CallidusCloud LeadRocket (discontinued) vs. PFL Direct Mail Platform

We have really enjoyed the personal level of customer service with CallidusCloud and the quick turn around on any concerns and issues. CallidusCloud works well as an integrated instance with Salesforce and also as a stand alone instance that can send to csv files. We have been able to build campaigns, track success of said campaigns and manage automation. The level of integration has been key to our success and to the ability to create professional, personalized templates that are true to our brand but allow us to innovate. We also are pleased with the way that we can add blocks of emails on during our busy times so that service is not interrupted.

Incentivized

The reason it's not a seven or above is purely because of the timing of a solution we had requested originally back in August 2023. It's now February 2024, and we're waiting for a wow-factor pitch deck. Previously, we only received a demo recording and an order form quote. These truthfully aren't helpful enough to convince and sway our senior leaders into spending the $35k+ investment into the PMC.

Incentivized

• Reporting - we can send out emails all day, but if we don't have something to report to the client after-the-fact it voids the entire process. Genius provided a visually stimulating reporting tool.
• Tracking - Genius was great at tracking opens, clicks, bounces, hard bounces, etc. This helped us clean up our system as we sent campaigns out.
• CRM Integration - Genius was great about tracking each contact (in Salesforce) and their activity via emails.

• Personalization: It allows us to create highly personalized direct mail pieces tailored to individual recipients. For instance, we can include the recipient's name, relevant product recommendations, or even custom images that resonate with their preferences.
• Multi-Channel Integration: The platform seamlessly integrates with our existing digital marketing tools and CRM systems. It enables us to orchestrate cohesive campaigns that combine email, social media, and direct mail to reach our target audience through multiple touchpoints.
• Automated Workflows: PFL offers robust automation capabilities, streamlining the entire direct mail process. We can set triggers, such as website visits or email engagement, to automatically trigger the sending of personalized direct mail pieces, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
• Variable Data Printing: The platform simplifies variable data printing, enabling us to print custom content for each recipient efficiently. This is particularly useful for A/B testing different messaging or designs within a single campaign.

Incentivized

• One area of LeadFormix that could be improved is the way it schedules out an email to multiple lists. It can get problematic when an email scheduled to ten lists takes ten hours (one list per hour) to go out. It also isn't efficient to make us schedule individual emails instead of this process. I would like to be able to send out an email to ten lists and have it arrive in everyone's mailboxes at the time I scheduled it for.
• The email design platform could use work. I've resorted to coding my emails using html, since the WYSIWYG platform seems to add unwanted and un-needed style codes throughout the email (it's not a platform for people unfamiliar with coding).

• There is no built-in functionality to automate direct mail; this has to be created through triggers in Salesforce.
• The sales cloud integration didn't give us the syncing or reporting we thought would be available.
• We would like to see more support from team members in the post-onboarding process.

Incentivized

Since the company has grown, the personal touch has dispatched and it's more difficult to get a rep. There is no longer a phone call that can be made but the responses don't take as long as others and the glitches are becoming more and more frequent.

Incentivized

I will continue to use the platform as long as my employer provides access, but I do not have purchasing power myself.

Incentivized

Very easy to use and designed well.

The UI is friendly, clear, and accessible, and I access it directly through the interface (Salesforce) that I perform my function in every day. It is intuitive to navigate, and I am able to find most functionalities I need without the need to consult an admin and/or support teams.

Incentivized

It has declined since we started with this company and it could be better.

Incentivized

Only thing holding me back from a perfect 10 would be the timelines for involving the technical team on occasion. There have been a few times where the PFL technical support team has been booked up for days or more than a week out which can delay our project timelines. This doesn't happen often, let me be clear. But when it does, it's usually at the worst time for our campaigns.

Incentivized

We selected CallidusCloud (Genius) based on the level of service for the price. It was more cost effective then Silver Pop which was another tool recommended to us. On the other hand, mail chimp did not provide the level of integration needed with our CRM - Salesforce. We need to be able to connect the response to an email campaign to the individual contact (student) record and determine the success of the campaign.

Incentivized

JourneyMail is one I have evaluated. It did not seem as full featured as PFL Direct Mail Platform, nor did it integrate with the rest of the Salesforce products like PFL Direct Mail Platform (journeymail ONLY integrates to marketing cloud). My customers tend to be cross-cloud and own multiple products and want solutions that can integrate across their stack easily.

Incentivized

It does take a while to launch or re-launch a campaign, which can make it difficult to pivot quickly. However, if you're integrated with Marketo, then PFL is as scalable as your database and marketing strategy! The sky is the limit in terms of creativity. Post launch, the program is hands-off apart from report monitoring and potential optimization tweaks.

Incentivized

• We have had problems with our emails landing up in spam which was hampering out marketing efforts.
• Too many features that add very little value to business
• You spend too much of time on the tool because the UI is very confusing

Incentivized

• We've sometimes struggled to maintain a positive ROI due to some issues with packages not arriving, arriving broken, or including the wrong items.

Incentivized