisites to use AMA, though. Those prerequisites are:
- You must be on Act! version 21.1 Premium or later. Contact us for assistance with upgrading your database.
- You must have Act! for Web and the Act! API configured on your main Act! database. Alternatively, you can also use Act! Connect Link, though we really recommend using Act! for Web API vs. Act! Connect Link.
- You must have a dedicated SSL certificate for the API for AMA use.
