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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    HCL Unica

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AHCL Unica is available as a cloud or on-premise solution that provides fully integrated marketing automation software for enterprise. It includes enterprise marketing automation tools that optimize marketing activities, to ensure excellent customer experiences and data privacy.N/A

    Twilio SendGrid

    Score6.6 out of 10
    N/ATwilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns provides users with segmentation, campaign editing, and deliverability. According to the vendor, Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns is trusted by over 80,000 customers globally, including Airbnb, Spotify and Uber. Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns aims to help users by providing: MORE EFFICIENT EMAIL BUILDING The campaign building process is free from frustrating, rigid step-by-step wizards that slow users down. The vendor says…

    $15

    per month

    Pricing
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Basic
    $15
    per month
    Advanced
    $60
    per month
    Free
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Twilio
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    75%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    72%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    70%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    65%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    70%
    Implementation went as expected
    14 Answers
    Features
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.6
    3 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    6.8
    50 Ratings
    17% below category average
    WYSIWYG email editor9.73 Ratings9.337 Ratings
    Dynamic content9.24 Ratings6.740 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content9.24 Ratings4.438 Ratings
    Landing pages9.73 Ratings8.024 Ratings
    A/B testing9.73 Ratings9.330 Ratings
    Mobile optimization9.73 Ratings8.938 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting9.73 Ratings5.050 Ratings
    List management9.53 Ratings4.744 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences10.02 Ratings4.624 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.7
    2 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    -
    Ratings
    Lead nurturing automation9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data quality management9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead segmentation and distribution9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.4
    2 Ratings
    22% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    -
    Ratings
    Calendaring9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.7
    2 Ratings
    25% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    -
    Ratings
    Social sharing and campaigns9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social profile integration9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.7
    2 Ratings
    26% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    6.1
    50 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Dashboards9.73 Ratings4.648 Ratings
    Standard reports9.73 Ratings5.148 Ratings
    Custom reports9.73 Ratings8.631 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    9.6
    2 Ratings
    23% above category average
    Twilio SendGrid
    -
    Ratings
    API9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based workflow & approvals9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizability9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Third-party software integrations9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-Send Testing
    Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of HCL Unica and Twilio SendGrid
    Feature
    HCL Unica
    -
    Ratings
    Twilio SendGrid
    8.2
    12 Ratings
    1% above category average
    URL Validation00 Ratings7.911 Ratings
    Link Tracking00 Ratings7.512 Ratings
    Image Validation00 Ratings8.29 Ratings
    Inbox Display00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings9.012 Ratings
    Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings8.19 Ratings
    Spam Testing00 Ratings8.111 Ratings
    Email Previews00 Ratings9.112 Ratings
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    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
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    Campaign Monitor by Marigold
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Emma by Marigold
    Score8.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (19 ratings)
    4.7
    (61 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (13 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (5 ratings)
    4.9
    (8 ratings)
    Support Rating
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    3.0
    (9 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL UnicaTwilio SendGrid
    Likelihood to Recommend
    HCLSoftware
    I think it is wel suited for a business with a lot of one on one relations in the database. For example a supermarket that sells products to a client and gives a reduction on that product. It is nice if the selection process is not to complex and does not involve to many calculations. It is also nice if it is very clear what you want to follow up. In our environment we have lots of many-to-many relations. for example one product is held by more then one client. And that client might have more of those products with other clients. These kind of situation demands for a lot of calculations with derived fields(*), and there things go far too slow. Unica is probably not such a good solution for us, because our environment is too complex, and so is to process of creating the selection, we often have to change things in the selection flows. Because of the complexity it is difficult to see what the flow is exactly doing afterwoods, it also takes to much time to modify existing campaigns. The interface is not handy to work with, if you have long lists of variables, of tables or derived fields(*) you have to scroll through trough them, you can not really search them or reorder them. You can not drag and drop fields or other objects like derived fields in the flow, what would be easy if you have to make frequent changes to the proces flow. When you copy objects something the content of the object changes because the links with other objects or lost. (*) derived field: field to calculate something
    Read full review
    Twilio
    If you're prepared to build out your whole staff UX, audience creation, email production, and analytics on your own using API, this tool may have that flexibility. If you require a sturdy drag and drop production tool, this tool has it but at the expense of a lot of other critical functionality. Out of the box analytics/reporting, is extremely limited. Complex queries, even something like pulling those who haven't engaged in email within a certain time period, is clunky. If you require any support at all, this is not the tool for you. I'm a deliverability consultant and have used many of the top email marketing tools and SendGrid has been extremely difficult for my team. I do not recommend it. Shiny and bright during sales, pretty disappointing thereafter.
    Read full review
    Pros
    HCLSoftware
    • Ability to translate Multiple SQL queries into a very easy to use visual GUI.
    • Provides the ability to pre-define segments, run them once in off hours, store them in their own system tables for quick youth and a significant reduction in CPU utilization on the database.
