Thursday, February 26, 2026

ClickFunnels vs ActiveCampaign (with mailfloss): Which Platform Should Power Your Marketing in 2026?

Choosing between ClickFunnels vs ActiveCampaign for your online marketing often comes down to these fundamental questions:

  • Do you need to build complete sales funnels from scratch, or do you primarily need sophisticated email automation?
  • Are you focused on driving immediate conversions through structured sales pages, or nurturing leads over time with personalized communication?
  • Is your priority creating landing pages and checkout flows, or managing customer relationships across multiple channels?
  • Do you have a product to sell right now, or are you building long-term engagement with your audience?
  • And critically: regardless of which platform you choose, are the emails you're collecting actually reaching real people?

In short, here's what we recommend:

👉 ClickFunnels is the all-in-one sales funnel builder designed to guide potential customers through a structured path from landing page to purchase. With its drag-and-drop editor, pre-built templates, and integrated features like one-click upsells and order bumps, it excels at creating high-converting sales processes. While ClickFunnels can handle email marketing and even build websites, its core strength lies in conversion optimization. However, it comes with premium pricing starting at $97/month and a learning curve that may overwhelm users who primarily need email marketing capabilities.

👉 ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation platform that combines advanced email marketing, sophisticated automation workflows, and an integrated CRM. With over 135 triggers and actions in its visual automation builder, it allows for highly personalized customer journeys across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. ActiveCampaign excels at lead nurturing and relationship building, but it assumes you already have a way to drive traffic and capture leads. While it offers landing pages, they're less robust than dedicated funnel builders.

Both platforms are powerful, but neither addresses a foundational issue: the quality of emails flowing into your list. If your subscribers are signing up with typos, fake addresses, or disposable emails, especially common in e-commerce where consumers sign up quickly for coupons and deals on mobile, your funnels and automations are reaching no one.

👉 mailfloss is an automated email verification service built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses that collect high volumes of subscriber signups. It connects natively to exactly 40 ESP platforms, including both ClickFunnels and ActiveCampaign, and runs daily automated cleanups to remove invalid, fake, and harmful email addresses. Its Instafloss feature verifies new subscribers in real time as they sign up, which is particularly valuable for businesses running paid ads to funnels: when someone clicks a Facebook ad and types "gmial.com" instead of "gmail.com," Instafloss catches and corrects it immediately, preventing wasted ad spend and a lost customer. mailfloss recovers 80–90% of misspelled email addresses, and once set up in about 60 seconds, it runs on autopilot with no technical expertise required.

If you're serious about email marketing ROI, see how mailfloss can protect your sender reputation with a free 7-day trial, a true free trial, not limited credits.

Table of contents:

  • ClickFunnels vs ActiveCampaign with mailfloss at a glance
  • The fundamental divide: Funnel building vs email automation
  • ClickFunnels excels at structured sales processes
  • ActiveCampaign dominates sophisticated email automation
  • Why email list quality determines your success with either platform
  • Pricing reflects different approaches to marketing
  • Integration ecosystems reveal platform priorities
  • Which platform should you choose?

ClickFunnels vs ActiveCampaign with mailfloss at a glance

Here's the fundamental difference: While ClickFunnels and ActiveCampaign both help you market to customers, they approach it from opposite directions. And both depend on something neither fully addresses.

  • ClickFunnels is best for entrepreneurs selling products or services online. It provides the pages, checkout flows, and conversion optimization tools to turn visitors into buyers.
  • ActiveCampaign is best for businesses focused on lead nurturing and customer relationships. It provides sophisticated automation to personalize communication at scale.
  • mailfloss is best for e-commerce and D2C businesses collecting high volumes of email signups. It verifies subscribers in real time and keeps lists clean automatically, protecting the investment you make in either platform.
ClickFunnelsActiveCampaignmailfloss
Primary focusSales funnel buildingEmail automation & CRMEmail list verification
Starting price$97/month$15/month$29/month
Core strength⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ High-converting sales pages⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced automation workflows⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Automated list hygiene
Email marketing⭐⭐⭐ Basic capabilities⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ AdvancedN/A (native integration with both CF & AC)
Landing pages⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extensive templates⭐⭐⭐ More basic functionalityN/A
E-commerce⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Built-in checkout & upsells⭐⭐⭐ Requires integrationsN/A
CRM capabilities⭐⭐⭐ Basic pipeline management⭐⭐⭐⭐ Integrated sales CRMN/A
Learning curve⭐⭐⭐ Generally moderate to steep⭐⭐⭐ Can be steep for advanced features⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Set-and-forget
Free trial14 days14 days7 days (true free trial)

The fundamental divide: Funnel building vs email automation

Comparing ClickFunnels to ActiveCampaign is like comparing a retail store to a CRM system. They serve different purposes, even though both ultimately aim to help you make sales.

ClickFunnels was born from Russell Brunson's frustration with the complexity of building sales funnels. Before ClickFunnels, creating a structured sales process typically required piecing together landing page builders, shopping carts, payment processors, and email autoresponders. ClickFunnels consolidated these elements into one platform specifically designed to guide visitors through a predetermined path to purchase, though some features like advanced email automation are available only on higher-tier plans.

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ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, started as an email marketing platform and evolved into what they call "customer experience automation." Founded in 2003, it has grown to serve over 180,000 businesses with a focus on helping them create personalized, automated communication across multiple channels. The platform excels at the relationship-building that happens before and after a sale.

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The question isn't really "which is better?" It's "what do you need right now?"

If you have a product to sell and need to create a complete sales process from landing page to checkout, ClickFunnels is purpose-built for that job. If you have traffic and leads but need to nurture them with personalized, automated communication over time, ActiveCampaign is the stronger choice.

Successful businesses often use both: ClickFunnels for specific product launches and sales campaigns, ActiveCampaign for ongoing customer communication and relationship management. But understanding their distinct strengths is essential for making the right choice for your current situation.

ClickFunnels excels at structured sales processes

ClickFunnels has one primary mission: convert visitors into customers through carefully structured sales funnels. Every feature in the platform is designed around this goal.

The platform's drag-and-drop editor allows you to create landing pages, sales pages, order forms, and thank-you pages without coding knowledge. But what sets ClickFunnels apart isn't the page builder itself. It's how the platform connects these pages into a cohesive sales journey.

One-click upsells are a perfect example. After a customer completes their initial purchase, ClickFunnels can present additional offers that they can accept with a single click, since their payment information is already stored. Many ClickFunnels users report that this feature has generated significant additional revenue for their businesses. Order bumps work similarly, allowing customers to add complementary products with a checkbox on the order form.

