SharpSpring vs Zoho Marketing Automation

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Our analysts compared SharpSpring vs Zoho Marketing Automation based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Marketing Automation Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

SharpSpring is a cloud-based sales and marketing platform that facilitates building automation rules to send customers with dynamic content or targeted emails based on their interests. It also provides adequate support for marketing agencies.

Features include behavior-based email, campaign tracking, dynamic landing pages, a blog builder, anonymous visitor ID, a form builder, reporting and analytics, social media management, and integrations. Lead scoring helps track a lead’s page visits, demographics and engagement to enhance nurturing efforts.
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Zoho Marketing Automation is a comprehensive solution that creates a visual dashboard for tracking data. It automates workflow processes, tracks conversions and helps visitors navigate the website.

Generate engagement with surveys and webinars, and simplify social media, email and mobile campaigns. Explore and compare data with accessible analytics and provide integrated assistance to customers and staff.
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$449 Monthly
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$14 Monthly
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Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Email Templates: Leverage prebuilt email templates optimized for mobile devices and any email client, including Outlook. The templates' prebuilt layouts can be edited and sent to customers on the fly. 
  • Folders Categorization: Stay organized by grouping emails and templates in folders. 
  • Document Storage: Store documents such as case studies, white papers and marketing sheets with a content delivery network. 
  • Custom Fields: Capture detailed information about customers, including buyer personas, customer service and other attributes. 
  • Buyer Personas: Create buyer personas using a customizable template that can be stored on the platform. Use personas to segment content and campaigns, delivering personalized content. 
  • Cart Abandonment Follow-up: Set up email workflows to automatically follow up with leads that forego their purchases. 
  • Important Page Visits: Mark specific areas of the website as “Important Pages” and the system will automatically boost lead scores for contacts who visit those pages. Set up automated workflows and lead nurturing campaigns for leads who visit those pages. 
  • Email Inbox Delivery: Identify daily priorities without logging into the platform with information about daily anonymous website visitors, leads, opportunities and customers delivered via email. 
  • Landing Page Templates: Create a series of linked pages to funnel visitors and prospects for lead generation by using predesigned templates. 
  • RSS Email Syndication: Automatically send email blog posts to a list of followers on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Customize with thumbnail images, titles, dates and other dynamic content. 
  • Content Page Templates: Offers a library of prebuilt index and content page templates that are mobile responsive and can be edited from the blog editor. 
  • Campaign Tagging: Create custom categories and common tags such as email, Google, referrals, organic and offline to group, ungroup or break down campaigns. 
  • Social Notes: Promote internal collaboration with social avatars, “Mark as Read” tags and a clear conversation timeline. 
  • Webinar Integrations: Promote, share and improve web conferences through integration with WebEx and GoToWebinar. Capture lead data from sign-ups and link a dedicated sales funnel to each event to follow up with automated email workflows. 
  • CMS Compatibility: Supports all major content management systems, including WordPress, Drupal, ExpressionEngine, Joomla and more. 
  • Reminders: Create reminders from any page and attach them to opportunities and contacts to schedule a follow-up. Reminders can also be combined with social notes to assign tasks. 
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  • Email Builder: Offers drag-and-drop email editor and HTML customization. Dynamic features and smart tags automate the process of customizing email messages. Designs can also be saved as templates for later use. 
  • Email Campaign Testing: Native integration with Litmus facilitates testing and previewing emails on dozens of applications, email providers and devices. 
  • Behavioral-Based Email Tracking: Gives complete information on visitor activity, including page visits, form fills, webinar sign-ups and white paper downloads from email campaigns. 
  • Web Form Builder: Provides: 
    • A drag-and-drop tool with auto-completion capabilities to design and customize web forms and CTA buttons.
    • The option to view and test forms before making them live.
    • CSS to customize forms.
    • Data sharing with other applications and databases by adding a Postback URL to sync information automatically.
  • Customer Segmentation: Offers lists that automatically update as contacts meet the list’s criteria such as location, visited pricing pages, product interest and more. Map a field in web forms to preset buyer personas, setting up questions accordingly. Responses aid list segmentation, allowing follow up with personalized information. 
  • Workflow Builder: Supports automation tasks and leverages branching logic, task combination and action groups to devise a path buyers should take. Responses use custom triggers and filters to personalize lead journeys. 
  • Lead Scoring: Scores leads based on engagement. Custom metrics allow increasing or decreasing scores, including page visits, filled out forms, content downloads and specific demographic characteristics. Assigning a decay rate on leads automatically decreases scores over time. 
  • Real-Time Alerts: Automated workflows can trigger notifications via email and SMS whenever a sale is made, a high-quality lead is created or a prospect moves along their buyer’s journey. 
  • Pipeline View: Create and customize custom deal stages to track the progress of an opportunity. Provides a drag-and-drop interface to move opportunities across deal stages to get an overview of each prospect’s progress through the sales cycle. 
  • VisitorID: Tracks anonymous visitor IP addresses with reverse IP lookup to identify companies that visit the business’ website. Records page visits, recognizes visitors’ views on an important page, determines where they came from and identifies which search terms led them to the website. 
  • Customer Timeline: Offers a timeline view of individual buyers’ journeys to track significant events associated with each contact. 
  • Landing Page Builder: Provides a WYSIWYG interface with HTML for customization. Pages can automatically adapt based on visitor preferences and behaviors. Supports optimizing for mobile and creating a series of linked pages to design a funnel for visitors and prospects. 
  • Content Calendar: Offers an interactive application with daily, weekly or monthly list views of all the planned content such as social activity, scheduled emails and blog posts. Share social media content immediately or at a later date. 
  • Site Tracking: Embeds a custom tracking code snippet in landing pages, websites, microsites or blogs to track every visit. Add media center links to track visits to external resources. 
  • Blog Builder: Provides a WYSIWYG blog and website editor that’s customizable with HTML views. Includes dynamic content that can automatically adapt to resonate with different audiences based on who they are, what interests them and how they behave on the blog and website. Also has an embeddable social sharing widget. 
  • Google Ads Integration: Tracks the ROI of paid search engine marketing campaigns and derives keyword data. 
  • Campaign Analytics Tracking: Automatically tracks website visitors conversions from the moment they first visit till the final sale. Detailed campaign analytics track campaign ROI goals and work offline without the need to set up conversion funnels. 
  • Social Listening: Find and filter social conversations on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn by hashtag, keyword and more. Spots customer queries, captures interactions to identify prospects that are ready to buy and offers affiliate programs to promote current customers to help close the next deal. 
  • Custom Reports: Customizable across campaigns, email, social media and CRM to include business-specific metrics. Measures and predicts present and future performance, turning data into insights. 
  • Open API: Developers have access to a platform-agnostic, open API that supports programming languages such as Java, Ruby, Perl, PHP, Python and more for building custom integrations with third-party software. 
  • Third-Party Integration: An app marketplace provides access to prebuilt extensions and integrations across categories such as CRM, accounting, analytics, forms and more, extending capabilities. 
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  • Lead Management: Gain insight into lead management with profitable lead identification, lead stage tracking and performance analytics. Oversee interactive media campaigns, build landing sites and integrate third-party programs. 
  • Web Behavior: Track website visitor interaction and gain awareness of product perception. Connect with clients by sending them unique customized content. 
  • Campaign Planner and ROI: Find the optimum route to complete full-cycle lead execution and cost management goals. Create promotions with exclusive budgets and objectives to monitor returns. 
  • Multi-Channel Management: Understand what type of content generates potential customers. Discover what social platforms users interact with most, create mobile and email campaigns, and plan promotions across various channels. 
  • Engagement Tracking: Visualize productivity and improve quick decision-making. Save time with workflow templates, and oversee the progression of leads through in-depth reports. 
  • Analytics: Comprehend complex behavioral and attribution statistics with visual data maps and KPIs. Optimize time and enhance visibility using website traffic reports, application preference data and descriptive context. 
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
Marketing Automation Software

