Vice President Information Technology at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Sending personalized emails to clients and prospects helps build our brand awareness
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the 'Accelerators', which are expert-taught subject matter webinars on items such as personalization of emails and SMS to contacts and prospects."
  • "We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for sending personalized emails to prospects and clients for reminder consultations or meetings. Use 'Journey Builder' to have clients/prospects first name, last name, financial advisor's signature at the bottom, and dynamic sender for personalized emails that are sent ad hoc, weekly, and monthly.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has improved organization brand awareness with prospects and clients. It can track open and click-through rates, among other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While only Premier Support customers (like our firm) have access to Accelerators, these subject matter-taught webinars give detailed implementation instructions.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the 'Accelerators', which are expert-taught subject matter webinars on items such as personalization of emails and SMS to contacts and prospects.

Setting up the 'short code' with cell phone carriers to send short messages to contacts and prospects has proved valuable.

What needs improvement?

We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with. Then take action to suppress those who receive too many or send more to those receiving too few. Also, we would like a 'sandbox' for Marketing Cloud because only PROD exists today.

Buyer's Guide
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution actively for five months, since May 2019.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Market Volt was elementary compared to Marketing Cloud.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Know that six months on ingesting data is a minimum requirement. You cannot port six months of data, it must be ingested.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Salesforce offered Pardot but the 'road map' showed the long-term internal investment would be on Marketing Cloud.

What other advice do I have?

We are only touching the surface of segmentation in the Marketing Cloud, primarily for sales and marketing teams.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Paul Richmond - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Mobility & Security Specialist at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Scalable, stable, and lets you add leads and set up meetings, but it needs a data exporting feature
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that I can constantly add leads to Salesforce Marketing Cloud and look at accounts there. I also like that the solution lets me set up meetings."
  • "The main action I want to do in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is to export data into Excel and use it. My company may have that feature locked down, or if the Excel data exporting function still isn't available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, that's the feature I want."

What is our primary use case?

I use Salesforce Marketing Cloud for prospecting, chasing new business, and looking for new business. I also use it to keep track of conversations I have with customers. I also use the solution for following up with customers.

What is most valuable?

I like that I can constantly add leads to Salesforce Marketing Cloud and look at accounts there. I also like that the solution lets me set up meetings.

What needs improvement?

The main action I want to do in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is to export data into Excel and use it. That may be possible, but the company I work for doesn't allow it because of fear of the data getting exfiltrated or taken by salespeople who leave the company. My company may have that feature locked down, or if the Excel data exporting function still isn't available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, that's the feature I want.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for about one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a cloud-based solution, so it's very scalable. Currently, my company has ten users, and if it wanted to increase that number to one hundred, it wouldn't be a problem in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

How are customer service and support?

I've never used Salesforce Marketing Cloud technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Apart from using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I used Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and to be honest, I prefer that over Salesforce Marketing Cloud. However, my company uses Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Salesforce Marketing Cloud is okay, but I didn't deploy it because it was already there when I joined the company.

What was our ROI?

I'm sure Salesforce Marketing Cloud does give a return, but I don't know how much. Running the business without ROI from Salesforce Marketing Cloud or any other solution would be very difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't know if my company pays for Salesforce Marketing Cloud monthly or yearly. It's a SaaS, so it's a recurring cost, but I have no information on its price.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

There's a plan to increase the number of Salesforce Marketing Cloud users, but only a little bit, such as one or two more users, but it's not going to be a one hundred percent increase. It'll be a slight increase.

I would recommend Salesforce Marketing Cloud to others because it's okay as a solution. However, I started with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and knew that system better, so I like it more, but Salesforce Marketing Cloud is okay.

I'm giving Salesforce Marketing Cloud a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Christian Schwirtz - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Sales Executive at MetricStream
Real User
Top 10
Reasonably priced, and easy to install, but it should include artificial intelligence
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to use."
  • "It should contain artificial intelligence, in my opinion."

What is our primary use case?

I use Salesforce Marketing Cloud to track the opportunity list of new businesses.

What is most valuable?

It is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

It should contain artificial intelligence, in my opinion.

For how long have I used the solution?

In the last 15 years, I have been using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for four years.

