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Act-On
Developer(s)Act-On
Initial release2008; 16 years ago (2008)
Operating systemSoftware as a service
TypeMarketing automation
LicenseSubscription
Websiteact-on.com

Act-On Software is a software-as-a-service product for marketing automation. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and was founded in 2008, originally retailing its software exclusively through Cisco, which provided $2 million in funding.[1]

History

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Act-On was founded in 2008 by Raghu Raghavan, formerly a founder of Responsys, after he saw "potential for a sophisticated, but affordable SaaS marketing tool mid-market companies could easily use."[2] Act-On initially sold through alternate channels, but later created its own sales team.[3] Entering the market after several competitors had been established, Act-On had a second-mover advantage, learning from the successes and failures of earlier market entrants.[2]

In 2011, Act-On raised a third round for $10 million in June 2011 and established a new location in Silicon Valley.[4] The company raised an additional $16 million in funding the following year. [5]

By 2013, the number of employees had grown to 140,[6][7] up from 11 in 2010 and 35 in 2011.[8][9]

In April 2014, $42 million in additional funding was raised, which was the largest funding round in the Oregon technology market since the dot com bubble.[10][11] Act-On now employs about 200 people across the US and UK, serving more than 4,000 customers worldwide.[3][12] In 2015, Act-On expanded its executive team with a new CFO, formerly of the company Jive, a VP of demand generation, previously with ExactTarget, and a VP of cloud operations.[13][14]

In 2015, Act-On announced the appointment of Andy MacMillan to the position of CEO.[15] The former CEO and company founder Raghu Raghavan assumed the role of CTO. Prior to joining Act-On Software, Andy held several senior leadership positions at Salesforce, including Chief Operating Officer of the Products Division and Senior Vice President & General Manager of Data.com, where he helped to significantly grow customer adoption of products and services.

In early 2016, it expanded again into larger offices in Portland.[16]

In 2018, Act-On announced its board of directors had appointed Kate Johnson as the company's new CEO to replace Andy MacMillan.[17] The company consolidated its operations to Portland, Oregon at this time. Ms. Johnson had served as Act-On's CFO for the prior 3 years and was endorsed by Diane Fraiman, Voyager Capital Partner and Act-On board member and investor in the formal press release.[18]

In 2019 Act-On raised a second round of funding for $4 million.[19][20]

In June 2020, Act-On Software rebranded itself to fit the modern marketing tool needs, prioritizing engagement, updates on services, and product inventory.[21]

In 2023, Act-On has reported to hit $25.8M revenue and 4k customers. The current number of employees is around 200 in 2024 [22]

Features

[edit]
The "Quick Start" guide in Act-On's online user interface.

Act-On is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) product for marketing automation. Its software products are for email marketing, landing pages, social media prospecting, CRM integration, lead management, webinar management, and analytics.[23][24][25]

Act-On has a Twitter prospector tool introduced in 2010 that automates the publishing and monitoring of content on Twitter, tracking prospective customers and measuring their activity.[26] An Act-On Insight tool, released in June 2012, compares a company's social media marketing performance to competitors.[27][28] Its Hot Prospects tool, introduced at the 2011 Dreamforce conference, creates a dashboard in Salesforce.com that scores the likelihood a prospect is ready to make a purchasing decision.[29] A set of software tools for search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and other inbound tactics was introduced in May 2013 under the name Act-On Inbound. Act-On also introduced a mobile app and mobile optimization features.[30][31][32] In July 2014, Act-On announced a set of product updates intended to improve data visualization and customize the user experience.[33] Enhancements included a responsive email composer and expanded CRM integrations.[34][35][36]

In March 2015, It introduced Act-On Anywhere, a Chrome application allowing users access to marketing automation data and functionalities across any web-based browser.[37] Allowing users to embed calls-to-action in web pages and blogs from any web-based content management system,[38][39][40] this extension along with Act-On's open APIs, supports a larger vision for an open marketing ecosystem, in which third-party applications can plug and play with Act-On – ensuring that end-users can continue to leverage their current systems and augment the use of those systems using engagement data collected within marketing automation.[39][41]

In June 2015, Act-On released Data Studio, an advanced data access and analytics tool allowing users to visualize, select, configure and export Act-On data to any Business Intelligence (BI) platform.[42] Offered as part of Act-On's enterprise package, the feature equips users with built-in wizards, filters and templates to extract and report on engagement data in real-time.[43][44][45]

Act-On is intended for marketing departments across small, midsize and enterprise companies, serving as a lower-cost and more customer-service focused alternative to enterprise software suites.[46][47]

Users can manage WebEx and GoToWebinar events within the software. It also integrates with data and analytics services, such as Google Analytics.[48][49] More connectors are available for Microsoft Dynamics, WordPress, Salesforce, SugarCRM, Oktopost and others.[50][51][52]

As part of its Open Marketing Ecosystem, the Act-On platform offers native integrations with all major CRM systems, to be vendor-agnostic without being indifferent.[53][54] A separate version for agencies has an agency dashboard to centrally manage multiple client campaigns and is sold at a lower bulk price.[49] Act-On also promotes its agency partners and third-party applications on the Act-On Partner Exchange (APEX), manages an educational resource called the Act-On Center of Excellence (ACE) and provides professional services.[49][52]

In 2023, Act-On released Advanced Analytics which greatly improved reporting appearance and functionality for its users.[55]

Reception

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The company was named to the Inc. 500 List of Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in 2013, 2014 and 2015,[56] Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 List in 2013[57] and 2014,[58] and Portland Business Journal's List of 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in 2013,[59] 2014,[60] and 2015.[61]

In 2022, Constellation ShortList selected Act-On as one of the ten top vendors on the B2C Marketing Automation for Small to Mid Sized Business list, ranked alongside multiple enterprise-level competitors.[62] This followed selection of 2021 for both the B2C Marketing Automation and B2B Marketing Automation Constellation lists.

In early 2015, the Portland Business Journal anointed Act-On's CEO Raghu Raghavan the Technology CEO of the Year, for his ability to manage the company's growth across multiple offices and continents.[63]

Act-On published the results of a three-month survey, detailing differences between top and average performing B2B companies.[64][65] The report found that few marketers owned the customer lifecycle "end to end," and top-performers were likelier to focus on customer retention and expansion, rather than their mid-size, average-performing peers.[66][67][68][69] For its efforts promoting this report, Act-On was shortlisted for MarketingProfs' 2015 B2B Bright Bulb Awards.[70]

In the 2014 Forrester Wave Report on Lead-to-Revenue Management Vendors, Act-On was ranked a leader in both categories: Small Marketing Teams and Large Enterprises. Forrester noted that Act-On did an admirable job delivering functionality for "nearly every criterion" evaluated: Simplicity, feature set, software and support.[71] In Gleanster's Gleansight 2014 benchmark, Act-On received a "Best" ranking in three out of four categories: Ease of deployment, ease of use and overall value.[72] In the 2014 VEST report from analyst firm Raab Associates, Act-On was awarded "good scores" on the "product and vendor dimensions," numbering among "strong leaders" in the "crowded small-to-midsize company segment."[73] The 2015 VEST report named Act-On as "the only privately held company to rank as a leader across all major categories of business."[74]

In 2024, Act-On held a 4.1 out of 5 rating on G2.com with over 1,000 reviews.[75]

References

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