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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    MessageGears

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AMessageGears is a hybrid email marketing service built around deliverability, actionable customer data, and audience segmentation and targeting.N/A

    StackAdapt

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/AStackAdapt, headquartered in Toronto offers their native advertising specialized DSP, supporting programmatic advertising with audience discovery, B2B targeting, and engagement analytics among other features.N/A
    Pricing
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Considered Both Products
    MessageGears
    No answer on this topic
    StackAdapt
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    Features
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of MessageGears and StackAdapt
    Feature
    MessageGears
    3.3
    3 Ratings
    84% below category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG email editor1.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic content3.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content2.23 Ratings00 Ratings
    A/B testing2.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile optimization8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting3.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    List management2.13 Ratings00 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences2.23 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of MessageGears and StackAdapt
    Feature
    MessageGears
    1.1
    3 Ratings
    149% below category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards1.13 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports1.13 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports1.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-Send Testing
    Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of MessageGears and StackAdapt
    Feature
    MessageGears
    3.7
    3 Ratings
    75% below category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    URL Validation1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Link Tracking2.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    Image Validation7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Inbox Display7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Spelling and Grammar Check6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Spam Testing1.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email Previews1.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Small Businesses
    Mad Mimi
    Score10 out of 10
    Basis DSP
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Campaign Monitor by Marigold
    Score9 out of 10
    The Trade Desk
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Emma by Marigold
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Yahoo DSP
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.2
    (25 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    MessageGearsStackAdapt
    Likelihood to Recommend
    MessageGears
    MessageGears can be a solid, inexpensive email solution and you can be able to send millions of emails per year. In 2020, we delivered over 235 million emails at a fraction of what that would cost with any other email service provider. We worked with MessageGears on a custom solution with our database.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    StackAdapt's programmatic buys are great for a quick awareness campaign to reach the most eyeballs. Solid user segmentation from 3rd party sources that is available almost immediately. The platform is less proficient at converting users, though I've never had sufficient volume to test if this works better for enterprise-level clients with more conversion data
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    MessageGears
    • The MessageGears Support team is very helpful.
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    • Audience targeting - there are so many options for both B2C and B2B audiences, from browsing behavior audiences to account-based marketing audiences to CRM lists. There's a way to find your ideal audience no matter their industry.
    • Pixel setup and management are pretty easy. It uses a universal pixel that you can easily place on your site. We use Google Tag Manager for this. Then, you can create any number of conversion events and easily implement them, also with Google Tag Manager, so we can trust we're getting good tracking.
    • It seems many display ad platforms lack optimization tools, but StackAdapt makes it easy to adjust, add, or remove audiences, pause certain website categories, exclude batches of websites, pause individual ads, and really fine-tune the targeting as you see what works and what doesn't.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    MessageGears
    • Multivariate testing
    • WYSIWYG email builder
    • SQL audience error report
    • Native reporting
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    • There has been occasional slopping maintenance of the campaigns, and we have to follow up with questions about spending spikes or significant changes in delivery CPMs.
    • Account rep knowledge can sometimes be lacking. When we question our reps about performance, we sometimes get confusing or nonsensical answers.
    • The reporting UI is definitely clunky and unintuitive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    MessageGears
    No answers on this topic
    StackAdapt
    The platform is easy to use and understand whether it is being used as self-serve or a managed service. The audience targeting is solid, and array of placements is versatile. With these, the level of engagement for video content is usually great
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    MessageGears
    Our situation is unique so I believe we are working on a semi-outdated UI which needs a tune up / version upgrade. Similarly, our custom connection means that we do not have access to the full feature set so I've never experienced MessageGears' best functionality
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    It is very user friendly and if any team members need further help, we are able to easily access their customer service team for hands on assistance with an actual human being, not a robot. Their team has been incredibly kind, understanding and thorough. It is really a great all in one tool for a business who relies greatly on advertising campaigns.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    MessageGears
    MessageGears support is always quick to respond when we have an issue, which is rare. Gail has been our main rep and she has been great. We don't have many issues so luckily, we don't need to lean on their customer support team much. That said, it would be beneficial to hear from upper management more.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    Support has been exceptional. Our dedicated team is always available and ready to answer any questions that may arise. We receive updates from them on a regular basis and they go above and beyond providing assistance when needed. The team is absolutely one of the bright spots in our relationship with StackAdapt
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    MessageGears
    MessageGears doesn't come close to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. We chose MessageGears based on how data was accessed. We never really got a good preview of how the system works or what was available, so we didn't know everything that it was lacking until we started using it.
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    StackAdapt is significantly less expensive than The Trade Desk. StackAdapt doesn't have campaign minimums, unlike The Trade Desk, meaning you can experiment with a lower ad spend to gain client confidence before investing at a larger level. Plus they don't lock you into an annual contract or anything long term. It feels very similar to The Trade Desk but without the high contract.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    MessageGears
    • Sending more email!
    • Onboarding handoff was a little rough
    • Great control on who we are sending to
    • Dynamic content is very easy!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    • Excellent traffic from our ads. Traffic exceeded our forecast.
    • Excellent management of our budget. We did not spend near as much as we budgeted for the response we received through our test.
    • The lead conversion was not expected to be high due to the type of content we deployed, but we received zero conversions, well below anticipated when compared to other ads for the same content.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots