EngageBay Review 2024: The best all-in-one CRM?
EngageBay is an all-in-one CRM software that comes with marketing, sales, and customer support products. It offers all the tools a business needs to do business online at a great price.
EngageBay launched in 2017 and has grown to serve over 29,000 customers. The software is perfect for startups, small and mid-size companies in B2B and B2C. It’s built for acquiring and nurturing customers, but will it meet your business needs?
In this Engagebay review, I explore the ins and outs of the software and test it myself.
EngageBay software summary
- Getting started is easy. You’ll get familiar with the software in a day.
- Affordable pricing plans without trading off key features. The free plan gives you 500 contacts and core tools for email marketing, helpdesk, and sales.
- EngageBay isn’t perfect but stands its ground as an alternative to Hubspot.
- The marketing and sales products work well together.
- Support through phone, email, or live chat. The Pro plan includes a dedicated account manager.
Get started with EngageBay for free
EngageBay: What I like the most
Engagebay covers the full funnel as a true all-in-one platform should. It includes all the tools you need to get visitors to your site, convert them to customers, and provide support. The best part is that this comprehensive suite comes at a very affordable price. Using Engagebay, you’ll find:
- The CRM and Sales Bay are loaded with features. Everything from deals and tasks to multi-currency support and sales automation.
- Email marketing campaigns are easy to create. Send broadcasts, A/B test emails, and create powerful automations.
- Landing pages, pop-ups, and forms are directly integrated with the sales tools and CRM. Making it a one-stop deal pipeline with differences in reporting.
- Live chat and help desk helps your web visitors and supports customers.
- Sales and marketing automation have a straightforward setup. The automation builder has lots of conditions and actions for advanced workflows.
Sign up for EngageBay for free
EngageBay Review: CRM, Marketing Automation, and Support Platform
EngageBay comes with 4 products. Or as they call them Bays. They are the Marketing Bay, CRM & Sales Bay, Service Bay, and the All-in-One Bay. Let’s uncover what each has to offer.
EngageBay CRM and Sales Automation Features
When you sign up for a free account, you’ll first see the default dashboard. Go through the steps in the ‘Getting Started’ panel to quickly get familiar with EngageBay.
The dashboard is customizable. Delete a panel or add a new report by clicking on the ‘Add Reports’ button in the top right corner. EngageBay offers 26 reports. These include:
- Sales performance stats
- Team leaderboards
- Deals forecast graphs
- Productivity stats
Create and manage sales deals
In the Deals tab is a kanban board with your leads. Here you can see the progress of any deal in your sales pipeline.
Add new deals to your pipeline and order them by status. For example when a customer is won, just drag the card into the “Won” column.
The deal cards hold all practical information like in your CRM. Contact/company info, the deal value, and set task deadlines to follow up and stay on top of your deals.
Usually, working in sales is teamwork. In Tasks, you can assign who needs to do what and coordinate sales deals.
Creating tasks works in the same way as deals. Update task status with the drag-and-drop kanban board. Each task falls under a deal and gets a score for importance and priority.
Sales automation features
As you’re dealing with a lot of contacts, tracking deals and tasks can get a bit messy. That’s where EngageBay’s sales automation comes in handy.
I created a prospecting automation sequence for this review to get an idea of how everything works and I was impressed.
It was quick and easy to set it up. My automation gets triggered when a salesperson moves a contact into the prospect column of our pipeline. This automation assigns a ‘Proposal’ tag. This helps me manage and filter my email lists.
Next, an automated email is sent to the sales team. And they’re assigned the task to plan a video call with the prospect.
Normally, this would’ve taken a lot of emails and coordination. Now it is automated all from just dragging one card. Amazing!
The automation builder can create new events and notes, assign tags, send emails, and open and close tasks. Use conditions to check whether a contact has a certain tag, if someone is assigned to a task, if the contact has opened an email, etc.
Using actions and conditions together is powerful. Sales automation saves time and keeps the sales engine well-oiled.
