Item: Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM
Rating: 9
Author: George Jeffray

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My agency uses SharpSpring as part of our own strategy on a day to day basis within the marketing and sales function. We have also implemented the onboarding process for key clients in 2016 and 2017. For both our agency and clients alike, it has addressed the business issues around managing multiple marketing tasks. The visitor data tracking function has been of great help in identifying leads which are not quite ready to purchase in the sales funnel and using inbound methodology it allows us to focus more efficiently on nurturing leads through to the conversion stage.

Pros and Cons

Online 24/7 unlimited support within the monthly fees structure. It allows our agency to manage costs more efficiently as we can be sure there are no additional outlays for support, which is not always the case with marketing software.
Constantly adding new features and benefits within the platform. This was a crucial part of our decision to use SharpSpring, due to the constantly changing landscape that is marketing automation. It is vital our agency and clients can keep up with new integration offerings within the industry.

Monthly fees are in dollars. Unlike most marketing software providers in the USA, with SharpSpring you do not benefit from the currency conversion into £ sterling. You pay in £ sterling the same monthly fee as in US $ dollars which is technically penalising UK customers.
Email builder; while it is satisfactory, it could be even more user-friendly.
Social Media and SEO features would be extremely useful.

Return on Investment

It had significant positive impact on client retention. One particular client saw a decent ROI from marketing, before using the platform. However, the ROI since the platform has been in use has led to this client increasing marketing spend with my agency.
Agency ROI in relation to the cost of the software has seen a significant return after three months of inbound integration of the platform.

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot, Marketo, Hatchbuck and Infusionsoft

When it comes to features and functionality obviously HubSpot and Marketo are ahead of everyone. However, the cost, upfront annual payment demands and difficult learning curve involved in getting to grips with these platforms made them a non-starter for an agency of our size and our small to medium size business clients.
Hatchbuck while a good platform in my opinion after thorough research and a couple of calls with their team didn't quite match up to what SharpSpring had to offer especially regarding vital support.
The agency has not disappointed with the choice to date. SharpSpring has under promised and till now over delivered.

Other Software Used

Hootsuite Pro, Smartsheet, Canvas

Likelihood to Recommend

We are a small boutique digital marketing agency based in the UK. We spent six months researching all the marketing platforms available.

It was vital to have 24/7 support available within the fees payable, favourable fee rates for an agency of our size (which did not require upfront annual payment), the option to have access to support within GMT timelines for our UK clients and last but not least a marketing automation provider who was developing new features on a near-quarterly basis. We decided that SharpSpring and their team would provide all of these features and benefits.

We commenced our inbound integration mid-2016, and the integration ran extremely efficiently with fantastic support.

They have over delivered every step of the way, and their team are highly knowledgeable, patient and supportive.
As an agency working with small to medium sized businesses, this platform does not have as steep a learning curve as some other far more expensive providers of this type of software.
The platfrom is of course well suited to email campaigns where leads can be identified using the visitor ID function and helps nurture prospects through the inbound processs till they are ready to buy.

It is less appropriate when looking to integrate social platform information into the CRM nor in providing guidance when it comes to SEO tips etc during content creation on the platform etc.

The ideal marketing automation platform for small to medium sized digital agencies and businesses.

Overall Satisfaction with SharpSpring