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Source: ClickFunnels

The platform offers templates for various funnel types: lead generation funnels to capture email addresses, webinar funnels to promote and deliver presentations, product launch funnels to build anticipation, and membership funnels to deliver ongoing content. These aren't just page templates but complete funnel structures with the sequence already mapped out.

ClickFunnels also includes email marketing capabilities, but this is where its limitations become apparent. While you can create email sequences and automate follow-ups, the functionality is generally considered more basic compared to dedicated email platforms. The email editor is less sophisticated, automation triggers are more limited, and segmentation options are simpler.

The platform has evolved with ClickFunnels 2.0 to include website building, blogging, and more advanced CRM features. However, these additions feel like supplements to the core funnel-building functionality rather than strengths in their own right.

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Source: ClickFunnels

Pricing starts at $97/month for the Launch plan, which includes unlimited funnels, 10,000 contacts, and 50,000 monthly emails. The Scale plan at $197/month expands to 75,000 contacts and 300,000 emails. The Optimize plan at $297/month increases limits to 150,000 contacts and 750,000 emails for businesses with larger lists.

ActiveCampaign dominates sophisticated email automation

ActiveCampaign approaches marketing from a fundamentally different angle. Instead of focusing on the transaction moment, it focuses on the entire customer relationship.

The platform's visual automation builder is where it truly shines. With over 135 triggers and actions available according to industry reviews, you can create workflows that respond to virtually any customer behavior. A subscriber clicks a link in your email? Send them down a specific path. They visit your pricing page multiple times? Notify your sales team. They haven't engaged with your emails recently? Trigger a re-engagement sequence. Some of these scenarios require combining triggers with conditions, but the flexibility to create such workflows is a core strength.

This sophistication extends to segmentation. ActiveCampaign allows you to create dynamic segments based on contact behavior, demographics, purchase history, and custom fields. You can show different content to different subscribers within the same email using conditional content blocks. Predictive sending analyzes when each individual subscriber is most likely to open emails and delivers accordingly.

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Source: ActiveCampaign

The integrated CRM isn't an afterthought. It includes visual deal pipelines, lead scoring, and sales automation. When a lead reaches a certain score, you can automatically create a deal and notify a salesperson. The pipeline stages can trigger email sequences, keeping marketing and sales activities aligned.

ActiveCampaign also supports multi-channel messaging. Beyond email, you can incorporate SMS and WhatsApp messaging into your automations. Facebook Custom Audiences integration allows you to automatically sync contact segments for targeted advertising.

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Source: ActiveCampaign

Landing pages are available, but they're clearly not the platform's strength. The builder is functional but limited compared to dedicated landing page tools or ClickFunnels. Most ActiveCampaign users integrate with separate landing page builders or use their website's native forms.

Pricing starts at $15/month for the Starter plan with up to 1,000 contacts, though this plan has significant limitations including only 5 actions per automation. The Plus plan at $49/month removes automation limits and adds landing pages. The Pro plan at $79/month adds predictive sending and advanced reporting. Enterprise pricing starts at $145/month for premium features and a dedicated account team.

Why email list quality determines your success with either platform

Both ClickFunnels and ActiveCampaign charge based on contact count or email volume, so every invalid email on your list costs you money directly, before you even consider the downstream effects.

Email lists decay at roughly 22.5% per year. People change jobs, abandon addresses, and create throwaway accounts to grab a lead magnet or coupon. Typos happen constantly, especially on mobile where consumers are tapping out "gmial.com" or "yahooo.com" while claiming a discount code. And every invalid email you send to chips away at your sender reputation, pushing future messages toward spam folders even for your real subscribers.

For e-commerce businesses running paid ads to ClickFunnels pages or driving signups through ActiveCampaign forms, this is a direct revenue problem. A customer who types their email wrong during checkout never receives their order confirmation. A subscriber who claims a coupon with a typo never gets it and never converts. Each lost subscriber represents roughly $8 in lifetime value that simply evaporates.

This is the problem mailfloss was built to solve, specifically for e-commerce and D2C businesses that collect high volumes of consumer email signups.

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Real-time verification with Instafloss: Rather than waiting to clean your list after the damage is done, mailfloss's Instafloss feature verifies new subscribers the moment they sign up. When someone clicks your Facebook ad, lands on your ClickFunnels page, and enters a misspelled email, Instafloss catches and corrects it in real time, recovering 80–90% of misspelled addresses before the subscriber is lost.

Deep Clean technology: Beyond the basic syntax checks and server pinging that all verification services perform, mailfloss runs proprietary Deep Clean tests for more thorough verification, including accurate handling of difficult-to-verify domains like Yahoo and AOL that other services often mark as "accept all."

Automated daily cleanup: Once connected to your ESP, whether that's ClickFunnels or ActiveCampaign, mailfloss scans your list daily to identify invalid emails, disposable addresses, spam traps, and role-based emails. It can automatically unsubscribe, delete, or tag contacts based on your preferences, with adjustable aggressiveness settings to balance thoroughness with subscriber retention.

No technical expertise required: Unlike enterprise verification tools that assume you have a dedicated deliverability team, mailfloss is designed for e-commerce marketers. Setup takes about 60 seconds, and the platform runs on autopilot from there, no APIs to configure, no IT team involvement, no ongoing maintenance.

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Pricing reflects different approaches to marketing

The pricing structures of these platforms reveal their fundamental philosophies and target customers.

ClickFunnels positions itself as a premium, all-in-one solution. The entry point at $97/month is steep compared to many marketing tools, but the company argues you're replacing multiple subscriptions: landing page builder, shopping cart, email marketing, membership site software, and more. For businesses actively selling products online, this consolidation can provide value. However, for those who primarily need one specific capability, the price is difficult to justify.

The annual billing option saves roughly two months of costs, bringing the effective monthly rate down. But even at this discount, ClickFunnels represents a significant ongoing expense, particularly for small businesses or those just starting out.

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ActiveCampaign follows a more traditional SaaS model with tiered pricing based on features and contact count. The $15/month starting point is accessible, but the limitations at this tier (5 actions per automation, no landing pages) mean most serious users will need the $49/month Plus plan or higher.

What catches many users off guard is how quickly pricing scales with contact count. That $49/month Plus plan jumps to around $239/month at 10,000 contacts. The advanced features justify the cost for businesses that fully utilize them, but ActiveCampaign can become expensive for large lists, even if engagement varies.