The Sales Bay also comes with calendar management, workflows, email sequences, and SMS/call logs.
Get started with EngageBay for free here
Sending emails with EngageBay
Email marketing is part of the Marketing Bay. In my opinion, Engagebay nailed all the critical email marketing functionality. Email broadcasts, the email editor, automations, and templates work really well.
Email Broadcasts
You’ll find three types of email broadcasts in Engagebay.
Regular broadcast is perfect to share product updates, company news, newsletters, and such.
A/B broadcast to test variations of your emails to find out which version performs better. For instance test subject lines, images, or different email copies.
RSS to Email to share your blogs automatically as an email whenever a new article is published.
After choosing your broadcast type, the drag-and-drop email editor fires up to design and edit your content.
The email editor comes with 10 widgets to add buttons, videos, text, images, etc.
Change the layout of your email by adding blocks and columns.
From the ‘Body’ tab, edit universal settings like link colors, width, and fonts.
Personalize your emails with names, company names, the name of their personal account manager, or any data in your database. Add dynamic content based on subscriber behavior like their last download or purchase. Include products, deals, calendar events, and more in your emails.
Personalizing emails takes little effort. Click on any of your text blocks and choose fields.
Quickly shuffle through personalization fields with the drop-down. Add any field you have data for.
Once you’re satisfied with the content and design, review your email. Here EngageBay lets you quickly skim through your email and check if something is missing.
Send the email right away, schedule it for later, or send in batches. It can also be part of an automation based on opens or clicks. I loved this, it makes it easy to create follow-up sequences.
To track your email statistics performance, you’ll see:
- Status
- Sent date
- Recipients
- Emails delivered
- Opens / Open rate
- Clicks / Click rate and
- Unsubscribers
These are the default options but you can change your column views to add more useful statistics.
By adding more columns you can check bounces, spam complaints, variant performance statistics for AB tests, and more.
Finally, it’s quite easy to export reports to a CSV file.
Email sequences
Engagebay has drip campaigns, these send emails as “drips” over time.
Add as many emails as you want. All these emails will be text-based, you can format them with bold and italics and such, but design HTML emails for sequences.
You can personalize subject lines and email content with any information you’ve collected about recipients.
Set delays between emails down to the minute specific. You can exclude days when you don’t want your emails to go out. Like holidays, or not sending emails on “No email Monday”.
To stop email sequences when a contact replies to an email in a sequence, go to Automation. Create new automation and select your sequence as the trigger. Then add a condition “Has Subscriber Replied”. Finally, add a “Remove from Sequence” action and choose your sequence.
Email Marketing Templates in EngageBay
EngageBay offers over 70 email templates across 4 categories. These categories are:
- General
- eCommerce
- Events
- Celebrations
Most of the email templates are in the eCommerce category. While you’ll only find 3 templates in the Events category.
The email templates look OK for the most part. They have formatted headlines, CTAs, placeholders for logos, and styled links. There isn’t a real “wow” factor feel. The templates look a bit outdated and could use a revamp. This shouldn’t be a problem if you use them as a starting point.
You can always create an email in the email editor and save it as a template. Or use an external email editor, copy its HTML code and save it in EngageBay.
EngageBay Marketing Automation
EngageBay’s marketing automation comes with all the features you’d expect from an all-in-one marketing software. To create automations in Enagebay, start from scratch or choose from pre-built templates.
The automation templates are for:
- Follow up emails
- Follow up tagging
- Lead qualification
- Lead scoring
- GDPR double opt-in compliance
For this EngageBay review, I tested out the ‘Add score on form submission’ template.
You start with a bare-bones template. Here I added a few actions and conditions to spice it up.
Let’s build an automation! This one I build to:
- Add a score of 20 to contacts that submit the form.
- Tag them ‘Interested’, and send a follow-up email after one day.
- Add a contact to a different drip sequence if the score is above 30 (meaning they’ve interacted before).
