Optimizely Content Marketing Platform vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Optimizely's Content Marketing Platform brings teams together in a single workspace to share plans, collaborate on assets and flawlessly execute campaigns.N/A
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Marketing Cloud is an AI-powered, cloud-based digital marketing platform within the Salesforce Customer 360 ecosystem. Marketers can segment their audience, deliver personalized messages, track campaign performance, engage leads and accounts, and optimize strategies based on real-time insights.
$1,250
per month per installation
Pricing
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Account Engagement
$1,250
per month
Engagement
$1,250
per month
Intelligence
$3,000
per month
Loyalty Management
$20,000
per month
Personalization
$100,000
per year
Data Cloud for Marketing
$108,000
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Considered Both Products
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
Chose Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
We find Optimizely CMP easy to use so bringing someone new on to the tool is quick. We also appreciate how Optimizely is constantly asking, listening and delivery on the needs of their customers.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Content Creation
Comparison of Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
8.1
25 Ratings
0% above category average
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
-
Ratings
Ideation7.918 Ratings00 Ratings
Approval workflows8.822 Ratings00 Ratings
Content collaboration9.121 Ratings00 Ratings
Content calendar7.520 Ratings00 Ratings
Network for content licensing/production7.413 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Publishing
Comparison of Content Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
7.6
24 Ratings
6% below category average
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
-
Ratings
Content hub9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Forms / Gated content3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Embedded CTAs8.713 Ratings00 Ratings
Content distribution8.819 Ratings00 Ratings
Content promotion7.714 Ratings00 Ratings
Content automation8.417 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Content Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
7.9
19 Ratings
1% above category average
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
-
Ratings
Audience profiling and targeting8.23 Ratings00 Ratings
Closed-loop tracking and reporting7.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Content performance analytics7.117 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign optimization dashboard8.314 Ratings00 Ratings
Competitive analytics8.88 Ratings00 Ratings
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7.9
158 Ratings
2% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings8.1110 Ratings
Dynamic content00 Ratings8.2140 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings7.7100 Ratings
Landing pages00 Ratings7.6108 Ratings
A/B testing00 Ratings8.4139 Ratings
Mobile optimization00 Ratings7.598 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings8.3119 Ratings
List management00 Ratings7.5116 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings8.184 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7.6
112 Ratings
2% below category average
Lead nurturing automation00 Ratings7.7100 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading00 Ratings7.3100 Ratings
Data quality management00 Ratings7.6104 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks00 Ratings7.692 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7.9
103 Ratings
4% above category average
Calendaring00 Ratings7.993 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing00 Ratings7.987 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
6.8
80 Ratings
10% below category average
Social sharing and campaigns00 Ratings7.276 Ratings
Social profile integration00 Ratings6.432 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7.6
112 Ratings
1% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings7.6107 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings7.8111 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings7.488 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform
-
Ratings
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7.6
112 Ratings
0% above category average
API00 Ratings7.681 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals00 Ratings8.278 Ratings
Customizability00 Ratings7.499 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com00 Ratings8.7101 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM00 Ratings7.88 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM00 Ratings6.77 Ratings
Third-party software integrations00 Ratings7.314 Ratings
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Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 8.7 out of 10
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Score 9.3 out of 10
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User Ratings
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(27 ratings)
8.0
(316 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(112 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(22 ratings)
6.1
(35 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(11 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
4.0
(35 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(4 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
3.0
(17 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(24 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Optimizely Content Marketing PlatformSalesforce Marketing Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Optimizely
Optimizely Content Marketing Platform has a higher sticker price than some of its competitors. While this is true, you're buying an industry leader with tremendous experience in working with clients for years. Initially, with our Conversion Rate Optimization program, we were wow'd and cajoled into trying the hot bleeding edge features that some newer companies might call AI/algorithmic models-- these are otherwise known as Multi-Armed Bandit campaigns, which isn't a new thing. That being said, contracting and fully utilizing Optimizely Content Marketing Platform's suite of features, professional services, and more may be cost prohibitive for smaller companies. Once a CRO program reaches maturity Optimizely Content Marketing Platform can scale for larger teams where more advanced can utilize server side tests exclusively for seamless experimentation.