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mailfloss starts at $29/month and charges based on verification volume rather than contacts stored. The value calculation is straightforward: if each recovered subscriber is worth roughly $8 in lifetime value and mailfloss recovers even a handful of typo-corrupted emails per month, it pays for itself. For e-commerce businesses already spending on ClickFunnels or ActiveCampaign, it protects that larger investment by ensuring contacts in those platforms are real people who can actually receive and act on your marketing.

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Integration ecosystems reveal platform priorities

How each platform approaches integrations says a great deal about their core focus and intended user base.

ClickFunnels integrates with the tools necessary to run an online sales operation. Payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal are essential, and these integrations are deep and well-maintained. Email marketing platforms, CRMs, and webinar tools are supported, recognizing that many users want to use specialized tools for specific functions while using ClickFunnels for the funnel itself.

The "Share Funnels" feature deserves mention as a unique form of integration. Users can share complete funnel structures with each other via a simple link, and a separate marketplace exists where proven templates can be purchased. This enables consultants to deliver work to clients efficiently.

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Source: ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels' integration philosophy tends toward self-containment. The platform includes built-in email marketing, membership features, and shopping cart functionality that can reduce reliance on external tools. This makes sense given their all-in-one positioning but can create friction for users with established tech stacks who prefer specialized solutions. Notably, ClickFunnels' contact hub doesn't include a built-in list-cleaning tool, which is where a dedicated integration like mailfloss fills the gap.

ActiveCampaign takes the opposite approach, offering over 900 integrations with third-party applications. E-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce have deep data integrations that sync customer and purchase information. CRM systems, landing page builders, webinar platforms, accounting software, and countless other tools connect through native integrations.

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Source: ActiveCampaign

This extensive connectivity reflects ActiveCampaign's philosophy as a marketing automation hub rather than an all-in-one solution. The platform assumes you'll use specialized tools for specific functions and focuses on being the connective tissue that orchestrates communication based on data from across your tech stack.

mailfloss integrates natively with exactly 40 ESP platforms, including both ClickFunnels and ActiveCampaign — meaning it slots into either side of this comparison without requiring workarounds. These aren't surface-level connections: mailfloss can automatically unsubscribe, delete, or tag invalid contacts directly within your ESP, update custom fields, and respect whitelists based on specific tags. Setup requires no developers and doesn't disrupt existing workflows.

Zapier integration extends mailfloss's reach to thousands of additional applications, and the API allows developers to integrate real-time verification into custom applications or forms.

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ClickFunnels vs ActiveCampaign with mailfloss: Which should you choose?

The choice between these platforms depends entirely on your specific business needs and where you are in your marketing journey.

Choose ClickFunnels if:

  • You have a product or service to sell and need to build a complete sales process
  • Creating landing pages, sales pages, and checkout flows is your primary need
  • You want one-click upsells, order bumps, and conversion-focused features
  • You prefer an all-in-one platform over integrating multiple tools
  • You're running specific campaigns or product launches rather than ongoing nurture sequences
  • Budget allows for the $97/month minimum investment

Get started with ClickFunnels' 14-day free trial.

Choose ActiveCampaign if:

  • Your primary need is sophisticated email marketing and automation
  • You want to build personalized, behavior-triggered communication sequences
  • Lead nurturing over time is more important than immediate conversion
  • You need an integrated CRM with sales pipeline management
  • Multi-channel messaging (email, SMS, WhatsApp) is important to your strategy
  • You want extensive integrations with your existing tech stack

Explore ActiveCampaign with a 14-day free trial.

Use mailfloss alongside either if:

  • You're an e-commerce or D2C business collecting email signups at scale
  • You're running paid ads to funnels and want to prevent wasted spend from email typos
  • You'd rather set up list hygiene once and let it run automatically, no deliverability expert needed
  • Recovering subscribers lost to typos (each worth ~$8 in lifetime value) sounds valuable
  • You want real-time verification of new signups, not just periodic batch cleaning
  • You want a true free trial to evaluate the platform fully before committing

See how mailfloss protects your email investment with a 7-day free trial.

The reality is that ClickFunnels and ActiveCampaign aren't competitors as much as they are tools for different jobs. Businesses can effectively use both, leveraging ClickFunnels for specific sales campaigns and ActiveCampaign for ongoing customer communication.

But regardless of which platform you choose, mailfloss addresses the problem both depend on but neither solves: ensuring the emails you collect are valid and deliverable. It integrates natively with both platforms, takes 60 seconds to set up, and runs automatically from there. The smartest approach is to choose the platform that matches your primary need, funnel building or email automation, and then protect that investment with automated list hygiene.

Monday, February 23, 2026

Email Sunset Campaigns: When & How to Use Them

​Email sunset campaigns are automated processes that remove or pause sending to subscribers who haven't engaged with emails over a specific period. This helps maintain list health and improve deliverability rates.

Think about it like this: you wouldn't keep calling a friend who never picks up, right? Same principle applies to your email list.

The thing is, keeping inactive subscribers around actually hurts your sender reputation. ISPs notice when people consistently ignore your emails. They start thinking, "Hey, maybe this sender's content isn't valuable," and boom - your emails start landing in spam folders.

We're going to walk through exactly when to implement a sunset policy and how to do it right. You'll learn the specific timeframes that work best, how to segment your inactive subscribers, and how to create win-back campaigns that give people one last chance to stay on your list.

By the end, you'll have a clear action plan for cleaning your email list, protecting your sender reputation, and actually improving your overall email deliverability. No more guessing about who to keep and who to remove.

What is an Email Sunset Policy?

A sunset policy is your game plan for handling subscribers who've gone quiet. It's a set of rules you create that automatically manages people based on their engagement behavior.

Here's how it typically works: you define what "inactive" means for your business (maybe 90 days without opening an email), then you set up an automated sequence that tries to re-engage them. If they still don't respond, you remove them from your regular email list.

The automation part is key. Once you set it up, the system handles everything in the background while you focus on creating great content for your engaged subscribers.

Why Sunset Policies Matter for Your Business

Every inactive subscriber on your list is dead weight. They're not just neutral - they're actively dragging down your email performance metrics.

When ISPs like Gmail and Outlook see consistently low engagement rates, they interpret that as a signal that your emails aren't wanted. This damages your sender reputation, which is basically your credibility score with email providers.

Poor sender reputation means your emails start getting filtered more aggressively. Even your engaged subscribers might stop seeing your messages because they end up in spam or the promotions tab.

A clean, smaller list outperforms a large inactive one every single time. You'll see better open rates, higher click-through rates, and most importantly, more emails actually reaching inboxes.

How Sunset Campaigns Differ from Regular List Cleaning

Regular list cleaning usually means removing hard bounces and obviously fake addresses. That's important, but it's just the basics.

