Adobe Marketo Engage vs. Optimizely Web Experimentation

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Marketo Engage
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Marketo Engage (acquired by Adobe in 2018) is a marketing automation platform whose basic features include email marketing, drip nurturing, landing pages, and lead scoring, but other editions offer additional advanced features. Typical customers are B2B firms with complex sales cycles.N/A
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Optimizely Web Experimentation empowers teams to conduct experiments (without having to rely on developer resources) in order to test various user interactions, make website changes backed by data, and personalize customer experiences.N/A
Pricing
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Considered Both Products
Adobe Marketo Engage
Chose Adobe Marketo Engage
We used Eloqua and switched to Marketo for its ease of use. We reviewed it against Pardot, but its Revenue Cycle Model, advanced analytics and Salesforce integration were superior.
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
We went with Optimizely over Lift because it was more flexible with creating variants outside of the "blocks" of content that Lift handles. So for instance, if you wanted to test an entirely new area of content you cannot do that with Lift. You can only test images/text in …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
8.1
979 Ratings
4% above category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.5888 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.6865 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.8843 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.1905 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing7.9891 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.8863 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.1947 Ratings00 Ratings
List management8.8944 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences9.0854 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
8.7
947 Ratings
12% above category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.8922 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.8897 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.7895 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks8.7850 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
7.9
876 Ratings
4% above category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Calendaring7.5708 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing8.3836 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
7.4
545 Ratings
1% below category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.5536 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.3375 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
7.5
949 Ratings
0% above category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.3891 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.8929 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.4884 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
8.5
939 Ratings
11% above category average
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
API8.5807 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.5685 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.9831 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.1808 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM8.6271 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM8.2173 Ratings00 Ratings
Testing and Experimentation
Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
-
Ratings
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.0
92 Ratings
7% below category average
a/b experiment testing00 Ratings9.392 Ratings
Split URL testing00 Ratings8.574 Ratings
Multivariate testing00 Ratings8.877 Ratings
Multi-page/funnel testing00 Ratings8.272 Ratings
Cross-browser testing00 Ratings7.450 Ratings
Mobile app testing00 Ratings7.638 Ratings
Test significance00 Ratings8.584 Ratings
Visual / WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.076 Ratings
Advanced code editor00 Ratings7.568 Ratings
Page surveys00 Ratings7.017 Ratings
Visitor recordings00 Ratings8.418 Ratings
Preview mode00 Ratings8.082 Ratings
Test duration calculator00 Ratings6.956 Ratings
Experiment scheduler00 Ratings8.154 Ratings
Experiment workflow and approval00 Ratings6.537 Ratings
Dynamic experiment activation00 Ratings7.434 Ratings
Client-side tests00 Ratings9.250 Ratings
Server-side tests00 Ratings9.119 Ratings
Mutually exclusive tests00 Ratings8.437 Ratings
Audience Segmentation & Targeting
Comparison of Audience Segmentation & Targeting features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
-
Ratings
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.6
86 Ratings
2% below category average
Standard visitor segmentation00 Ratings8.985 Ratings
Behavioral visitor segmentation00 Ratings8.365 Ratings
Traffic allocation control00 Ratings9.481 Ratings
Website personalization00 Ratings7.957 Ratings
Results and Analysis
Comparison of Results and Analysis features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Marketo Engage
-
Ratings
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.3
84 Ratings
3% below category average
Heatmap tool00 Ratings9.113 Ratings
Click analytics00 Ratings8.733 Ratings
Scroll maps00 Ratings8.017 Ratings
Form fill analysis00 Ratings8.326 Ratings
Conversion tracking00 Ratings8.744 Ratings
Goal tracking00 Ratings8.473 Ratings
Test reporting00 Ratings8.176 Ratings
Results segmentation00 Ratings8.048 Ratings
CSV export00 Ratings7.648 Ratings
Experiments results dashboard00 Ratings8.049 Ratings
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User Ratings
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(1129 ratings)
8.7
(177 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(146 ratings)
8.5
(45 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(98 ratings)
9.0
(57 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(25 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(30 ratings)
7.3
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(89 ratings)
10.0
(16 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.7
(29 ratings)
3.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(37 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Configurability
6.0
(6 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
7.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
1.8
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(10 ratings)
8.0
(89 ratings)
Professional Services
9.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Marketo EngageOptimizely Web Experimentation
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe Marketo Engage is great for lead gen because of the out of box solutions. We import leads from Google, LinkedIn, Meta, Tradeshows, and web forms. It allows me to track leads from the moment they enter the system to the point where they become customers. I use it to score leads, segment them, and nurture them with targeted content. It's especially useful as a B2B organization.