    • It’s use of Reusable objects. Including user variables to pre-define calculations one time, macros that you can create and pass values to parameterize the SQL code And the creation of templates to easily replicate work.
    • It’s ability to bring in external data on the fly that can very easily be mapped into any flowchart.
    • It’s flexibility and creating UNIX script via triggers to automate sending of files to multiple vendors with different FTP sites
    • It’s flexibility in the output layouts that it can create.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Twilio
    • Managing email lists / audiences is easy with features like groups and segments.
    • They provide pre-built email templates that are very easy to modify. It is also super easy to create new email templates with their drag-and-drop email builder.
    • Provides clear / easy-to-read analytics of email campaigns.
    • I can easily import large email contact lists all at once or add a user manually one-at-a-time, when needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    HCLSoftware
    • Greater integration of real time (Interact) capabilities with outbound channels, in particular IBM eMessage Email & SMS delivery.
    • Additional outbound channels to be integrated into eMessage, including Facebook Fanpage & Twitter DM broadcasts. At the moment these are possible only through custom additional integration.
    • Support for additional marketing database technology, e.g. MySQL, Exasol, ParAccel, WX2.
    • Provision of database technology with software purchase, as Web technology (IBM WebSphere Express) is supplied for free, but no database is supplied - since IBM also market DB2, which is a supported technology it seems a shame.
    Read full review
    Twilio
    • Not necessarily their Email API but their email in general - they are currently in beta for automated email sequences but are still bare bones. Much more work is needed before it can be used mainstream and be able to convert everything to SendGrid.
    • Helping with warming up our dedicated IP for the best-sending score.
    • We seem to hit the promotions folder a decent amount (maybe the IP problem above) and even a lot of their emails hit my spam or promotions folder (whether they be transactional or marketing) which isn't a great sign when trusting an ESP.
    • Transactional email sequences would be a huge plus.
    • Now that Twilio owns SenGrid, having an integrated platform where you could see all our transactional emails together.
    • Better reporting and split reporting between transactional and marketing emails.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    HCLSoftware
    There are three main factors to renew a licence: 1) Cost to migrate to another platform would be rather expensive and time consuming, plus the requirement of retraining employees to use a new tool 2) It has been proven time and time again that it is a market leader in the space (10 years +) 3) It can be built upon, with the addition of additional IBM EMM modules - despite theories it does have very strong digital capabilities.
    Read full review
    Twilio
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    HCLSoftware
    Unica provides functionality that is very simple and easy to use. For reporting, we can see Unica system tables. Contact history table, response history tables. We have all the information in one place. Performance-wise, Unica also handles large volumes of data and can run a 5-million-record campaign within minutes. This is something great.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Twilio
    It is usable but needs improvement in overall user experience and ease of use. A new joinee/anyone new to the tool would need more tarining currently before he can use the platform seamlessly. The set-up to value realization time for Twilio SendGrid customers is generally high because of this concern.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    HCLSoftware
    I didn't use the Unica support since it is with IBM, only before.
    Read full review
    Twilio
    Twilio SendGrid Email API is everything we want it to be, and we have no reason to look for any other solution. Features and pricing match exactly what we need. As developers for SaaS products, Twilio SendGrid Email API provides a great service. I hope that they stay this way and don't inflate the service with too many marketing oriented features, because there are other tools for that and Twilio SendGrid Email API is a API for sending email first and foremost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    HCLSoftware
    - We had to rebuild a part of the datamart afterwards to tighten up and simplify the selection process. But as it was too time consuming to rebuild all the existing campaigns, we no run campaigns on different versions of the datamart. - The response tracking of the campaigns never worked out well, it was impossible to implement a direct response where there is a link between the lead and the response in our operational process
    Read full review
    Twilio
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    HCLSoftware
    The contact history and the response history are so powerful. You can track whatever you want to help the call center to push relevant offers to our customer. In addition, predictive models can be built, with patience, in IBM Campaign. If you have some complaints from the call center about any campaigns, you can easily validate it into the contact or response history.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Twilio
    Sendgrid has a lot of features that other providers have and a few more - like the dynamic template builder, which AWS SES doesn't have. We choose the provider based on the scenario of use and the provider we're using. If we're going to be making regular changes to a template, then we'd go with Sendgrid, as the changes will be easier to make and don't necessarily require developer intervention.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    HCLSoftware
    • It helps my clients drive their business which in turn, drives more profit for them.
    • It helps my clients determine what works, and what doesn't work, in terms of their social marketing campaigns.
    • It helps navigate proper budgeting through determining what clients' users respond to, and what they find unique.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Twilio
    • As it was cheaper than the transactional service we previously used, it saved costs.
    • The API was relatively easy to work with so it helped us ship the service and test it quickly.
    • We still use the transactional email service, even though we recognize its limits as it meets our immediate needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    HCL Unica Screenshots

    Screenshot of HCL Unica Deliver is the email marketing and messaging execution module of the HCL Unica platform.

Its scalable digital messaging engine helps enterprise marketers design, personalize, and send high-volume, data-driven communications across multiple customer engagement channels.

It’s built for complex and compliant omni-channel campaigns with advanced segmentation, behavioral triggers, and real-time customer data.

Key channels supported include:
• Email — for personalized bulk and trigger-based mailings.
• SMS — send text messages to mobile subscribers.
• WhatsApp — conversational and promotional messaging.
• In-app and Push notifications — mobile push alerts via apps.