CFOs are paying more attention to how tech companies’ finances are doing, which puts a lot of pressure on marketing teams. The main instruction is clear: “Either improve performance with the tools you already have or cut costs to match the level of performance you’re getting now.” This is something that CFOs have said over the past year.
It’s a tough situation for marketers because cutting back on tools could hurt performance. Also, traditional marketing automation companies raised prices for extra contacts and seats, taking advantage of the fact that they were already in a strong position thanks to well-established workflows, integrations, and customizations. People often can’t change the terms of their deals with these providers, and their roadmaps aren’t very good, which makes people wonder what the point of these partnerships is.
There are now rivals on the market that offer better features, easier-to-use interfaces, and cheaper reporting and analytics that are all built in. Even though the benefits are clear, the main worries are still how hard and complicated switching seems to be. Let’s look at the new features and the work that will be needed to make the change.
- Management and integration of data.
Data is what marketing automation is all about. Strong CRM integration and customer data platforms (CDPs) should be at the top of your list when looking at new platforms. The processes of old systems were very complicated, but new platforms offer seamless, easy-to-use CRM interfaces.
Also, newer platforms with built-in CDPs make data handling easier, which cuts down on mistakes and saves a lot of time. This brings together platforms and improves data and market responsiveness.
- Analytics and reports.
Old reporting tools don’t always work well, so extra systems like Tableau and Looker are needed. The newest marketing automation platforms have more advanced reporting and analytics built in. This makes it easier to handle and analyze data.
These tools are easy to use, so team members can come up with ideas on their own. By combining reporting tools into a single platform, switching is made easier and accurate analytics are available right away.
- Using analytics and testing to improve speed.
Many people who use old marketing automation systems only run simple email campaigns because the systems are so hard to understand. With non-legacy platforms, marketers can use customer data to sort and filter their community right from the journey builder.
This makes it easy for marketers to quickly create behavioral ads, test them with A/B pairs, and make improvements. Marketers will be able to make their best ideas come to life when they can easily get to data.
- Future-proofing.
Because most providers require long-term contracts, it is very important to evaluate how well their plan is working and where they want to go in the future. Based on what customers say, newer solutions, which are often built on modern stacks, quickly add new features. Features like built-in customer chat make it easier to collect data and connect with customers. The AI features in these platforms are much better than those in older systems. This makes them more productive and improves their performance.
- Cost management.
Costs are going up and there are strict price tiers that can make renegotiating with legacy providers frustrating. Challengers, on the other hand, offer flexible, competitive pricing and lower running costs thanks to cloud architectures.
- Compliance and security.
Compliance is getting harder to understand at all levels. A strong provider should be able to directly support strict compliance standards. One easy way to test rivals is to put them to the test on some of the strictest requirements, like HIPAA and SMS workflows. This makes sure there is a good base for compliance, which makes the evaluation process easier.
What to do next
Even though every business has its own needs, basic things like email delivery, journey builders, social media integration, and more should all be looked at. Platforms like G2 can help you figure out which benefits are the most important.
Even though moving costs are real, they are lessened by the fact that new systems are easier to use and have more features. Better data orientation, integrations, and user-friendly interfaces make the transfer process a lot easier.
In the end, switching to a newer platform offers a strong value proposition: better performance at lower costs, which lets you reinvest in events and programs that get people involved and improve performance.