Salesforce Marketing Cloud Reviews

Pros

The high level of personalizable customer engagement, along with access to AI tools, and campaign management, and robust analytics as well. The customer service is great also.

Cons

Salesforce marketing cloud randomly has extremely long slow periods, and any updates do take a bit of a while. Not much outside of that

Pros

Great marketing automation tech for complex automation and detailed customer footprint tracking

Cons

It is a complex product and we need to understand the platform before beginning any solution

Pros

The platform’s ability to segment audiences and automate marketing workflows is pretty powerful, allowing for precise targeting and engagement across email, social media, and SMS. Its integration with Salesforce CRM also makes it easy to pull insights into customer behavior and preferences.

Cons

Navigating through its interface and setting up campaigns can be time-consuming, especially without prior experience or adequate training. Additionally, some tasks that should be straightforward, like creating email templates or setting up automation workflows, can be a bit cumbersome due to the number of steps involved.

Pros

provides different reports in an instant which help analyze team perfomance

Cons

unable to find explanation or description/meaning/formula of a report

Pros

With Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I am able to create and customize AI-powered campaigns.

Cons

I face zero flaws when utilizing Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Pros

I like that Send Time Optimization was included, this was extra with the previous e-mail marketing product we used.

Cons

First, we ended up in Google's black hole even when following the plan laid out by our integration partner. That you need an integration partner to get a small business setup should have been a huge red flag, but we thought we were stepping up to a more powerful e-mail product.

There are bugs everywhere. Our integration partner had many tips like making sure to unselect an e-mail reselect it and stop and start a trigger to make sure the new e-mail is used, these are things that should be handled by the UX and not tribal knowledge. We used alias in our e-mails to aid in reporting, but sometimes they show up in the report and sometimes it shows the original URL. We opened a ticket and months later it was closed with no resolution, because there's a back end bug in their system that they believed was causing the issue.

There's a lot of duplicated functionality that has different features. Want to manage your data extension you can do it in Email Studio or Contact Builder, BUT the features are different between the two. You can only easily add records in one of them so you have to remember which one you can do a specific action in.

Their reporting is limited on Journey's and you'll need to extract all the data to do any deep dives. You'll need to use Journey's if you want to use send time optimization or any of the AI logic, so you're guaranteed to have to build your own reporting in your own tools. We needed this to realize we were in the Google black hole.

Pros

it's easy to keep track of sales and sales opportunities, it is a very intuitive program that helps with sles and marketing.

Cons

Nothing is wrong with this service, I would recommend it.

Pros

The way it is excellent for identifying leads, and hopefully acquaints these leads with services, etc..

Cons

A bit too technical at times, but that could be on me @ my knowledge

Pros

I like how user-friendly it is and how I am able to create reports easily.

Cons

I don't like how slow it functions sometimes. I have to refresh certain pages to update a contact.

Pros

How easy it was to customize it to fit our needs. We were able to automate a whole process and streamline our worflows.

Cons

Cost-- It was getting expensive to add more users and features to our account. With such a large group that needed access we could not justify the cost.

Pros

I don't like anything about this software.

Cons

The integration with Salesforce is WAY oversold in the marketing materials. Moving data back and forth between the two products is extremely finicky and prone to breaking. Expect lots of duplication of data and lists that will invariably be out of sync. Managing email opt out lists with two systems of record from the same company is a CAN-SPAM nightmare. The integration's administrative tools can't be accessed in lightning. The customer facing unsubscribe and profile management pages look like shit and can't be branded or customized. They are so old, they still provide customers a warning about using HTML emails with AOL. Your Salesforce users will see email sends and interactions in contact records for some but not all emails sent via marketing cloud. If you try to send to a campaign or report from Salesforce, email personalization won't work. Same thing for transactional emails. You will have to send every single piece of personalization data in the API call to marketing cloud, because MC won't be able to find it on its own, even though it has a list of all these attributes and is supposedly syncing with Salesforce. There is single sign on, but only by request, and provisioning of accounts is not supported. Journeys will break the minute you make the slightest change to them. Trying to split journeys based on Salesforce attributes often just doesn't work. Because it's Salesforce, anything you would actually want to do with this software comes at an additional cost.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot Marketing Hub, ActiveCampaign, SendGrid and Mailchimp

Reasons for Switching to Salesforce Marketing Cloud

We chose MC over other tools because we were sold a native, deep integration with Salesforce. What we received was hacked together and barely functional. We can't wait to switch to another platform, even though it will result in a lot of rework on our end.

Pros

I’ve spent more than 3 years administrating/ consulting for many companies on salesforce implementation and continue to find ways to make it work even better. Salesforce provides one of the most well-integrated, predictable and feature-rich CRM that I’ve worked with and implemented. There are so many ways that I can tailor Salesforce to businesses. This product is one of the most robust platforms out today and is great for any sales team. This CRM helps companies by keeping track of all sales related information. It also offers custom reports which is one of the best features, This will provide companies with business analytics to understand where we need to improve sales processes. I will say as an administrator of this product there is a little learning curve to help a company utilize all of the functionality of this product, but once you have a grasps you will see a huge difference in company sales!!!

Cons

This CRM can be expensive for small-scale business. There are a lot of customizations that would be needed in the implementation process, which adds to cost of development. I would recommend hiring a SalesForce Administrator/Developer for your team for the implementations process and general maintainenece. This would help cut down the cost by not using SalesForce to do it for you, plus I do think their customer support is lacking.

