If you read our article about tactile marketing, then you might be curious to learn which tools are available on the market to make tactile marketing as well as account-based marketing initiatives easier to implement, manage and track performance.
In this article, we will look at three of the top tactile marketing and ABM tools on the market today: PFL, Sendoso and Alyce.
We will provide a comparison of the three, outline the strengths and weaknesses of each and provide you with a “winner” at the end.
Read on to learn more about these top tools to help you determine which is best for you and your business.
Choosing an ABM Tactile Marketing Solution: PFL vs. Sendoso vs. Alyce
These three ABM tactile marketing solutions are among the best available on the market, and all for different reasons.
PFL enables sales teams to do more one-on-one marketing with accounts as well as makes direct mail initiatives easier. All in all, PFL helps support account-based marketing initiatives and efforts. Say goodbye to the days of wasting time calling FedEx about shipments and tracking numbers, and trying to manage your tactile marketing outreach efforts in spreadsheets.
Sendoso is a comprehensive sending platform, which allows users to send direct mail, gifts, personalized notes, swag and more. It can also easily be integrated with other sales tools and CRMs, such as Salesforce, Marketo and others.
Alyce is an AI-powered platform that helps automate the process of sending gifts, swag, direct mailers and messages to prospects. Alyce also helps users choose which personalized gifts to send to prospects, customers and employees, and also tells you when to send them in order to drive maximum ROI.
As an advocate of direct mail marketing and automated tactile marketing efforts, I have used these tools, and each one has its advantages and disadvantages.
Therefore, I crafted this review based on the following criteria for each platform:
- Time to get going. If you are new to the world of ABM or using any type of direct mail platform, choosing a platform, implementing it in your strategy, and integrating it with other tools can be an overwhelming and time-consuming task. How difficult is it to use this platform? Are there any resources, tools, or training videos available?
- Ease of use. How easy is it to set up, install, and begin using the platform? Is it easy to integrate other third-party tools
- Feature richness. What features are available? Are the features helpful? Do the features provide value for the cost? Does it integrate well with your marketing automation platform (Hubspot, Marketo, etc.)?
- Customer support. Does the tool provide customer support? If so, what is the quality of the support? Are there are any resources available?
- Price. How much does the platform cost? What is the overall cost versus value?
Note: I normally consider price one of the least important criteria when judging between different marketing technology solutions, as the costs are usually dwarfed by the enormous benefits gained from martech.
In this head-to-head review, however, pricing is weighed more heavily as the cost of direct mail is one of the most significant determinants of a successful KPI in marketing campaigns.
At the end of this article, I will provide an overall grade and assign a winner to one of these platforms.
Deep-dive review: PFL
Strengths of PFL’s tactile marketing tools
- Feature richness. One of the advantages of PFL is the number of features available for the price. In addition to various sales, marketing and CRM system integrations, PFL also allows advanced MAP interactions. It is also designed with real-time alerts related to buyer interaction, measurability and tracking, flexibility and customizations, branding and more. PFL also complies with sophisticated HIPAA and ISO requirements.
- Customer support. According to various reviews, customers rave about the customer support team at PFL. PFL goes above and beyond to ensure that every caller receives the utmost stellar support and answers their questions and resolves their issues successfully. There are also a number of eBooks available for download to help PFL users learn and make the most of the platform.
Weaknesses of PFL’s tactile marketing tools
- Time to get going. One downside of PFL is the amount of time needed to set up the platform successfully. Many users have claimed that they required the need of a technical expert to help them with implementation. This may not be the best tool for small businesses or startups who don’t have a full-time technical team or huge IT department available for the type of support needed.
- Ease of use. PFL is designed with a clean, organized user interface and dashboard; however, there is a bit of a learning curve when learning how to use it and training other team members. It might not be the easiest platform for teams, especially sales teams who might be a little reluctant to use a platform to begin with.
- Price. Because PFL offers a number of features, services and solutions, pricing isn’t as straightforward as it could be. Therefore, PFL urges companies and users to call for a quote. After reading a number of customer reviews, many have rated PFL’s pricing as “good,” which may not be the best option for every business. When I have purchased PFL services and shipping credits for past employers/clients the pricing has always been a frustration for two reasons: 1) you need to commit to a considerable upfront spend (e.g. $15k+) before they’ll even work with you, and 2) their pricing seems to be up to the whimsy of the salesperson you’re speaking with and negotiation and haggling over price seems the norm (which can be frustrating when you’re in a rush to launch a campaign).
