SharpSpring Marketing Automation: Our First Few Months

We have just finished out first full quarter deploying and using SharpSpring's Marketing Automation platform and so far - we are impressed!

We have just finished our first full quarter using the SharpSpring marketing automation platform, and are very pleased with the results so far. Before implementing SharpSpring, we had been doing work for an increasing number of clients developing and managing their email marketing campaigns on various platforms. We finally decided it was time to take things a step further.

The buying process started with the usual research. We looked at Hubspot, Act-On, and Infusionsoft in depth, plus a few others in less detail. All great companies and products, but these more established systems were pricey for our needs. Our clients are primarily B2B mid-market companies new to marketing automation, using services like MailChimp or Constant Content, or paying for high-end systems collecting dust. Although we found them late in the game, SharpSpring was the obvious choice once we saw the value it could deliver for the cost.

We decided on SharpSpring because the price is very attractive and we like the way they work with agency partners. The system is easy to use, yet robust and it also comes with many advanced features others charge extra for. Built-in AB testing and dynamic content are good examples. Is SharpSpring as deep as some of the older and larger competitors? Of course not. It is relatively new after all and has some catching up to do.

That said, SharpSpring is very feature-rich. You can quickly create email campaigns, build landing and web pages, plus program intelligent and complex automated workflows. The system has been well thought out and has everything we (and most other companies) would need. Also, It has been remarkable how many new enhancements have come out in the short time we’ve been on board.

With SharpSpring, we have yet to find anything that inhibits our ability to deliver. There are a few bits of navigation and other structural elements we think could be better. However, SharpSpring has been very open and eager to receive feedback, and they listen! We have submitted several suggestions they reviewed, accepted and deployed. Impressive considering it’s only been a few months.

Most of the gaps we see are relatively minor, and most are already on SharpSpring’s roadmap. An area we find slightly restrictive is how the editing and preview panes work when creating emails. We made a suggestion to improve its ease-of-use and SharpSpring has committed to having it in their next release which comes out shortly. The ability to create personas is a more substantial feature we hoped would come eventually, but SharpSpring surprised us by launching that several weeks ago. The point is, SharpSpring listens and quickly reacts to ideas that make sense. They give us reason to believe this system will continue to evolve and grow quickly.

So how has SharpSpring been to deal with as a company? In a word – excellent! The onboarding process was professional and efficient, and help is always there when you need it. Support is responsive and friendly, and our experience thus far has been very positive. Support was a concern at first given they are still a smaller company in high growth mode. However, so far we are impressed. Also, unlike some of its competitors, SharpSpring doesn’t charge extra for support. We find that very refreshing.

Earlier I mentioned the fact that SharpSpring works well with agencies. With most of the others, an agency pays the same price as anyone else. If it adds clients, there is no price break – either for the agency or the new customer. In SharpSpring’s world, the pricing model is designed in a way that makes it advantageous for clients to buy the service through partners. However, it’s not just about the financials. Through their training and sales support, SharpSpring has shown its committed to helping partners succeed and ensuring that end-clients get the best possible returns from their investments.

As you can tell, we have been off to a good start with SharpSpring. It has performed well, does what we need it to do (and then some), and their people have been great to work with from the start. We currently run our internal marketing on the platform and manage two clients on SharpSpring and two more will be coming on board in a few weeks. So far so good. Keep it up SharpSpring!

If you are interested in learning more about our experience with SharpSpring, feel free to reach out at my email below. I would be happy to share what we’ve learned.