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SAP CRM vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Marketing Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Automation (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
SAP CRM
Ranking in Marketing Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
CRM (3rd), Local Government CRM (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Marketing Management category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 15.8%, down from 18.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP CRM is 20.5%, up from 13.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Management
 

Featured Reviews

SantoshKrishna - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
GodfreyNoel - PeerSpot reviewer
Excellent user experience with ease of use and reliable technical support
When SAP CRM does the maintenance, it can take a long time, which can impact business continuity because we have to wait for the maintenance team to finish their work. Maybe if SAP could establish how you can access the tool using a cloud-based environment that would be virtualization, that would be better.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."
"We haven't had any issues with integration."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to get quotes out in a timely manner."
"Email automation is most valuable."
"The most valuable features of Salesforce are the automation and the ability to create dashboards which provide a wider picture of what is going on."
"We have found the solution to be scalable."
"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."
"Once the lead is matured, you can convert it into an opportunity and you can track it by the opportunity based on the product segment."
"The features that are used most are the lead model and the opportunity model. We can create many different pipelines with many phases. These features improved our process in the States very well."
"The platform is highly scalable."
"SAP CRM is a scalable solution."
"What I found most valuable in SAP CRM is its multitenancy, and you can use it from your website, SMS, and even social media, and it's all integrated, so my company is trying to leverage on all of those."
"The flexibility to design the portal and customize it according to the needs of the clients is valuable. The integration with SAP ERP is also valuable."
"It was comfortable setting up the tool."
"We get very good support from SAP."
 

Cons

"An additional feature needed would be better capacity for personalization."
"Customer support could be improved, especially for new features where I do not always receive proper solutions from the platform provider."
"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."
"There is a lot of room for improvement in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's dashboards and the visualization of information in each journey."
"The solution can have a better UI. Salesforce Marketing Cloud should consider making its solution more robust for error handling."
"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."
"Salesforce could benefit by implementing further integration with more platforms."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should include more point-and-click functionality."
"In terms of visibility of the data, there's a very limited set that we have access to and sometimes it's very difficult and not user-friendly to analyze from front end to back end. It's the biggest challenge, even if I'm working with an organization where we've implemented SAP."
"The navigation must be improved."
"The implementation and integrations could be better. After we went into the production environment, we had some issues. Most of them were with the ERP integration. Many other issues were around the client's integrations between the ERP and CRM platforms. It could be more user-friendly. It wasn't very user-friendly initially, but now it's easier for them to use. Now, the users can use that platform better than at the beginning. We would like to see reports with more analytic features and artificial intelligence in the next release. For example, show more metrics and KPIs and more dynamic dashboards. Because the platform has some models, but it's not easy to use. It's a little complex."
"The solution is slow."
"SAP must provide a demo system for the customers."
"In the future, machine learning and artificial intelligence functionality need to be included."
"SAP CRM could improve in the area of user-friendliness. It would help if you had an engineer to do the administration. The migration is complex when moving from the old version to the latest version."
"When features do get added, we would like the product to notify us in a timely way."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's not cheap, which is why I recommend that you use Marketing Cloud to create automated journeys. If you plan to use Marketing Cloud just to send emails, use another tool."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The price is expensive."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a highly expensive solution, it needs to be less expensive. We are on an annual license to use the solution."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"The solution is expensive."
"SAP CRM offers a free trial for anyone wanting to test the product before purchasing it."
"The pricing from SAP is good but it takes time to realize the investment."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for SAP CRM, which is expensive."
"Its price is reasonable. As compared to other CRMs, this CRM is competitively priced. They have multiple flavors with different sets of functionality. Pricing is based on the flavor that suits your requirement. If you have more users, the cost will come down."
"The company has seen an increase in revenue."
"There is a license required to use SAP CRM."
"The product is costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
In the SMS area, it is not up to the mark, compared to what has been developed for email.
What do you like most about SAP CRM?
Getting the right information at the right time across different programs is important. These programs lack interaction between them. IPA is a good option to bring them together.
What needs improvement with SAP CRM?
One area for improvement is the security model, especially regarding records management retention and the audit and legal holds. Since we're in the middle of a cloud digital transformation, it's es...
 

Also Known As

ExactTarget
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips
Brau Union Osterreich AG, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., AOK Bundesverband, RAK Ceramics, NHS 24, Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters, FC Bayern Munchen AG, Tumi, The Kellogg Company, MVV Energie AG, Anglian Water Services, German Football Association (DFB), Nebraska Book Company Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP CRM vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.