Comparing Marketo versus Eloqua? Here are their quirks, limitations, and blockbuster features.
>> Related: 11 Lessons Learned Buying MarTech Software <<
In this post:
Where Marketo is better than Eloqua
| Feature | Eloqua Rating | Eloqua Detail | Marketo Rating | Marketo Detail |
| Implementation | Weak | Complex and custom, relatively administrative heavy to build out simple campaigns from scratch | Moderate | Definitely custom, but lighter lift in terms of setting up standard automation and campaigns |
| Alerts & Notifications | Weak | No, only with custom development for simple sales alerts and creating SF tasks (would require technical ops person to use Program Canvas) | Strong | Yes, very straightforward to setup |
| Integrations | Moderate | 700 native integrations to other tools. However, does not integrate with AdRoll, Google Ads, NetSuite, or Zapier. | Strong | Hundreds of native connectors in the LaunchPoint community, including LinkedIn, Twitter Ads, AdRoll, Google Ads, Hootsuite, NetSuite, and Zapier. Also integrates with Kapost. Does not integrate with Facebook Ads. |
| Audience Targeting & Segmentation | Moderate | Yes, but SF data can be difficult to access without custom development (real-time data triggers limited to certain fields like Lead Source) | Strong | Yes, via audience segments and smart list triggers and filters |
| Lead Routing | Moderate | Yes, but requires Program Canvas to set sales territories that needs to be maintained outside of Salesforce, which is problematic to keep systems in sync as territories change | Strong | Yes, can support direct, round robin, territory-based, or SF auto-assignment logic |
| Data Management | Moderate | Yes, can customize data management programs in Program Canvas, but this requires a more technical ops person to setup | Strong | Yes, very flexible to setup data management programs in an intuitive way |
| Email Editor | Moderate | Yes, recent improvements to the UI, but hard to lock down brand colors, fonts, etc. | Strong | Yes, no code required, able to use drag-and-drop modules, turn on/off design elements, dynamic content, etc. This is a recently revamped feature and works very well. |
| Social Media | Moderate | Yes, but less about promotion and more about gathering intelligence for targeting and segmentation. | Strong | Yes, both promoting content via social advertising and using intelligence for targeting and segmentation |
| Customer Support | Moderate | Yes, tiered. Email, Live Chat, Phone Support, Eloqua University (paid), and Topliners Community. Has a poor reputation with unskilled support reps after the Oracle acquisition. | Strong | Yes, tiered. Online, Phone, extensive Knowledge Base, and Customer Community (no Live Chat). Very responsive for easy requests, sometimes need to get to second line for more technical requests. |
Where Eloqua is better than Marketo
| Feature | Eloqua Rating | Eloqua Detail | Marketo Rating | Marketo Detail |
| Data Processing | Strong | Very efficient across large datasets, e.g. created a new field, want to populate across 5M records, only takes Eloqua a couple hours vs. Marketo up to 1-2 days | Weak | A bit slow across large datasets, e.g. created a new field, want to populate across 5M records, only takes Eloqua a couple hours vs. Marketo up to 1-2 days |
| Forms | Strong | Yes, native – more robust than Marketo in that you can store form field data unique to each form fill – e.g. ebook download came from Twitter or a meeting time at an event, instead of having to create temporary fields or syncing to SF campaign member object. | Moderate | Yes, native – but all form fields map directly to the contact which can be written over upon subsequent form fills. Do have program custom fields but they’re a bit clunky to use. |
| Dedicated IP | Strong | Yes, for Standard and Enterprise subscriptions | Moderate | Yes, for Select and Enterprise subscriptions |
| CRM | Strong | Can integrate multiple CRM instances to the same Eloqua instance | Moderate | Can only integrate with 1 CRM instance at a time |
| Custom Objects | Strong | Yes, unlimited | Moderate | Yes, often limited by the contract |
Where Marketo and Eloqua are comparable
| Feature | Eloqua Rating | Eloqua Detail | Marketo Rating | Marketo Detail |
| ABM | Strong | Yes, do have integrations with ABM platforms, as well as a defined Accounts object | Strong | Yes, do have integrations with ABM platforms, as well as a defined Accounts object |
| Sales Visibility | Strong | Yes, Eloqua Engage widget (for sales to send emails out of Eloqua) and Eloqua Profiler (for sales to see marketing activity) in Salesforce | Strong | Yes, Marketo Sales Insight widget in Salesforce – covers both use cases for sales to initiate emails out of Marketo and see marketing activity |
| Sandbox Environment | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| API | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| Data Import | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| User Roles & Permissions | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| Market Focus | Strong | B2B enterprise | Strong | B2B midmarket and enterprise |
| Reporting | Strong | Yes, decent reporting for simple email engagement and campaign performance. Built-in integration to Oracle BI for more in-depth analysis. | Strong | Yes, decent reporting for simple email engagement and web activity. Good lifecycle visualizations with Revenue Explorer. Multi-touch attribution possible with Bizible. |
| A/B Testing | Strong | Yes, customizable by subject, sender, email copy | Strong | Yes, customizable by subject, sender, email copy |
| Progressive Profiling | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| Marketing Calendar | Strong | Yes, via Kapost plug-in or Compendium blogging calendar | Strong | Yes, built-in |
| Lead Scoring | Strong | Yes, can handle 1 or more lead scoring models on a single contact. Can also handle account-based scoring. | Strong | Yes, can handle 1 or more lead scoring models, would need custom fields to run multiple models on the same contact. Can also handle account-based scoring. |
| Campaign Management | Strong | Campaign Canvas is a visual journey map, very intuitive to use, but campaign assets are scattered across different sections of the platform instead of housed together | Strong | Marketo programs house campaign assets and smart campaigns (automation) in a folder-like structure. Programs can utilize tokens, dynamic content, SF Campaign sync, and channel statuses to reduce administrative lift. Campaign UI is quite linear in comparison to Eloqua, so one “journey” might be split across multiple smart campaign “branches”. |
| Predictive Content | Strong | Yes | Strong | Yes |
| Dynamic Content | Strong | Yes, but click-through tracking not available for dyanmic emails | Strong | Yes, robust |
| Subscription Management | Strong | Yes, out of the box suppression for hard bounces, # soft bounces. Syncs to SF Email Opt Out field. Possible to blocklist contacts/companies or mark them Marketing Suspended (e.g. during active sales cycle). Can utilize simple unsubscribe page and/or preference center to manage communication preferences. | Strong | Yes, out of the box suppression for hard bounces, # soft bounces. Syncs to SF Email Opt Out field. Possible to blocklist contacts/companies or mark them Marketing Suspended (e.g. during active sales cycle). Can utilize simple unsubscribe page and/or preference center to manage communication preferences. |
| Landing Page Editor | Moderate | Yes, but clunky | Moderate | Yes, but not as drag-and-drop as other platforms |
| Allow Purchased Lists | Weak | No | Weak | No |
| Cost | NA | $$$ | NA | $$$ |
BTW be sure to sit down first as a diverse team and write user stories. That way you’ve identified pain points, goals, and necessary compromises before falling in love with a glossy demo.
