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Acoustic Campaign

Acoustic Campaign
Formerly Silverpop / IBM Watson Campaign Automation

Overview

What is Acoustic Campaign?

Acoustic Campaign (formerly IBM Watson Campaign Automation) is a scalable, SaaS-based, cross-channel, digital marketing platform providing digital marketers the ability to implement and manage email, mobile, social, and lead management campaign processes.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Users have found Silverpop Engage to be a valuable tool for their mass mailing and global program campaigns. It has also been used for …
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I Love Silverpop!

10 out of 10
June 17, 2015
We use Silverpop for marketing, retention, and transactional emails. Prior to Silverpop we had very little insight into the performance of …
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Marketing evolution

10 out of 10
February 25, 2015
Silverpop Engage is used for all of our customer-facing marketing emails and is administered by the Email Marketing team. Marketing …
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Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 26 features
  • Email deliverability reporting (10)
    8.0
    80%
  • A/B testing (10)
    7.0
    70%
  • Dashboards (10)
    4.2
    42%
  • WYSIWYG email editor (10)
    4.0
    40%
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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

What is Acoustic Campaign?

Acoustic Campaign (formerly IBM Watson Campaign Automation) is a scalable, SaaS-based, cross-channel, digital marketing platform providing digital marketers the ability to implement and manage email, mobile, social, and lead management campaign processes.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.ibm.com/marketplace/cloud/d…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

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Product Demos

Acoustic Campaign demo - introduction

YouTube
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Features

Email & Online Marketing

Using software to manage lists, send emails, automate email campaigns, and track results.

7
Avg 7.7

Lead Management

The process of tracking and managing prospective customers from lead generation to conversion.

7.4
Avg 7.7

Campaign Management

Users can schedule campaigns and/or events with reminders, announcements, etc.

7
Avg 7.6

Social Media Marketing

Using social media networks to help amplify marketing endeavors.

6.3
Avg 7.5

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

4.5
Avg 7.5

Platform & Infrastructure

Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.

5.7
Avg 7.6
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Product Details

What is Acoustic Campaign?

According to the vendor, Acoustic Campaign is a comprehensive platform designed to enhance businesses' understanding of customer behavior on both a personalized and large-scale level. The product provides various tools for insights, planning, and implementation that enable data-driven experiences across multiple channels. By leveraging these features, brands aim to develop enduring connections with customers while driving revenue through tailored and impactful interactions based on individual preferences. Integration capabilities with existing tools and systems offer marketing processes flexibility, efficiency, and optimization. Although no specific industries or professions are explicitly mentioned, it can be assumed that any business desiring enhanced marketing efforts and increased customer base may find value in utilizing this platform.

Deep Insights and Personalization

The product is designed to provide marketers with the necessary tools to deliver personalized experiences across various interaction points, both online and offline, in order to enhance customer retention and establish enduring brand allegiance. The vendor asserts that by utilizing behavioral data, Acoustic Campaign enables marketers to construct meaningful and timely messages, fostering long-term connections with customers. Through its real-time personalization functionalities, the product aims to empower marketers to deliver compelling experiences that promote customer advocacy and drive revenue expansion.

Integration and Efficiency

The product is designed to enhance operational efficiency and streamline business processes through its advanced technology and extensive capabilities. The vendor claims that Acoustic Campaign delivers a user-friendly experience, supported by cutting-edge technology, enabling users to navigate the platform effortlessly. By seamlessly integrating with existing tools and systems, the product aims to simplify workflows, eliminating manual data transfer or redundant procedures. This integration also facilitates smooth collaboration between teams, ensuring a seamless marketing process from initiation until completion. Ultimately, Acoustic Campaign equips businesses with the necessary resources to optimize returns on investment and effectively achieve their marketing objectives.

Acoustic Campaign Screenshots

Screenshot of Digital marketingScreenshot of Journey design

Acoustic Campaign Video

Acoustic - Free your inner marketer. Learn more: https://acoustic.com.

Acoustic Campaign Integrations

Acoustic Campaign Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Acoustic Campaign (formerly IBM Watson Campaign Automation) is a scalable, SaaS-based, cross-channel, digital marketing platform providing digital marketers the ability to implement and manage email, mobile, social, and lead management campaign processes.

Constant Contact, Oracle Marketing, and Emarsys are common alternatives for Acoustic Campaign.

