LinkPoint Connect promises to streamline data entry and access by enabling users to instantly view CRM data within their email client. This sales intelligence solution integrates Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM data in Outlook or IBM Notes. According to the vendor, key capabilities include: View real-time Salesforce data without ever leaving your email. Click on an email, and the LinkPoint Connect Side Panel instantly displays that contact’s information directly from…
$192
per user, per year
Mailshake
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Mailshake is a suite of tools for teams sending sales emails, including pre-written emails, follow-up scheduling and send controls, merge fields and customization / personalization, in-built monitoring, and both an API and Zapier integrations, notably with Gmail and Google Suite.
$50
per month
Pricing
LinkPoint Connect
Mailshake
Editions & Modules
LinkPoint Connect for Outlook + Salesforce
$192
per user, per year
LinkPoint Connect for Outlook + Microsoft Dynamics CRM
$192
per user, per year
LinkPoint Connect for IBM Notes + Salesforce
$228
per user, per year
LinkPoint Connect for IBM Notes + Microsoft Dynamics CRM
$228
per user, per year
Email Outreach
$50.00
per month
Sales Engagement
$99.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LinkPoint Connect
Mailshake
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
$16 per user per year
No setup fee
Additional Details
Subscriptions are billed annually. Discounts available for non-profits. Volume discounts available. LinkPoint Connect Solutions are available for Outlook and IBM Notes users. These include preconfigured implementations for Advologix, Apto, Apttus, FinancialForce.com, Jobscience, Navatar, Pardot, Salesforce Shield, and TaskRay.
LinkPoint is great for people who spend a lot of time working inside outlook. It allows you to update and add records directly from outlook and it has some built-in duplicate prevention which is nice if you don’t have duplicate prevention measures in place. It’s fast and stable. A lot of our users were unable to use SFO due to it crashing outlook.
Setup is pretty seamless, at least from an end-user point of view. Essentially you open both Outlook and Salesforce, and then click on the LinkPoint Connect button in Outlook. You are then asked to sign in (provide username/password) to Salesforce. That's all--once my login information was accepted it was set up and syncing emails and calendar items from Outlook to Salesforce. Pretty painless!
Recording/syncing emails to client records is, from my standpoint at least, the core functionality, and LinkPoint does this pretty much flawlessly and with little to no effort or input on my part. This is incredibly important to me as it creates the documentation record I need in Salesforce to provide excellent service to my clients as well as for compliance reasons.
The LinkPoint interface also makes it very easy and efficient to perform additional actions in Salesforce without ever leaving Outlook. New Salesforce tasks, events, follow up reminders, etc. are all easy to set up from the LinkPoint sidebar directly in Outlook with just a few clicks of the mouse. And, in those cases where you need to go a little deeper there is a link in the sidebar that will open up the client record directly in Salesforce in a single action, bypassing the multi-step process normally required (i.e. open the program, search for the client, select and open the record, etc.). This ease of interaction between the two programs has removed barriers and has helped me be more consistent in fully utilizing what Salesforce has to offer. No longer do I move on to the next item on my to-do list with scribbled note that will hopefully remind me to update Salesforce later, when I have a chance...
I found it pretty good - we were able to put email templates and campaigns together almost immediately. The reason I gave it an 8 is because if you want to edit those templates, the saving and making sure they were part of the campaigns was a little tricky and not intuitive.
Quick support. They offer very extensive and detailed tutorials on how to use the tool, as well as how to succeed in sending emails the right way. It probably reduces the number of support tickets and general support needs. The videos make it very easy to use their solutions. Great way to educate new clients.
Prior to our move to LinkPoint, we used the Salesforce add-in for Outlook. This required manual syncing of email and calendar items and no easy to use interface between the two programs. It was very cumbersome for me to use, to the point where I quit using it altogether some time ago. I found it far less frustrating to just switch back and forth between Outlook and Salesforce and manually perform the requisite actions, create tasks or other items, enter the required data, etc.
You can use Mailchimp or SendGrid for similar use, with Mailchimp the email automation is limited, and SendGrid holds up quite well. However, Mailshake is strictly designed and well equipped for email outreach and unusually cold emails, and its usability is second to none.
I'd say it was a net negative for us because the initiative did not lead to sales for us. It was probably HOW we were using it, and not the fault of the product itself. If you have luck with cold emails, and just need a new platform, Mailshake could be a great, and inexpensive option. Our loss was mostly employee time, and learning what doesn't work for us is a positive in the end.