Read full review
Optimizely
This is our second testing platform, and is by far the best we have leveraged. Its intuitive in how you are able to build tests. Tracking is easy to set up within the visual editor or as a capability in URL tracking. The reporting tab does need more filtering capabilities for custom metrics.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Like I have said Marketo has been very helpful by helping us to connect us with our customers and keeps them coming back, hence saving time, effort and resources.
  • Let AI build predictive audience and segments easily.
  • Personalize experience with active listening and triggered content.
  • 24/7 responsive support and service team.
Read full review
Optimizely
  • Considers every kind of experiment from simple code change, code additions, code removal, javascript functions, CSS changes, and split landing redirects.
  • Very friendly UC interface for easy navigation of implementation of pages, click events, experiment set up, and metric set up.
  • The ability to let me know when something has reach stat sig without having to do complicated math on my own
  • ability to carry UTM parameters through landing page redirects with a click of a button.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Marketo's email editor is basic in comparison to other cheaper alternatives out there.
  • Marketo doesn't work as well in B2C scenarios as it does in B2B. One of the painpoints of this is it's difficult to showcase a selection of product recommendations based on purchase behaviour without a very time consuming workaround. It's manageable if you're only selling a handful of products, but it's inefficient when dealing with a large catalogue.
  • Marketo's form and landing page builder are also behind the times. Perhaps not as bad as the Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform, but for an enterprise company the product should be much better.
Read full review
Optimizely
  • Hard to use extensions without some knowledge of HTML/CSS
  • Inconsistent user counts between GA & Optimizely when it comes to calculating MAUs, hard to be able to forecast budget and overages when our source of truth (GA) differs from our testing platform (Optimizely)
  • Impressions model doesn't support scaling personalization experiences - hard to run a serious data driven testing program when you have to cut tests short before 14 days (ideal length to get to any statistical read) in order to save on impressions
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
We're likely to renew for several reasons:
  • Now that it's been implemented, I can't imagine not having marketing automation and the easy interface that Marketo provides to run our campaigns
  • Marketo's community and customer service is fantastic; I know that when I need help, I'll get it
  • Marketo continues to improve the product, so I know that I can expect it to be even more useful in the future
Read full review
Optimizely
Because it's an incredible and essential tool for my line of work as a conversion optimization specialist. Really couldn't do my job nearly as effectively without it. It's paid for itself many times over and I feel like I'm only beginning to unlock the tools potential.
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
In some aspects, the tool can feel quite clunky in parts. But with the rich feature set it has, it's understandable. There is a lot of room for improvement for the user interface. The system itself doesn't have a slick or modern feel, so the usability could feel nicer to use with these areas considered.
Read full review
Optimizely
Usability is mostly great. I like the WYSIWYG functionality and adding in real code is simple as well. It's easy to target specific pages or audiences. I've knocked a couple of points off because of how difficult it is to set up URL redirect experiments, confusion around creating pages, and lack of data that can be further analyzed.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Marketo provides different way and abilities to connect. If you are having product support or unexplained errors you can get someone on Marketo support 24 hours a day. One of Marketo's greatest assets in my opinion however would be the community. Often times our company is just looking for case success stories from someone else. In the community you can search for problems you are currently facing and see others having the same issue and solutions for those issues. If not, you can pose a question to the whole community and champions of the product and others can chime in to provide suggestions to fix your needs. The community is truly a 24/7 place to get your answers quickly.
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Optimizely
I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's availability as a 10 out of 10. The software is reliable and does not experience any application errors or unplanned outages. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
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Performance
Adobe
There are times when it is slightly slow for us, where we sit on a screen waiting for it to load. This could be our internet since we have had the same issue occasionally with other systems, but it is enough to make you crazy.
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Optimizely
I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's performance as a 9 out of 10. Pages load quickly, reports are complete in a reasonable time frame, and the software does not slow down any other software or systems that it integrates with. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
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Support Rating
Adobe
On multiple occasions we've had Marketo support (technical and license based) issues. Technical issues were minor and resolved within a day. License based issues (even things encouraged by Marketo for partners, like provisioning another license) took WEEKS. They actually took so long to respond that the client we were working with withdrew from the contract because they were no longer convinced Marketo was capable of supporting their business. As an agency trying to sell the software, you can only explain away so much before they just made us look silly.
