Please stop asking this. I mean it. There is no best. Period.
It’s a question that I’m asked over and over again by both marketers and industry professionals alike. It’s a question that can’t possibly be answered unless there’s a complete evaluation of the company that will use the platform.
As a sourcing vendor for marketing technologies, we’ve performed due diligence for investment firms, consulted with marketing technology companies, and consulted with dozens of companies on evaluating platforms for purchase.
One might think it’s as simple as putting together a feature list, checking boxes in a grid for each vendor, and identifying the budget needed for each license. Preposterous. That’s like evaluating pants by whether they have two pant legs, belt loops, pockets, and a zipper – and then seeing how much they cost. The unanswered questions are what color the pants need to be, where they will be worn, whether they need to be dry cleaned and ironed, how often they will be worn, and whether they need to match other pieces of the outfit.
A case in point is email marketing. We know a ton of different email marketing firms. Some are expensive but provide a ton of services for hand-holding your campaigns. Some start free and integrate with other third-party platforms. Some have robust APIs that development resources can incorporate. Some have massive email outputs to send millions of emails per second. Some have thousands of templates to choose from.
It’s as essential to evaluate the company’s resources, the sophistication of the user, the time needed to apply to ensure the strategy is deployed correctly and executed, the budget for licensing, integration, implementation, and usage, and ultimately, the return on investment (ROI) of the platform. We don’t make the same recommendation from one client to the next with each platform – even when we have a partnered relationship with the vendor.
Being vendor agnostic is critical for your agency or sourcing provider so that you can maximize the return on investment on the platform purchase and strategy.
That’s not to say there aren’t platforms we recommend more than others. On the content management front, for instance, we recommend WordPress much more than other platforms. It’s not that WordPress is free – it’s not once you add design, development, optimization, and content creation into the successful implementation. But WordPress often beats out other platforms simply because of the vast selection of themes, plugins, integrations, third-party support, hosting solutions, and a massive community of developers. There may be better content management systems for performance, experience, ease of use, optimization, security, etc… but the flexibility and availability of resources still may override the decision to recommend a different platform.
I was speaking about tools at an event with Kevin Mullett once, and he brought up a straightforward yet fantastic bit of advice…
If you like it. You’ll use it.
Sometimes, it’s not even all the bells and whistles or the price; sometimes, it’s just that you love the user interface (UI) and enjoy using the tool. If you enjoy using the platform, chances are you’ll use it!
What’s the best? It all depends!
Key Dimensions for Evaluating a Software Vendor:
Let’s highlight a full range of considerations when selecting a software vendor to ensure an informed and strategic decision:
- Contract Terms and Flexibility: Review the contract for any restrictive terms, exit clauses, or flexibility in scaling up or down.
- Cost and Pricing Structure: Analyze the total cost of ownership, including licensing, setup, training, support, and any hidden fees.
- Customization Options: Determine whether the software can be tailored to fit your unique business requirements.
- Customer Support and Service: Evaluate the vendor’s support team’s quality, availability, and responsiveness.
- Ease of Use: Determine how user-friendly the software is for your team and whether it requires extensive training or expertise.
- Feedback and References: Request references from current or previous clients to gain insight into their experiences with the vendor.
- Functionality and Features: Assess whether the software meets your specific business needs and offers the required features to achieve your goals.
- Geographic and Language Support: Ensure the software supports your team’s geographic location and language preferences.
- Implementation Time and Effort: Assess how quickly and easily the software can be deployed and the resources needed for implementation.
- Integration Capabilities: Check if the software can seamlessly integrate with your existing tools, systems, and workflows.
- Performance and Reliability: Test the software for speed, uptime, and overall reliability to ensure consistent performance.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Analyze the potential ROI by considering productivity gains, cost savings, and long-term benefits.
- Scalability: Evaluate the software’s ability to grow with your business and handle increased workloads without significant issues.
- Security and Compliance: Verify that the vendor adheres to industry standards, has robust security measures, and complies with relevant regulations.
- Time to Value (TTV): Estimate how quickly the software will deliver measurable results and benefits after implementation.
- Training and Documentation: Ensure the vendor provides comprehensive training resources and clear user documentation.
- Trial Period or Demo Availability: Check if the vendor offers a free trial or demo to test the software before committing.
- Updates and Innovation: Look into the vendor’s commitment to regular updates, new features, and staying current with industry trends.
- Vendor Reputation and Experience: Research the vendor’s track record, experience in the industry, and reviews or testimonials from other clients.
- Vendor Stability: Evaluate the financial health and longevity of the vendor to ensure ongoing support and updates.
