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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
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 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
Christian Schwirtz - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Sales Executive at MetricStream
Real User
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
Buyer's Guide
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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
Luís Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technical Lead at Human Code
Reseller
Top 20
Powerful solution used by our organization to execute on marketing campaigns and engage our customers
Pros and Cons
  • "We use Marketing Cloud for marketing campaigns and engaging customers. It is a business-focused application for a specific area of business, which is acquiring customers."
  • "There could be easier tools to configure the product and to create landing pages to better handle large data sets."

What is our primary use case?

We use Marketing Cloud for marketing campaigns and engaging customers. It is a business-focused application for a specific area of business, which is acquiring customers.

What needs improvement?

There could be easier tools to configure the product and to create landing pages to better handle large data sets. In order to solve scaling issues, Salesforce needs to improve the database. The database does not meet the requirements for big customers in particular.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have experienced some issues in scaling this solution. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support for this solution could be improved. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is complex and requires consulting fees in order to get it properly set up.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
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
Director at Imaginedone
Real User
A great tool for using multiple end points to build a communication journey, but needs an upgraded script language
Pros and Cons
  • "If you want to be able to communicate with your client using email, WhatsApp, and push notifications, know if the client opened the communication or not, and create and automate their journey, Marketing Cloud is very good."
  • "Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to build one-on-one journeys for clients. 

What is most valuable?

You can use many of the tools that they offer, not only email, to build a communication journey for your client and use many different end points to talk to the client. If you want to be able to communicate with your client using email, WhatsApp, and push notifications, know if the client opened the communication or not, and create and automate their journey, Marketing Cloud is very good.

What needs improvement?

Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this product for about five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We use this solution to send communication to 10 million users. After the initial setup, two persons can create a journey, with one person from marketing and one person to automate the journey. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is not simple. It's not entirely complex, but it's more complex than simple. If you had to rate it from zero to ten, where zero is easy and ten is complex, I think it would be a seven.

If you count the time needed to warn an IP address about sending the emails, you need at least one month to deploy it. If you don't consider the IP warning, you'll probably be able to complete the initial set up for Marketing Cloud in seven days.

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

Marketing Cloud is not the cheapest platform. It's probably one of the more highly-priced platforms on the market, but it's the best platform for deals. 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.

What other advice do I have?

The roadmap and vision for the product is very good, and I think the team at Marketing Cloud is very up-to-date with their clients' needs.

I would rate this solution as a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1176129 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
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
reviewer1853085 - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good performance, expands well, and doesn't crash
Pros and Cons
  • "We have found the solution to be scalable."
  • "The product could use a little bit of BI in the sense of rule-based building."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for holding our contacts and opportunities as well as general reporting. 

What is most valuable?

The performance and stability have been good overall.

We have found the solution to be scalable. 

What needs improvement?

The query building's a bit weak if you want to build something new. It's a bit complicated. We need it to be easier to build a query dashboard in Salesforce. 

The product could use a little bit of BI in the sense of rule-based building.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for seven or eight years or maybe even longer at this point. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have found the solution stable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product can scale as needed. It's not a problem.

We have around 1,000 people in our organization using the solution. 

I'm not sure if there are plans to increase usage.

How are customer service and support?

You pay for what you get with technical support. I've used it in the past, however, in a different position.

How was the initial setup?

I never set up the solution directly. I only use it. Someone else handled the implementation. 

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

I am unsure of the exact costs. I'm just a user. I don't handle any licensing aspects. 

What other advice do I have?

In terms of capability, I'd rate the product nine out of ten. In terms of usability, I'd rate it about seven. In general, I would rate the product eight out of ten.

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: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Salesforce Marketing Cloud Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.