When you need a marketing automation platform to work: SharpSpring
January 13, 2017
When you need a marketing automation platform to work: SharpSpring
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with SharpSpring
We use SharpSpring to support our clients and to build our own business. As a small agency working with small businesses and startups, the cost of the market leaders in marketing automation removes the technology from their access and from ours. I actually had a salesperson for HubSpot tell me that if my client wasn't ready to spend $10,000 a month on their tool then they aren't interested in working with the client.
SharpSpring makes a highly functional tool affordable. It is also a lot easier to use than the usual suspects (Marketo and Eloqua) that I have experience with. For our own agency, it provides a very valuable point of differentiation. Few agencies our size have experience or access to tools this deep in functionality and it helps us retain clients longer than most.
SharpSpring makes a highly functional tool affordable. It is also a lot easier to use than the usual suspects (Marketo and Eloqua) that I have experience with. For our own agency, it provides a very valuable point of differentiation. Few agencies our size have experience or access to tools this deep in functionality and it helps us retain clients longer than most.
- Analytics are exceptional. Google Analytics are very basic and don't give the client the real information they need. They keep the good stuff for themselves. Analytics from SharpSpring are deep and personal. If you want to build a real relationship with customers, you need a tool like SharpSpring.
- While some professionals might say some of the features are very superficial, most of our clients don't have the resources to hire experienced web designers or data scientists. That the feature are easy to use and understand is a big benefit to our clients, some of whom are billion-dollar corporations.
- The tools keep you honest. You can't create spam because of the safeguards. We had one client that tried and the system froze them out until it was fixed. Plus it gives you ongoing feedback if you are getting poor responses.
- To follow on with that last point, the most important aspect of marketing automation is the feedback. No one really knows if their content is effective until they get honest feedback. SharpSpring shows where you are weak and allows you to adjust.
- Customer service is laid heavily on the agencies. If we can't figure out a problem, we can escalate it to one of their agents. That means we have to spend more time with the client on tech issues than developing their content. But that's a double-edged sword because it also builds trust between us and the client.
- The platform is robust and constantly changing. Sometimes you don't know what is available until you stumble over it.
- Their Q&A feature is just OK. It's not really easy to find the answers you are looking for and, frankly, their training videos could use our help.
- 1,000 % increase in revenue
- 10,000% increase in leads
- New levels of expertise to offer clients
They are all good tools, but they are also more expensive than most clients can afford and more complex than almost any internal staff can absorb. The cost and usability of SharpSpring make them the first choice for every client we engage with and we don't show favorites. Potential clients using the other tools ask us to evaluate them for them and we give them high marks, but once we give them a side by side demo of SharpSpring, that's what they choose.
Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM Feature Ratings
Using SharpSpring
2 - There is me, the CEO, and my partner, the Vice President of Business Development. We also have several partners with complementary services that are using SharpSpring at our request and they use it to integrate with our programs. We are a small, lean organization and SharpSpring helps us maintain our efficiency
2 - My partner and I have more than 40 years experiences in journalism, marketing communications, content strategy and public relations. We had absolutely zero experience in marketing automation tool management, but had studied the tools and their capabilities about a year before engaging with Sharpspring and became "experts" in the eyes of our clients within a few weeks.
- When a client has very low web traffic on their site. Sharpspring can show you why.
- When a client isn't getting responses from email campaigns
- When the client has a company list and thinks it is clean. Sharpspring will show if it really is
- Demonstrating to a client how bad their mailing list is
- Showing a potential client how badly their content is doing
- Pointing out when sales teams are not following up on leads