The Small Business Alternative To Complicated Marketing Automation Software
August 20, 2015

The Small Business Alternative To Complicated Marketing Automation Software

Rob Rohena, DIR Incorporated | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review

Software Version

Agency

Modules Used

  • Cloud

Overall Satisfaction with Hatchbuck

Hatchbuck has been a godsend. We switched from HubSpot.

While Hatchbuck does not have all the bells and whistles of other marketing automation softwares, it serves as a CRM and Marketing Automation tool that allows our small business clients to do inbound marketing at an affordable rate, while not compromising quality of delivery.

We mainly implement Hatchbuck for:

  • Segmentation of lists
  • Contact scoring
  • Email marketing
  • A sales pipeline management
  • Real people on the support team.
  • Unparallelled support and communication with agency partners.
  • Email marketing and lead scoring.
  • Integration with many other applications via Zapier.
  • Marketing analytics reports beyond email could be improved. (i.e. Competitor website ranking, seo recommendations, etc.)
  • A real WordPress plugin would be awesome
  • Built-in Landing pages. Currently you have option to integrate with several providers.
  • Improve quality of leads going to leads.
  • Improve ability to nurture relationship in a timely manner.
  • Increase perceived value from customers.
  • HubSpot,infusionsoft,MailChimp,AWeber
Hatchbuck is in a class by itself.

Hubspot and Infusionsoft are awesome, but, there is too much to understand and layers of tools which sometimes end up taking up more time than the typical small business owner has to invest.

On the other hand, AWeber and MailChimp offer great email marketing, but, that is all. In order to really grow, small businesses need more.

Hatchbuck sits right smack dab in the middle. It offers the basics of marketing automation, CRM, and integration flexibility to make it the small business sales and marketing tool of choice. All for $99 per month.
  • Not ideal for enterprises requiring ERP- level software.
  • Not a great e-commerce solution.

Perfect for service based business [insurance, realtors, plumbers, etc.], small companies where lead generation is essential [ manufacturers, distributors, Chamber of Commerce, etc.]

Non-profit organizations are a great fit due to the cost of entry and list segmentation features within Hatchbuck.

BenchmarkONE Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
10
Dynamic content
8
Ability to test dynamic content
8
Landing pages
1
A/B testing
9
Mobile optimization
9
Email deliverability reporting
10
List management
10
Triggered drip sequences
10
Lead nurturing automation
10
Lead scoring and grading
10
Data quality management
9
Automated sales alerts and tasks
10
Calendaring
9
Event/webinar marketing
8
Social sharing and campaigns
7
Social profile integration
7
Dashboards
6
Standard reports
10
Custom reports
8
API
10
Role-based workflow & approvals
8
Customizability
10
Integration with Salesforce.com
8
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
8
Integration with SugarCRM
8

Using Hatchbuck

3 - 
  • Marketing - responsible for top of the funnel lead capture, MQL assessments and nurturing.
  • Sales - responsible for middle of the funnel opportunity nurturing to close, SQL assessments, and pipeline reports.
  • Operations - responsible for fulfillment, and alignment between sales and marketing.

Hatchbuck is a major resource for allowing these relationships to work together smoothly.
3 - We have three in-house staff members, but, we also lean on the 40+ amazing staff members at Hatchbuck.

Most businesses can manage Hatchbuck themselves with as little as 1 employee, and a little side support from a Hatchbuck Partner Agency.

Hatchbuck, also offers a marketplace where their certified partners offer a la cart services to small businesses.
  • Website webforms
  • Automated campaigns
  • Task management
  • Contact score alerts
  • Tag rules
  • Tag rules allow for deep segmentation.
  • If they ever add landing pages (LPs) with the ability to easily connect to a [sub]domain name, we would be able to save time by using the designs with the email templates to create our LPs, and then use the links on PPC and Social Media.
In case you can't tell, we are in love with Hatchbuck software. Could it be improved? Of course it could, but, based on our current needs, and the needs of our existing and targeted clients so far, Hatchbuck presents the best fit option available.

As a partner we are looking to grow with Hacthbuck into the future.

Evaluating Hatchbuck and Competitors

Yes - HubSpot. Great company. Great software. Great business model. But, too expensive for our company needs. I felt like just another partner to them. Our agency is too small, and too simple for them. Our clients do not have $2500 monthly retainer budget for us - plus $600 per month for software.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
  • Third-party Reviews
The product features had to include marketing automation and CRM.

We were looking at switching from HubSpot to either Infusionoft or Hatchbuck.

The partner fee at Infusionsoft $2000 each year. At Hatchbuck $500 in time.
While we do miss some of the recommendation reports and built-in features from what we can tell it was a very wise decision.

Hatchbuck Implementation

Map it out on paper so you can visually make it happen.
  • Vendor implemented
  • Implemented in-house
  • Professional services company
DIR Incorporated and Hatchbuck. We also consulted with Viktor at Inbound Method.
Change management was minimal
  • Figuring out strategy for campaign management

Hatchbuck Support

I always get a response within 24 hours, unless I ask on a weekend. The team seems to work together to resolve my issues, answer my questions, and update me on changes. In fact, they have even connected [with] me to ask how they can improve the Hatchbuck software and their service. This is why I love them so much.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes, Nicci Anderson called me just to introduce herself and ask if I had any specific questions related to Hatchbuck. She then took the time to guide me through a few areas I needed support in. She followed up on the conversation with a real email with links to resources and materials to help me with any remaining questions I might have.

Using Hatchbuck

Hatchbuck offers on-boarding, training, and has a suite of videos, which makes it super easy to get started. As with any software that is the key. Have a plan, stay focused, and get started. Once, you begin to play with Hatchbuck you will see that it is very user friendly.
ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
Unnecessarily complex
  • Designing email templates
  • Adding / importing contacts
  • Adding webforms to website
  • Having to add a tracking code to each page, versus having one code for an entire Wordpress site.
  • Connecting to a landing page.
Yes - Compared to others - very good. However, could be improved.