David Cummings on Startups

User Engagement Tools vs Marketing Automation

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David Cummings

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There are a number of new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools on the market that specialize in converting free/trial users into paying users as well as engaging customers on a one-to-one basis. Tools like Customer.io, Intercom, and Evergage are all different in their functionality but are working to solve the same problem. The market lacks a consistent name and uses terms like customer engagement, one-to-one customer communication, prospect conversion, etc.

Recently, two different entrepreneurs asked me about these user engagement tools, and after digging in, they look like specialized marketing automation systems.

Here’s partial functionality listed by some of the user engagement tools:

  • Track user-level activities and set triggers
  • Manage and deploy lifecycle emails
  • Automate one-to-one emails based on behaviors
  • Segment and tag users

So, without having first-hand experience using the user engagement tools, they appear to be specialized marketing automation systems geared towards companies with a web-based applications with a user conversion and engagement process. The interface and functionality is less sophisticated than marketing automation systems, but it’s also easier to learn and more tailored for a specific audience.

Marketing automation systems already fill the general need in the market for these user engagement tools, but if they are better/faster/cheaper for converting and engaging users in a web-based product, there’s an opportunity out there.

What else? What are your thoughts on user engagement tools vs marketing automation?

Comments

5 responses to “User Engagement Tools vs Marketing Automation”

  1. Scott Voigt Avatar
    Scott Voigt

    I think this is a very interestings space, David. We’ve tinkered with Intercom and, not on your list, MixPanel, which is clearly also evolving toward an “engagement” tool. Both are pretty impressive even with their stripped down feature sets.

    Most interesting to me is that these tools are quickly becoming a viable and cost-effective alternative to the traditional Marketing Automation + CRM stack for SaaS companies; particularly companies that begin with a product-centric mindset and *no direct sales team*.

    Reply
  2. Mike Lewis Avatar
    Mike Lewis

    At Kapost use totango and are really enjoying it. While it’s similar to MAPs, it’s used by a different group and tailored to different use cases. I find it invaluable for managing retention at scale.

    Reply
  3. Rob Carpenter Avatar
    Rob Carpenter

    The most notable difference between us (Evergage) and the rest of the bunch is that we make it super easy for web businesses to respond to real-time user behavior in real-time, within the web experience, and throughout the customer lifecycle. We believe that email marketing is of course a must within your marketing mix, but that the best time and place to influence user engagement is while the user is using your product.. not when they are in their email potentially days later. Pull users back into your app via behavior based emails, but get them and keep them engaged with in app messages driven by behavior in real-time.

    The other big difference is Evergage can be used to boost conversion rates and user engagement throughout the lifecycle.. not just at the top of the funnel or just within a web application. Evergage personalizes marketing sites for anonymous visitors to drive email conversion in the first place (something none of the other players can do), and then continues providing relevant user experiences at each step of the way, providing more seamless, enjoyable, and successful customer experiences.

    So, rather than reacting to user behavior like the other customer success and marketing automation tools, Evergage makes it possible to proactively prevent low engagement in the first place in real-time, increase customer retention, customer lifetime value, etc.

    Thanks for the mention.. it’s always nice to know people are hearing about us!

    Rob Carpenter
    Director of Marketing, Evergage

    Reply
  4. Eric Meury Avatar
    Eric Meury

    Evergage Pricing stated at 8500 for the year. Way out of most start-up budgets

    Reply
    1. Aviv Revach Avatar
      Aviv Revach

      Eric, check out Commerce Sciences as an affordable user engagement and personalization platform.

      Aviv Revach
      CEO
      Commerce Sciences

      Reply

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