Ortto

A Great Alternative to Full-Fledged Automation Software

Opmerkingen: Autopilot is a great solution if you're looking for something to automate a sequence of emails. I wouldn't consider it a replacement for full-fledged marketing automation software... yet, but it's a fantastic tool for email automation. Just keep in mind that there are a few hiccups that you'll potentially need to navigate such as email SpamAssassin errors (always use mail-tester.com to check your emails) and CRM sync issues.

Pluspunten:

It seems to me that Autopilot does only one thing - but it does that one thing REALLY well. I tested Autopilot briefly for a few weeks as an alternative to the drip program functionality in our Marketing Automation software. I was extremely impressed with how easy it is to build a drip program (called a "Journey" within Autopilot), as well as with the breadth of logic and functionality offered. Autopilot really sets itself apart with some amazing - seriously amazing - integrations and functionality that our Automation platform doesn't offer, such as sending SMS text messages or physical postcards. I really like that Autopilot offers in-app chat support, and that you generally don't need to wait longer than 5 minutes to get someone to help you out.

Minpunten:

During the few weeks I tested Autopilot, I found a few issues that prevented me from really continuing to use the software for my use-case. The integration with Salesforce was clunky and un-intuitive, and most concerningly, it seemed that when the platform saw leads that already existed in Salesforce, it would stop them from progressing through the drip program. This was a real frustration, and I ended up just disconnecting Autopilot from the CRM in order to finish my test. Another concern we had was that after testing the emails I had configured using mail-tester.com, there was an error identified that could only be resolved by getting a dedicated IP address - something which adds a significant additional monthly cost to the cost of the program.

A great tool, with great visual cues, powerful automation and integrations

Opmerkingen: Great platform, easy to learn and use, engaging for the team, awesome customer support, truly helpful content. No regrets. It's perfect for teams that are just starting out.

Pluspunten:

Because of the visual workflow (or journeys, as they appropriately call them) builder, this is an easy platform to catch on to. Getting the team to dive in and build our or edit journeys is quick and simple and doesn't require two days of reading documentation and tutorials to understand. Autopilot has done an amazing job of making the building of the workflows collaborative as well. Being able to annotate, comment, add images etc helps not only the team understand the goals, but is killer for reminding you why you built something the way you did a month later. The email, CRM, Slack integrations are all easy to set up and use as well.

Minpunten:

I believe they are working on it since there have been a lot of updates recently, but the email manager could use a bit more love - it just doesn't stand out as well against the rest of the platform. Building and editing an individual email is simple enough, but managing the full list can be tricky. The reporting on the messaging bot is also lacking - but that feature is easy to use and helpful. It's easy to trust that they will continue to improve this.

Does not worth it's money

Opmerkingen: Overall, Autopilot seems to lag behind of Intercom in a term of features, developer support, documentation, and adoption. There are much less how to's, and it is rarely discussed on the internet.
In my opinion, it is poorly priced in a terms of proce-features.
I'd keep an eye on it as it may be able to make a leap and offer full-fledged solution. It is not there yet.

Pluspunten:

I can not withstand the temptation to compare Autopilot to Intercom. So.. 2 rewievs in 1? It is somehow more stable than Intercom and overall offers a bit smoother experience. API server are bit more stable, less 500. Dashboard is ... standard. I mean at some point Autopilot and Intercom dashboards become prety much the same having the main differences in namings. Autopilot have journeys which are the same as Intercoms lifecycles (onboardings), there are the same chats, same integrations, same conversation channels. API recently got a long awaited updated and email is no longer the sole unique key - the thing that drove a number of customers including me away, because sometimes it is required to have different customers with a same email or without email at all. Well, now it is fixed.

Minpunten:

Autopilot offers no client libs except for JavaScript. You want to use it - you write your own client library, this is something you better keep in mind if your scenario includes server side events. It's API is somewhat cumbersome to understand. The technical support is a bit better that Intercoms, but I can not say it was of a much help. Probably the biggest issue we faced with autopilot is constant feeling that product developers would prefer not to meet client's need, they are living in a world where clients solve their problems on their own. Ivory tower one could say, huh?

A bit pricey, but worth it

Pluspunten:

Unlike some others Autopilot is super easy to use even for the first time user.

Minpunten:

A bit on the pricier side. I would love to see them offer better pricing.

Incredible Value. Make use of the templates. Explore the possibilities.

Opmerkingen: As a founder of a software startup, our team needed a solution to routinely engage our users/customers with information to help them with their on-boarding experience. Autopilot was the perfect fit! We had a lot of fun building the journeys and experimenting with what worked (and didn't work) for our team. Their templates gave us some great starting points, and helped us to open up our minds with ways to engage with our users in ways that we hadn't thought of. Of course, those same principals could easily be applied to outbound marketing campaigns with complex engagement logic, which we haven't started to implement as this time. Overall, we are very satisfied with Autopilot!

Pluspunten:

- Slack Integration - Segment Integration - Easy to build complex logic, visually - Dashboard to keep track of latest events - Many journey and email templates to get you started - Built-in email open/link tracking is helpful to find your engaged users - Good support - Great blog with ideas of how others use Autopilot - They are continuing to develop cool new features - User idea voting for features not yet developed

Minpunten:

- Ability to access email / Slack templates seems inefficient (need to dig into the journey to find them) - With all of the capabilities that Autopilot offers, you can easily have your custom contact lists get out of hand - remember to KISS so that others on your team can pick up where you left off