This Wix Ascend review will cover everything you need to know about the feature. We’ll be covering Wix Ascend pricing, features, functionality, and more.
Wix seems to roll out new features and functionality for the digital world on a constant basis, from AI technology to help you build your website, to direct integrations with dropshipping tools like Modalyst. One of the recent introductions from Wix to hit the digital market is Ascend.
Wix Ascend is an interesting product, because it’s not just one new feature or functionality – it’s a complete set of plugins and add-ons for your Wix website. The solution covers everything from online marketing tools and customer service solutions to marketing integrations.
With the Wix Ascend package, you receive a comprehensive environment (built for Wix), which aims to simplify the way you run your store and give you more power to grow. If you’re looking for ways to strengthen your brand image and improve your relationship with customers, then Wix Ascend could be a great choice.
What is Wix Ascend?
Let’s start with the basics.
Ascend by Wix, or Wix Ascend, is a complete suite for customer management and marketing, intended for business owners. If you already have your own Wix website, Ascend will help to ensure you’re getting the most out of it, with tools for everything from email marketing and online forms to automations, social media posts, SEO, and video.
There’s a lot to discover in the Ascend package, so you should definitely prepare for a small learning curve when you’re getting used to the new service. Take your time to sort through all of the functionality and determine what you can do. Features include:
- Tools for online marketing: Automations, forms, SEO solutions, social posts, email marketing, and even video making.
- Customer service support: This includes things like a combined inbox, contact list, and online chat for interacting with clients.
- Customer management tools: An in-built CRM allows you to track customer experience and improve site memberships.
- Sales tools: Invoices, price quotes, coupons, and other tools to help you improve your sales strategy.
- Organization tools: Automations and workflows, reminders and tasks for your team members, and anything else that could make your business run smoothly.
- Marketing integrations: The solution also integrates with leading tools like Google Ads, Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and more
As you can see, Wix is intended to help smaller business owners enhance their website and centralize key business processes within the Wix landscape.
Wix Ascend Pricing
Wix Ascend could be an excellent tool for your business. However, just like with any investment, you’ll need to ensure that it matches your budget. Ascend does an extra fee to your monthly Wix subscription, so make sure you prepare for that.
Many Wix templates have elements of Ascend by Wix installed from the free version of the service – so it can be a little confusing at first to determine what you need. For instance, the SEO Wiz is part of the free plan for Wix Ascend.
At first glance, the Wix Ascend pricing structure doesn’t look too bad. However, we’d recommend not being too seduced by the free option. The free service is very limited in functionality, and there’s a significant difference between the packages. Too.
The free option allows for up to 3 campaigns a month, 2 automation steps per month, 1 site contributor, and unlimited subscribers. The paid plans include:
- Basic: $10 per month (Starting): The starting price for Basic is $10 per month, and it comes with access to 50 lead capture forms, scheduled chat hours, 10 customizable forms, real-time customer details, payment forms, and file downloads. You get up to 5 email campaigns a month,9,5000 emails per month, 7 automation roles, 5 social media campaigns per month, and syncing with Facebook Messenger and Gmail. You also get to remove the pesky Wix Ascend pricing from your marketing efforts.
- Professional: Starting at $24 per month, the Professional plan is a little more comprehensive, with access to all the features in Basic, as well as up to 20 email campaigns per month, up to 10 steps in your automations, and 5 site contributors. You’ll also get 150 lead capture forms, real-time customer details, chat automations, 20 custom forms, up to 50,000 emails per month, 20 social post campaigns per month, file downloads and more.
- Unlimited: Starting at a cost of $49 per month, Unlimited is the most comprehensive version of Wix Ascend – as you might expect. The solution comes with all the features of Professional, including unlimited site contributors, email campaigns, and subscribers. You can also create unlimited automations with up to 10 steps in each. The Unlimited package also comes with endless lead capture forms and customizable forms, up to 1 million emails per month, and unlimited social media post campaigns.
Notably, the Unlimited package for Wix Ascend will be the only one you can use to get VIP support from the team. All of these packages also feature a small discount available for people who choose the “annual” payment plan. While there are more expensive tools out there, there are also cheaper options depending on what you need for things like CRM access and email marketing.
That’s why it’s so important to do research beyond the pricing. Let’s take a closer look at what you actually get in Wix Ascend.
Wix Ascend CRM Features
The central feature for a lot of companies using Wix Ascend will be the CRM solution. The Customer Relationship Manager links the various Wix tools together and makes it easier to track and enhance relationships with your potential customers. You’ll be able to store all of your contacts here, adding custom fields, assigning category labels, and even setting reminders.