Voila! Here you have a first, basic lead scoring flow. You can see how this works to qualify leads and follow-up emails. Build similar sequences to add leads to your sales pipeline, and add tags on interests.
Automation building and editing is similar to sales automation. This is great, you only have to get used to 1 automation builder.
To analyze performance, get information on contacts, SMS, and email performance. Email reports include delivery rates, open rates, and click rates. SMS reports show recipients, messages sent, and failed. Further sales and revenue data are either in an integrated eCommerce platform or in the Sales Bay.
Lead Generation in EngageBay
EnageBay CRM software also comes with useful list-building tools. Namely:
- Landing pages
- Inline forms
- Popup forms
Landing pages
To begin building landing pages, choose one of the 87 templates.
You can just browse through previews and select a template that works for you.
The landing page builder has 14 widgets. You’ll use these to add forms, carousels, buttons, images, videos, and custom HTML. These are pre-designed sections called block templates, you can drag and drop onto your landing page. Save any block for reuse later on.
You want your pages to look great on all devices. There is a toggle for mobile and desktop previews. If you find someting needs improvement in the mobile view, edit it directly in that view.
Once you’re satisfied with the design, head over to Settings.
Give your page a title, edit URL, favicons, and meta description. You write your thank you page messages here as well. Pick the double opt-in email setting to make sure newsletter subscriptions from your landing page are GDPR compliant.
Once your landing page is live, the stats show views, unique views, contacts, and conversions. Download your landing page HTML and add it to any page in your website CMS. Or if you have multiple Engagebay accounts, copy landing page templates between accounts. You can create A/B variants to test elements of your landing pages.
Sign up for EngageBay for free today
Forms & Popups
Inline forms in Engagebay come with 12 templates and the form editor is easy to use.
You start by choosing a template, then make adjustments to your text, images, padding, and colors. Add or remove fields to get the information you need. When you are done, manage settings for double opt-in, thank you messages, redirects, and team notification options.
EngageBay forms also have options to make sure your list will be healthy. Turn on ReCaptcha to block bots. You can block some email domains, exclude IP addresses, or disallow emails with free accounts like Gmail or Yahoo to sign up. You’ll click together a form in 5 minutes.
Editing popups is similar except you start by picking the rules for showing your popups. Then you choose a call to action, a theme, and get designing.
Show your popups only on the pages you want. For instance only on your blog, and a different one on your pricing page. AND/OR conditions are a blessing to set it up quickly. Popups can be further tweaked to show after scrolling, at least X time spent or is about to leave.
Analytics show impressions, unique impressions, and conversion rates. There is no A/B testing yet.
Contact Management in EngageBay
EngageBay has powerful contact management. You start with one database, then can divide contacts with lists or under brands/companies.
Dynamic lists group your contacts on common data points. They help you stay organized and target customers better. There are 2 list types: static lists and smart lists. Smart lists refresh with new contacts that match the filter criteria and remove contacts that don’t. While Static lists don’t update dynamically.
Make segments using AND/OR conditions for any field you have in your database. This can end up being super targeted. For instance, if you are using tags for interests.
On import, there is handy built-in email validation. Make sure all the emails are correct and deliverable, you’ll need to buy credits for it though.
Merge duplicates to keep your list clean and software costs down.
On each individual contact profile, there is a timeline with essential information like deal status, email responses, call logs, and more. You can edit an individual contact, add notes, tickets, and scores to keep all your contact information up to date.
Sign up to EngageBay for free today
Give customer support with Engagebay
The Service Bay will help you serve customers, resolve their issues, and convert website visitors. I like that EngageBay offers customer service features because now I don’t need a separate live chat or ticketing software. Not to mention that having service and sales integrated makes it easier to support and even upsell customers. Let’s give it a closer look.
EngageBay Service Bay
Service Bay comes with live chat, ticket management, macros, and ticket automation. Similar to the Sales Bay, you get a customizable dashboard.
Open the ‘Tickets’ tab to see all your tickets. You can filter to see only open tickets, by keyword or assignment status. Every ticket has an urgency and source.