Sunset campaigns go deeper. They address the more subtle problem of people who signed up with real addresses but just stopped caring about your content.

The automated nature makes all the difference. Instead of manually reviewing your list every few months (which nobody actually does consistently), your sunset policy runs continuously. It catches disengagement early and handles it systematically.

Why Email Sunset Campaigns Are Critical for Deliverability

Your email deliverability depends heavily on how ISPs perceive your sending habits. If you're constantly emailing people who never engage, that's a red flag.

Email providers use engagement metrics as a primary signal for filtering decisions. Low engagement rates tell them, "This sender's content isn't resonating." High engagement rates signal, "People want these emails."

The Sender Reputation Factor

Think of sender reputation like a credit score for email marketers. Every email you send affects this score.

Positive signals (opens, clicks, replies) boost your reputation. Negative signals (spam complaints, bounces, consistent ignoring) hurt it.

When your sender reputation drops below certain thresholds, ISPs start automatically filtering your emails. It doesn't matter how good your subject line is or how valuable your content might be.

Sunset campaigns protect your sender reputation by ensuring you're only emailing people who actually want to hear from you. This keeps your engagement metrics healthy, which keeps ISPs happy.

Avoiding Spam Traps

Spam traps are email addresses that exist solely to catch spammers. They never sign up for legitimate email lists, so if you're sending to one, it indicates you either bought a list or you're not cleaning properly.

Here's the sneaky part: old, abandoned email addresses often get recycled as spam traps. Someone stops using an address, lets it expire, and ISPs repurpose it to identify senders with poor list hygiene.

If an email address on your list hasn't engaged in 180+ days, there's a chance it's been converted to a spam trap. Your sunset policy catches these before they become a problem.

​The Spam Trap Danger: 180+ days without engagement increases the risk an address was recycled into a spam trap.

Cost Efficiency

Most email service providers charge based on list size. Every inactive subscriber is costing you money for zero return.

Running the math is eye-opening. If you're paying $0.01 per subscriber per month and you have 5,000 inactive contacts, that's $50 monthly or $600 annually spent on people who will never buy from you.

​The Cost of Inactivity: 5,000 inactive contacts at $0.01 each cost $50/mo ($600/yr) with no return.

Sunset campaigns turn this around. You reduce costs while simultaneously improving deliverability. That's a win-win that directly impacts your bottom line.

How to Identify Inactive Subscribers

Before you can clean your list, you need to define what "inactive" actually means for your business. There's no universal standard - it depends on your email frequency and industry.

The most common approach uses time-based inactivity. After 30 days inactive, move subscribers to an 'At Risk' segment; after 60 days, send a re-engagement campaign; after 90 days, stop emailing; and after 6 months, delete from the list.

​The Sunset Timeline: 30 days = At Risk, 60 days = re-engage, 90 days = stop emailing, 6 months = delete.

Key Engagement Metrics to Track

Open rates tell you if people are even seeing your emails. But here's the catch - open tracking isn't perfectly reliable anymore due to privacy features in modern email clients.

Click-through rates are more reliable and more meaningful. They show actual interest, not just curiosity about a subject line.

Purchase or conversion behavior is the gold standard. Someone who hasn't opened emails in 60 days but made a purchase last week? They're engaged, just not with email specifically.

Set up your email service provider to track these metrics automatically. Most platforms like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or ActiveCampaign have built-in engagement tracking.

Setting Your Inactivity Timeframe

The right timeframe depends on how often you email. If you send daily, 30 days of no engagement is concerning. If you send monthly, you might wait 90-180 days before taking action.

Best practices include setting a sunset policy for non-engagement over several months (such as 6-12 months), followed by interest confirmation before removal to minimize risks like complaints.

​Best Practice Timeframe: Consider 6–12 months of non-engagement with a confirm-interest step before removal.

Start conservatively. You can always tighten your criteria later, but you can't easily recover subscribers you removed too aggressively.

Creating Engagement Segments

Break your list into clear engagement tiers. This allows for nuanced treatment instead of a binary "engaged" or "unengaged" approach.

Create segments like: Highly Engaged (opened or clicked in last 30 days), Moderately Engaged (opened or clicked 30-90 days ago), At Risk (no engagement 90-180 days), and Inactive (no engagement 180+ days).

Each segment gets different treatment. Highly engaged subscribers get your full email cadence. At Risk subscribers get re-engagement campaigns. Inactive subscribers enter your sunset flow.

Most modern email platforms make segmentation easy. In your dashboard, look for "segments" or "tags" and set up rules based on engagement date.

Creating Your Email Sunset Campaign Strategy

Now that you know who your inactive subscribers are, it's time to build the actual sunset campaign. This is your last-ditch effort to re-engage people before removing them.

The strategy has two phases: the re-engagement attempt and the final removal. Both need careful planning to maximize recoveries while protecting your deliverability.

Designing Your Re-Engagement Email Sequence

Your re-engagement sequence should be 2-3 emails maximum. More than that and you're just annoying people who've already checked out.

Email one is the "We miss you" message. Keep it simple, direct, and focused on value. Acknowledge the lack of engagement and offer a compelling reason to stick around.

Subject lines for re-engagement emails should be direct. Try things like "Are you still interested?" or "Should we keep sending you emails?" People respond to honesty.

Email two, sent 7-14 days after the first, should include an incentive if you have one. A discount code, exclusive content, or early access to something can nudge fence-sitters back.

Email three is the final notice. "Last chance to stay subscribed" type messaging. Give them a clear call-to-action and set expectations about what happens if they don't respond.

Setting Up Automation Flows

Manual sunset campaigns don't work. You need automation to handle this consistently and at scale.

In Mailchimp, create a new automation and select "Custom" as your starting point. Set the trigger as "Subscriber has been in segment for X days" where X is your inactivity threshold.

For Klaviyo users, build a flow triggered by segment membership. Add conditional splits based on engagement with previous flow emails.

ActiveCampaign handles this through automations with "wait" steps between emails and goal-based exits for anyone who engages.

The key is setting clear exit conditions. If someone opens or clicks any email during the sunset sequence, they should immediately exit the flow and return to normal email cadence.

What to Do with Non-Responders

After your re-engagement sequence runs its course, you have three options for non-responders: suppress, archive, or delete.

Suppression means they stay in your system but don't receive regular emails. This is useful if you might want to try re-engaging them with a different approach later.

Archiving removes them from your active list but keeps their data for record-keeping. This is good for compliance and historical analysis.

Deletion permanently removes them from your system. This saves money on list size and ensures you're not storing data you don't need, which can help with privacy compliance.