Reviewers rate Dynamic content and Email deliverability reporting and List management highest, with a score of 8.

The most common users of Acoustic Campaign are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(124)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Users have found Silverpop Engage to be a valuable tool for their mass mailing and global program campaigns. It has also been used for automated lead nurturing and mass mailing. Marketing teams have utilized the platform to administer customer-facing marketing emails, while marketing communications managers have accessed it to track the performance of their individual email campaigns. Large enterprises like Texas Instruments have been able to engage with customers across different locations using Silverpop Engage. Its relevant and responsive marketing automation capabilities have enabled users to engage with customers at the right time based on their actions on the site. The platform has been widely used for emails, landing pages, marketing automation tracks, and lead scoring within global marketing organizations. Sales teams have benefited from its features by being able to rank leads based on their actions and qualify them accordingly. E-commerce departments have relied on Silverpop Engage for powering their entire email programs, including promotional messages, browse behavior, confirmation emails, and more. With its versatility, Silverpop has assisted organizations in communicating quickly and effectively with customers, leading to improved revenue generation. Additionally, the web tracking functionality of Silverpop allows for deeper insights into subscriber interactions with websites, leading to more targeted messaging based on opens, clicks, and interactions.

Toggle between HTML and Design views: Users have appreciated the ability to toggle between HTML and Design views for creating emails. This feature has been mentioned by several reviewers, making it easy to update photos and hyperlinks in emails.

Newly added features for test emails: Reviewers have mentioned that the newly added features for test emails have made it easier to ensure the accuracy of the email before sending it out. This improvement has been well-received by users, who find it valuable in preventing errors and mistakes.

Thorough examination process before sending: Users have commended the thorough examination process of the email before sending it, which helps prevent it from getting stuck in junk mail and ensures proper rendering on different platforms. Several reviewers have highlighted this aspect as a positive attribute of the product.

Outdated Usability: Users have consistently mentioned that Engage's usability is outdated and cumbersome, with confusing user interfaces, cryptic notifications, and old-style drop-down menus. Some users even reported browser lock-ups when editing signup forms.

Limited Email Creation Engine: Several users expressed frustration with Silverpop's email creation engine, which requires manual HTML coding instead of offering advanced Ajax or jQuery based creation engines like other ESPs. This limitation hampers flexibility in layout design and adds complexity for users.

Confusing Reporting Tools: Many users criticized the overall reporting in Silverpop, stating that it is confusing and lacks flexibility. They found it difficult to generate comprehensive reports, as well as extract contact information for opens/clicks. The presence of two different reporting engines, one legacy and one new, further added to the confusion.

Users have provided several recommendations for IBM Watson Campaign Automation. The three most common recommendations are:

Consider the software for organizations: Users recommend considering IBM Watson Campaign Automation for organizations, especially those with a limited marketing budget. They believe that the software has an edge over competitors like Adobe campaign and Salesforce marketing cloud in terms of intuitiveness and quick setup.

Use the software for marketing automation: Users highly recommend using IBM Watson Campaign Automation for marketing automation and automating inbound and outbound campaigns. They find it great for creating and managing end-to-end campaign management.

Seek help and support from IBM: Users advise seeking help and support from IBM when using IBM Watson Campaign Automation. They recommend hiring an Acoustic Partner consultant for implementation and training to ensure better long-term results. They also suggest reaching out to tech support for assistance before considering switching to another program.

Overall, users recommend considering IBM Watson Campaign Automation for organizations, utilizing it for marketing automation, and seeking help and support from IBM throughout the process.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-9 of 9)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Lawrence Ladomery | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
IBM Watson Campaign Automation was being used by two clients in two different ways. For one-off campaigns, simple email blasts, and more sophisticated cross-channel campaigns. And, to support the 'buyer journey' taking leads and engaging them to learn more about who they are and what they want, to be able to personalize communications and offers. Using data, both clients were able to offer a better brand experience as well as put the right products in front of their prospects.
  • Flexibility in using to data: databases (including relational databases), segmentation and powerful querying.
  • Personalization and conditional content for email as well as landing pages.
  • PURLs to extend personalization in direct mail.
  • The interface is clunky and heavy, resulting in a slow UX. This is particularly true with the email builder.
  • Processing of data (eg. returning a list of contacts for a query) is handled via 'Jobs', which means that it's not a dynamic process. Jobs need to start, crunch and end before you get a result.
  • Reporting
IBM Watson Campaign Automation is a powerful platform but one that hasn't innovated as much as its competitors. It's well suited for those organizations that have already invested in IBM products. All other ones should have a look at other platforms that are more feature rich and have a more usable interface.