Speed up your ticket management process with service automation. There are 5 standard automation templates, you can edit. Add extra actions, conditions, emails, or delays.
This is very powerful, for instance, notify assignees when a ticket is created.
Another useful feature is macro. A macro is a pre-made response or action that agents use to deal with support requests. Cut down response times with macros for support requests that can be answered with a standard response.
There are 4 reports available and a Getting Started Dashlet. Get information on:
- Ticket counts
- Ticket status, priority, and type
- First response time
- Close time
For the analytics, you’ll see what type of requests customers have, your teams’ efficiency in closing them, and where you can improve service levels.
EngageBay LiveChat
Increase customer satisfaction and conversions by offering instant support with live chat. The live chat dashboard includes 4 useful reports:
- Total chats
- Chat duration
- Chats by country
- First response time
Using web rules, you can automate actions based on visitor behavior on your website. For example, if visitors go to your pricing page, you can show them a message with a limited-time discount coupon in the chat.
Choose which pages to show live chat on. You can even define display options like scroll percentage and time delays.
The chat widget can have your own greeting message, and display pictures, and colors. Choose where you want it to appear on your site and on pages. The cool thing about EngageBay’s chat widget is you can qualify people and get their information before they begin talking to a rep. Once they contact your sales team, the rep will already know which pages the prospect visited, what they signed up for, and more.
Other notable features
EngageBay comes packed full of features. I’ve already reviewed the ones that will have the most impact on your business, here are a few others that you’ll find handy:
- Social suite: stay on top of social media marketing by monitoring all your accounts inside EngageBay.
- SMS broadcasts: Set up SMS broadcasts in minutes. You can even personalize the preview text and content.
- Push notifications: Engage customers and visitors in real-time by sending them push notifications you design in the Marketing Bay.
- File repository: Keep all your uploads secured and use them in customer communications.
- WhatsApp: Receive and reply to WhatsApp messages with the Engagebay – WhatsApp integration. Meet your customers where they communicate most often.
- Call and SMS logs: Keep track of cell communication. Measure how long conversations are, when they’re done, and how effective they are.
Try out EngageBay for free here
EngageBay Integrations
EngageBay directly integrates with 30 apps, including popular eCommerce platforms and online course builders like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Thinkific.
If you don’t find your app among Engagebay integrations, use Zapier to integrate with 4000+ third-party apps. Zapier connections can create, update and tag your contacts from activity in other apps.
EngageBay Customer Support
It’s super easy to get in touch with the EngageBay support team. Support is available 24 hours on workdays and the average response time on emails is between 30 – 60 minutes. Reach out to them by email, phone, or live chat.
EngageBay also has a dedicated customer support page. Here you’ll find product videos, guides, and how-to articles. As you start using EngageBay for the first time, you’ll find prompts and explainer videos sprinkled throughout the software to help you onboard swiftly.
The help articles are short and precise. I was able to find information quickly. Some of the knowledge base articles include GIFs. It’s easier to follow instructions with visual cues.
EngageBay pricing and plans
EngageBay has 4 pricing plans. You can get the whole stack with all the bays. Or you can choose any combo of Marketing, CRM & Sales Bay, and Service Bay. Let’s break down each of the plans:
All-in-one
- Free plan: Includes email marketing and lead generation tools. Comes with CRM, a help desk, and live chat. You get 500 contacts and 1000 branded emails/month for free.
- Basic at $14.99/month: Includes lead scoring, social suite, tag manager, SMS marketing, and the landing page builder. Comes with a 1000 contact cap and 3000 branded emails per month.
- Growth at $39.99: Includes 10,000 contacts and 25000 branded emails per month. Gives access to push notifications, marketing automation, and custom domains.
- Pro at $99.99/month: Includes role management, custom reporting, and a dedicated account manager. Includes unlimited contacts and 50,000 branded emails per month.
