Ortto

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.

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.

Ortto offers a wide range of tools and templates to help you design a workflow and keep track of every aspect of it. In addition to the Ortto analytics that indicate how many customers reply and interact with messages, I love the ready-made templates that allow me to design campaigns and send them to lists of contacts. When it comes to reporting to management, the reporting system and dashboard are quite efficient. It's also great to have Ortto's automated functionality for adding new consumers and iteratively replicating prior campaigns while also updating target lists. Using automation, we can arrange our email sending dates so that we may target clients with our messages at specific times and dates. To me, Ortto's most appealing feature is the fact that it brings together a wide range of marketing tools into one platform where I can analyze and report on all of these elements at once. When it comes to reworking the subject lines, a copywriting helper can be an excellent solution to overcome writer's block. In addition, I greatly appreciate the Ortto team's responsiveness to clients' needs, since they are always ready to reply to any questions or requests.

Because Ortto is so user-friendly and has so many resources for learning how everything works, there aren't any drawbacks worth mentioning. Additionally, the system's ease of use makes it easy for new employees to learn how the system works and to integrate it with other systems that the business uses.

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.

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?

- 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

- 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