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use IBM Watson Campaign Automation (WCA) ourselves as well as for reselling and offering implementation and best practice consultancy. It offers comprehensive integration options to CRM solutions such as Sugar and Salesforce, both with native integration and via a comprehensive suite of APIs, allowing us to automate and have an easy vision of our own marketing and lead generation activities.
  • Very easy to learn with extensive on-demand, self-paced e-Learning, a knowledge base to query other users' learnings and responsive 24/7 support via a portal.
  • Intuitive interface; work from left to right to join up data (contacts), email creative, campaign automation, reporting and integrated products.
  • Great automation capability: set up and automate the easy stuff quickly, allowing you to pay more attention to the hard stuff.
  • Easily import and personalise your HTML in the WYSIWYG editor, simple A/B/C/D testing process with automated execution to the winner and capacity for complex personalisation and dynamic emails creation.
  • My clients are crying out for a drag and drop email editor. While the WYSIWYG editor is fine, this would be a huge win for IBM!
  • The inbuilt reporting suite could do with an overhaul and to allow users to build more customised reports. Some elements of the reporting could do with better filtering options as well, or start with a filter rather than loading everything in the first instance.
  • Would be good to be able to make more assets portable between databases and have an 'asset import mapping' process to re-point/configure anything that doesn't match the original source.
This is a great product and its top feature to me is how easy it is to get up and running with it. You can learn the basics easily via the on demand eLearning and quickly be automating simple email campaigns. So if you're a small team with limited IT resources, you can get up and running with automated campaigns from a simple spreadsheet and some HTML in no time.
Michael Hobley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Obviously, sending email is its core function and it does it well. It has all the necessary functionality to help maintain sending reputation (throttling, spam threat estimation, etc). The built in functionality that allows you to have "mail-merge" type functionality (through personalization, dynamic content, and adding data from relational tables) really adds a whole new level to email marketing -- it lets you take your marketing to as detailed a level as you can potentially go.
  • Scoring models allow you to quickly and easily automate lead qualification by adding your own rulesets and criteria. Very easy to tweak and add email alerts when people meet specific ranks or scores.
  • The Landing pages (form builder) allows a user to quickly add a form on a webpage that interacts directly with Engage database. You can either use their default form builder (which, honestly, is not real attractive and very difficult to alter the appearance of), or you can import your own forms and map your form fields to fields in the database.
  • The Engage API is very well done, and very well documented. It is constantly evolving and being updated.
  • The community forum and knowledge base are also a very excellent resource for finding answers to questions without having to call support. Of course, it takes action on the user's part to find these answers - but it's a really valuable resource for those willing to take the time to search.
  • I think the Programs functionality of Engage is amazing, and you can really do a lot of awesome stuff with it -- but testing (and sometimes even updating) a program is laborious and sometimes difficult to do. I know they are aware of this and there has been much discussion regarding the topic on the community forum and within Silverpop.
  • The WYSWYG editor used by Silverpop (at the time of this writing is a version of FCK Editor) isn't super great in terms of the HTML it produces. It's not going to maim your email to look terrible, but it will alter your code if you have imported it (ex, changing hexidecimal colors to rgb, adding various font and span tags, etc). Nothing super critical, and if the user is comfortable with HTML - probably won't care (or even be aware it's doing it).
  • CRM Integration. Currently, Silverpop integrates with Salesforce.com (SFDC) and MS Dynamics. Salesforce integration has been available for years, and I cannot personally speak to it. We use MS Dynamics, and it is in its infancy. Current features and functionality are extremely limited. The initial introduction of the integration service was introduced mid-2013. Also, there is additional cost (setup and monthly licensing fee) for CRM integration, and - at least for MS Dynamics, requires a subscription to Scribe Online for usage (another cost, but not through Silverpop).
Silverpop hosts an annual conference every year (Amplify) in Atlanta. It's a 2-day conference (3 if you do the boot camps) where you can network and meet the staff, attend trainings, listen to expert panels, see new features. Really great experience and really got my teams excited to try new things.