We recommend suppression for the first sunset campaign. After 12 months of suppression with no engagement, move to deletion. Check out our guide on building and managing email suppression lists for detailed implementation steps.

Segmentation Strategies for Sunset Flows

Not all inactive subscribers are created equal. Segmentation allows you to customize your approach based on subscriber characteristics and history.

The more targeted your sunset campaign, the better your recovery rates. Generic "we miss you" emails work okay, but personalized approaches work better.

Segmenting by Original Source

Subscribers who came from different sources often need different re-engagement approaches. Someone who signed up at a trade show might respond differently than someone who downloaded a lead magnet.

Create separate sunset flows for: organic website signups, paid advertising leads, event/trade show contacts, content download signups, and partnership or co-marketing leads.

For event contacts, reference the specific event in your re-engagement email. "We met you at [Event Name]" creates context and jogs memory.

For content downloads, remind them of what they downloaded and offer related resources. "You downloaded our guide on [Topic], here's the updated version."

Segmenting by Purchase History

Past customers deserve different treatment than never-buyers. They've already demonstrated trust in your brand and willingness to spend money.

Create a VIP sunset flow for previous purchasers. Offer exclusive discounts or early access to new products. The investment in recovering these subscribers is higher because their lifetime value is proven.

For subscribers who never purchased but showed high engagement before going dark, focus on value reminders. Highlight what they're missing and what's changed since they stopped opening.

Segmenting by Engagement History

Someone who was highly engaged for months before dropping off is different than someone who never engaged from day one.

Create a "formerly engaged" segment for subscribers who had strong open and click rates for at least 30 days before going inactive. These people clearly found value at some point.

Your re-engagement messaging should acknowledge their past engagement. "You used to love our weekly tips - what changed?" This creates a conversation instead of a generic plea.

For never-engaged subscribers (people who signed up but never opened a single email), your sunset flow can be much shorter. One email asking if they want to stay subscribed is sufficient.

Best Practices for Re-Engagement Emails

The quality of your re-engagement emails directly impacts how many subscribers you recover. These emails need to cut through the noise and actually get attention from people who've been ignoring you.

Let's break down what works and what doesn't based on real performance data.

Subject Line Strategies

Your subject line is everything in a re-engagement email. If an inactive subscriber hasn't opened your last 20 emails, why would they open this one?

Direct, honest subject lines outperform clever ones for re-engagement. "Should I keep sending you emails?" gets more opens than "We have something special for you."

Personalization helps. "[Name], are you still interested in [Topic]?" performs better than generic alternatives.

Question-based subject lines create curiosity without being clickbait. "Is this still your best email address?" or "Did we lose you?" work well.

Email Design and Content

Stripped-down, text-based emails often outperform heavily designed ones for re-engagement. They feel personal and important rather than automated and promotional.

Your email should acknowledge the situation directly. Don't pretend nothing happened. Something like "I noticed you haven't opened our emails in a while" shows awareness and honesty.

Make the ask crystal clear. Don't bury the call-to-action. Put it early in the email: "Click here to stay subscribed" or "Update your preferences here."

Explain the consequences of inaction. "If I don't hear from you, I'll remove you from our list on [Date]." This creates urgency without being aggressive.

Timing and Frequency

Send re-engagement emails when they have the best chance of being seen. For most audiences, Tuesday through Thursday, mid-morning works best.

Space your re-engagement sequence appropriately. Send email one, wait 7-10 days, send email two, wait another 7-10 days, then send the final notice.

Don't send re-engagement emails during your busiest promotional periods. A "we miss you" email landing the same week as your Black Friday promotion feels insincere and gets lost in the noise.

Incentive Strategies

Incentives can boost re-engagement rates, but use them carefully. You don't want to train subscribers that ignoring you gets them rewards.

If you use an incentive, make it relevant to your inactive segment's history. For someone who abandoned a cart, offer a discount on that product. For someone who used to read your content, offer exclusive access to premium content.

Non-monetary incentives often work better for re-engagement. "Early access to our new feature" or "Join our exclusive community" appeal to FOMO without cheapening your brand.

Measuring Sunset Campaign Success

You need clear metrics to know if your sunset policy is working. Measuring success helps you refine your approach and prove ROI to stakeholders.

The right metrics depend on your goals, but certain indicators are universal for sunset campaign performance.

Key Performance Indicators

Re-engagement rate is your primary metric. This is the percentage of inactive subscribers who become active again after entering your sunset flow.

Calculate it as: (Subscribers who engaged with sunset emails ÷ Total subscribers who entered sunset flow) × 100.

A good re-engagement rate is 5-15%. Lower than 5% suggests your re-engagement messaging needs work. Higher than 15% means you might be triggering your sunset flow too early.

​Recovery Rate Benchmark: Target a 5–15% re-engagement rate; outside that range signals timing or messaging issues.

List health score tracks the overall quality of your email list over time. Monitor the percentage of your list that's actively engaged month over month.

Deliverability metrics show the real impact. Track your inbox placement rate, spam complaint rate, and bounce rate before and after implementing sunset campaigns.

Email Deliverability Improvements

The whole point of sunset campaigns is better deliverability, so measure it directly. Use tools like GlockApps or MailGenius to test inbox placement.

Watch your sender reputation scores. Services like Sender Score provide free reputation monitoring.

Monitor engagement rates for your remaining subscribers. After removing inactive contacts, your overall open rates and click rates should improve noticeably within 30-60 days.

For more detailed strategies on maintaining healthy engagement, check out our guide on boosting email subscriber engagement.

Cost Analysis

Calculate the financial impact of your sunset campaigns. Start with your email service provider costs before and after list cleaning.

Factor in the time saved not creating content for unengaged subscribers. If you're segmenting properly, you might reduce the frequency of emails to certain groups, which frees up content creation resources.

Measure the revenue impact. Better deliverability means more of your promotional emails reach engaged subscribers, which should translate to increased sales.

Integrating Sunset Campaigns with List Hygiene

Sunset campaigns are just one part of a complete list hygiene strategy. For maximum effectiveness, combine them with other list cleaning practices.

Think of list hygiene as preventive maintenance and sunset campaigns as the cleanup crew. Both are necessary for long-term email success.

Combining with Email Verification

Email verification removes invalid addresses before they can hurt your deliverability. Tools like mailfloss automatically verify email addresses and remove bounces, typos, and spam traps.

Here's how verification and sunset campaigns work together: verification catches invalid addresses immediately, while sunset campaigns catch addresses that become inactive over time.

