SAS Marketing Automation vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

SAS Marketing Automation vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Ranking in Marketing Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)

SAS Marketing Automation

Ranking in Marketing Automation

12th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 22.8%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Marketing Automation is 1.8%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

SantoshKrishna

Director at BMO Financial

Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable

The encryption and decryption have room for improvement. We need to be confident that the customer's data is secure when shared outside of the organization. I would like to request additional mobile app features that go beyond push notifications. As the mobile development industry continues to advance with new technologies, such as AI components, it is important to consider these advancements when setting up campaigns. Currently, campaigns are scheduled to be sent to customers at a prescribed time, but they may not be relevant to the customer unless they see them as valuable. For example, if I want to run a campaign offering loans, I would need to consider the customer's needs and balance. In the future, I hope Salesforce can incorporate an AI component that utilizes the shared data, rather than just scheduling campaigns.

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Trini Olivan

Senior Data Manager at Liberty Seguros, Compania de Seguros y Reaseguros, S.A.

It's good at visualizing large amounts of data

You need to buy connectors to integrate Marketing Automation with various suppliers. For example, if I want to see the data through Power BI, I need a connector to see the data directly. Otherwise, you need to do everything manually. You have to download information from SAS and then save a text file, and then I can import it into Power BI. I would like Marketing Automation to have this native functionality without the need to pay more for connectors.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The notification system for customer alerts, including the integration of various communication channels such as email, SMS, and mobile push, is excellent."

"We use Marketing Cloud for marketing campaigns and engaging customers. It is a business-focused application for a specific area of business, which is acquiring customers."

"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build."

"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."

"Salesforce is constantly evolving and have a good release cycle."

"We have found the solution to be scalable."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud's integrations are seamless since it is a native application. It helps us with B2B and B2C send-outs and can handle large columns."

"Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

"You can enable it for business users or marketing users to use it in a self-service way. So, the technical team is needed to build the features or processes, and then those processes can be used in a self-service way by your non-technical users."

"SAP Marketing Automation is user-friendly. The interface is nice and clear. You can see the different diagrams and define various filters and targets. You can also export the customer information you collect to make the campaign. It's easy to understand how this information is entered. There are also a lot of platforms that show the results of campaigns. You can customize your data and define different reports, but SAS also provides a standard report."

Cons

"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."

"Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop."

"If you want to use advanced features in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they are extremely difficult to use."

"The product could use a little bit of BI in the sense of rule-based building."

"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."

"The general setup and understanding of how to use it can be improved. There should be easier self-service for setting up dashboards. Currently, we have someone setting them up for us. I wish it was easier."

"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

"The product is highly customizable, but the marketing and business teams want a lot of things to be built out of the box. A lot of features that could be out of the box aren't there. The main concern is to keep the system in such a way that it provides you with some out-of-the-box features and some customizable features as well."

"You need to buy connectors to integrate Marketing Automation with various suppliers. For example, if I want to see the data through Power BI, I need a connector to see the data directly. Otherwise, you need to do everything manually. You have to download information from SAS and then save a text file, and then I can import it into Power BI. I would like Marketing Automation to have this native functionality without the need to pay more for connectors."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company pays to use this solution."

"The price is expensive."

"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."

"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."

"It's not cheap, which is why I recommend that you use Marketing Cloud to create automated journeys. If you plan to use Marketing Cloud just to send emails, use another tool."

"It is a license per user."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

"I'm not aware of the full cost. The financials are not with me. In terms of additional costs, there are always OpEx and CapEx. That's one way to look at it. You also need separate hardware to deploy the product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

58%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

22%

Comms Service Provider

17%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

The cost is cheaper compared to other tools.

What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

In the SMS area, it is not up to the mark, compared to what has been developed for email.

What do you like most about SAS Marketing Automation?

You can enable it for business users or marketing users to use it in a self-service way. So, the technical team is needed to build the features or processes, and then those processes can be used in...

What needs improvement with SAS Marketing Automation?

The product is highly customizable, but the marketing and business teams want a lot of things to be built out of the box. A lot of features that could be out of the box aren't there. The main conce...

What is your primary use case for SAS Marketing Automation?

I'm using it for micro-segmentation-based campaigns and inbound and outbound campaigns. I'm using its latest on-prem version.

Marketo vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Capillary Technologies vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Download Salesforce Marketing Cloud product report

Marketing Automation

Download SAS Marketing Automation product report

Also Known As

ExactTarget

SAS Campaign Management

Overview

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that enables businesses to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

With its robust set of tools and features, marketers can easily manage and automate their email marketing, social media advertising, mobile messaging, and customer journey mapping.

The platform offers advanced segmentation capabilities, allowing marketers to segment their audience based on various criteria and deliver tailored messages to each segment.

Additionally, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides powerful analytics and reporting features, enabling marketers to track the performance of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

With its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Salesforce products, Marketing Cloud offers a seamless and efficient marketing automation solution for businesses of all sizes.

Salesforce

SAS Marketing Automation lets you get more campaigns out the door in an automated, trackable and highly repeatable fashion. You can quickly define target segments, prioritize selection rules, select communication channels, schedule and execute campaigns, analyze campaign results and easily make adjustments to improve future campaign performance.

SAS

Sample Customers

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips

Staples

SAS Marketing Automation vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud