For businesses looking to take their digital marketing to the next level, our marketing automation challenge is putting all the major software options head-to-head, comparing them on metrics like price, integration, and features. So far we have looked at platforms such as Pardot, Eloqua and SharpSpring, but today we will review ClickDimensions, a medium-sized player competing for small- and mid-sized businesses in the arena of marketing automation.
Getting Started
As we said in our post on Marketing Automation For Dummies, the first steps of any marketing automation implementation is to ensure that you fully understand your business objective before creating a marketing automation strategy. Once you have established these metrics, your are ready to choose the marketing automation platform that best fits.
ClickDimensions
As far as marketing automation platforms go, ClickDimensions is rated highly by its users. ClickDimensions is the highest-rated software on Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM Marketplace, and is the only marketing automation vendor which is 100% integrated into Microsoft CRM.
If you are a B2B or B2C seller interested in a well-rounded marketing automation system that’s tightly integrated into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, ClickDimensions is an excellent choice.
Email Marketing
Users highlight ClickDimensions’s email marketing capabilities as a high-point of the system. Microsoft Dynamics offers good email marketing out-of-the-box, and ClickDimension further augments those capabilities in a way that makes marketing campaigns easy.
ClickDimensions offers both good basic and advanced features. Not only will novice users be able to create attractive email templates easily, but experienced users will have plenty of great tools at their disposal.
Lead Management
ClickDimensions offers decent lead management, lead scoring, and lead nurturing capabilities. Since ClickDimensions is so well integrated with Microsoft CRM, users have access to a wide variety of visitor information, which they can query and access with relative ease.
CRM Integration
ClickDimensions really shines in the CRM Integration department when it comes to the Microsoft suite. ClickDimensions and Microsoft Dynamics CRM are very well-integrated, so much so that users report that one often feels like an extension of the other.
However, the tight integration with Microsoft software can, in a way, act as an impediment. B2B and B2C businesses that have experience with other CRM platforms will likely encounter a lot of work making the transition. Users should consider ClickDimensions if they already use Microsoft, and might consider looking elsewhere if they are not.
Analytics
ClickDimensions has a solid analytics suite. Best of all, due to its integration with Microsoft CRM, users will encounter little difficulty in accessing, interpreting, and implementing the analytic data contained in ClickDimensions software.
On-Boarding
Again, ClickDimensions is so closely intertwined with Microsoft CRM that Microsoft users will have an easy time adjusting to the platform. Users without a familiarity with Microsoft CRM software will want to look elsewhere.
Pricing
ClickDimensions’s pricing packages begin at a base price of US$435 per month, to an Enterprise package for $1250/m, with 2 tiers in between. ClickDimensions also offers custom packages for B2B and B2C firms with unique requirements, and will work out pricing based on the client’s needs.
If a firm selects the basic pricing package, they will sacrifice certain features like campaign automation, subscription management, surveys, and others. These features com standard with the remaining packages, all of which are more expensive but well within industry pricing norms for marketing automation software.
ClickDimensions also offers firms a 10% discount for pre-paying their annual fee in one lump sum, so a firm can save some money at the outset.
Market Position
As of 2014, ClickDimensions was ranked 15th out of marketing automation platforms according to the website Datanyze. More recently, Datanyze claims that ClickDimensions serves a little over 4,100 websites, placing it at the 20th position as of Q3 2017.
It is likely that its limited market share has to do with the fact that it has such a close integration with Microsoft CRM, necessarily limiting its capabilities and keeping it lower down on the list of marketing automation platforms.
Conclusion
ClickDimensions is a solid and reasonably priced marketing automation program, which is best for firms already using Microsoft CRM. ClickDimensions is good for both B2B and B2C firms, and it has a lot to offer while still having some bugs. Best of all, the basic package makes it a good option for firms on a tight budget. Firms who aren’t already proficient with Microsoft CRM should look elsewhere.
If you need advice about which marketing automation platform is best for your business, just send us a message. Demodia can help you craft a marketing automation strategy that will nurture your leads the smart way. Contact us today!
Other articles in this series:
- Oracle Eloqua
- Marketo
- HubSpot
- Salesforce Pardot
- Click Dimensions
- SharpSpring
- Act-On