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Salesforce
Salesforce Marketing Cloud does an excellent job at collecting and storing leads. Once the leads are qualified by workflows and automations established against your qualifiers, you can begin to segment, target, send communication, and track the efficacy of your campaigns. Being that Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an extension of Salesforce CRM, there is little work that needs to be done to ensure that your SQL are migrated to your CRM once they are ready to do so. The seamlessness between the two systems is paramount to the success of our organization.
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Pros
Optimizely
  • Customer Service: They'll contact you with a "we're looking at your issue" email within the hour, even on weekends and holidays. Beyond solving your issues/problems with the software, they'll also follow up later to make sure you don't have additional associated issues.
  • Live Analytics: You're given a snapshot of how your blog content is doing at any point in time, since they've been tracking your posts/content. You can compare this month's traffic to last year's trafffic during this same month. Other data points include: Unique Visitors, Average Attention Time, Pageviews, Engagement Rate, etc...and you'll even get referral traffic source. There's much more that I'm leaving out here.
  • CMP User Interface (UI): Love the easy to use interface to upload blog posts, to use for editing and publishing content, and broadcasting social shares. Besides easily identifiable icons, you can create/edit content in the WYSIWYG or use the html view to make sure everything looks exactly how you prefer. Another cool thing is that the CMP auto-embeds live links of social updates (like Youtube, Twitter, Instagram) for more dynamic blog posts.
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Salesforce
  • Filter relevant content so you can priorize those that are more relevant and resolve it first
  • Measure the traffic in the different social networks, as well as the response rate, average response time and other relevant metrics
  • Configure automation rules to order the work of those who must interact with the customer
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Cons
Optimizely
  • Remove the preview option when clicking once. It'll be nicer if we click and being provided with both options instead.
  • Provide the option to download an entire folder of docs without entering to the folder itself.
  • 'Watch' option for specific docs, not just for folders...
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Salesforce
  • The email builder does not offer any way to catch/check bugs across different email service providers
  • Creating SQL is not as easy as drag-and-drop; a lot of technical knowledge is required
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud is sold as a marketing tool, but to be honest, you need a LOT of technical IT support to run the tool
  • Einstein metrics are across the board; if you have multiple audiences in one instance of Salesforce Marketing Cloud you can't segment the data.
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Likelihood to Renew
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
As of right now we have not seen any other program that integrates as seamlessly into our Salesforce platform. We have barely scratched the surface of all the features and use cases. It would be irresponsible to make a move to another platform in the near future. We have not come up against any limitations that would prompt a need to switch
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Usability
Optimizely
The workflow steps are a key part of our process now. Creating the accountability for someone to take action ensures that things don’t get lost in communication. The asset library is another substantial benefit to our business. Having approved assets available to other teams around the world reduces the need for email requests.
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Salesforce
You won't find another solution that has as many features as Salesforce Marketing Cloud Interaction Studio. We all know Salesforce, we all know how big they are and it's not for nothing... Their tools do most of the things you want, need and even imagine. Using it is complicated, but the usability is infinite.
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Reliability and Availability
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Upgrades and timing of the upgrades were communicated well and planned during off hours for our work. If we did have a campaign scheduled during that time, it would kick-off after the system was back active. There were a few unplanned system down times, but it was a rare occurrence and those times were also short in duration.
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Performance
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Though the make up of MA apps is not built this way today, it would be nice to see them become more real-time. The integration between Salesforce and Pardot is not a true real-time integration. If I modify something in Salesforce, those changes are not automatically reflected in Pardot immediately. There is a delay of about 15 minutes before the systems sync. This delay, although not long, is less than ideal We would love the systems to be integrated real time such that changes are propagated from one system to the other immediately.
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Support Rating
Optimizely
The NewsCred team is very responsive and helpful with any technical issues.
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Salesforce
They're fast and knowledgeable. You will always know what's the status of your request and they usually follow up with phone calls to ask you questions or provide updates. Sometimes it takes them a couple of days to investigate, especially if you have custom "situations" like my company usually does but at least they are very good at managing time expectations.
