• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 15, 2024

Marketing automation software was switched more than other systems last year, judging by Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide, a study from MarTech.   

Among the email marketers polled, 24% changed their automation software, roughly the same as the prior two years.   

In addition, 17% changed their CRM program last year and the same percentage took on a new data management platform/customer data platform. Fresh email distribution programs were put in place by 16% and business intelligence software by 15%.  

Why do companies make such changes? When deciding to replace homegrown applications, they cite these issues: 

• Too expensive to maintain—29%
• Better features from SaaS software—43% 
• Management decided we’re not a software company—14%
• Outdated code—5% 
• Other—10%

The list is slightly different for commercial applications replacements:

• Better features—43% 
• Reduce expenses—23%
• Better/easier integration—28%
• Other—5% 

Of course, like everything, automation software was way more likely to be replaced in 2020—40% did so during that “turbulent year,” as the study describes it. And 34% replaced their CRM software, 37% their email distribution and 36% their analytics/business intelligence. 

MarTech conducted in-depth interviews with vendors and industry experts in the fourth quarter of 2023, and also utilized third-party research. 

In addition, MarTech analyzed these vendors without recommending any of them:

• ActiveCampaign 
• Bloomreach 
• Bravo 
• Constant Contact 
• Cordial 
• Dotdigital
• Marigold 
• MessageGears
• Oracle 
• Salesforce 
• Twilio SendGrid
• Zeta Global

• Do we have the right human resources in place? 
• Does our customer data reside in disconnected silos throughout the organization? 
• Do we have customer knowledge gaps that could be filled with second- and third-party data?
• Are we in compliance with GDRP, CAN-SPAM and other data privacy regulations put into place by U.S. states? 
• Do we have C-level buy-in? 
• Can we invest in staff training? 
• To what extent do we need to share data and reports with non-email marketing staff? 
• Have we established KPIs and put a system in place for tracking, measuring and reporting results?
• Do we have realistic expectations?