#514

among all
Marketing Automation Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

82
88
86
43
35
90
0
100
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Email Campaign Management
Mobile Capabilities
Text Campaign Management
Lead Nurturing
Lead Generation
Compliance and Data Security
Lead Nurturing
Email Campaign Management
Dashboard and Reporting
Lead Generation

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

SharpSpring
Zoho Marketing Automation
+ Add Product + Add Product
AI-Based Capabilities Campaign Management Compliance And Data Security Dashboard And Reporting Email Campaign Management Lead Generation Lead Management Lead Nurturing Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Social Media Campaign Management Text Campaign Management 86 35 0 54 100 91 90 92 100 0 50 100 43 90 100 94 95 93 90 100 79 87 88 71 0 25 50 75 100
86%
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43%
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57%
29%
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71%
87%
7%
6%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
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40%
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60%
91%
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9%
100%
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90%
5%
5%
82%
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18%
93%
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7%
90%
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10%
83%
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17%
100%
0%
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100%
0%
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80%
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20%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
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we're gathering data
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82%
9%
9%
0%
0%
100%
88%
0%
12%
100%
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71%
0%
29%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

77%
0%
23%
88%
0%
12%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1663 reviews
Great User Sentiment 721 reviews
87%
of users recommend this product

SharpSpring has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 1663 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

88%
of users recommend this product

Zoho Marketing Automation has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 721 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.5 (571)
3.8 (23)
4.5 (620)
5.0 (1)
n/a
4.4 (697)
3.9 (472)
n/a

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated SharpSpring and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Email Campaign Management, Mobile Capabilities and Text Campaign Management.

