Eloqua and Marketo Called Leaders in Gartner Research

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Gartner recently published their first Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management and Eloqua and Marketo battle it out for the top spot in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant described as ‘best-of-breed functionality that supports B2B, B2B2C and B2C lead management processes across multiple channels’. Based on this research the Marketo vs Eloqua rivalry is as strong as ever.

According to Gartner, established CRM players like Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and SAP are placed in the ‘Niche Player’ quadrant and ‘provide a basic set of lead management features to a narrow segment of the potential market.’

While Teradata was listed as a Leader in “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Marketing Management” and “Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management,” they ended up as a Challenger in this Magic Quadrant.  Neolane was the only vendor listed as ‘Visionary’ which  have a strong vision for a set of technologies that include lead management, but do not yet provide best-of-breed solutions or very broad marketing automation capability

Leads360, LoopFuse, Manticore Technology, Pardot and Silverpop were not included because the annual minimum vendor revenue was raised to $20M. According to Gartner, “The decision to raise the minimum revenue level was based on the needs of the enterprise and midenterprise companies that require strong financial viability and extensive corporate resources, and is not a reflection on the potential value of these vendors’ products.”

Here is what Garner had to say about all the vendors…

Eloqua

Strengths

• Strong product functionality: Scored high marks from surveyed customers for product functionality, customer support and overall satisfaction with the product. Users with experience across multiple vendors’ products noted Eloqua’s longer time to productivity and steeper learning curve, but also its ability to support complex multichannel lead management processes. Eloqua10, the vendor’s latest product, is based on HTML5 and provides a simpler and easier-to-use user interface (UI) than prior versions. The product also simplifies several development and administrative tasks. Eloqua Social Suite and Eloqua Engage for iPad provide integration and support for major social sites and iPad tablets.
• Strong financials: Strong financial position, including 39% growth from 2010 to 2011 and revenue of $71 million in 2011. Filed S-1 for initial public offering (IPO) in August 2011, although at the time of publication, Eloqua remained a private company.
• User satisfaction: High satisfaction levels with the product and vendor reported by reference accounts indicate high probability of success for new Eloqua customers.
• AppCloud: In 2011, Eloqua announced AppCloud, a marketplace for B2B marketing applications. AppCloud has more than 50 applications, and partners include Data.com and Radian6 (salesforce.com), ON24, and Citrix Systems.

Cautions

• Longer time to productivity: Steeper learning curve and higher licensing costs, compared with some other best-of-breed vendors, although Eloqua accelerates the learning curve with a service option, Eloqua SmartStart, designed to ramp up new users more quickly. Implementation times are also typically longer, although this is also a reflection of more-complex lead management applications Eloqua typically supports.
• IPO: No external communication since August 2011 in regard to an IPO or other possible events, such as merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. Companies investing in Eloqua solutions should consider the potential impact of an IPO or M&A transaction.
• Dependency on salesforce.com: A majority of Eloqua users are integrated with salesforce.com; evaluate integration requirements for non-salesforce.com implementations.

Marketo

Strengths

• Functionality and time to productivity: Reference accounts consistently praise Marketo’s ease of use, short time to productivity, and rich analytic and reporting capability. Analytics-based revenue performance management (RPM) provides revenue visibility for future quarters, based on lead volume/quality/scoring currently in the pipeline. Marketo recently acquired Crowd Factory to provide additional functionality that augments lead management processes. Marketo announced a native Force.com application, Sales Insight, which is embedded in salesforce.com to provide lead visibility to sales teams.
• Viability: Solid financial resources, experienced and respected management, and a strong marketing voice and presence in the market.
• Partnerships: Marketo is a salesforce.com/AppExchange partner, with a large majority of its customers using salesforce.com. Marketo recently announced a deeper partnership with Microsoft for integration with Dynamics CRM and Dynamics CRM Online. Marketo also has partnerships with Adobe, Cisco, and Citrix for the integration of online meeting services; with Dell Boomi for application integration; with ExactTarget for email marketing; and with ON24 for the integration of webcasts and virtual events. Marketo was selected as best marketing application in salesforce.com’s AppExchange in 2011.

Cautions

• Salesforce.com-centric: Heavy focus on salesforce.com users. Marketo has recently deepened its integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which should help Marketo to sell to a broader base of customers.
• VC presence and profitability: Large VC presence indicates that the vendor may be positioning toward an IPO or M&A transaction, which could cause shorter-term disruption for current customers. Marketo is not yet profitable (Gartner estimate).
• Moving to enterprise: A majority of Marketo customers are smaller, fast-growing companies, and the vendor needs to prove its ability to consistently compete and win in the enterprise sector. It lags in broader marketing automation functionality, although its technology road map highlights development in areas such as MRM. Marketo is also actively building out its technology and agency partnerships through its Marketo Alliance program.