Set up mailfloss to integrate with your email service provider (we work with Mailchimp, HubSpot, Klaviyo, and 30+ other platforms). It takes about 60 seconds to connect and then runs automatically in the background.

mailfloss performs over 20 checks on each email address, catching issues that simple regex validation misses. We even fix common typos automatically (think "gmal.com" corrected to "gmail.com").

The combination means you're protecting both ends: verification handles technical validity, sunset campaigns handle engagement-based quality. Your complete list hygiene checklist should include both - see our email list hygiene checklist for the full picture.

Double Opt-In Best Practices

List cleaning via sunset policies involves quickly removing hard bounces and halting sends to those unengaged within a defined window, often using double opt-in for quality.

Double opt-in means subscribers must confirm their email address before joining your list. They sign up, receive a confirmation email, and click a link to verify.

This extra step filters out typos, temporary addresses, and people who aren't genuinely interested. The subscribers who make it through double opt-in tend to be more engaged long-term.

Combine double opt-in with sunset policies for maximum list quality. You're preventing problems at entry and cleaning up any issues that develop over time.

Ongoing List Maintenance

List hygiene isn't a one-time project. Set up a regular schedule for reviewing and cleaning your list.

Monthly tasks: Review bounce reports and remove hard bounces immediately. Check spam complaint rates and investigate any spikes.

Quarterly tasks: Audit your segmentation criteria. Review your sunset campaign performance and adjust timeframes if needed.

Annual tasks: Complete list audit including source quality, engagement trends by segment, and ROI analysis by subscriber cohort.

Automation makes this manageable. With tools like mailfloss handling verification automatically and your email service provider running sunset flows, your manual work is minimal. Learn more about email list management automation to streamline these processes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even with good intentions, marketers make predictable mistakes when implementing sunset campaigns. Learning from these common errors saves you time and protects your list.

Being Too Aggressive

The biggest mistake is removing subscribers too quickly. Someone who hasn't opened your last 5 emails isn't necessarily unengaged - they might just be busy.

Start with longer timeframes (120-180 days) and tighten gradually based on your data. It's easier to get more aggressive than to recover subscribers you removed prematurely.

Don't rely solely on open rates for engagement tracking. With Apple's Mail Privacy Protection and similar features, open tracking is increasingly unreliable. Use clicks, purchases, and website visits as additional signals.

Using Generic Re-Engagement Content

Cookie-cutter "we miss you" emails rarely work. Your re-engagement content needs to be as good as (or better than) your regular content.

Avoid tone-deaf messaging like "We noticed you haven't been opening our emails" followed immediately by "Here's our latest promotion!" That shows you care about sales, not the subscriber.

Instead, focus on value and choices. Give them options to adjust frequency, choose content topics, or update preferences rather than just "stay subscribed or leave."

Ignoring Re-Engaged Subscribers

When someone responds to your re-engagement campaign, don't waste that second chance. Make sure they have an excellent experience immediately after re-engaging.

Create a special welcome-back sequence for re-engaged subscribers. Deliver on whatever promise got them to click - if you offered valuable content, send it immediately.

Monitor re-engaged subscribers separately for at least 60 days. If they disengage again quickly, they might not be a good fit for your list despite the re-engagement.

Taking Action on Your Email Sunset Campaign

You now have everything you need to implement an effective sunset policy. The difference between knowing and doing is just getting started.

Start with a simple implementation. Define your inactivity threshold (we recommend 120 days for your first sunset campaign), identify your inactive segment, and create a basic 2-email re-engagement sequence.

Set up the automation in your email service provider this week. It takes less than an hour if you follow the platform-specific instructions we covered earlier.

While your sunset campaign runs, implement email verification with mailfloss to catch invalid addresses before they hurt your deliverability. The combination of verification and sunset campaigns gives you complete list protection.

Track your results for 60 days before making major adjustments. Give the system time to work and collect meaningful data.

Your email deliverability will improve. Your costs will decrease. Your engagement rates will climb. All from systematically removing people who don't want to hear from you anyway.

The subscribers who remain will be your true audience - people who actually value what you send. That's when email marketing gets fun again.

Friday, February 20, 2026

ClickFunnels vs GetResponse (with mailfloss): Which Marketing Platform Actually Drives Results in 2026?

Choosing between ClickFunnels vs GetResponse for your marketing stack often comes down to these five critical questions:

  • Do you need a dedicated sales funnel builder, or would a comprehensive email marketing platform serve you better?
  • Are you primarily selling products through structured sales sequences, or building relationships through newsletters and automation?
  • How important is having webinar functionality built into your marketing platform?
  • Do you have the budget for premium funnel-building software, or do you need a more cost-effective all-in-one solution?
  • Are you aware that your email list quality directly impacts the success of whichever platform you choose?

In short, here's what we recommend:

👉 ClickFunnels is the go-to choice for entrepreneurs and businesses focused on creating high-converting sales funnels. With its drag-and-drop funnel builder, pre-built templates, and features like one-click upsells and order bumps, it excels at guiding potential customers through a structured purchasing journey. However, ClickFunnels comes with premium pricing (starting at $97/month), a steeper learning curve for its advanced features, and more limited email marketing capabilities compared to dedicated platforms.

👉 GetResponse serves as an all-in-one marketing platform that combines robust email marketing with landing pages, marketing automation, webinar hosting, and conversion funnels. Starting at just $19/month, it offers excellent value for businesses that need comprehensive marketing tools without the premium price tag. While GetResponse includes its own funnel builder, its core strength remains email marketing and automation rather than complex sales funnel creation.

Both platforms are powerful marketing tools that can transform your business. However, there's a critical factor that determines success on either platform that most marketers overlook: email list quality. Sending campaigns to invalid, fake, or bouncing email addresses damages your sender reputation and wastes your marketing budget.

👉 mailfloss is the automated email verification service that ensures your ClickFunnels or GetResponse campaigns actually reach real people. Designed specifically for e-commerce and D2C businesses, mailfloss automatically cleans your email lists daily, identifies and removes invalid addresses, and recovers 80-90% of misspelled email addresses through automatic typo correction. With native integrations for both ClickFunnels and GetResponse (among 40 ESP platforms), setup takes minutes and requires no technical expertise. For marketers serious about email ROI, mailfloss isn't an alternative to ClickFunnels or GetResponse; it's the set-and-forget foundation that makes either platform truly effective.

If maintaining a clean, high-performing email list sounds like the missing piece of your marketing strategy, see how mailfloss works with your platform.

