ActiveCampaign vs Omnisend

Meet the 2026–2027 ActiveCampaign Customer Advisory Board

ActiveCampaign announces the formation of its 2026–2027 Customer Advisory Board, a group of customers who will provide strategic guidance and feedback to the company.

ActiveCampaign Launches Active Intelligence: Wavelength, Marketing AI Tuned to Your Business, Not the Industry Average

ActiveCampaign launches Active Intelligence: Wavelength, marketing AI tuned to your business, not the industry average.

ActiveCampaign Launches Active Intelligence: Wavelength

ActiveCampaign announced Active Intelligence: Wavelength, an AI-driven capability within its platform that learns from each customer's account using 500+ signals to generate and act on marketing recommendations. The product drafts campaigns, builds segments, detects broken customer journeys, and automates recurring tasks across 300+ platform capabilities. ActiveCampaign claims Wavelength delivers a 75% higher engagement rate for users and can lift click-through rates by up to 17% in early data. The release emphasizes automating execution (not just insights) and personalization grounded in a business's own data.

• ActiveCampaign launched Active Intelligence: Wavelength, a marketing AI capability within its platform.
• Wavelength uses over 500 signals from each business account to generate recommendations and act on them.
• ActiveCampaign claims businesses using Active Intelligence see a 75% higher engagement rate.

Back-to-school spending 'moderate at best'

A Circana report warns that the 2026 back-to-school season will be “moderate at best,” with lower unit demand and revenue pressure driven in part by pricing. Circana found overall retail sales revenue fell 1% year-over-year in July and unit sales dropped 2%. Discretionary general merchandise dollar sales declined 4.3% for the four weeks ending Aug. 1, with unit demand down 3.9%. Circana says spending growth is concentrated among higher-income consumers who prioritize purchases. Additional data cited include Omnisend findings on parental financial stress and increased buy-now-pay-later use, and NRF/Prosper forecasts that K-12 spending could reach $43.3 billion in 2026.

• Circana reported the back-to-school shopping season will be “moderate at best.”
• Circana found overall retail sales revenue decreased 1% year-over-year in July, and unit sales dropped 2%.
• Discretionary general merchandise dollar sales declined 4.3% for the four weeks ending Aug. 1, and unit demand dropped 3.9%, per Circana.

Parents increasingly use BNPL for back-to-school shopping

A survey by Omnisend of 1,075 U.S. consumers found rising reliance on buy now, pay later (BNPL) for back-to-school purchases: 45% of households plan to use BNPL this season, up from 39% in 2025. About 40% of parents expect to be more financially stressed compared with last year. Nearly 20% of respondents expect to spend more than $1,000 on back-to-school items, and 44% anticipate spending over $500. Omnisend reports nearly one in three households expect BNPL to cover over half of school spending. To fund purchases, parents plan measures including cutting family activities, using credit, dipping into other savings or borrowing from friends/family.

• Omnisend surveyed 1,075 U.S. consumers about back-to-school spending.
• 45% of households plan to use BNPL for back-to-school purchases in 2026, up from 39% in 2025.
• About 40% of parents expect to be more financially stressed this back-to-school season than last year.