Going to implement marketing automation and considering SalesForce? We advice to view similar platforms to make a decision.

When clients choose marketing automation software, in most cases they are looking for functionality for email builder, marketing lead database, landing page builder, lead scoring, segmentation etc.

Comparing SalesForce with competitors people pay attention to the automation builder, customer data platform, chatbots, conversations, survey builder, segmentation, number of triggers and actions and so on.

We’ve compiled a list of top 10 competitors that are very resembling in cost and features to SalesForce. The list is based on popularity, so if SalesForce doesn’t suit you in any way, here you can easily select the best variant for you.

E2 Shop System

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We help shops and manufacturers of all kinds and sizes work smarter for improved efficiencies, greater flexibility and bigger profits.

Telagus

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Telagus is a business and marketing automation software developed by Telsa Media. You can manage all of your customer data, campaigns, projects and much more. Telagus includes many features and tools which can enhance your business and help you gain more leads. From email marketing and campaigns to form builders and live chats, Telagus can help organise your activity to help reach your business goals.

Streak

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Streak CRM has gathered more than 750K+ happy customers. Small businesses use this platform primarily for their hiring purposes. In 2018 Steak platform was recognized by Google as their Top Technology partner of the year.

Zendesk

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Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds software designed to improve customer relationships. As employees, we encourage each other to grow and innovate. As a company, we roll up our sleeves to plant roots in the communities we call home.

InSyncTelco CRM

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InSyncTelco is the Best CRM for Small Business that has all the basic capabilities that small businesses need in CRM software, but is also highly ascendible as your business grows up. Moreover, InSyncTelco is one of the most affordable CRM solutions available; there's a free version to help you get started, and paid plans to start at a small part of the price of comparable CRM software.

Jenzabar One

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Jenzabar One is a flexible, cloud-ready platform exclusive to higher education. Our powerful suite of technology products and services provides your campus with mobile-friendly solutions to drive institutional and student success.

Less Annoying

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Less Annoying CRM is a simple customer relationship manager designed specifically for small business. Store all of your contacts and their histories, track sales leads, customize the CRM to fit your unique workflow, and manage your events/reminders.

Apptivo

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Apptivo is the perfect small business suite for google apps. Apptivo has CRM, Project Management, Invoicing, Timesheets and more. Apptivo's business suite consists of 40+ apps that are integrated and seamlessly work with each other. The information is shared across apps, so data once created can be used everywhere improving overall productivity.

Malinko CRM

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With Malinko CRM software it is possible to organize today’s plan for tomorrow. The CRM is customer-centric and allows you to hold your customer database, like data, dropdowns, notes, etc. The tool is ideal for powerful reporting, maintaining custom reports, employee reports, and contact-based reports.

SugarCRM

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SugarCRM helps businesses everywhere provide the most outstanding experiences of all time — for every customer, from anywhere in the world. We’re building a world where companies can act as fully functional extensions of their customers. Where teams can anticipate needs long before customers even realize they have them. Where sales, marketing and services are fully freed to focus on people instead of processes. We bring innovation, transparency, integrity, value and passion to all we do to cultivate customers for life.

Oracle Sales

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Oracle Sales Cloud offers an array of capabilities built to meet the essential needs of sales organizations. Easy-to-use productivity tools empowers sales with the information and guidance they need to close more deals quickly; “always-on” access even when on the go increases sales teams’ effectiveness and “right-time” insights engenders sales performance.

How to choose SalesForce substitute

Many marketing automation platforms are resembling each other. Software with the same features can differ in cost by 2 times. The first feature you should look at is the availability of node interface. This is a basic feature of marketing automation apps and if it doesn’t include this feature, most likely this software isn’t ready yet. All node interfaces look almost identical. It's important not to pay attention to the UI, but look at the features.

In a month, you'll get used to the UI, but the missing features will always annoy you. Changing marketing automation software is very time-consuming. If you have the usual email chains set up, it's not that hard to change platform. But if you've already set up integrations, workflow, and have complex funnels, it can take years to replace the tool. That's why you should be attentive to study SalesForce competitors.

What to pay attention to when investigating the flow builder? It has 4 important features categories.

1. Triggers. For example, "Form submit" is a trigger that starts a funnel. The most often used triggers are: opening an email, clicking a link in an email, reaching a goal, adding or removing a tag, closing a deal, visiting a page, etc. In each system for marketing automation this set may differ. The more, the better.
2. Action. For instance, "Send email". This is the most standard action you can have. The most popular actions are: add or remove a tag, send a text message, send a messenger message, set a salesperson task, update a transaction, notify someone by email, move a transaction to another stage, etc.
3. Delay. For example, "Wait 3 days. Subscriber submit the form on the website and get in the marketing automation app (Trigger), the system sends a Welcome email (Action). After that the tool waits 2 hours (delay) and sends a second email. This is the most simple automation. But there are other variants. For example, "Wait until something happens". Or wait until January 20th, or wait until 10 PM in the subscriber’s time zone.
4. If/else. For example, "If a lead, has the tag "Purchased product #1", send the email, if the subscriber doesn't have the tag "Purchased product #1", wait 4 days and send the email. The most often used if/else parameters are: visited the site page, bought certain items, opened certain emails, user field the user card matches some requirements. This is information according to which you can segment the subscriber base.

Analyzing the automation builder, you should look carefully at all four categories of features. The more, the better. Usually it appears that powerful marketing automation software with the greatest number of features look uncomfortable. New platforms look nice, but they have few features. You look into the tool you want to use very deeply. Otherwise, it will be very hard to change it in the future.

After you've analyzed the automation builder, you need to whether there are integrations with the platforms you need. Fortunately, Apiway can help you. In most cases, apps like SalesForce are the core of business IT infrastructure. It's like a digital hub for all your customer. This type of app is like an tree, which is putting its tentacles into other software. Software like SalesForce has to integrate with most other ones. Or you’ll have to spend a lot of money and time making custom integrations.

Also those who are looking for alternatives to SalesForce use tools from other categories like chatbot software, helpdesk software, CRM system, lead management software