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PFL Direct Mail Platform vs. Salesforce Agentforce Marketing

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    PFL Direct Mail Platform

    Score9 out of 10
    N/APFL helps businesses deliver authentic moments by creating impactful direct mail that is data-driven, bringing measurement, personalization, and predictability from digital to direct mail. PFL offers direct mail that is... Simplified: PFL simplifies direct mail execution by managing the entire process under one roof from strategy and production to delivery and measurement. Engaging: Supports engagement that results in action by paring digital tactics with memorable…

    $40,000

    per year

    Agentforce Marketing

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AMarketing Cloud is a cloud-based digital marketing platform, used by 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
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    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
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup Fee$10,000No setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Considered Both Products
    PFL
    Chose PFL Direct Mail Platform
    We selected PFL against Lob largely because of pricing and automation capabilities. We felt the team at PFL had our best interests at heart and could provide the robust automation we were looking for.
    Incentivized
    Chose PFL Direct Mail Platform
    We evaluated Lob. Lob was more complicated and required a separate software agreement to match what PFL was offering. It was also more expensive.
    Incentivized
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    88%
    Would buy again
    28 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    84 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    28 Answers
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    72 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    84%
    Happy with the feature set
    27 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    81%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    58 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    84%
    Implementation went as expected
    21 Answers
    84%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    Features
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    7.3
    171 Ratings
    5% below category average
    WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings7.4122 Ratings
    Dynamic content00 Ratings8.1153 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings6.3112 Ratings
    Landing pages00 Ratings7.6121 Ratings
    A/B testing00 Ratings7.0151 Ratings
    Mobile optimization00 Ratings6.7111 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings7.3132 Ratings
    List management00 Ratings8.1129 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings7.295 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    8.1
    124 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Lead nurturing automation00 Ratings8.8109 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading00 Ratings8.1110 Ratings
    Data quality management00 Ratings7.3116 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks00 Ratings8.2101 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    7.3
    114 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Calendaring00 Ratings7.3103 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing00 Ratings7.497 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    7.4
    88 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Social sharing and campaigns00 Ratings7.383 Ratings
    Social profile integration00 Ratings7.539 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    7.6
    124 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.1118 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings7.3123 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings7.3100 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of PFL Direct Mail Platform and Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    Feature
    PFL Direct Mail Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Marketing
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    0% below category average
    API00 Ratings6.790 Ratings
    Role-based workflow & approvals00 Ratings6.689 Ratings
    Customizability00 Ratings6.9111 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com00 Ratings7.6113 Ratings
    Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
    Integration with SugarCRM00 Ratings8.611 Ratings
    Third-party software integrations00 Ratings7.524 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Sendoso
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sendoso
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (33 ratings)
    8.2
    (329 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.1
    (114 ratings)
    Usability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (37 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.6
    (9 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.4
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (36 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)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.9
    (3 ratings)
    7.5
    (40 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PFL Direct Mail PlatformAgentforce Marketing
    Likelihood to Recommend
    PFL
    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
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    I think the product, by definition, is meant for marketing — and we use it exactly for that, for running campaigns. That’s the best-suited use case for the product. I don’t think it’s really meant to be used for anything else — that’s just not how it’s designed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    PFL
    • 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
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    PFL
    • 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
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    PFL
    I will continue to use the platform as long as my employer provides access, but I do not have purchasing power myself.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Usability
    PFL
    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
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    PFL
    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.
    Read full review
    Performance
    PFL
    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.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    PFL
    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
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    They are really responsive and more than not solve the problem or give you insight to how you can manage the solution yourself. I do find however sometimes a long delay on the more complex issues when they need to loop in other departments. but overall a good experience with support
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    PFL
    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.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    PFL
    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.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    PFL
    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.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    PFL
    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
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    We use Salesforce Marketing Cloud for lead management, generating reports, tracking customer and dealer information, inputting orders, and more. I prefer HubSpot for email marketing and automation because it is easier to use and the emails are designed much better. We currently use Salesforce and HubSpot, and we are very happy to have both, as they have different pros/cons.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    PFL
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    was not involved with this part but i have not heard about clompaints
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    PFL
    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
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Prior to this, we had no solution and literally were doing things on paper in a world where technology is outpacing paper. Having this process optimized has made it easier for the sales and marketing people to change information. From the training perspective, it has allowed us to see holes in where we could create additional support training, so the ROI here has been a lot more than just the optimization of a process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    PFL
    • 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
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    PFL Direct Mail Platform Screenshots

    Screenshot of Custom kits available for useScreenshot of Entering the sender addressScreenshot of Personalization at scale with custom messaging and signaturesScreenshot of Product selection with product details, template data, and advanced options

    Agentforce Marketing 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.