Act! or Zoho: which is the best way to go? I received the following emails from one of my clients this week. It’s typical of what I have been hearing from so many of my clients lately. They are not happy with Act but don’t know what to do.
“Karen, I’ve been using ACT for 20+ years and working with you for the last several years. I feel like ACT is getting too “glitchy” and less and less people are using it. Can you help with recommending a new platform and the integration to it?
The following are important to my usage:
- Transfer my existing data to new software/app; I can’t re-type as I have about 4,000 contacts.
- Allow multiple users access to my database (likely only 2 people).
- Track basic Contact information
- Mailing listing / labels for “groups”
- Notes for my contacts. Need access to this on my I phone.
- Integration with my i-phone contacts or an App if it is quick to use.
- I’m guessing all applications are in “the cloud” now….
Thoughts or comments?”
Here is my response:
“I have a couple of options for you.
- The first is to move you over to Act!’s new CRM product. It’s 100% hosted. I’ve had several clients move over there and have been really happy. It would work look like what you have now. The cost is $360/year; I’d have to double check but I think they would pro-rated to your renewal date of 2/2/22 so you’d pay right around $180. It comes with the Act! companion app which isn’t perfect but getting better. It comes with a 10,000 email/month emarketing plan.
- The second option is to move to Zoho which is another product I support. It is also 100% web based. Pricing ranged from 168-276/year depending on how many custom fields you need. The $276 version allows for 500 mass emails/day. Great phone apps. The downside is that you would have to learn a new product and pay for a conversion but yes, I could convert over 100% of your data.”
Quite honestly, I see value in both Act! and Zoho. At Tech Benders we have both Act Consultants and Zoho Consultants. If you are trying to decide which one best meets your needs feel free to reach out to me!
I would sincerely appreciate your advice.
I’ve been an Act! User for many years – since Symantec owned the product. I did beta testing for Sage twice when they owned it. I’m a real estate broker, and I keep my customers in the database.
The issue is that I’m now semi-retired. I didn’t renew my subscription this year, so Act! will no longer run. I’m not sure what to do. Although I’ll no doubt have a few transactions every year, it doesn’t seem cost-effective to pay $300 a year for the software. I certainly understand that they can’t provide software for free, but on the other hand, by the time I pay for my license, Realtor association memberships, Multiple Listing Service, plus software such as Office 365, which I use a great deal, I question this.
You mention Zoho on your site, and maybe that is a good option. I’d need to get my customer data out of Act! and with it not running, I’m not sure if that is readily possible.
Please let me know your thoughts on the best options,
Thanks for reaching out to Tech Benders!
First of all, no worries if Act! is no longer running. All we need to know is that your data files are still available on your computer. If you have a backup it would be even better.
As far as Zoho is concerned, I’m not sure that it would be a good fit for you. also charges a yearly fee. If you don’t have a lot of custom fields you could move to Zoho Standard for $168 for the year or $20 per month. And yes, we can get all of your data out of Act! and into Zoho but we do charge for migrations depending on how much of your Act! data you want to move into Zoho. My biggest concern for you is that you say you are retiring soon; if you move to Zoho it won’t “look and feel” like Act! which means you’re going to have a learning curve.
I do have a few more copies of Act! Pro 22 available at $349.95. This is a one-time fee. Just remember that it doesn’t include any support and, as a discontinued product, it’s not a good fit for you it you need Act! to integrate to Office 365.