Within the Wix Ascend CRM, you’ll also find the useful Wix Inbox, which makes it quick and easy to view all of your chat and email messages in one location, alongside form submissions. There’s direct integration with things like Facebook chat too.
Wix CRM even comes with a workflow creation system, which basically allows you to track opportunity stages with various clients, and make sure you have the best chance of converting your customers into repeat clients. Interestingly, Wix Ascend also includes the “chat” function for interacting with customers in the CRM environment.
The chat tool, within the Inbox allows you to adjust the design of the chat window for your website, create pre-chat forms for collecting information about your customers, and determine what kind of sender information you want to show. If you’re on a paid Ascend plan, you can schedule the hours when the chat is available to your users.
Compared to other tools in the CRM landscape, the Wix CRM is a little basic, as is the chat functionality. You can definitely get free solutions out there with similar functionality, but Wix makes sense if you’re already using the service to build your website.
Email Marketing and Social Media
The email marketing solution for Wix and Wix Ascend users is a simple and convenient tool for sending emails to your customers and subscribers with ease. There are plenty of modern and responsive templates to choose from to get you started, a smooth drag-and-drop editor, and a host of bonuses, like basic personalization, list-based segmentation, and mobile previews.
You can schedule emails in advance with Wix, and access reporting functionality to track things like clicks, bounces, and opens. However, there aren’t a lot of advanced features here for things like A/B testing or design testing. This could mean that if you’re looking for a more advanced email experience, you might want to search elsewhere.
If you want to send a monthly newsletter, or an occasional promotional email to your list, however, Wix should help you handle that kind of thing without a problem. This is a great and cost-effective way to jump into sales.
For companies keen to spread the word about their business on social media, Wix can also support all kinds of convenient social posts. You can choose templates for your social campaigns and create unique designs for everything from Instagram to Facebook.
The customizable post-building tools are extremely easy to use, and you can send campaigns straight to Facebook thanks to marketing integrations.
Wix Ascend Automations
Automations are a valuable part of any marketing strategy. The best automations are usually workflow-based multi-step solutions which allow you to connect with your customers as they go through the purchasing process with your company.
The Wix options for automation are relatively basic, but they do give you a great opportunity to get creative with the way you reach your audience and build relationships. Automations for the Wix Ascend platform are launched according to specific actions (triggers), from your customers. There’s the option to set triggers for when someone submits a form, makes a booking, or even doesn’t pay an invoice on time.
You can select from various follow-up actions with Wix, like initiating chat conversations, sending emails, and triggering actions in third-party apps, via Zapier and webhooks. The exact number of actions you can set up within an automation are limited, depending on the plan you choose. For instance, lower-paid plans only allow for two follow-up actions per automation.
Workflows are single-sequence, often linear campaigns, and they don’t allow you to branch into alternate paths if your customers don’t react as you’d think.
Another limitation is that you can’t set up automations based on segmentation rules, like issuing a campaign to contacts with a new customer label or setting up advanced logic and rules from an automation. Having your automations tightly woven into your website is a massive plus, of course, so it’s worth considering Ascend for this purpose alone.
Wix Forms and Chat
Wix forms are situated within the “Customer Management” menu, in the “Form Submissions” section. It’s the same app as you’ll get for Wix Forms and Payment outside of the Ascend environment, and it gives you exactly the functionality you’d expect. You can create forms and take payments from customers in the same space.
For building your forms, there are a decent number of templates to choose from, based on the kind of form you want to create, such as subscriptions, contact forms, payment forms, and so on. Designs are pretty modern and fresh, and you can adjust them however you choose. This includes being able to implement custom fields and make certain fields optional or mandatory.
An extra bonus is there are no limits on the number of fields you can add to your forms. You’re restricted to the number of forms you can create, however, based on the plan you get.
Forms are an excellent way to capture leads – but they’re far from your only option with Wix Ascend. Wix will also give you the option to reach out to customers with chat. All paid plans come with a live chat feature with things like customizable hours, so you can let your audience know when you’re likely to be around. You can see and respond to all messages immediately with the inbox tab, and create forms that visitors can fill out when live chat isn’t available.
Wix Video Maker
Though not an essential feature for every business owner, the Wix video maker is a fun way to attract potential customers, and even convert leads. With this software, companies can design videos for promoting their products or services, using high-quality images, and even text.
