When companies embark on the journey to find and integrate the best marketing automation tool, they’re faced with numerous choices – two of those are Marketo vs Eloqua.
While both of these companies launched – Eloqua in 1999 and Marketo in 2006 – as independent SaaS companies, they were quickly acquired by larger companies. Even then, Marketo is much more commonly used by medium-sized businesses, and Eloqua is popular with large enterprises.
However, if you’re a new startup and confused between the two, then you’re probably wondering: Which of the two is better? Do they have any differences? Which one better suits my business? How much will each cost me?
To help you decide, I’ve chosen five different aspects to compare the two marketing automation tools: Usability, Pricing, Features, Integration, and Support.
Marketo vs Eloqua – The Comparison
Usability
Whenever I discuss usability, it’s difficult to evaluate a person’s ease because what one person finds difficult to use can be easy for another person to use.
However, for the sake of argument, I’ll still try to discuss it. Marketo and Eloqua have very different user interfaces – have a look here:
Eloqua
Marketo
Right off the bat, we notice that Eloqua has a mapping kind of user interface which makes it easier to branch out to other departments. However, with Marketo, you can do that, but the process has a lot more layers and supports smart campaigns.
Some people will argue the traditional Eloqua system is easy to use, and others will say the smart campaign system offered by Marketo is better. It all boils down to what users prefer.
You can make a decision based on usability by asking your team for an opinion. Ask your team to demo both of the platforms and then decide which is better to run operations.
Pricing
Okay, no matter how I compare these two software – they’re both going to cost you in thousands annually. My honest opinion would be to keep the price as the least important aspect for making a decision.
The reason is that you need a system that will prove fruitful for your business even a decade later – to be concise, you need something reliable.
The Marketo packages are Basic, Standard, and Enterprise, while Eloqua’s packages are Spark, Standard, and Select. Have a look at the chart below; you’ll notice a visible difference between the two platforms – with Eloqua charging over double the amount monthly for the first two packages.
Whether you choose Marketo or Eloqua, the monthly subscription will include a TCO, CRM integration cost, and deployment cost.
You probably think these programs are expensive, and sadly that is the truth. Software like Eloqua and Marketo aren’t cheap; however, they have the features to become invaluable to your business. The question isn’t “which one is cheaper?” the question is “which one is better?” because they’re both reliable and a solid investment for your business in the long run.
Of course, visibly, Marketo offers unlimited marketing users for all its tiers, while Eloqua only offers that for its Enterprise level.
As a small business, you could start with the Spark or Basic subscription and then move onto the other tiers. Ultimately, the decision is yours.
Features
No matter who you ask in the tech industry, a true software user will always tell you that features are the most important aspect of choosing a marketing automation tool. However, this might be a tedious task with the comparison – Marketo vs Eloqua because they both offer similar features and functionality to the users.
As the table shows, Eloqua offers far more features than Marketo in their Basic and Spark packages, such as email A/B testing, revenue tracking, and progressive profiling.
However, Marketo offers a marketing calendar and metrics to measure your SEO performance. The marketing calendar Marketo offers allows up to five free users in the Spark package.
Comparing their other features, Eloqua offers a complete set of performance metrics in all their packages, like revenue tracking and lifecycle tracking. In contrast, Marketo offers all the tools, in all packages, businesses need for digital and social media marketing.
In essence, Eloqua has better packages as compared to Marketo.
Integration
You need marketing automation tools that can effortlessly integrate with your CRM. Marketo and Eloqua have many CRMs in common – from the most famous to the least famous ones. They share a very similar directory of CRMs.
Let’s look at a table to compare:
Now, according to the list, you can integrate all the most famous CRMs with either marketing automation tools. Some businesses use an in-house marketing automation tool – built by their team. If you’re one of those brands, don’t worry – both platforms have API that lets you do custom integration.
The only catch here is – Eloqua offers a custom CRM integration in all the packages while Marketo doesn’t offer it in the basic package.
Eloqua offers “plug-and-play” kind of integrations, while with Marketo, you need to spend a little more time.
Another major difference between the two is – Eloqua comes with a built-in content management system called Compendium. The CMS is great for creating a website blog and managing it using your marketing automation tool.
Support
For ongoing support, Eloqua has 24/7 phone support – meaning you call the helpline at any time if you run into any bugs or issues. You also have 24/7 unlimited access to online submission and social media support regardless of what package you have.
Why am I so specific about this? It’s because, with Marketo, you have 24/7 access to online submission; however, if you want to contact them via phone, you’ll need to pay $5 additional per month for Standard users and an add-on for Spark users. This means Basic users have no “phone privileges.”
However, most users will tell you they’re a lot happier with Marketo’s support team compared to Eloqua’s. Marketo offers free-of-cost training videos as well, so you can rewatch them to understand the tool better.
In Conclusion
I know the comparison seems vague, and you’re probably thinking, “so, who won?”
To be honest, the answer depends on your specific needs. I’ve highlighted all of the aspects, and I hope they can help you decide.
My advice? Don’t restrict yourself to Marketo vs Eloqua. While these are great tools, there are many other tools worthy of your attention. The best thing you can do is try out the demo of the top five tools, then pick and pay for the one you loved using the most.