Grade: B (3.3 out of 5 possible points)
Deep-dive review: Sendoso
Strengths of Sendoso’s tactile marketing tools
- Feature richness. Similar to PFL, Sendoso is designed with a number of robust features, and the right blend of logistics and automation that help make ABM easy. With Sendoso, you can easily store and ship direct mailers, swag, gifts and so on — and track ROI all in one platform. For businesses that want to merge both online and offline campaigns, Sendoso is the best solution of the three and is designed with features that support both.
- Ease of use. From direct use, and talking to others that have used it as well, Sendoso is relatively easy to implement and use. Users also love how quickly and easily it is to reach out to and follow up with prospects, and also create and send personalized messages. In running campaigns directly (handwriting my own notes, purchasing postage, etc) and comparing that to what I’ve seen with Sendoso, I’m able to run Sendoso campaigns 10 times faster than if I were to do it myself.
- Time to get going. Sendoso also has a clean, easy, and convenient user interface, making it incredibly easy to install and set up. Perhaps the most important launch functionality for marketers, however, is that it integrates nicely with most marketing automation suites including Eloqua, Marketo, Hubspot, Drift, Salesforce (for sideways integrations) and others.
- Customer support. The majority of users, across several different rating sites, have rated Sendoso’s customer support with five stars (out of five). In addition to offering telephone customer support and online support, Sendoso also offers a number of resources, including webinars, a library and a blog all providing tips, tricks and guides on how to use the tool successfully.
Weaknesses of Sendoso’s tactile marketing tools
- Price. Sendoso is a great platform, but they, like PFL, don’t disclose their pricing. When I last price-shopped them (in 2018) they started at $300 per month (for their basic plan) just for access. On top of that, you needed to pay for the items you’re shipping and the cost of shipping. Both costs together and this solution could be out of budget for many startup or small businesses.
Grade: A- (3.9 out of 5 possible points)
Deep-dive review: Alyce
Strengths of Alyce’s tactile marketing tools
- Feature richness. Out of the three ABM platforms we have reviewed, Alyce offers the fewest features; however, it does cover the most important features for sales and marketing teams. Therefore, we have included “feature richness” as both a strength and a weakness in this review.
- Alyce is a quality platform, allowing sales and marketing teams to send hyper-personalized messages, direct mailers, swag and so on, all powered by AI.
- This level of automation significantly cuts down on the time spent reaching out to prospects, ultimately increasing ROI. Alyce also offers measurement and tracking, and can also be integrated with Salesforce and Outreach.
- Customer support. Alyce offers five-star customer service and support, especially for new users who are setting up and learning the platform. In addition to offering telephone and online support, Alyce also offers a blog and FAQ section, providing users with multiple options to learn the platform.
- Price. Alyce is a great platform, and the price tag is just as praiseworthy. From my own experience and everyone I’ve talked to, the consensus seems to be that the pricing for Alyce is reasonable and fair for what it offers. As a rule of thumb, its pricing is slightly lower than Sendoso and considerably lower than PFL. However, like the other tactile marketing solutions, Alyce doesn’t list their pricing on their website, so you will have to call them for a custom quote to determine if the tool is worth it or is in your budget.
Weaknesses of Alyce’s tactile marketing tools
- Feature richness. As we mentioned above, we are including “feature richness” as both a pro and con for Alyce. Alyce does offer the necessary features, however, for medium-sized or even larger companies, it might not be the best platform. If you are looking for more robust features, or have a large sales and marketing team, then it may be best to use another tool that provides you with what you need.
- Time to get going. Compared with the other two tools, Alyce isn’t the most user-friendly or easy to set up. Alyce is also one of the newer tools, so the company is still working out the kinks in the program. As a result, it can be difficult for users to navigate and find the specific features they are looking for and perform basic tasks.
However, as we have outlined above, although Alyce lacks some basic UI functionality, they make up for it by providing five-star customer service and support.
Grade: B+ (3.8 out of 5 possible points)
The winner: Sendoso
Even though it was close, and we feel like any one of these three solutions will provide a boon to any tactile marketing campaign, we selected Sendoso as the winner because of the number of features available, the overall ease of use and set up and the quality and functionality of the tool. The only downside to Sendoso is it may not be in the budget for many startup or small businesses.
If you want to really get the most out of your ABM and tactile marketing efforts, save time, boost ROI and effectively reach your prospects, then Sendoso is likely the best platform for you.