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In-Person Training
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
The trainers at the Pardot user conference (Elevate and Connections) were very knowledgeable and presented the material well. Again, the content was targeted to more of a new user audience, and was not really relevant for folks who had been using the product for 2+ years.
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Online Training
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Pardot's online training touches on all topics briefly and vaguely without much indepth exploration into how a final outcome could look, such as Nurturing Campaigns, Email templates, landing page templates, etc... The only true way to uncover Pardot's full capabilities is to have Front End design and coding experience. Without this key skill set, I would not recommend Pardot to another business.
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Implementation Rating
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
From an IT perspective, once you set up the Javascript beacon and start collecting data there is a waiting game. During this time you can start labeling your site actions which can be labor intensive for a single person, but you don't really have the final end-users on the platform yet. We did a lot of training so users were experienced, but it wasn't until they had their first tasks to accomplish that they started using the system and had questions. I'd recommend setting up some immediate goals for an end-user to start segmenting for the purpose of displaying message campaigns so you can jump start end-user action.
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Alternatives Considered
Optimizely
We started with DivvyHQ and moved to Welcome for reasons that I cannot remember at this time. The migration was a couple of years ago now. I enjoyed both tools, but I do think Welcome makes it easier to track workflows, edits, and comments specifically. These are all key elements when dealing with content and it has made a huge difference.
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Salesforce
Salesforce Marketing Cloud stands out for its comprehensive features, scalability, and seamless integration capabilities. Compared to other platforms, its unified suite of tools for email, social media, mobile, and advertising enables streamlined cross-channel campaign management and personalized marketing at scale. We chose Marketing Cloud for its industry leadership, robust ecosystem, and tight integration with Salesforce CRM, allowing us to deliver exceptional marketing solutions and drive measurable results for our clients efficiently.
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Scalability
Optimizely
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Salesforce Marketing Cloud helps create profiles for each subscriber. The Contact Builder feature stores information about every subscriber, including whether they're an active customer, their purchase history from the last year, and their email engagement metrics. It also identifies the likelihood of a subscriber churning, aiding in creating personalized campaigns to boost company revenue.
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Return on Investment
Optimizely
  • Marketing Teams can show the volume of work they produce
  • Input forms mean we are getting all the details we need up front (saves hours per month)
  • Users can prioritize and plan to make sure they are working on the right content at the right time
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Salesforce
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows us to more efficiently reach out to a higher number of prospects.
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows us to nimbly communicate important messages in a timely fashion to facilitate conversion.
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows us to track who is opening our messages so that we can stop sending to those not interested and focus on the most engaged audiences.
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ScreenShots

Optimizely Content Marketing Platform Screenshots

Screenshot of Integrated Workflows: Optimizely Content Marketing Platform enables teams to collaborate on content and campaign tasks with the use of flexible workflows.Screenshot of Intake: Marketing Work Request Prioritization: Streamlines and prioritizes marketing requests with dynamic intake forms, automatic routing, and integrated workflows to ensure that requested work gets completed.Screenshot of Library (Digital Asset Management): With Optimizely Content Marketing Platform's native asset manager, users can upload, organize, and share assets all within the same platform where content planning, creation, and collaboration take place.Screenshot of Visual calendars (List View): Optimizely's Content Marketing Platform provides visibility into marketing activities - from content to events to campaigns - with flexibility to support changing timelines.Screenshot of Calendar: Gain full visibility into planned and scheduled content and campaigns with the ability to save and share views.Screenshot of Screenshot of Editor with Embedded AI: Opal, Optimizely's native AI assistant.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of Pardot Analytics - Pardot's reporting and analytics can be used to perform true revenue impact analysis and closed-loop reporting.Screenshot of Pardot Email Analytics - The reach and impact of  email marketing efforts are displayed in real-time with advanced reporting and analytics by device, and email client.Screenshot of Pardot Forms and Landing Pages - Pardot's form and landing page builders are used to turn online traffic to leads with targeted offers and content marketing.Screenshot of Pardot Email Marketing - Lead nurturing flows are defined via an interface that enables definition of the simplest or most complex segmented and targeted campaigns.