Table of contents:

  • ClickFunnels vs GetResponse with mailfloss at a glance
  • The fundamental divide: Funnels vs email marketing vs list quality
  • ClickFunnels dominates sales funnel creation (but assumes you have traffic)
  • GetResponse offers the complete marketing toolkit (at a fraction of the cost)
  • mailfloss ensures your emails actually reach real people
  • Pricing models reveal different target audiences
  • Integration capabilities shape your marketing stack
  • The hidden cost of poor email hygiene affects both platforms
  • ClickFunnels vs GetResponse with mailfloss: Which should you choose?

ClickFunnels vs GetResponse with mailfloss at a glance

Here's the fundamental difference: While ClickFunnels and GetResponse both help you market and sell online, they approach the challenge from distinctly different angles. And both platforms benefit enormously from clean email data.

ClickFunnelsGetResponsemailfloss
Primary focusSales funnel creationEmail marketing & automationEmail list verification
Starting price$97/month$19/month$29/month
Free trial14-day trialFree plan + 14-day premium trialTrue free trial (7 days)
Email marketing⭐⭐⭐ Basic features included⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced automation & segmentationN/A (works with both)
Landing pages⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Funnel-focused templates⭐⭐⭐⭐ 100+ conversion templatesN/A
Sales funnels⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Core specialty⭐⭐⭐⭐Conversion funnel featureN/A
Webinar hosting❌ Not included (uses integrations)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Built-in webinar platformN/A
Ease of use⭐⭐⭐ Moderate learning curve⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Beginner-friendly⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Set-and-forget automation
Native ESP integrationsN/AN/A⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exactly 40 platforms
Deliverability impactDepends on list qualityDepends on list quality⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Directly improves deliverability
Best forFunnel-focused sellersAll-in-one marketersE-commerce & D2C businesses

The fundamental divide: Funnels vs email marketing vs list quality

Here's what most comparison articles miss: While ClickFunnels and GetResponse now overlap in several areas, they were built to serve different primary functions and retain distinct strengths.

ClickFunnels was built from the ground up to solve one problem: creating structured sales paths that convert visitors into customers. Co-founders Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson developed it specifically because building effective sales funnels required piecing together multiple tools and often hiring developers. The platform is designed with conversion optimization in mind, from the drag-and-drop editor to one-click upsells.

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GetResponse started as an email marketing platform in 1998 and has evolved into a comprehensive marketing suite. While it now includes conversion funnels, landing pages, and even webinar hosting, email marketing and automation remain its core strengths. The platform is well-suited for building relationships with audiences over time through targeted, automated email sequences.

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The comparison often comes down to a strategic question: Do you need to build sophisticated sales funnels that move prospects through a buying journey (ClickFunnels), or do you need a versatile marketing platform that can handle email campaigns, automation, and audience engagement (GetResponse)?

But here's what neither platform will tell you: the effectiveness of both depends significantly on the quality of your email list. Whether you're sending follow-up sequences from ClickFunnels or automated campaigns from GetResponse, your emails need to reach real people. That's where mailfloss enters the picture.

ClickFunnels dominates sales funnel creation (but assumes you have traffic)

ClickFunnels is widely recognized as a leading sales funnel builder. The platform provides everything you need to create complete customer journeys, from initial landing page to post-purchase upsells.

The funnel builder is where ClickFunnels truly shines. Users can choose from a library of pre-built templates designed for specific goals, whether that's generating leads, selling products, or hosting webinars. The drag-and-drop editor allows customization without coding, and the Share Funnels feature lets users import entire proven funnels with a single click.

One-click upsells and order bumps are particularly powerful. After a customer completes their initial purchase, ClickFunnels can present additional offers that require just one click to add to the order (since payment information is already stored). This feature can help increase average order value.

The platform now includes a website builder, blogging tools, email marketing, CRM functionality, and an online course creator with ClickFunnels 2.0. It's evolved from a pure funnel builder into a more comprehensive business platform.

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Source: ClickFunnels

However, ClickFunnels has clear limitations:

  • Premium pricing: Starting at $97/month for the Launch plan, it's a significant investment, especially for new businesses.
  • Steep learning curve: While basic funnels are straightforward, mastering the platform's full capabilities takes time.
  • Built-in email is basic: The native email marketing features don't match dedicated platforms like GetResponse.
  • Traffic not included: Beautiful funnels are useless without visitors. ClickFunnels shows you what to build but doesn't drive traffic for you.

GetResponse offers the complete marketing toolkit (at a fraction of the cost)

GetResponse takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than specializing in one area, it aims to provide everything a marketer needs in a single platform, with email marketing as the foundation.

The email marketing capabilities are genuinely impressive. GetResponse offers an AI-powered email generator, advanced segmentation that works across multiple lists, send-time optimization through their "Perfect Timing" feature, and detailed analytics. The automation workflows allow for sophisticated, behavior-based sequences.

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Source: GetResponse

Where GetResponse stands out from typical email platforms is its additional marketing tools:

  • Webinar hosting: A built-in webinar platform that integrates directly with email marketing and automation. This is a significant differentiator from both ClickFunnels and most other email marketing platforms.
  • Landing pages: Over 100 conversion-optimized templates with A/B testing capabilities.
  • Conversion funnels: Ready-made funnel scenarios for lead generation, sales, and webinars (though not as sophisticated as ClickFunnels for complex sales sequences).
  • Website builder: An AI-powered website creator included in Creator plans and above.

The pricing makes GetResponse accessible to businesses of all sizes. Starting at $19/month for the Starter plan, it costs less than a quarter of ClickFunnels' entry-level pricing. Even the more feature-rich Marketer plan at $59/month includes unlimited automation workflows, advanced segmentation, and abandoned cart recovery.

The trade-offs are real, though. While GetResponse includes funnel-building capabilities, they're not as advanced as ClickFunnels for complex, multi-step sales sequences with sophisticated upsell logic. If your business model depends on optimized checkout flows with order bumps and one-click upsells, ClickFunnels remains the stronger choice.

mailfloss ensures your emails actually reach real people

Here's the uncomfortable truth that both ClickFunnels and GetResponse marketing materials gloss over: your email list decays at roughly 22.5% per year. People change jobs, abandon email addresses, or simply become inactive. And that decay creates a cascade of problems.

When you send emails to invalid addresses through either platform:

  • Your bounce rates increase, signaling to email providers that you might be a spammer.
  • Your sender reputation suffers, pushing more of your legitimate emails to spam folders.
  • Your analytics become meaningless because a significant portion of your "list" doesn't actually exist.
  • You waste money paying for contacts that will never see your messages.
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mailfloss solves this through automated, daily email list cleaning. The platform connects natively with exactly 40 ESP platforms, including both ClickFunnels and GetResponse, to continuously verify your list without requiring Zapier or any technical setup.

