Infusionsoft vs 1ShoppingCart is a common online shopping cart software comparison, but is it really a fair ecommerce comparison to make?
Infusionsoft stakes its claim with their advanced email marketing system… while 1ShoppingCart is best known for being a very basic, mature hosted shopping cart system.
So let’s take a closer look at each of the systems and look for areas of commonality, and then areas of exception and individuality. By the end of this comparison, you’ll see that both Infusionsoft and 1ShoppingCart both excel in certain areas, and as is expected, both struggle in others.
Depending upon where your online ecommerce business needs lie, you should be able to easily choose one system over the other since they each address a unique target market.
Infusionsoft – Getting Specific
Infusionsoft places a high degree of their focus on email marketing. In other words, their software is best suited to online marketers that use the business model of getting their website visitors to “opt-in” to one of their mailing lists by offering some form of “ethical bribe” i.e. Free report, free newsletter, etc. Once this person has opted into the emailing list, then the objective is to use the automated follow up messages and broadcasting tools to then sell them products and/or services.
The advantage to this type of marketing is that you’re able to market to your email list repeatedly and for no additional cost (unless your email volume exceeds 75,000 monthly).
There are 3 areas where Infusionsoft misses the mark:
1. Complexity – Since this system is targeted towards the “geek” set, many people with only average technical skills will struggle to make use of anything more than the most basic functionality. There’s a reason why there are so many Infusionsoft consultants… because they are needed by so many Infusionsoft users.
2. Non-Email Sales Functionality – If you’re not using an email centric sales model, the biggest advantages of Infusionsoft will be lost on you and then you’ll simply be paying a high price for a basic shopping cart.
3. Cost – High start up costs, triple the monthly price of 1ShoppingCart and high priced consultants needed to make it work for your business.
1ShoppingCart – Getting Specific
1ShoppingCart is a very basic hosted online shopping cart system that works well for basic sales, and is fairly simple to set up and operate. They offer a basic shopping cart, affiliate system and autoresponder all in one package, along with some basic integration with 3rd party systems such as AWeber, Wishlist, aMember.
If you’re looking for a basic system, then 1ShoppingCart offers just that.
The weakness of 1ShoppingCart will start to manifest as your business grows, and your needs become greater.
1. Affiliate System – While the system does a good job of recording sales, paying your affiliates with 1ShoppingCart could not be more time consuming, more cumbersome and more manual.
2. Autoresponder – From a technical standpoint, the system has many useful features, but from a deliverability perspective you’ll quickly discover that deliverability becomes a thorny issue and the large “power users” of 1ShoppingCart all migrate over to AWeber.
3. Support – If you want phone support, get ready to pay $34 per support call or $370 per year for an annual subscription. This additional cost needs to be factored into your value decision.
The comparison between Infusionsoft and 1ShoppingCart comes down to your individual business. If your focus is on email marketing, then spend the extra money and go with Infusionsoft. If you only need a basic shopping cart system and do not plan on using affiliates to sell your products, then go with 1ShoppingCart.
Best Wishes,
Wendy
