Marketo vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

Adobe and Salesforce are both solutions in the Marketing Automation category. Adobe is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4, while Salesforce is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6. Adobe holds a 16.1% mindshare in MA, compared to Salesforce’s 22.5% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Adobe users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Marketo

Read 24 Marketo reviews

2,413 Views
1,869 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 54 Salesforce Marketing Cloud reviews

4,765 Views
2,828 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Marketo

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Marketo and Salesforce Marketing Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Marketing Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

December 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 824,067 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Marketo

Ranking in Marketing Automation

3rd

Ranking in Marketing Management

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Ranking in Marketing Automation

1st

Ranking in Marketing Management

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social CRM (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 16.1%, down from 16.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 22.5%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

PradeepKumar25

Associate Manager at Tech Mahindra Limited

Useful for lead capture and engagement across social media platforms

Before Marketo, I worked on the Oracle Eloqua platform, both B2B-based. Currently, I'm working on Salesforce Marketing Cloud. So, these are the three platforms on which I have good hands-on expertise. One key reason platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud are gaining traction is that they invest in marketing campaigns. They conduct many virtual and live events, aggressively marketing their products. This strategy convinces C-suite executives to buy into and implement the Salesforce platform, something that other bigger platforms lack. Most companies are migrating to Salesforce. I've migrated one of my projects from Marketo to Salesforce and encountered many opportunities where companies want to migrate from Marketo, HubSpot, or Oracle Eloqua to Salesforce. I've worked on Oracle Eloqua, which is also a B2B platform, and I've also worked on Marketo. The lead scoring, table structure, and rules we apply are quite straightforward compared to Marketo. In Marketo, it's a bit clumsy. Regarding lead scoring or moving leads through the sales funnel, Oracle Eloqua is better, but it's a bit pricey. So, Marketo ranks second in lead scoring or managing leads, and it highly depends on the respective CRM. The tool tracks significant events, such as form fills on websites or social media handles. All this data is captured and stored in Marketo for analysis. Marketo Analytics is connected with Adobe Analytics. This integration offers detailed reports on total clicks, views, form fills, subscriptions, lead conversions, and more. It's straightforward compared to Oracle Eloqua, which has its own Oracle Business Intelligence suite.Marketo's reporting tools are easy to use, making it a plug-and-play solution for anyone.

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SantoshKrishna

Director at BMO Financial

Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable

The encryption and decryption have room for improvement. We need to be confident that the customer's data is secure when shared outside of the organization. I would like to request additional mobile app features that go beyond push notifications. As the mobile development industry continues to advance with new technologies, such as AI components, it is important to consider these advancements when setting up campaigns. Currently, campaigns are scheduled to be sent to customers at a prescribed time, but they may not be relevant to the customer unless they see them as valuable. For example, if I want to run a campaign offering loans, I would need to consider the customer's needs and balance. In the future, I hope Salesforce can incorporate an AI component that utilizes the shared data, rather than just scheduling campaigns.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I like that Marketo is user-friendly and has an easy view. It's like a one-stop solution for everyone. It is very good, and you can categorize leads in different ways. You can also create your custom objects and enjoy good connectivity."

"One of the most important things about Marketo is its focus on GDPR compliance. It helps you follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules. For example, with Marketo, I won't accidentally target audiences without their consent. Firstly, the Marketo Insights system will highlight new customer segments that I should engage with."

"The valuable features are list uploads, email campaigns, generating reports,source tracking, and lead attribution."

"It's pretty good at handling customization and templates. We can put in different variables, so even someone without coding knowledge can create and develop emails that look good on different browsers."

"The main feature of Marketo is sending out emails, so that would be the most valuable feature."

"I like that the solution is flexible."

"Marketo is excellent in terms of hands-on usability and lead database management."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is Smart Campaigns."

More Marketo pros

"The solution is very, very scalable."

"Offers many great features and is intuitive."

"It is easy to send emails and SMS's."

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

"The user interface is easy to use, especially for my staff who use assistive technology."

"Salesforce is constantly evolving and have a good release cycle."

"Its ability to integrate data and provide a comprehensive view of customer engagement sets it apart."

"We use this solution for reporting, pipeline generation, and forecasting."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

Cons

"I had an issue while integrating JavaScript with forms. When you embed JavaScript, you can either embed it in a landing page or some other self-contained management system like WordPress. Currently, it provides you access to CSS, where you can customize your form design, but there is no option for JavaScript modification for a particular form. This area needs to be improved where you can integrate JavaScript, and it has the JavaScript functions for that particular form. There are a lot of other areas of improvement. In the design area, they can give us more testing options instead of relying on email testing alone. It would be great if they can provide responsive testing where email clients can be tested within Marketo. It would be also helpful if they can implement some in-built options for users or forms for blocking a generic email ID such as Yahoo or Gmail. Similarly, it would be helpful to have JavaScript features and forms as well as the option to add Google analytics and a header and footer for the landing pages."