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Optimizely
They always are quick to respond, and are so friendly and helpful. They always answer the phone right away. And [they are] always willing to not only help you with your problem, but if you need ideas they have suggestions as well.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
Our account rep stopped out in Lincoln, NE to ensure we were properly set up and running. This was very much appreciated. I was very, very new at this point, so I can't comment very much on the extent of what was taught because I was still brand new to the company and the system
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Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Adobe
I had never used Marketo prior to taking this job so online training was my starting point. I was able to follow along, it was interesting and quickly and efficiently taught me what I needed to know without a lot of fluff. It was far from boring and really helped me get my hands dirty with Marketo.
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Optimizely
The tool itself is not very difficult to use so training was not very useful in my opinion. It did not also account for success events more complex than a click (which my company being ecommerce is looking to examine more than a mere click).
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
1. Have a content marketing plan to run in parallel with the marketing automation installation--you'll need a lot of content to make full use of Marketo's capabilities. 2. Work with sales (and ISRs) to define and document a workflow--build your Marketo installation around how you do business--not figure out how to apply your business to the tools 3. Spend time of data cleaning--both an initial project as well as a strategy for ongoing data management. We found some change manaement issues (no more appending ZZZ to the first name to identify contacts who have left the company, for example, or prohibiting the entry of "info@company.com" email addresses). 4. Find some champions in the sales and ISR teams. You'll have both fans and detractors--work with the fans to build some success stories
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Optimizely
In retrospect: - I think I should have stressed more demo's / workshopping with the Optimizely team at the start. I felt too confident during demo stages, and when came time to actually start, I was a bit lost. (The answer is likely I should have had them on-hand for our first install.. they offered but I thought I was OK.) - Really getting an understanding / asking them prior to install of how to make it really work for checkout pages / one that uses dynamic content or user interaction to determine what the UI does. Could have saved some time by addressing this at the beginning, as some things we needed to create on our site for Optimizely to "use" as a trigger for the variation test. - Having a number of planned/hoped-for tests already in-hand before working with Optimizely team. Sharing those thoughts with them would likely have started conversations on additional things we needed to do to make them work (rather than figuring that out during the actual builds). Since I had development time available, I could have added more things to the baseline installation since my developers were already "looking under the hood" of the site.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Prior to Marketo, we used SharpSpring. I will say that SharpSpring is more intuitive to use than Marketo, but it has much less functionality. If you have the time to really learn Marketo, it has much more to offer as well as many more options to customize the solution to your exact needs.
Read full review
Optimizely
Overall, the tools we compared against were great, but we went with Optimizely because it has all the features we needed and has the market leadership that gave us trust we would be successful in our experimentation efforts.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
The total cost is a little bit higher than we expected.
Read full review
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
We look at scaleability in a few different ways. First, the speed while using Marketo has remained relatively the same as our database has grown. Though I would say Marketo is slow at times, it has not gotten slower over the last few years. If anything, it has improved, and they are working to improve it. Second, the amount of programs we have developed in Marketo has exponentially grown as well. Marketo has allowed us to drastically increase our output without having to drastically increase our headcount.
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Optimizely
While granted, I am not the one making the changes to deploy the software; it seems basically as simple as placing the optimized snippet on your site. If you place it in the header, it should reach across your entire site easily. I do think the test setup can be a bit temperamental at times, and having too many cooks in the kitchen can lead to errors. So, I would caution how many people have the access needed to make actual changes.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Generated a 35% higher return on investment (ROI) in demand generation in the company.
  • The focus on the accounts that presented a greater sales potential, allowed us to prioritize and reduce costs by 20 Million USD.
  • Being personal and optimized. reduced efforts towards a more personalized customer experience, in working hours by almost 100 h.
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Optimizely
  • Customer retention: We've reduced subscription service client churn by 20%+ using optimized unsubscribe flows.
  • Risk mitigation: Testing into full site redesigns has saved clients millions of dollars.
  • Feature prioritization: Identifying what painted door changes add value has allowed developers to focus on changes that add hundreds of thousands or even millions to the bottom line.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Marketo Engage Screenshots

Screenshot of Marketo Lead Scoring - Marketo dynamically scores leads in real-time and can trigger a timely sales call based on website or other activity. Lead scores are integrated with a connected CRM.Screenshot of Marketo Moments - A mobile app designed to deliver timely, actionable insights.Screenshot of Simple or advanced workflows, built using drag-and-dropScreenshot of Lead nurturing can be performed without having to be a programmerScreenshot of Visualizations - display the revenue influence of each program and channelScreenshot of Marketo Sales Insight, which filters out the noise

Optimizely Web Experimentation Screenshots

Screenshot of the visual editor, used to make changes to the appearance and layout of a website.Screenshot of the results dashboard that displays experiment results.Screenshot of the integrations page, where integrations can be enabled.