Email Campaign Management Award
Mobile Capabilities Award
Text Campaign Management Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Zoho Marketing Automation and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Compliance and Data Security.

Compliance and Data Security Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

User-Friendly: The platform is easy to use, and the kanban boards, the marketing automation and drip campaigns are easy to adapt to, in the experience of 69% of users referring to this aspect.
Robust Lead Tracking: Over 60% of reviews about this feature appreciate the end-to-end tracking functionality for marketing and sales data, with the ability to generate, track, filter and score leads.
Customer Service: All reviews on support say it’s professional and highly responsive.
Updates: The system constantly keeps updating with new features and offers updated dashboards for use, a benefit according to 75% of users mentioning updates.
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Lead Nurturing: Zoho Campaigns helps businesses build relationships with potential customers by sending targeted email sequences based on their behavior and interests. This can help move leads through the sales funnel more effectively.
Social Media Management: Zoho Social allows users to manage multiple social media accounts from one platform, schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with followers. This can save businesses time and effort while helping them improve their social media presence.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration: Zoho Marketing Automation integrates with Zoho CRM, providing a complete view of customer interactions and enabling businesses to personalize their marketing efforts. This integration can help businesses improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Marketing ROI Measurement: Zoho Marketing Automation provides detailed analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track the performance of their marketing campaigns and measure their return on investment (ROI). This information can help businesses make data-driven decisions about their marketing strategies.
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Mobile App: Every user referencing the mobile app suggests it’s inoperable, not relevant and lacks basic functionalities.
Limited Design Flexibility: The landing page builder lacks the ability to add custom code, restricting users' ability to fully customize their pages and potentially hindering brand consistency or advanced functionality.
Email Deliverability Issues: Some users report challenges with emails landing in spam folders, which can impact campaign performance and lead to missed opportunities. It's important to note that email deliverability can be influenced by various factors, so it's recommended to investigate and address potential causes to improve deliverability rates.
Reporting Limitations: Users mention that the reporting features could be more robust, particularly in terms of attribution and providing deeper insights into campaign performance. This might make it difficult to accurately measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts and identify areas for improvement.
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Learning Curve: Zoho Marketing Automation can be challenging to learn due to its extensive features and complex interface, especially for those new to marketing automation or the Zoho ecosystem. The learning process may require a significant time investment and potentially additional training resources.
Customization Limitations: While Zoho Marketing Automation offers customization options, some users find them to be restrictive for more complex or unique workflows. This can lead to workarounds or compromises in achieving desired automation processes.
Integrations: Although Zoho Marketing Automation integrates with various third-party applications, the depth and functionality of these integrations can vary. Users may encounter limitations or require additional tools to achieve seamless data synchronization and workflow automation across different platforms.
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SharpSpring combines CRM and marketing automation functionalities to provide robust, user-friendly features and performance. Users particularly appreciate its lead tracking and regular software updates that improve and add features. Comprehensive customer support is another prominent benefit. Some product limitations include a lack of display functionality in the form and landing page builders and a mobile app that isn’t user-friendly and lacks responsiveness. Custom stylesheets are also time-consuming to work with. Despite some drawbacks, it can be a solid option for businesses looking for a budget-friendly and intuitive sales and marketing solution.

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Zoho Marketing Automation has carved out a niche for itself in the crowded marketing automation landscape, attracting businesses of all sizes with its blend of affordability, user-friendliness, and a comprehensive suite of features. Users frequently highlight its intuitive interface and straightforward setup process, making it a suitable option for those new to marketing automation or seeking a hassle-free solution. The platform's pricing structure is another key advantage, offering competitive rates compared to industry giants like HubSpot or Marketo, making it an attractive choice for budget-conscious businesses. Zoho Marketing Automation's feature set covers a wide spectrum of marketing needs, including email marketing, social media management, lead generation tools, and detailed analytics. This breadth of functionality allows businesses to manage various marketing activities within a single platform, streamlining their workflows and enhancing efficiency. The platform's ability to personalize content and automate customer journeys based on behavior further empowers businesses to deliver targeted and relevant experiences, fostering stronger customer relationships and driving conversions. However, some users note that Zoho Marketing Automation's advanced features may require a steeper learning curve compared to its basic functionalities. Additionally, while the platform integrates with various third-party applications, some users express a desire for more native integrations to enhance its overall connectivity. Zoho Marketing Automation emerges as an ideal solution for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeking a cost-effective and user-friendly platform to manage their marketing efforts. Its comprehensive feature set caters to a wide range of marketing needs, while its ease of use makes it accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise. However, larger enterprises with complex marketing requirements or those seeking highly advanced automation capabilities may find that Zoho Marketing Automation's feature set falls short of their needs. It's important to note that the marketing automation landscape is constantly evolving, so it's recommended to check for the latest information and updates on features and capabilities.

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