Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Joe_Reitz
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

I think this is fair. I generally subscribe to the mantra "it's a poor workman who blames his tools," but occasionally there are weird hiccups. I'm not quite willing to let Marketo off the hook for some of the things I've seen – from general slowness to timezones being represented wrong to RCA reports never being able to be pulled for... reasons – BUT there's no other platform out there that is a truly viable hub for all digital marketing strategies & tactics. So yeah... It's frustrating sometimes, but I still love it deeply.

Oh lawd... I just realized I'm practically married to Marketo...

In fairness, I think a lot of what we're seeing now is growth and server strain. I think that can only improve, but a healthy and honest dialog like this can only help speed it along!

If it doesn't look cool, you're probably doing it wrong.
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Agreed - at the end of the day, it was still going to be Marketo against all of the other solutions, but it just would have been nice to be given realistic expectations when I joined, rather than being told it was basically the most perfect thing on earth. Because they weren't honest about the faults, I'm now in the uncomfortable position of having pushed very hard for Marketo and vouched for it to the board to get sign off, and now having to stand up and explain why, after three months, we've only sent three campaigns, and why we're out thousands of pounds for a sub-standard product.

As I've said above, it's good to hear it's not just me in this situation, but would be good for Marketo to take notice as this is obviously not an isolated issue, and it will only get worse the bigger they get if they don't start listening.

ChristinaZuniga
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Hi Regina,

You've sent three campaigns three months after you...signed the contracted? Finished your implementation with a consultant? Or are you still in your Launchpack?

I've heard of implementations taking 2 years and having to completely restart (deleting their original marketo instance and starting from scratch). Depending on the complexity of your instance I'm not surprised that it's 3 months with so few campaigns. If a sales person sold it as up-and-running in a few weeks that's horrible and inaccurate.

I can only speak to my own experience, but Marketo is by far the easiest system I've used. A previous MA solution that I worked on wasn't able to do munchkin website tracking - they said they could, but the product didn't actually work - and it was almost impossible to calculate ROI (or even guess at it!). Marketo isn't exactly easy, but they deliver a good product especially compared to the rest of the market.

Joe_Reitz
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

if an imp is taking 2 years... good lawd, you might be doing something wrong. More likely, we're not operating from the same definition as to what is a "completed implementation," though.

If it doesn't look cool, you're probably doing it wrong.
Dory_Viscoglio
Level 10

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Yea, hopefully we're talking along the lines of Josh Hill​'s maturity model...

Josh_Hill13
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Yes. Implementation is roughly 90 days or less. If you meant that you didn't achieve the promised vision, then that's a project issue as Dory alludes to. I've definitely seen people blow up old instances. There are tons of reasons and not all are related to poor planning.

Josh_Hill13
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

I've had clients with this exact phrase. There could be many reasons only 3 campaigns are out the door.

Sadly, what the salespeople don't tell you is how much setup goes into it. It took me 3 months to learn and nearly 3 months to launch the first time...and it worked.

Joe_Reitz
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

I mean, we all agree salespeople are evil, right?

If it doesn't look cool, you're probably doing it wrong.
Conor_Fitzpatri
Level 6

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Hi Regina,

I have been experiencing the same deliverability issues and lack of help from Marketo to solve them. Like you, our SPF and DKIM is properly set up and we even moved to the preferred sender IP range, yet our customers still complain about not receiving our emails. We’re in the process of redesigning our website so my attention has been shifted away from our deliverability issues. However, as soon as the site is launched, I will be turning my attention back to deliverability. I will be sure to let you know what steps we take to solve our issues.

As far as my experience with Marketo, it’s definitely a love-hate relationship. When the tool works, it’s fantastic, but the deliverability issues and the lack of help from Marketo support has been beyond frustrating.

I hope you get your issues sorted out and please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide to help you.

Josh_Hill13
Level 10 - Champion Alumni

Re: Constantly finding faults with Marketo

Many delivery issues are self inflicted. If you have a clean list and are actively keeping it that way, then you can push Marketo to get you on a better IP range. Does everyone need a dedicated IP? no. But even with a dedicated IP, I get blacklisted all the time and it's because of my list, not Marketo. I was at a pretty small firm for my first implementation and we had a dedicated IP because we cared about our reputation. It's not that much money.

To OP Regina, outside of Delivery, yes, I've had bugs with Marketo and feel that their dedication to maintaining the code base is waning. I am usually able to get these fixed with help from Support and Engineering. Most of the issues, however, are the UI, not the backend. Most of my tickets are to find out what crazy things we did though.

Does that mean I hate Marketo or want to switch? No. I want them to get better and keep me happy. From what I hear in the world, the other systems all have similar problems in different ways...to paraphrase Anna Karenina, each MAP is dysfunctional in its own way. Marketo is the least dysfunctional, IMO.

The biggest reasons for cancelling on Marketo are

  • too much power for your level of marketing, so you never use 90% of the features (sales/RFP issue)
  • poor implementation so you blame Marketo instead of whoever did it.
  • the CMO wants a different system.