Are you an Eloqua user considering a switch to Marketo? As a Marketo Senior Business Consultant with over 15 years of experience in marketing automation, I can assure you that Marketo Engage is a powerful and user-friendly tool that can cater to your marketing needs. In this blog post, I will outline the top 10 differences between Eloqua and Marketo to help you adapt quickly and efficiently.
1. User Interface and Organization:
Eloqua groups its features into Orchestration, Assets, Audience, Analytics, and Settings, while Marketo organizes its tools under Marketing Activities, Design Studio, Database, Analytics, and Admin. Marketo's tree-based organization system is intuitive, allowing users to easily navigate through folders containing Programs, Workflows (Smart Campaigns), Segments (Lists/Smart Lists), Landing Pages, Emails, Forms, and Reports. This makes it simpler for inexperienced marketers to learn and use the platform while providing advanced options for more experienced users.
2. Program Types and Workflow Management:
Marketo offers four program types: Default, Engagement, Event, and Webinar. Default is the most commonly used type, providing metadata tagging and status progressions. Unlike Eloqua's canvas, Marketo's programs are more like storage containers with campaign-specific features. Additionally, Marketo's form processing steps are part of Smart Campaigns, making it easier to centralize workflows, add, or rearrange flow steps. This offers more flexibility and efficiency in managing your marketing campaigns.
3. Form Creation and Customization:
In Eloqua, you create picklists for each way you want to sort a dropdown, while in Marketo, you can sort picklists directly on the form without creating new objects. Marketo also allows you to create form picklists on the fly and dynamically link the options of one field to the value of another field. This offers greater flexibility in customizing forms for specific use cases and reduces the time and effort required for creating and managing picklists.
4. Lists and Views:
Marketo has two types of lists - Static Lists and Smart Lists, similar to Eloqua's Segments or Listeners. However, Marketo offers more personalization in views, allowing users to create, name, and save their own views on the fly. This makes it easier for different team members to customize their data points and automate exports of lists on a regular schedule. This feature enhances the overall user experience and allows for more efficient data management.
5. Custom Field Limitations:
Eloqua has a limit of 250 custom fields on a lead record, whereas Marketo offers a much larger number of custom fields. While it is advised to use fields conservatively and with well-thought-out intentions, a marketing organization clearly has more options when it comes to saving data in Marketo. This expanded capacity allows for greater customization and personalization in your marketing efforts.
6. Centralized Asset Management:
Marketo's Design Studio is where email and landing page templates, as well as snippets (reusable pieces of dynamic content), are housed. This centralized asset management system makes it easier to store and share assets across the organization, improving efficiency and collaboration. Most marketers will create emails and landing pages directly within the program in Marketing Activities to keep everything organized. The ability to create folders and subfolders inside Marketo Programs further enhances the organization and makes it simpler for users to locate specific assets.
7. Marketing Activities and Automation:
Marketing Activities is the core area in Marketo Engage, where program builders or campaign builders spend most of their time crafting integrated marketing campaigns. Marketo Programs can house all components of a campaign in one place, making it easy to find and manage assets such as emails, landing pages, or lists. This holistic approach to campaign management streamlines the marketing process and makes it more efficient compared to Eloqua's separate components.
8. Engagement Programs and Nurture Marketing:
Marketo's Engagement Program is a powerful tool specifically designed for nurture marketing. This feature sets Marketo apart from Eloqua, as it offers advanced capabilities for creating and managing long-term, personalized relationships with leads and customers. Engagement Programs allow marketers to send targeted content to prospects based on their behavior and engagement, ultimately resulting in more effective marketing campaigns and better conversion rates.
9. Flexible and User-Friendly Platform:
One of Marketo's key strengths is its ease of use. It's built for marketers to learn and master while providing powerful tools for technically savvy users. Marketo's user interface is designed to be easily understandable and accessible for both new and experienced marketers. The platform's flexibility and user-friendliness make it an attractive choice for marketing teams looking to optimize their marketing automation efforts.
10. Community Support and Learning Resources:
Marketo Nation is a vibrant community of Marketo users passionate about helping others. With thousands of ideas, questions/answers, and examples of work, engaging with Marketo Nation is an excellent way to become a Marketo master, build your network of fellow users, and get inspired. Marketo also offers comprehensive online documentation that clearly explains every function, making it easy for users to quickly find the information they need. These resources contribute to a smoother learning curve and facilitate the transition from Eloqua to Marketo.
In conclusion, Marketo offers a user-friendly, flexible, and feature-rich marketing automation platform that can meet the diverse needs of marketing teams transitioning from Eloqua. With its intuitive organization system, advanced program types, streamlined asset management, and extensive community support, Marketo provides a powerful tool for modern marketing teams. By understanding the key differences between Eloqua and Marketo and leveraging the platform's unique features, you can quickly adapt to Marketo and unlock its full potential for your marketing efforts.
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