You can choose to upload your own content or select from a pre-built library of available options. The library also includes music to make your content more engaging. Plus, you can set templates and formats specifically to ensure your content is ready to share on social media channels like Instagram and Facebook.
Although this isn’t the most advanced video making solution on the market, it’s another example of how Wix can give you the all-in-one experience you’re looking for when building your website. It’s quick and easy to build a mini video within the Wix system, without having to download separate sales tools.
Wix SEO and Optimization Tools
The “Get Visitors” segment of the Wix Ascend solution comes with a host of ways to build your presence online, from social posts to the video maker mentioned above. The built-in SEO tools for Wix Ascend will ensure you make the right impression on your audience with a custom SEO setup plan, and tools for indexing your site with Google.
All Wix sites are already automatically formatted for search, so you know you’re getting a strong structure for success. There’s also a host of accelerated product pages and tools to help with things like 301 redirects, indexing, and patterns within your website. Each Wix site includes:
- Meta tags: You’ll have complete control over automatically generated meta tags for your site pages. You can even create your own logic for page connections, and create customized structured data for schema markups, improving your chances of a rich search result.
- Robots.txt and sitemap: Wix will allow you to download your sitemap and submit it to Google, improving your chances of being indexed. You’ll also have a Robots.txt file editor to determine which pages you want the search engines to ignore.
- URL management: You can easily set up URL redirects for your website, and create flexible patterns, with bulk solutions to manage up to 500 URLs at once.
Wix also has Google Search Console integration, so you can verify your domain and create properties automatically for the Google Search Console, within your Wix dashboard. If you have some developer knowledge, you’ll also be able to unlock the Wix SEO APIs specifically for developers.
Notably, Wix SEO management is just one type of customization you’ll have access to with a Wix Ascend website. You’ll also be able to conduct A/B tests to see which of your campaigns, website pages, and other content are driving the best results.
Wix Invoices, Coupons, and Price Quotes
Attracting and capturing potential leads are just the first steps of running a successful business. You’ll also need to close those deals to make a profit. The Ascend financial tools come with various options to help you collect cash from your customers.
First, you get a comprehensive invoicing solution, designed for beginners. Though this service won’t exactly compare with a fully featured accounting service, it will ensure you can create and send branded invoices to your clients within a matter of seconds.
The invoicing section comes with a convenient range of templates to help you create a more professional image for your company. You can send the invoices directly via email, collect single payments from customers through the invoice, and even set up recurring payments.
Invoices go hand in hand with the “Price quotes” feature, which allow you to send a potential quote for the work you’re going to do to a client before you close your deal. These quotes can automatically be converted into an invoice after your customer accepts the quote and you begin the work.
Wix is pretty effective when it comes to accepting payments too. You can accept a payment through forms and chat, as well as asking your customers to use the Wix integrated credit and debit card processing tools. Solutions are also available for PayPal, AliPay, and similar services.
To boost your chances of extra sales, Wix also allows for the creation of various coupons, discount codes, and other tools for increasing conversions. Customizable coupon codes can even come with their own “use by” date.
Wix Ascend Loyalty Features
Part of building the best ecommerce business experience for your clients, is thinking about how you’re going to sort and support your contacts. Even a small business can benefit from having the right contact management and loyalty features in their website builder.
The Wix Ascend package comes with immediate access to a Customer Relationship Management or “CRM” tool. With this service, users can manage lists, chat with people who have interacted with your online store previously, and even offer customer support. You can also create notes for individual contacts and add insights from Google analytics.
The Wix loyalty section of the app comes with everything users needs to turn subscribers into engaged clients, from email marketing tools, so you can connect with your clients over time, to solutions to increase your chances of return visits. For instance, you can offer users private membership accounts and give those users access to unique content and services.
Wix Automations
Compared to tools like WordPress, Wix offers a very straightforward and streamlined approach to site building, particularly when you access the available premium plans with Wix Ascend. Small business owners can even use certain pricing plans to create automations and manage their business communications in any environment.
With Wix, you immediately gain access to tools which allow you to offer a better quality of customer service, like a combined inbox. The inbox allows you to sync conversations from channels like Gmail and Facebook for multi-channel interactions. The CRM-enhanced system allows you to build and manage your mailing lists based on a range of unique factors. You can assign tags and labels and get in touch with customers rapidly from the same environment.
The “workflows” section of the service is great for automation, with access to a range of custom workflows where you can track leads and prioritize tasks, making it easier for your staff to know what to do next. The amount of automations Wix users can access will depend on the bandwidth of their paid business solution. The basic plan allows for up to 7 automations with two steps each. Most Wix review professionals recommend upgrading the Ascend plan if you need unlimited automation templates. Access to unique workflows can save users a lot of time.
