Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. SimpleTexting

At least for us, what we noticed is the best use case is that it replaces the use of cloud teams, which has a more complex platform to navigate; since we are already using Salesforce, it was just more straightforward to allow the teams to continue to do that as opposed to giving them a new system. This also works for us because they are both selling the same product in different ways. Any team collaboration is where this product shines.

Incentivized

SimpleTexting has been wonderful for the purposes for which we signed up. We wanted an easy-to-use platform that allowed 2-way texting, assigned a phone number, had the ability to collect phone numbers/contact easily (whether through an import or a user sign-up, spoiler SimpleTexting has both), etc. It has provided all of that and more easily, without a contract. And the platform is so easy to use for our team. One of the only issues we're having is wanting to expand our use of SimpleTexting, and using multiple options for texting (i.e., shortcode, toll-free, landline/business enabling) has been difficult on one account.

Incentivized

• Filter relevant content so you can priorize those that are more relevant and resolve it first
• Measure the traffic in the different social networks, as well as the response rate, average response time and other relevant metrics
• Configure automation rules to order the work of those who must interact with the customer

Incentivized

• SimpleTexting is easy to use. Multiple users can access the dashboard and send texts and manage contacts
• We have had great success running multiple promotions at once by using different keywords to trigger various offers. For example, one keyword will trigger a free service, and another keyword will trigger a discount off product or service.
• Simpletexting lets us segment our list which is extremely helpful in sending out market specific offers

Incentivized

• Automation studio is very hard to use. We need to create a Data extension with all required fields before we can run SQL. So it takes a lot of time.
• Query Studio is much easier to use but it often gives an error while running the same SQL in Automation Studio works fine.
• We were not able to set up SMS messages as SFMC is not supporting MMS which is a big problem.

Incentivized

• A lot of glitches and bugs, with promised fixes that keep dragging on for some time.
• Mobile notifications are very buggy. You have to keep force-closing the app and re-opening it multiple times to get the notifications to refresh.
• Constant toggling of 'Unread' and 'All' on mobile or desktop to get the notifications to clear and show up as opened, otherwise it will imply it's not read.
• Also, sometimes new notifications don't show up.

Incentivized

We are happy with Pardot. It has made our jobs easier and installed some reporting functions that have increased our ROI with the company. We have worked hard to set-up the functions in Pardot and it has taken time, but paid off.

You won't find another solution that has as many features as Salesforce Marketing Cloud Interaction Studio. We all know Salesforce, we all know how big they are and it's not for nothing... Their tools do most of the things you want, need and even imagine. Using it is complicated, but the usability is infinite.

Incentivized

Upgrades and timing of the upgrades were communicated well and planned during off hours for our work. If we did have a campaign scheduled during that time, it would kick-off after the system was back active. There were a few unplanned system down times, but it was a rare occurrence and those times were also short in duration.

Though the make up of MA apps is not built this way today, it would be nice to see them become more real-time. The integration between Salesforce and Pardot is not a true real-time integration. If I modify something in Salesforce, those changes are not automatically reflected in Pardot immediately. There is a delay of about 15 minutes before the systems sync. This delay, although not long, is less than ideal We would love the systems to be integrated real time such that changes are propagated from one system to the other immediately.

They are really responsive and more than not solve the problem or give you insight to how you can manage the solution yourself. I do find however sometimes a long delay on the more complex issues when they need to loop in other departments. but overall a good experience with support

Incentivized

With SimpleTexting updating little things here and there almost daily. We reach out to their support team constantly. They have one of the best response rates I have ever experienced! Normally it takes less than a minute to speak to a real person, but even if they are busy they have an answer bot send you articles to see if you can solve the issue yourself first! One of the best support teams ever

Incentivized

Training program is not very well established. There is very little documentations. More often than not it's in-person training. I wish there were more video tutorials so that somebody can learn the system quickly. Their documentation is very much like an RFP. Long and very technichal. They should definitly improve on this area.

Incentivized

Pardot's online training touches on all topics briefly and vaguely without much indepth exploration into how a final outcome could look, such as Nurturing Campaigns, Email templates, landing page templates, etc... The only true way to uncover Pardot's full capabilities is to have Front End design and coding experience. Without this key skill set, I would not recommend Pardot to another business.

From an IT perspective, once you set up the Javascript beacon and start collecting data there is a waiting game. During this time you can start labeling your site actions which can be labor intensive for a single person, but you don't really have the final end-users on the platform yet. We did a lot of training so users were experienced, but it wasn't until they had their first tasks to accomplish that they started using the system and had questions. I'd recommend setting up some immediate goals for an end-user to start segmenting for the purpose of displaying message campaigns so you can jump start end-user action.

We use Salesforce Marketing Cloud for lead management, generating reports, tracking customer and dealer information, inputting orders, and more. I prefer HubSpot for email marketing and automation because it is easier to use and the emails are designed much better. We currently use Salesforce and HubSpot, and we are very happy to have both, as they have different pros/cons.

Incentivized

We chose SimpleTexting based on their starting messaging options as well as the no limitations on the number of keywords we can use. EZ Texting required a much more costly monthly commitment with fewer features that applied to our organization. We felt that SimpleTexting would allow us to utilize a better communication strategy by having multiple keywords for no extra charge

Incentivized

Salesforce Marketing Cloud does a great job at what it is designed to do. There are several SaaS products in the Marketing Automation arena and SFMC is one of the top providers. There are several things it does well, such as email marketing and automation, leads generation/segmentation/qualification, and reporting/analytics. There are a few areas of improvement when it comes to the product and they surround legacy systems and architecture, outdated UI/UX, as well as targeting data in the activity logs for reporting and segmentation.

Incentivized

• We have been able to create mature lead generation opportunities using Salesforce Marketing Cloud in conjunction with CRM.
• We have had to spend much more in technical support
• We have been able to save on costs of daily maintenance emails through automation.

Incentivized

• Because we are able to reach more people through subscribing, our number of donations has increased and the number of volunteers has increased. We have gone from an average of 5 volunteers an even to 25-30. Our donations increased by 25%.

Incentivized