Pros

Salesforce Marketing Cloud simplifies sales funnel tracking, automates processes, and allows for task creation and reminder scheduling for team members. The intuitive reporting features and customizable dashboards enable the management of a lot of data across interconnected databases. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has helped us achieve positive results in attracting and improving relationships with customers. Contact management is efficient, and the customization and ease of use options provide great organization and search capabilities. Call tracking is also efficient, and creating new tasks after each call ensures easy note-sharing and updates with colleagues for efficient follow-up.

Cons

Although some complications and difficulties have arisen, the good news is that we were able to overcome them quickly. We have encountered errors due to incomplete integration from other applications and issues when adding calendar links to addressed emails for clients.

Pros

The biggest solution this solved for me was increased productivity with customers across email and advertising. I was also able to utilize the comprehensive customer data, browsing behaviours and purchase history to optimize my business.

Cons

The cost is the main issue with this tool as well as getting it implemented and set up because of the vast number of features and customization available.

Alternatives Considered

ActiveCampaign

Switched From

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Pros

The most likable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the Journey Builder feature, which allows businesses to automate their marketing campaigns and engage with their customers throughout their journey.

Cons

One of the things I dislike about Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the pricing model, which can be quite expensive for small and medium-sized businesses. However, we believe that the platform's features and capabilities justify the cost, especially for larger businesses.

Pros

For me Salesforce Marketing Cloud has wide range of features and capabilities, including:Email Marketing: enables businesses to create, send, and track email campaigns.Mobile Marketing: enables businesses to create and send SMS and push notifications to customers.Social Media Marketing: enables businesses to manage social media accounts, publish content, and engage with customers.Advertising: enables businesses to create and manage advertising campaigns across multiple channels, including social media, search engines, and display networks.So in a nutshell it has all the bells and whistles, i need for my business.

Cons

For this Salesforce Marketing Cloud product, here are just some of the some issues i and a few others have. Complexity: Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a sophisticated platform that can be challenging to set up and configure, especially for businesses without prior marketing automation experience.Price: Salesforce Marketing Cloud can be expensive, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. The cost of the platform can increase rapidly as businesses scale up their marketing activities.Technical Skills: i personally believe to take full advantage of Salesforce Marketing Cloud's capabilities, businesses need to have skilled developers and technical personnel who can customize the platform and integrate it with other systems.User Interface: Some members have found the user interface of Salesforce Marketing Cloud to be outdated and less intuitive compared to other modern marketing automation platforms.Support: Some of us have reported difficulty in getting timely and effective support from Salesforce's customer service team.Limited Reporting: Some users have also reported limited reporting and analytics capabilities compared to other marketing automation platforms.It's worth noting that our criticisms are not universal, and many businesses have found Salesforce Marketing Cloud to be an effective and valuable platform for their marketing activities.

Pros

You can send emails....

Cons

Too many to list... Trust me... we tried for over a year. It is not a matter of our email expertise. They are an enterprise, and they treat you like the little man you are comparatively.

Pros

There's a lot that we use the marketing cloud for. Automation, email, journey builder, etc. It's something that helps us work with such a massive audience. We can send emails easily and import our own templates. It's also great for automating workflows and building out dynamic emails to save time in the future. You're really able to dig into personalization with this tool and really connect with your customers.

Cons

The customer support. The support is horrible. You have to call this number (if you can find it) and then bounce around an automated system that usually ends with a message to check the online forums for help. If you have any kind of emergency or need help ASAP you're not going to get it.

Pros

I thought Salesforce to be very user friendly and easily navigable. The home page is very clear as to which tabs pertain to what. My favorite feature is being able to change the tab names into the specific criteria I need for example one of them is "Patients" and another is "Call Interactions," this way you can build your own easily navigable website.

Cons

There are no features I disliked about Salesforce Experience Cloud

Pros

Salesforce offers a tons of flexibility. Salesforce allows you to build anything you can imagine.
The CRM can perform some serious heavy lifting and integrates with practically all programs on the market.
Tasks let you keep track of ongoing discussions or tasks with clients and prospects, whilst reporting lets you monitor how your team is performing.

Cons

Sometimes it is slow to use
However, that is just how CRMs are, I've looked at many different CRMs available, and Salesforce has so far proven to be the finest.

Pros

If you are using other Salesforce Cloud solutions this easily integrates into your overall marketing strategy. The support team is very helpful and answers question in a timely fashion. They are great to work with!

Cons

If you don't use other Salesforce Cloud solutions you won't get all the benefits of this tool. It really helps to use all Saleforce products if you want synergy among all of your initiatives. It is a costly investment, but if you are willing to spend the money the cloud solutions can really help grow your business and make your team more efficient.

Pros

The ability to test emails with different dev ops test files

Cons

Cumbersome and a lot of repetitive tasks

Pros

All encompassing product. The customizable options are amazing. Easy to access for remote and in-house employees.

Cons

On the higher pricing scale. implementation can be tricky, may need to modify your current workflow to accommodate the best use.

Pros

When you connect all the different pieces of Salesforce software that are applicable to your organization, the results are astonishing. Having used other CRM and Marketing Softwares and having to integrate the two was far more difficult than using the various aspects of Salesforce. It is fantastic to have it all in once place. It connects easily to Google Suite apps and is overall easy to use for the technically inclined and after a little training your less technically inclined employees will have no problem with it.

Cons

For those that are not technically inclined, the learning curve can be difficult. The integration of a large business application can be extremely lucrative, however the kick starting period can be a turn off. For small businesses that have multiple solutions to the problems that Salesforce can solve, the transition period can be difficult to cope with.

Pros

I like that it's a one stop shop. Everything I need to help me be successful in my location can be found here.

Cons

Some of the key words that are used don't always bring up the right information you're looking for at that exact moment. It would be nice if the search was expanded a little or narrowed down in certain aspects to make searching quicker