We previously wrote a blog about moving from Salesforce Pardot (nowadays Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) to HubSpot. Another alternative to Pardot is Act-On. You can read why you should choose this platform in this blog.

What is Act-On marketing automation?

Act-On is a best-of-breed B2B marketing automation platform. Worldwide, approximately 7500 companies use the solution. It is a “Challenger” in the recent Gartner Magic Quadrant:

Act-On is a real ‘best-of-breed’ solution, or fully focused on the marketing automation functionality and not a standard part of a complete suite (as Pardot of the Marketing Cloud is). This has the great advantage that it can easily be part of an integrated marketing stack. It easily integrates with all kinds of other solutions such as CRM, data dashboards, sales technology, and other tooling. It, therefore, gives you as a user a lot more freedom in your choices regarding the rest of your tooling. To give you an impression of Act-On we have recorded a short demo. Watch the video with the Salesforce integration here (starts at 6:52 minutes):

What are the differences between Pardot and Act-On?

There are 3 major differences between Act-On and Pardot, which we explain below:

1. Multiple CRM integrations: where Pardot only integrates with Salesforce, Act-On can be natively integrated with multiple packages (including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, SugarCRM, Zendesk, and Netsuite) and also via integration platforms with any other CRM. By the way, the native integration between Act-On and Salesforce is super easy and intuitive!
2. Super user-friendly: We often hear from Pardot users that they do not find the tool user-friendly. It is cumbersome to create templates for emails and you often need technical knowledge to create things like templates, forms, and reports. Act-On was created by marketers, for marketers. So you don’t need any technical knowledge, you can make everything yourself as a marketer (drag-and-drop) and if you can’t figure it out, there is a simple support community and everything can be found online.
3. Pricing: a final difference is the list pricing of the 2 packages. This can be found online, for example on G2, and it shows that Act-On is cheaper and, moreover, often preferred by users:

Act-On’s native Salesforce integration

What about the integration of Salesforce and Act-On? After all, Pardot is completely from Salesforce, isn’t that better? Although Pardot has an integration with Salesforce, many users experience it as a separate package. That may be true because it was not built by Salesforce itself. It arose from the purchase of Exactarget in 2013. It was then integrated into Salesforce.

Act-On has a native integration with Salesforce (as seen in the video earlier in this blog) that offers the following by default:

• Simple integration set-up: the integration can be technically realized in an hour by means of a step-by-step plan that you are guided through. Of course, it is a full 2-way sync.
• Lead synchronization: sales-ready leads (SQLs) are synchronized in real-time and things like Opportunities, Leads, and Tasks can be automatically created in Salesforce. Online touchpoints can be seen in Salesforce: sales users do not have to enter Act-On, the entire customer journey, and touchpoints can be seen within Salesforce.
• Send marketing emails from Salesforce: You have the option to send marketing emails from Salesforce. Think of standardized prospecting emails in-house style that can be sent 1-on-1 by sales users and measured within Act-On.
• Pipeline reporting: One of the most important features is integrated pipeline reporting, which gives you closed-loop revenue reporting. You have real-time insight into the contribution of marketing to the pipeline:

Want to know more about a possible switch?

Act-On is a full-fledged alternative to Pardot. Especially if you have multiple tools in your stack and are looking for a user-friendly alternative. Want to know more? Schedule an exploratory meeting with us via the calendar below.