"Revenue management, attribution, and ABM can all be improved."

"It could be more scalable."

"Its APIs need to be more flexible because there are some things that are not available in the API."

"The user experience needs improvement, particularly in terms of ease of use and navigation between projects."

"I have encountered issues when I had to use filters repeatedly. It would have been helpful if I could duplicate them directly, instead of dragging them. Also, having an option to save filters for future use would have saved a lot of time, especially when dealing with multiple filters."

"One limitation is the user limit. For bigger organizations with large audience sizes exceeding, let's say, 500k, the solution may not be as efficient as larger enterprise platforms like Salesforce or Oracle Eloqua. However, Marketo is one of the best platforms for mid-scale and small-scale organisations."

"Adobe, the parent company, needs to improve on getting more information published to allow users to educate themselves on how to use the solution."

More Marketo cons

"I would like to see more ways to accomplish specific tasks."

"The majority of my clients are happy, but when it comes to the CDP of Salesforce, the client gets confused. They have no clue that Salesforce has a CDP platform too. If my clients want to go ahead with the same vendor, Salesforce, they get confused about the different marketing suites which are available. There is no clear marketing done for the suites available for the clients, this is where the client is facing the real challenges."

"This solution could be more user-friendly."

"In terms of marketing, I don't think Salesforce invests the same level of intensity in promoting Marketing Cloud...Pricing is a concern and needs improvement, as some customers find the product a bit too expensive."

"It's a very good solution, but the way the prices are structured is not always good, and I feel like that is a problem."

"We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with."

"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."

"The solution can have a better UI. Salesforce Marketing Cloud should consider making its solution more robust for error handling."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost usually depends on the users."

"Marketo is used a lot because it's cheaper and preferred by many firms."

"The solution is expensive compared to others."

"Marketo's pricing depends on the number of contacts and the level of features you need. Compared to other platforms like Oracle Eloqua and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo is generally more affordable. Like other platforms, it offers different packages based on your needs."

"The fee for Marketo includes the number of users and the database size. If we ask for a unique feature, it will cost extra."

"Marketo is too expensive for a small-sized company but more affordable for a larger-sized company."

"The pricing is not cheap, but it's not that expensive either."

"I'm not sure about the cost because I don't get into this aspect. Clients normally take care of that. I only know that it is costly, and I don't think there are any additional costs to the licensing."

More Marketo pricing and cost advice

"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."

"My company pays to use this solution."

"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."

"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."

"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."

"The price is expensive."

"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."

"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Educational Organization

57%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Marketo?

One of the most important things about Marketo is its focus on GDPR compliance. It helps you follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules. For example, with Marketo, I won't accidentally target audiences without...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Marketo?

Customer support could be more helpful. The reporting could be better, with more engaging reports and the ability to collaborate more objects, like opportunities. Incorporating AI features similar ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Marketo?

We use Marketo to provide complex solutions that can be easily implemented. It is a great tool for managing lead databases.

See all answers

What do you like most about Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

I would like to see more ways to accomplish specific tasks. Instead of having one set method, there should be multiple options available. Additionally, sometimes the integration between Salesforce ...

See all answers

Comparisons

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Marketo

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Eloqua vs Marketo

Compared 16% of the time

SAP Marketing Cloud vs Marketo

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Marketo

Compared 6% of the time

Teradata vs Marketo

Compared 6% of the time

More Marketo Competitors

Oracle Eloqua vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

SAP Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 11% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon Pinpoint vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Zeta Marketing Platform vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Marketo

December 2024

Download Marketo product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

November 2024

Download Salesforce Marketing Cloud product report

Also Known As

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Adobe

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Salesforce

Overview

Marketo is an all-in-one marketing solution that was created by marketers for marketers. Founded in 2007, Marketo is branded as marketing software that is easy, powerful and complete.

Organizations have access to multiple marketing and sales tools when they use this solution, such as Marketing Automation, Consumer Engagement Marketing, Real-Time Personalization, and Marketing Management.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that enables businesses to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

With its robust set of tools and features, marketers can easily manage and automate their email marketing, social media advertising, mobile messaging, and customer journey mapping.

The platform offers advanced segmentation capabilities, allowing marketers to segment their audience based on various criteria and deliver tailored messages to each segment.

Additionally, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides powerful analytics and reporting features, enabling marketers to track the performance of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

With its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Salesforce products, Marketing Cloud offers a seamless and efficient marketing automation solution for businesses of all sizes.

Sample Customers

Marketo has a customer base of thousands of companies, including Sony, Citrix, BrightTALK, Curves International, HootSuite, Hyundai, SanDisk, and Samsung Electronics.

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips

Buyer's Guide

Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

December 2024

Free Report: Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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