7 Things must Know About Infusionsoft

I personally use and recommend Infusionsoft. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re well aware of all my Infusionsoft blog posts. Just to be clear and upfront, I don’t work for Infusionsoft but I am a referral partner for them and I do earn commission anytime I refer someone their way. Infusionsoft is one of the very few web marketing software tools I heartily recommend because I honestly and sincerely believe it has the power & potential to transform a small business. But that doesn’t mean it’s all “peaches & cream.” Here are 7 things you should know about Infusionsoft before you take the plunge…

1. It’s much more than just email marketing.
This is by far the greatest misconception about Infusionsoft. Email Marketing is definitely one of its strong suits, but Infusionsoft does A LOT more than just send out emails. It’s a fully functioning all-in-one CRM (customer relationship management) tool. If you’re not familiar with CRMs, you should read this overview. I mention this point because I see 2 types of mistakes being made with the misconception that Infusionsoft is just an email marketing tool: (1) people who don’t fully understand what they’re getting into when they buy Infusionsoft and (2) people who don’t get the big picture of Content Marketing.

2. It’s most appropriate for small business.
If you’re a huge corporation, you should just hire a team of programmers to build a custom system for you. But if you’re a small business, you need something that’s a bit more cookie-cutter at a much lower pricing tier. This is the major advantage of Infusionsoft — you’re buying into a system that thousands of other people are using so you don’t have to pay for (or manage) your own custom system. Now, there are drawbacks to this of course but that’s the nature of software.

3. It has a steep learning curve.
Speaking of drawbacks, this is probably the biggest complaint I hear from fellow Infusionsoft users. It truly is a complex, powerful, sophisticated machine. That means if you learn how to harness its power, you can do amazing things for your marketing and for your bottom-line. But that also means you need to invest time, energy, & patience to learn how to use it. If you’re not willing to invest the time to learn how to use it yourself, you need to invest the money to pay someone who can do that for you. Those are the only two options.

4. It has bugs, quirks, & issues.
Like all software out there, Infusionsoft is not bug-free or error-free. Believe me, I pull my hair out sometimes when I see that a marketing campaign that once was published is suddenly not published, etc etc. But I will say that Infusionsoft is constantly tweaking & updating their systems to improve it. Just about every month or two, they’re rolling out new updates. What more can you expect from such a complex piece of software?

5. It’s not the only marketing tool you’ll need.
Read that again: It’s NOT the only marketing tool you’ll need. If you expect to drive your entire business with only Infusionsoft, you’re kidding yourself. We live in the age of software and technology. You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and learn how to use a wide range of tools besides Infusionsoft. Be open & willing to learn, and you’ll have no trouble with this reality. Resist it and you’ll surely be lost at sea. Again, all of this boils down to money & time. If you don’t have the money to pay someone to setup & manage all of these tools for you, you need to invest the time to learn how to use them yourself.

6. It’s not cheap (but actually it is).
To get started with Infusionsoft, you’ll need to pay about $200-$300+ per month AND an initial fee of about $2000 (check out full Infusionsoft pricing here). Some people are devastated when I reveal the pricing details. A monthly bill of that size can be a tough pill for a young small business to swallow, but we’re talking about investing in an entire CRM Marketing Automation system here. The golden rule is you should be investing about 30% of your profits into marketing. Even if we stretch that thin down to just 10%, I’m sure your business is making $3000 in profits right? If not, you’re definitely not ready for Infusionsoft anyway.

7. It’s not the Wizard Of Oz.
I met a fellow Infusionsoft user once who made a comment to me about how he expected Infusionsoft to “just make it happen” for him. He was immensely frustrated by the fact that it seemed like so many other people were using the software and getting so much out of it but, as he put it, “it just isn’t working for me and I don’t understand why.” My response to him summed it all up in one go: “Well it’s not the Wizard of Oz.” You shouldn’t expect it to be a wizard for you either. That is, until you’ve invested the time & energy to make it work the way it should. 🙂