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.

about wp fusion fcrm case study
Contact Growth in 1 year
Annual Cost Saving
for 15K email sends (Amazon SES)

At a Glance

WP Fusion’s Top Challenges

Potential 200%+ cost hike

Contact list capped to 10K

Slow, unresponsive support

Ignored feature requests

Lack of control over data

Unreliable API and automation failures

How FluentCRM Helped?

Saved $2,700 in annual costs

No contact list cap

Full control with WordPress-native functionalities

50% faster and reliable API calls for automation

Highly responsive support

Faster feature implementation

md shahjahan profile

“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.”

jack arturo
Jack Arturo

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

FluentCRM + Amazon SES+ WP Fusion

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 logo

FluentCRM Pro

The core for powerful, flexible email automation within WordPress.

wp fusion icon

WP Fusion

Offered seamless contact synchronization & user segmentation

amazon ses icon

Amazon SES

Industry-leading email delivery on the cheap!

digitalocean via cloudways icon

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.

why fluentcrm stood out for wp fusion (1)

“FluentCRM’s automation builder is comparable to ActiveCampaign’s. FluentCRM is very familiar… using the same nomenclature of lists, tags, automations, triggers, and goals.”

Jack Arturo

“One of the main benefits of FluentCRM is that all of our data is stored in our WordPress database. This means that we fully own our customer data.”

Jack Arturo

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.

Take Control of Your Email Marketing

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:

  • Newsletter opt-in forms were re-enabled
  • Monthly campaigns resumed
  • Rebuilt post-purchase, post-expiry, and post-activation automations
  • Grew email list by 2X (10,000 to 21,193 contacts)!

“With FluentCRM, there is no contact limit, and so our list size has more than doubled in the last year— from 10,000 to 21,193 contacts.”

Jack Arturo

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

  • $229/month for up to 25K contacts.

New Setup Cost

  • FluentCRM Pro: $10.75/month
  • Amazon SES: $1.75/month
  • Hosting: $14/month
  • Total: ~$26.50/month
jack arturo profile 121

“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!

  • Pre-sale auto-replies are now sent 5 days after inquiries
  • Post-purchase surveys are automatically triggered after 3 days
  • Re-engagement flows activate on license expiry
  • Onboarding sequences launch on plugin activation

“With FluentCRM, our API performance is approximately 50% faster for single requests… We can now send 10+ API requests per second without timing out or running low on resources.”

Jack Arturo
2X contacts. 90% Savings. 0 regrets!

“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.

  • Developing a free, open-source plugin for event tracking
  • Actively collaborating with the FluentCRM development team
  • Providing product feedback that helped shape key updates
  • Testing new features before public releases
  • Sharing use cases to guide documentation
  • Contributing bug reports and detailed technical feedback
  • Engaging in GitHub discussions and community threads

“As proud supporters of open source software, I’m also glad we could leave ActiveCampaign and invest in the future of WordPress instead.”

Jack Arturo

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.”

jack arturo profile 121

“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.

Break Free from Overpriced SaaS Tools

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!