Marketo Web Personalization (Marketo RTP)

Marketo Web Personalization is very flexible in terms of applying it to various scenarios and very complex website architectures. Where it falls short is making this much easier to both configure and maintain. The personalization features are good but not exceptional.

If you're already using Marketo and you want to personalize your website, you might as well give this a shot. Be prepared to use it for every scenario you can though (i.e. inline and widget) because if you just intend to use it for the pop-up functionality, there are much cheaper options out there. Honestly, this is a lot like other Marketo products where the idea is good, but it seems like little investment has been made in the overall functionality or usability since it first launched. Designing anything for Marketo is a pain in the butt and they don't make it any easier. Additionally, it also has the same problem other Marketo data does that you end up getting a lot of ISP information, even if you tell it not to collect that data.

Marketo RTP is great for companies in later stages that require greater customization or API integrations with their own marketing/sales tools. The integration with Salesforce also makes it worthwhile for companies that already have Salesforce setup in some workflows. As stated before, Marketo is quite expensive, so it might not be suitable for earlier-stage companies and startups that are just getting started with marketing and sales.

RTP is best suited for advanced marketers/Marketo users with HTML chops and past experience building segmented campaigns based on behavioral and demographic information.

For any company looking to target specific sub-groups with different messaging than other sub-groups, Marketo Real-Time Personalization is the way to go. If a company is not interested in adjusting the appropriateness of a call to action or business benefit for the specific person reading it, then RTP is not for them. Real-Time Personalization fits really when in organizations that are using an account based marketing strategy.

Anybody who is trying to do any customization of their website for different target audiences would benefit from it. Also if you are trying to do more account based marketing, Marketo Real-Time Personalization is a great tool to help with that. I love using it for geo-targeted campaigns - i.e. an event that is coming up on the West coast that shows up only to the West coast website visitors.