Case Study
2X List Growth, 90% Cost Savings: How WP Fusion Scaled Email Marketing
After 8 years with ActiveCampaign, WP Fusion rebuilt its email marketing stack using FluentCRM, gaining full control, doubling its contact list, and saving over $2,700 in just one year.
Company
WP Fusion/ Fatal Error Notify (Very Good Plugins)
Website
wpfusion.com
Industry
WordPress Plugin
No of Users
30,000+
Previous Solution
ActiveCampaign
About WP Fusion
WP Fusion is a popular WordPress plugin that connects hundreds of CRMs, online tools, and WordPress plugins, helping people automate various tedious tasks. As extensive users of email automation, they needed a robust marketing automation tool that not only serves their email marketing objectives but also inspires those who look up to them for email marketing.
At a Glance
WP Fusion’s Top Challenges
How FluentCRM Helped?
“WP Fusion’s decision to switch to FluentCRM isn’t just a customer win; it’s a validation for everything we believe in. Jack and his team are pioneers in the WordPress space, and their trust meant the world to us. They’ve contributed ideas, reported bugs, shared plugins, and actively helped make FluentCRM better. We’re incredibly grateful to them and proud to have them shaping the future of WordPress-native email marketing.”
Md Shahjahan
Founder & Managing Director WP Manage Ninja
The ActiveCampaign Burden: Skyrocketing Costs, Crippling Limitations
Very Good Plugins (WP Fusion’s parent company) has been a happy ActiveCampaign user since its founding in 2015. But in 2023, ActiveCampaign changed its plan structure and increased pricing by 200%, forcing WP Fusion into a counterproductive strategy of artificially limiting its growth.
“We used to actively try and keep our ActiveCampaign contact list below 10,000 to avoid the huge price jump…The harder we tried to keep under the 10k contact limit, the less we used ActiveCampaign. So it became harder to justify upgrading to the $229/month plan.”
Founder of WP Fusion/Very Good Plugins
Beyond the financial strain, ActiveCampaign presented significant operational challenges:
1
Unresponsive Support
Long wait times, sometimes months for engineering issues
2
Persistent API Issues
Frequent timeouts and bugs were causing critical failures (e.g., unsent emails, coupon malfunctions, delayed checkouts)
3
Ignored Feature Requests
Basic enhancements like the ability to re-subscribe an unsubscribed contact via API were neglected for years
4
Loss of Control
Reliance on a cloud provider meant constant worry about future price hikes and a lack of direct control over marketing infrastructure
The Stack That Set WP Fusion Free!
By September 2023, Jack Arturo decided it was time to move on. WP Fusion needed a self-hosted, WordPress-native solution that offered stability, robust features, and cost predictability. After evaluating other alternatives, FluentCRM emerged as the clear winner.
FluentCRM Pro
The core for powerful, flexible email automation within WordPress.
WP Fusion
Offered seamless contact synchronization & user segmentation
Amazon SES
Industry-leading email delivery on the cheap!
DigitalOcean via Cloudways
Ensured peak performance & security through dedicated hosting
What Sets FluentCRM Apart?
Jack and WP Fusion found FluentCRM attractive for more than one reason. FluentCRM didn’t just serve its purpose, but also ensured long-term security and scalability.
Familiar Automation Builder
The core for powerful, flexible email automation within WordPress.
Full Data Ownership
Complete control and security with all customer data stored directly in your WordPress database
Limitless Growth
FluentCRM presents a fantastic opportunity to scale your email list freely without restrictive caps or unexpected price hikes
Blazing-Fast API
FluentCRM consistently achieves “50% faster” API performance, handling 10+ API requests per second without timeouts!
Optimized Self-Hosting
For WP Fusion, dedicated subdomain hosting ensures peak FluentCRM CRM performance, security, and no website conflicts
Active Community & Support
With over 30,000 installs (Now 70,000+) and 100s of 5-star ratings, FluentCRM has an active user base, ensuring bugs are found and fixed quickly
Seamless Integrations
WP Fusion already had a well-tested integration with FluentCRM and other Fluent products like Fluent Forms and FluentBooking.
Own your data, scale effortlessly, and start automating your business.
The Result: Growth Without Limits
2X Contact List Growth
Prior to FluentCRM, WPFusion’s goal was to keep its email list as small as possible, with only paying customers and highly engaged leads. By removing artificial contact ceilings with FluentCRM, WP Fusion embraced growth again:
Email Marketing That Works (And Costs Less Than a Coffee!)
In September 2024, WP Fusion sent 15,516 emails for a total cost of $1.75. Overall, moving to FluentCRM has created an approximate 90% savings over ActiveCampaign’s pricing, resulting in roughly $2,700 saved in the past year alone!
Old Setup Cost
New Setup Cost
“Overall, moving to FluentCRM has created an approximate 90% savings over ActiveCampaign’s pricing, resulting in roughly $2,900 saved in the past year alone.”
Jack Arturo
Founder of WP Fusion/Very Good Plugins
Precise Automation at Scale
WP Fusion’s ActiveCampaign setup was riddled with delays, bugs, and clunky integrations. Slow workflows, unreliable API behavior, and fragmented automation hindered timely, targeted communication. Once they migrated to FluentCRM, automation became faster, more reliable, and fully integrated into WordPress!
“We stopped trimming our list. We started sending better emails. And we finally feel in control of our email marketing again!”
More than a Switch: WP Fusion Joined a Shared Vision
WP Fusion didn’t just adopt FluentCRM; they joined a shared vision for WordPress CRM. As experienced marketers and developers, their team identified opportunities, built new tools, and freely contributed them to the FluentCRM and WordPress community. Their involvement didn’t stop at usage. It extended to roadmap influence, faster innovation, and even product philosophy.
Looking Forward: What’s Next for WP Fusion?
As email marketing remains central to WP Fusion’s growth, they are excited to keep fine-tuning their automations and audience segments in FluentCRM, building even more meaningful connections with their customers and helping them achieve success through marketing automation. They are happy to have found a true ideological partner in FluentCRM, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
“I feel like we’ve found a true ideological partner in FluentCRM, and we’re excited to continue collaborating to make it the best it can be. Thanks, FluentCRM!”
Jack Arturo
Founder of WP Fusion/Very Good Plugins
Disclaimer: Some of the information was collected from WP Fusion’s public review of FluentCRM. You can read it here.
WP Fusion’s switch to FluentCRM wasn’t just a cost-saving move. It was a growth-enabling, community-driven, open-source evolution of marketing operations. Want to break free from overpriced SaaS tools? Try FluentCRM today!