I am not using it at the moment, but I have worked with it in the last 12 months.

I was working with the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is scalable, it's in the cloud.

We have 100 users in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted technical support. I have never required help. 

We have an IT team of two people, that supports this solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's normal pricing. The pricing is fine.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to anyone who is interested in using it.

I would rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Product Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good technical support, extremely good scalability and very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very, very scalable."
  • "The solution can be difficult to set up for non-technical individuals."

What is our primary use case?

Basically, in the present company where I'm working right now, I'm into the firewall purely on a security end. There are two kinds of deployment, whether it can be on-premises or on-cloud. We don't need any additional features or additional things to the firewall itself. If the customer is demanding "Okay, we want a specific cloud", they can have that flexibility. They specifically can name features and everything. 

How has it helped my organization?

The solution helps to boost the basic revenue generation of a company. 

What is most valuable?

The most interesting part is knowing your customer. If we go for any person who is just a random person we don't know anything at the start. However, we get to know something more about their infrastructure, their architecture, their flow, et cetera, over time. Accordingly, we can do some research and increase our productivity in our field and also in our company.

The solution is very, very scalable.

The solution is stable.

Technical support has always been helpful.

What needs improvement?

The product can improve security. If we can get better security on the cloud, it would be ideal. With the cloud, you don't need any infrastructure or any kind of end-user person. We'd like to increase the security protocols and increase the policies which have been assigned or have been deployed from years back. 

The solution can be difficult to set up for non-technical individuals.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been in marketing for over five years, and in that time, have adopted Salesforce.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. It helps if there's a technical person on hand to handle the deal flow when pitching to customers to showcase proper handling.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is completely scalable. The sky really is the limit. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so as much as it wants.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've dealt with technical support in the past. It's been pretty good overall. They seem to be helpful and responsive. We're satisfied with their level of support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup can vary in complexity.  

If a customer is from a non-technical department or a non-technical field, then we struggle a bit in explaining what needs to be done. However, if a particular person is knowledgeable about the technology or the upcoming trends, it will be a fairly easy process. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is reasonable. However, it depends on the particular customer. It depends on what their needs are and how much of the product they will use, et cetera.

The pricing can also vary depending on the deployment model.

What other advice do I have?

I'm in distribution. I'm a developer.

We work with different deployment models, depending on what the client needs.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Distributor
PeerSpot user
Sr. Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
Top 5Leaderboard
Central management, easy to build reports, and high availability
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build."
  • "In a future release, adding end-user personalization would be a benefit."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for the CRM functionality. We have the accounts for each of our customers, the contact points, the opportunities, and the lists of assets, and entitlements they have. We can have a comprehensive view of all the customer history inside our company, such as contract dates. If they need to renew or replace anything, it's easier to keep in touch with the customer, because we have the information in a single place.

How has it helped my organization?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud has helped the organization by having centralized management capabilities. We have all the information from a single point of view. It is useful for me, for example, if I am to be looking at a customer account with my boss, which is in a different location from me, we can see the same account. He has access to the same piece of information I have. He has more access and can bring me more details. The solution is good for collaborative work, things can get done faster.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build.

What needs improvement?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud could improve by having the ability to detect duplicate accounts. Sometimes you search for a customer and you have five or six different records for the same customer. You look inside, all the records have the same data, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud says it could not find any duplicate accounts for it. It would be nice to have more intelligence for the detection of duplicates.

In a future release, adding end-user personalization would be a benefit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is good.

We have approximately 600 to 700 users using this solution from the sales and marketing team.

How are customer service and support?

I have not used the support from Salesforce Marketing Cloud, but I heard it was good.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation of Salesforce Marketing Cloud was done by the vendor.

The maintenance is done by the vendor.

What other advice do I have?

There are many different pieces of Salesforce, I would advise others to run a deep analysis and a proof of concept to evaluate everything before purchasing because it's a huge solution. It has very different modules and features. It may be too big for what they need. It's important to evaluate and do a proof of concept.

I rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Leonardo Lecaros - PeerSpot reviewer
South Europe Enterprise Sales Executive at Dataiku
Real User
Good performance, great support, and scales everywhere
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
  • "They can perhaps simplify the dashboards. In my opinion as an end-user, reports could also be simplified, but it also depends on how your company is set up. It depends on how the processes are set up within your company natively. It is linked to the way you do business. So, it varies."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for doing the quotes, reports, and sales. We are using its latest version. 

What is most valuable?

It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance.

What needs improvement?

They can perhaps simplify the dashboards. In my opinion as an end-user, reports could also be simplified, but it also depends on how your company is set up. It depends on how the processes are set up within your company natively. It is linked to the way you do business. So, it varies.

For how long have I used the solution?

It has been 20 years. I have been using it since it came out.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales everywhere. It is perfect. In our company, everyone is working with this solution. We have around 1,000 users, and I assume we have 10 to 20 people for deployment and maintenance.

How are customer service and support?

Their support was great. They were very responsive.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't set it up, but it seems to depend on the teams. It's quite simple, but it becomes more complex depending on the scalability of your operation. It's always an ongoing task because you're always improving the process.

What other advice do I have?

Salesforce is the best and more established CRM. I wouldn't use other ones.

I would rate it a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Steven Hall - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Consulting at Acurus
Real User
Top 10
Highly scalable, basic features easy to use, but priced high
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are the ease of use of the basic features."
  • "If you want to use advanced features in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they are extremely difficult to use."

What is our primary use case?

We use Salesforce Marketing Cloud for the opportunity, lead, and contact management.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are the ease of use of the basic features.

What needs improvement?

If you want to use advanced features in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they are extremely difficult to use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is very good. We have five users that are using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

I have not contacted the support from Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not used another solution previously. 

What was our ROI?

We haven't seen a return on investment using Salesforce Marketing Cloud. We're investing more into it to advance our marketing capability at the moment but we've not seen that return on investment to date.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a highly expensive solution, it needs to be less expensive. We are on an annual license to use the solution.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Salesforce Marketing Cloud to others, it fits a certain hole in the organization's CRM capability. It depends on the size of the organization and how much money they have to spend because it could be very expensive.

I rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a six out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Regional Sales Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Intuitive, real-time reporting, and it meets with all of our data requirements
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a software-as-a-service solution. Everything is managed centrally from the cloud. As far as I can tell, installation is relatively simple."
  • "The performance is sometimes sluggish, but I think that's to be expected with a heavy CRM tool because they're running reports in real-time on the data that you have entered."

What is our primary use case?

CRM stands for customer relationship management. The CRM contains all of the customer data requirements, contacts, projects, and support issues.

What is most valuable?

As a user, I believe it meets our requirements.

What needs improvement?

The performance is sometimes sluggish, but I think that's to be expected with a heavy CRM tool because they're running reports in real-time on the data that you have entered. Since it's a global tool, I am sure all businesses use it in some capacity.

It's a heavily loaded tool. Whenever you're retrieving any data that's being retrieved on live data, keep that in mind. It's only as good as your data. If you have a lot of fields on your page that you want to load, it will take a minute or 30 seconds to load. But it's just that now that we live in the 2.0 world, everything is sort of there for you right away. So it feels a little slow in that regard, but I suppose there's not much else they can do at this point.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Salesforce Marketing Cloud for three years since I joined the company.

As it's a cloud-based solution, it is always the latest version that we are using.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't have any issues with the stability of Salesforce Marketing Cloud

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 200 users in our company.

We intend to increase our usage, but not massively.

How are customer service and support?

I have not contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not used a different CRM solution.

How was the initial setup?

It's a software-as-a-service solution. Everything is managed centrally from the cloud. As far as I can tell, installation is relatively simple.

Based on my previous technical experience, I would say that you can install it yourself. You would need a Salesforce administrator, or a dedicated person to do it, but it's a fairly intuitive tool.

What about the implementation team?

The Salesforce team creates a tenant for us that is separate from their other customers. And we are benefiting from their SaaS solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a license per user. There could be a minimum limit, but I'm pretty sure it's a per-user license.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a user, not an administrator, so I wouldn't know much about the features, but the ones we use work fine.

I would definitely recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Salesforce Marketing Cloud Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Salesforce Marketing Cloud Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.