Marketing Bay
- Free: Use email broadcasts, landing pages, and live chat. Includes 500 contacts and 1000 emails per month.
- Basic at $12.99: Comes with SMS marketing, tag manager, and lead scoring. Includes 1000 contacts and 2500 branded emails per month.
- Growth at $34.99: Comes with email A/B testing, custom domain, and marketing automation. Includes 10,000 contacts and 20,000 branded emails per month.
- Pro at $69.99: Comes with web analytics, a dedicated account manager, and phone support. Includes 30,000 contact limit and 30,000 emails per month.
Sales CRM Bay
- Free: Includes contact management, and basic sales functions like deals and tasks. Comes with 500 contacts and a 1000 email per month limit.
- Basic at $12.99: Comes with multiple deals, predictive lead scoring, and tag manager. Includes 1000 contacts and 2500 emails per month limit.
- Growth at $24.99: Comes with a 20,000 contact and 20,000 emails per month. Includes an email scheduler, multi-currency support, and sales automation.
- Pro at $49.99: Get custom reporting, goals, and autodialer. Comes with a 30,000 contact limit and 30,000 emails per month.
Service Bay
A free forever service software that includes help desk and live chat features.
We had a chat with the Engagebay team and got 20% off any plan for our readers, which is on top of other discounts. Get started via this link to get 20% off EngageBay. In addition, if you sign up for a yearly plan, you get 10% off. And with a 2-year plan, you get an extra 20% discount.
Engagebay Pros and Cons
What we liked
- CRM, Marketing Automation, Sales, and Service working together
- The free plan is perfect for any business getting started online
- High value for a big set of features
- The affordable alternative to HubSpot many are looking for
- Form and email editors are easy-to-use
What could be better
- Limited email editing widgets
- A few outdated email templates
EngageBay Review: Is it the CRM & Marketing Automation platform for you?
EngageBay is a powerful platform with a user-friendly interface that offers marketing, sales, and customer support tools. Here’s my final score for this EngageBay review:
Ease of Use: 4 / 5
Value for Money: 5 / 5
Editor and templates: 3.5 / 5
Functionalities: 5 / 5
Sales and marketing automation: 4.5 / 5
Customer service: 4 / 5
Total score: 4.4 / 5
EngageBay stands tall on its great value for money. The automation is great and it can easily become the centerpiece of your software stack.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is EngageBay used for?
EngageBay is used to acquire and engage customers using landing pages, forms, email marketing, and marketing automation. Manage sales using deals, pipelines, tasks, and automations. Serve customers by using tickets, macros, and live chat.
Try it out today
What is EngageBay CRM?
What is customer relationship management software?
EngageBay Alternatives
EngageBay vs. Hubspot
A big difference between EngageBay and Hubspot is the price. EngageBay’s most expensive plan only costs $99 while an average HubSpot subscription costs around $900.
Hubspot outshines EngageBay with its 15 million contact storage limit for all paid plans. Other Hubspot-only features are invoicing, advanced automations, and forecasting. Read our full HubSpot review to find out more about its features, pros, and cons. Similarities include great campaign management tools, free live chat, and email marketing tools. EngageBay is an affordable alternative to Hubspot.
EngageBay vs. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing tool with strong automation features. Like EngageBay, it also offers CRM, SMS marketing, and live chat messaging.
EngageBay offers a free plan while you can only get a free trial with ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features like split automations and attribution reporting. Read our full ActiveCampaign review or check out the ActiveCampaign CRM review.
EngageBay vs. Pipedrive
The main difference between EngageBay and Pipedrive is that Pipedrive offers lead generation features as add-ons, while they’re included in all plans in EngageBay. Pipedrive is priced similarly to EngageBay, with the highest plan coming in at $99 a month. But expect to pay more with add-ons.
Where Pipedrive excels is in the number of direct integrations it offers, 500+ compared to EnageBay’s 30. You can make up for this difference by using Zapier for 3rd party app connections. Zapier lets you connect with 4000+ apps.