They also do annual user-group conferences (in various cities) that allow users to meet other local users and discuss features and do hands-on examples. Not as helpful as the conference, but good nonetheless.
December 04, 2014

Silverpop Review

Carey Marston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Silverpop is currently being used to power our entire email program, run by our e-commerce department, from promotional messages, browse behavior, confirmation email and more. The variety of messages we send span across the entire organization and assists us in easily and quickly communicating with our customers and driving revenue.
  • Automated Messages - we currently have over 70 automated messages going out on any particular day through feeds and API calls that we pass to Silverpop. We rely on these automated messages to communicate to our customers and can rely on Silverpop to always be up and running to get these messages out.
  • Robust query building - We can target customers easily based on a combination of demographic profile data, as well as email and site behavior and purchase behavior, allowing us to finely segment our audience
  • Deep dive reporting - the UI reporting, as well as the available reports to download through the API give us tremendous insight into how our subscribers are responding to email.
  • Testing - The testing functionality could be a bit more robust. We would love to be able to A/B test automated messages/programs, as well as more easily test one content against another, which is currently a bit manual
  • Frequency caps - while Silverpop does offer frequency caps, we would like to be able to set frequency caps depending on whether it is a promotional message or an account related message. Currently, it sets it at the organizational level, which could potentially prevent somebody from not getting an account related email if the max emails for that day went out, even if promotional. For this reason, we don't use frequency settings.
  • Reporting on automated messages within the same campaign could be rolled up a little better. Using the UI today, to get to any detailed reporting of a particular campaign, you have to go into each individual mailing sent. For this reason, we typically use the API, but that might not be an option for some people due to a little more technicality.
Overall, we have been extremely satisfied with Silverpop, the platform, as well as the high level of account support we have. Outages are rare, if any, and we are always notified well in advance if there is a release (usually once or twice a year), that could short term affect the speed of the system. For someone looking at Silverpop during the selection process, some key questions to ask could be how they handle import of data, whether email lists or data from your e-commerce platform as well. What is on their roadmap that will help handle more of the 1:1 messaging and trying to prevent recipients from getting too many emails in 1 day more easily - currently a bit manual to manipulate each individual query. Silverpop is a self-service platform, so someone looking for more full-service should ask about the level of support they might receive and if they offer any full-service features.
Dave Iles | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Engage is used by the Kallidus Marketing Team for email marketing and automation programmes to help us send relevant emails and content to prospects and clients who would be receptive to our offer. We chose such a powerful automation platform as we wanted to ensure that we could measure and respond to the 'reader journey' at all online touchpoints.
  • Integration with Salesforce is very good, our sales team can obtain contact engagement insight from Engage without having to move outside of Salesforce
  • Support is very good, always quick to respond and willing to resolve.
  • Contact list management is very good, including the management of unsubscribes.
  • Reporting is complex, just getting access to the detail of who has opened or clicked emails can be challenging
  • The email and landing page template editors are very weak, creating good design within them is difficult. Easier to create HTML in an external tool and import. Defeats the objective of non-programmer email creation
  • Online training is not great. Always best to signup for live webinars which are much better
  • Automation programs are not straightforward to create and test. More online help is required to ensure users can be confident that programs created will act as expected.
It's very powerful but complex, if you need a system that you can use quickly then this is not it. Consider the ability of your users and how much time for training and learning they would need. Make sure you review the design and creation elements, they are not easy to use.
February 11, 2014

