Aurea Campaign Manager vs. PFL Direct Mail Platform

I feel that this is a very good email marking system. You really can accomplish any task needed for your email marketing needs. I think that if a few key features were added, it would really take Lyris HQ over the top. We are very happy with this product and we tell our clients about it when they ask us.

Incentivized

The reason it's not a seven or above is purely because of the timing of a solution we had requested originally back in August 2023. It's now February 2024, and we're waiting for a wow-factor pitch deck. Previously, we only received a demo recording and an order form quote. These truthfully aren't helpful enough to convince and sway our senior leaders into spending the $35k+ investment into the PMC.

Incentivized

• I like the file import process - quick and efficient.
• List segmentation is thorough.
• Campaign monitoring is easily accessible and accurate.

Incentivized

• Personalization: It allows us to create highly personalized direct mail pieces tailored to individual recipients. For instance, we can include the recipient's name, relevant product recommendations, or even custom images that resonate with their preferences.
• Multi-Channel Integration: The platform seamlessly integrates with our existing digital marketing tools and CRM systems. It enables us to orchestrate cohesive campaigns that combine email, social media, and direct mail to reach our target audience through multiple touchpoints.
• Automated Workflows: PFL offers robust automation capabilities, streamlining the entire direct mail process. We can set triggers, such as website visits or email engagement, to automatically trigger the sending of personalized direct mail pieces, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
• Variable Data Printing: The platform simplifies variable data printing, enabling us to print custom content for each recipient efficiently. This is particularly useful for A/B testing different messaging or designs within a single campaign.

Incentivized

• PHP API
• Segmentation
• Creating messages via API calls

Incentivized

• There is no built-in functionality to automate direct mail; this has to be created through triggers in Salesforce.
• The sales cloud integration didn't give us the syncing or reporting we thought would be available.
• We would like to see more support from team members in the post-onboarding process.

Incentivized

Lyris HQ is a simple tool, but it is highly effective and , for smaller organizations, it can save a lot of time and money.

I will continue to use the platform as long as my employer provides access, but I do not have purchasing power myself.

Incentivized

Super easy to use.

The UI is friendly, clear, and accessible, and I access it directly through the interface (Salesforce) that I perform my function in every day. It is intuitive to navigate, and I am able to find most functionalities I need without the need to consult an admin and/or support teams.

Incentivized

No issue.

Running larger segments can take some time.

I found one really good tech support guru and stuck with him forever.

Only thing holding me back from a perfect 10 would be the timelines for involving the technical team on occasion. There have been a few times where the PFL technical support team has been booked up for days or more than a week out which can delay our project timelines. This doesn't happen often, let me be clear. But when it does, it's usually at the worst time for our campaigns.

Incentivized

Implementation was one of the most painful parts for us as we had to find and create our own library to interface with Lyris's SOAP API interface which still to this day is one of the top libraries used in its language.

Incentivized

They are much better

Incentivized

JourneyMail is one I have evaluated. It did not seem as full featured as PFL Direct Mail Platform, nor did it integrate with the rest of the Salesforce products like PFL Direct Mail Platform (journeymail ONLY integrates to marketing cloud). My customers tend to be cross-cloud and own multiple products and want solutions that can integrate across their stack easily.

Incentivized

It does take a while to launch or re-launch a campaign, which can make it difficult to pivot quickly. However, if you're integrated with Marketo, then PFL is as scalable as your database and marketing strategy! The sky is the limit in terms of creativity. Post launch, the program is hands-off apart from report monitoring and potential optimization tweaks.

Incentivized

• More defined lists for third party blasts, which turns into more leads for the clients. Which is more money in our pocket.
• Some segmentation pulls do take a long time, thus leading to multiple requests and a time suck for myself.

Incentivized

• We've sometimes struggled to maintain a positive ROI due to some issues with packages not arriving, arriving broken, or including the wrong items.

Incentivized