The verification process goes beyond basic checks. While all verification services perform syntax validation and server pinging, mailfloss runs additional proprietary tests through its Deep Clean technology for more thorough verification. The platform can automatically unsubscribe, delete, or tag invalid contacts without any manual intervention.

One feature that particularly benefits e-commerce and D2C businesses is automatic typo correction. When someone enters "gnail.com" or "hotmial.com" in your signup form, mailfloss automatically fixes these common misspellings, recovering 80-90% of typo'd email addresses. For businesses running paid ads, this means fewer lost leads when mobile users make typos signing up for coupons or deals, each recovered subscriber represents potential lifetime value.

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For real-time protection, the Instafloss feature verifies email addresses at the point of entry through native integrations. When a new contact is added to your database, it's immediately validated before any emails are sent, no Zapier workflows or technical configuration required.

Users can also adjust how aggressive verification is, balancing thoroughness with subscriber retention based on specific business needs. This flexibility matters because e-commerce businesses don't need the complex enterprise features or dedicated deliverability teams that larger B2B operations require, they need a set-and-forget solution that works automatically.

The result? Higher deliverability rates, better engagement metrics, and more effective marketing campaigns on whichever platform you choose.

Pricing models reveal different target audiences

The pricing structures tell you everything about who these platforms are designed for.

ClickFunnels positions itself as a premium solution:

  • Launch: $97/month (1 workspace, 10,000 contacts, 50,000 emails)
  • Scale: $197/month (5 workspaces, 75,000 contacts, 300,000 emails)
  • Optimize: $297/month (10 workspaces, 150,000 contacts, 750,000 emails)
  • Dominate: $5,997/year (20 workspaces, 400,000 contacts, 1.2 million emails)

The pricing assumes you're running a business where sales funnels directly generate revenue. At $97/month, you need to be confident that ClickFunnels will produce returns that justify the investment.

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GetResponse takes an accessibility-first approach:

  • Starter: $19/month (unlimited emails, basic automation)
  • Marketer: $59/month (unlimited automation, advanced segmentation, sales funnels)
  • Creator: $69/month (adds webinars, online courses, premium newsletters)
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing (dedicated IP, SMS marketing, priority support)

Prices increase with contact list size, but even at 10,000 contacts, GetResponse remains significantly more affordable than ClickFunnels. The platform is designed to grow with your business.

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mailfloss uses credit-based pricing:

  • Lite: $29/month (10,000 credits, 1 ESP integration)
  • Business: $59/month (25,000 credits, 10 ESP integrations)
  • Pro: $209/month (125,000 credits, unlimited integrations)

The cost is marginal compared to either primary platform, and mailfloss can pay for itself by ensuring you're not paying ClickFunnels or GetResponse for invalid contacts.

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Integration capabilities shape your marketing stack

How each platform connects with other tools reveals their intended role in your marketing stack.

ClickFunnels integrates strategically with key tools. The platform connects with major email marketing services (including the ability to use GetResponse as your email backend), payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, webinar platforms, and CRM systems. The Share Funnels feature allows entire funnels to be transferred between accounts with a single link.

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Source: ClickFunnels

GetResponse offers over 100 direct integrations plus Zapier connectivity. E-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce connect for advanced features like abandoned cart recovery and product recommendations (feature availability varies by integration). CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot enable sophisticated lead management. The platform also provides a comprehensive API and webhook support for custom integrations.

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Source: GetResponse

mailfloss bridges the gap with native integrations to exactly 40 email platforms, including both ClickFunnels and GetResponse. Unlike solutions that require Zapier or technical setup, mailfloss connects directly through native integrations that can be configured in minutes by marketers with no IT team involvement needed. The Zapier integration extends connectivity to thousands of additional apps for custom workflows, and the real-time API allows developers to embed email verification directly into signup flows, regardless of which marketing platform you use.

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The hidden cost of poor email hygiene affects both platforms

Whether you choose ClickFunnels or GetResponse, your success depends on email deliverability. And deliverability depends on list quality.

Consider this scenario: You've built a sophisticated sales funnel in ClickFunnels or a multi-step automation sequence in GetResponse. You've crafted compelling copy, designed beautiful emails, and set up perfect timing. Then 20% of your emails bounce because you're sending to invalid addresses.

The consequences compound:

  • Email providers notice the high bounce rate and start filtering your messages.
  • Your legitimate emails land in spam folders.
  • Open rates and click rates plummet, not because your content is bad, but because people never see it.
  • You lose confidence in your marketing strategy when the real problem is list hygiene.

mailfloss helps prevent this cascade by maintaining list quality automatically. The daily cleaning catches emails that become invalid over time. The real-time verification prevents bad addresses from entering your system. The typo correction can recover leads you'd otherwise lose.

For a typical e-commerce business, mailfloss can pay for itself by:

  • Reducing wasted email sends
  • Protecting sender reputation
  • Improving actual deliverability rates
  • Providing accurate analytics for decision-making
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ClickFunnels vs GetResponse with mailfloss: Which should you choose?

The best choice depends on your business model, budget, and priorities.

Choose ClickFunnels if:

  • Your business model centers on structured sales funnels
  • You sell products or services that benefit from upsells and order bumps
  • You need sophisticated checkout optimization
  • Budget isn't your primary constraint
  • You're willing to invest time in learning a more complex platform

Get started with ClickFunnels' 14-day free trial.

Choose GetResponse if:

  • Email marketing and automation are central to your strategy
  • You need webinar functionality integrated with your marketing platform
  • You want comprehensive marketing tools at an accessible price point
  • You're building relationships with your audience over time
  • You need a solution that's easy to learn and use

Explore GetResponse with their free plan and 14-day premium trial.

Use mailfloss with either if:

  • You run an e-commerce or D2C business collecting consumer emails
  • You want accurate engagement metrics and improved deliverability
  • You're tired of paying for invalid email addresses
  • You need a set-and-forget solution without dedicated deliverability teams
  • You want a true free trial to evaluate the platform fully

See how mailfloss can improve your deliverability with a free trial.

The most successful marketers don't see these as competing options. They build complete stacks: ClickFunnels or GetResponse handles the creation and delivery layer, while mailfloss handles the quality and deliverability layer. Together, they create a marketing system that actually works.

Your choice between ClickFunnels and GetResponse depends on whether you need specialized funnel building or comprehensive marketing tools. But whichever you choose, adding mailfloss ensures your campaigns reach real people who can actually become customers.

Ready to build your complete marketing stack? Start with your platform of choice, then protect your investment with mailfloss.