So Long, Silverpop

Jennifer Lewis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have been using Silverpop Engage for the past 3 years, but I've only been responsible for the system for the past year. I've worked with it for 2 years. We are using it for emails, landing pages, marketing automation (nurture) tracks and lead scoring across our global marketing organization. We were looking to provide sales with the ability to rank leads based on how qualified they are depending on the action they took.
  • Scoring Model - it was easy to implement and manage
  • Dynamic content - this worked well once we started using it for emails and landing pages. We used this for localized language versions of programs.
  • Data syncing and errors - Silverpop does not do a great job of getting data to sync regularly with our CRM (Salesforce.com). The data had to flow back and forth several times before being added to campaigns and in some instances, it took days to update leads! Also, failed lead syncs get stuck in an alert list but it does not notify you otherwise that a lead failed the sync.
  • Design issues - we use custom HTML to build emails and landing pages, and we were unable to render background images on our campaigns. Also, once you toggle between design and source (code) view to make edits, it often broke the code and threw off the design.
  • Administrator alerts - when sync fails altogether between systems, there is no email alert sent to the system admin (me/my team) so we at times have found that we have gone 18 hours until we stumble across the fact that the system sync has failed.
  • Reporting - it is not very comprehensive and we had difficulty generating the level of reporting that we need to have.
  • Support - there are a few gems in the support team who know what they're doing, but largely calling support is a lesson in frustration.
  • Product bug fixes - in two instances, my open support tickets were identified as product bugs. One related to incorrect cookie tracking which was causing our leads not to be scoring properly. They determined that this wasn't critical enough to build into their product fix road map. This is core to an automation system working properly.
Silverpop is possibly an option for companies who are just starting with automation in general or are on a tight budget. For us, we run campaigns globally in multiple languages and we are quickly outgrowing it as our automation needs increase. We need an automation program that can grow and scale with us. Also, its important to have a support team that's responsive and listens to the issues that customers face and makes the necessary improvements. We are looking at other solutions like Pardot and Marketo and they have functionality and usability that far surpasses what we have in Silverpop.
Katie Callicutt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our organization solely uses Silverpop in the Marketing Department for various types of email including, promotions, surveys, internal as well as alerts. Outside of email, we've set up numerous landing pages and are in the process of restructuring our lead management process on our website to enhance our scoring model set up through Silverpop. Silverpop is integrated within our website to help develop emails using similar imagery and content.
  • Ease of adding and updating contacts
  • Captures a contacts use of email and website in a way that is easy to interperate
  • Canned reports
  • Easy to toggle between HTML and Design views
  • Can view email output on multiple devices types
  • Newly added features for test emails makes getting the email right, that much easier.
  • Ad-hoc reporting
  • Spellcheck capabilities
  • Tracking personalized links
  • Ability to edits images already uploaded in Silverpop
  • Ability to upload multiple items at the same time
Silverpop is amazing for external emails. Utilizing it for internal emails has its challenges including company spam filters. It is not always easy to see who, out of the contacts in the database, received the mailing. Also, reporting can be a bit of a pain, as it isn't always easy to get the information out of Silverpop that my company is asking for. It would be nice to report on email performance for both programs and single mailings, without getting test or cancelled mailing in the mix.
Joe Sisler | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Silverpop is being used solely for email marketing within our online marketing team. It is used as a marketing database for new leads so that we can develop automated and ad hoc campaigns. Additionally, we use the web tracking functionality to get deeper insights into how subscribers are interacting with our website after clicking a link. We also use behavioral targeting to send messages based upon opens/clicks/interactions.
  • Dynamic Content - Silverpop's dynamic content system is the best I've used in my career with multiple systems.
  • Salesforce Integration
  • Segmentation
  • Automated Campaigns
  • Updating automated messages, you have to disable the automation > make the changes > reconfigure > reactivate
  • WYSIWYG editor is horrendous. We hand code all of our HTML, but if you simply open a piece of dynamic content it adds unnecessary code that you have to rip out if you make tweaks
  • Working with support can be tedious and nerve racking. Too often rather than investigating an issue they try to blame it on something else and waste time. Also you have to give them permission to enter your account. Which is also a good thing security wise, but it adds additional time to figuring out any issues. Very problematic when facing something urgent.
  • The program (or drip campaign) tool could use greater functionality so that you can better create paths. Similar to how Aprimo has it setup within their system. Instead everything is very linear in Silverpop.
For anyone that isn't ready for a more robust automation system like Marketo or Eloqua I think Silverpop is a great solution. Especially if you need to be able to integrate with Salesforce. After using multiple systems and reviewing demos of others I think they have a good product. But have some clear areas they need to work on for improvement. Support being one of them.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Program creation and automation.
  • Ease of setup and editability of templates.
  • Dynamic content.
  • Deliverability.
  • Would be nice to have the ability to set different 'modes' - an instance for beginning or light users and an instance for power users.
  • The new send process takes too much time.
  • Improved tooltips for new users.
Look at the tasks that you most frequently do within email marketing - and also consider the most complicated needs you will have. I would venture to say that Silverpop will be able to handle both with ease.
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