SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

Ande_Kempf4
Level 5 - Champion Alumni

SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

There are only so many How-To Guides/eBooks/Definitive Guides/White Papers a marketer can create before they start asking themselves, is anyone reading this? Could I be spending my time creating content that produces a better ROI? And...how did my content strategy get so TOFU heavy? <--maybe that's just me.

So, in the midst of a content-life-crisis I stumbled upon SnapApp (interactive content). I have only started researching this tool and have found that their integration with Marketo (custom objects) is a great way to use interactive/targeted content to increase pipeline velocity by gathering prospect data via assessments/quizzes/etc.

If you’re not familiar with SnapApp - check it out: http://www.snapapp.com/

There are two main packages available that appeal to me (and most other mid-sized companies). Starter & Basic.

Here’s the deal.

Initially, I was only interested in the Starter Package because you get:

  • 10 Pieces of Content
  • 2 Users
  • Marketing Automation Integration
  • Analytics & Dashboards
  • Design Tools & Animations
  • Customer Success Support

I thought this would be plenty for my team to start out with in the realm of interactive content. Until I realized that the Basic Package contains a few additional functions that would assist in our marketing goals. And, to be honest, I thought the features included in the Basic Package would be included in the Starter Package…unfortunately, that is not the case.

The Basic package includes everything in the starter package, plus:

  • 24 pieces of content
  • 5 Users
  • Advanced Marketing Automation Integration
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Third Party Analytics Integration
  • Personalization
  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager
  • Summary PDF

The three advanced functions of the Basic package that seem worth the time to consider are the following:

  • Advanced Marketing Automation Integration
    • Who loves pre-filled forms? *Everyone raise your hand* The only way to have the SnapApp fields pre-populate is with the “Advance Marketing Automation Integration”.

  • Search Engine Optimization
    • SnapApp widgets are primarily javascript-based & search engine spiders do not crawl javascript. So, in order to make the content within an app 'indexable' SnapApp will replicate the content included within the experience in HTML code (that's only visible to the spider, not your end-user audience).

  • Personalization (The ability to personalize each user's experience based on how they interact with the content.)
    • This can take the form of:
      • Smart Text: lets you re-display known information to your SnapApp participants in the form of text — whether from your Lead Form, questions answered earlier in the content, or results received from the content itself.
      • Smart Rules: allow you to display or hide specific elements based on actions taken by your app's users. They can be applied to any text box, image, shape, video, or download within your app.

So, even though the Starter Package is more financially easy on the eyes and seems to contain enough functions to get your team started with interactive content, you may be disappointed to find that the actual functionality you want is about 10K more.

If you are currently using SnapApp, how is it working out for your organization and which package are you using? Any regrets? Praises?

Cheers,

Ande

4 REPLIES 4
Casey_Noland
Level 2

Re: SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

Hi Ande, did you ever pull the trigger on SnapApp? If so, any insights of your own as to the benefits or any challenges in implementation/ongoing execution?

Ande_Kempf4
Level 5 - Champion Alumni

Re: SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

Hi Casey,

We haven't! We've considered using them in the next quarter for upping our content game. I'll definitely respond on here if we do and will provide the details of the implementation and execution.

Molly_Cousins
Level 2

Re: SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

Hi Ande Kempf,

I used them about 2 years ago at a previous company and am considering using them again. I remember that analytics on individual content pieces was lacking (one example I recall in particular is that we couldn't see drop-off rates, only starts vs completions). Of course in SaaS, 2 years can be a lifetime, so this may have changed! Do you happen to know?

I also wanted to add a bit to the SEO/JavaScript piece above -- I'm not a developer so this is worth further research, but I heard yesterday on a webinar that Google does crawl JS provided that it renders within 5 seconds of page load. My understanding is that a) how the JS is deployed on the page and b) the JS library itself are both factors in how well Google crawls the content. There are some additional details around hidden/tabbed content mentioned in the webinar as well, obviously relevant re; SnapApp, but at least the first page of a SnapApp piece would likely be crawled. I'm sure more technical users can add further insight, but wanted to share that!

Ande_Kempf4
Level 5 - Champion Alumni

Re: SnapApp + Marketo: Is it worth it?

Hey Molly Cousins

Sorry it took so long for me to respond. To answer you first question, I don't . We never actually purchased the product. Re: SEO/JavaScript  - You very well may be correct. I took this information from the sales person I was working with and part of the reason I posted in the community was to get feedback like yours. I'd love to get to the bottom of it. Thanks for your response!