The workflows available from Wix include everything from lead nurturing to tools for managing your store online. You can create unlimited workflows from scratch to track all kinds of important operations throughout your business. Workflows are ideal for internal project management too. On top of that, users also have access to task lists and reminders. This ensures everyone stays on track when working towards new conversions.
Wix Ascend Ease of Use and Support
All Wix products are intended to offer fantastic ease of use, whether you’re investing in a new domain name for your online business, or one of the Wix ecommerce plans. Adding Ascend to your website and choosing a plan is simple enough. The business suite comes with various dropdown menus to explore, but it can take a while to find everything you need.
If you’re willing to take the time required to explore all the features available from Wix Ascend, then the learning curve isn’t too high. However, it’s not quite as simple to get started as other website building solutions. If you have any questions and feel like you need step-by-step support, you can find a lot of help center articles on the Wix website to guide you.
If you need a professional to assist you, you’ll have the option of either submitting an email request or asking for a call back from a member of the Wix team. Support for most languages is available through various limited hours, although you might have to wait a while before you get a result.
If you have an Unlimited plan, you should be able to expect a much faster and more effective level of assistance, but this does mean paying extra.
Wix Ascend Reporting and Analytics
Learning how to improve your advertising, email marketing and sales all require an insight into your day-to-day operations. The more information you can collect about interactions between your customers and company, the easier it is to generate amazing results.
Wix does offer a variety of integrations to help you out with insights and analytics. At the same time, the email marketing tab within the Ascend suite also comes with access to some basic information. You can see things like click-through rate or delivery rate for your email campaigns. There’s also an option to view which of your email subscribers have received, and opened your email, or clicked on your link.
Unfortunately, while Wix does help you to improve customer loyalty by automating messages to appear in the inbox at the right time, and segmenting users, it’s limited on analytics. There’s no real-time data reporting on the dashboard, and it can take several hours for statistics to update, which can be frustrating. If you need a constant stream of data to help with making advertising and marketing decisions, you’ll need to do a lot of waiting around.
Wix doesn’t offer support for more advanced analytical tools like revenue creation, or in-depth views into engagement level. Even the automation reports stick to very simple metrics. You can track things like the number of automations are triggered by a user, and the number of emails you send. Unfortunately, there’s no guidance for revenue data and other important information which could guide future campaign decisions.
For most business leaders, the best way to leverage the power of email will be to access a separate email marketing tool alongside their website building service. There are even a handful of free options out there if you’re trying to keep costs as low as possible.
Wix Ascend Integrations and Add-Ons
The primary purpose of an upgrade to Wix Ascend for most companies will be access to additional tools. If you want to enhance your marketing campaigns, gain access to priority support and different payment options, Wix Ascend can help you – for a price.
You get access to dozens of built-in tools with your Wix account, but there are ways to expand even further with integrations. For instance, if you’re not a fan of the Wix email marketing that comes with your Wix store, you can integrate a third-party tool instead. The Wix app market comes with access to hundreds of integrations, from Wix chat solutions to event management tools and ecommerce services. Because Wix also works with Zapier, you can also integrate a range of other tools this way too.
Should You Try Wix Ascend?
Ultimately, Wix Ascend does have a lot to offer if you want to expand on your Wix website builder experience. Although you don’t get everything you might need to enhance your Wix editor, you do get a range of useful features which should help to give you the initial boost you need to thrive online. The important thing to remember is that the free and cheap pricing options for Wix Ascend are very limited in what they can give you feature-wise.
If you want a really advanced package of sales and marketing tools, the Wix Ascend solution will require you to spend extra on premium level packages. You might find that, in this case, it’s easier to simply buy the additional services you need outside of Wix. While it’s definitely nice to have everything you need for website building and marketing in one package, some things weren’t as easy-to-find as they should have been.
Most people shifting into Wix Ascend will probably find they need to take some time apart to start exploring their options in advance before they expect to get a lot of work done. On the plus side, the free plan is extremely generous, and the basic plan is fantastic if you don’t feel like you need to send out huge amounts of email campaigns, automations, and forms.
While Wix Ascend might not be the most comprehensive solution we’ve seen at this point, it’s definitely worth a try. If you find yourself needing additional tools to work alongside your Wix solution, remember you can always expand your functionality by implementing additional integrations within the Wix app market.
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