HubSpot vs Eloqua


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HubSpot HubSpot Comparisons
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Many platforms reach out to your customers, organise your marketing campaigns and tell you how well you're doing. But which to choose? Here, we compare HubSpot and Oracle Eloqua.

Sales and scales 

Marketing is key to the success of your business, that we all know. But there are many platforms out there that can reach out to your customers, help you organise your marketing campaigns and tell you how well you're doing at every stage. So, which one do you choose? Here, we’ve put two popular choices up against one other to see which will work best for you.  

The two in question are Oracle Eloqua and HubSpot. Each gives you a complete sales, marketing, customer and metrics service, and each is very scalable. In both instances, it doesn't matter whether you’re a sole trader or have an army of sales associates - you won't outgrow the system in either instance.  

Can they help me build a landing page? 

They absolutely can both help you with this. Each will help you design landing pages that are designed to be found easily, forms to capture contact data, and tools for creating content. And, crucially, you don't have to dive into the murky (and quite frankly complicated) world of code to achieve any of that. 

While either platform can do these things for you, Eloqua relies on outside partner applications for many of its features. This makes it awkward to join all the dots of what should be a smooth process. 

HubSpot, on the other hand, does it all in one integrated suite, where all your tools work in synergy with one another, making it a much more user-friendly experience.  

Writing and publishing blog content is light work in HubSpot - if you want to build a clutch of different pages, for example, you can use a template and the drag-and-drop editor to take all the legwork (and time) out of it. 

Then, if you want even more control over how your pages look, you can also edit them in terms of content, images, media, backlinks - you name it, and (within reason), it’s possible. You can also increase your SEO ranking by following its recommendations as you go along. 

Can they manage my email marketing campaigns? 

Both can design, send and manage your campaigns to connect your brand to your customers. 

Eloqua uses AI to pinpoint target audiences, decide the best time to send emails to any particular client and what subject line works best, which is clever. It'll even respond to your clients’ levels of ‘contact fatigue’ (how much or little they would prefer you to be in touch).  

HubSpot’s marketing features (which include email marketing templates, video hosting and some great social media tools, as the tip of the iceberg), all work perfectly together - as you’d expect from a market-leading platform priding itself on remaining at the forefront of the industry. 

And its templates and drag-and-drop editing capabilities we mentioned for content purposes also exist for your emails, which makes writing effective email marketing content as simple or as clever as you need it to be.  

How do the two compare for customer service? 

Both drive for satisfaction in what each calls 'the customer journey.' 

HubSpot offers video hosting, live chat and chatbots, the latter of which draws on customer data, with the aim of improving your touchpoints and making your content more relevant and useful. 

The platform can also integrate with Outlook and Gmail, as well as schedule meetings, all with the aim of streamlining the customer experience.

Usefully, HubSpot has a Customer Relationships Manager (CRM), through which you can see your sales pipeline at a glance - and (crucially) check in on the progress of each lead. 

It automatically logs online prospects, emails and even phone calls, as well as team performance, and integrates seamlessly with the whole HubSpot suite. 

There are external CRMs available for Eloqua too, but at an additional cost - these include Oracle's CRM, SalesForce and Microsoft Dynamics, amongst others.

What about sales?  

In Eloqua, sales and marketing share data. HubSpot does this too, and provides ticketing, automated sales and customer feedback to boot. 

It also has live chat and chatbot features, as well as what it calls its Knowledge Base, where you can get tips from experts to help you with the sales process and how to use HubSpot to best effect.

If your sales reps are often on the go, they can use the HubSpot app for IOS or Android to log, note, and track deals.

Can I keep track of everything?  

Eloqua has a formidable array of dashboards headed up by its Marketing Operations Centre, which is a great feature. 

HubSpot, on the other hand, has marketing analytics dashboards, customisable sales reporting, customer service reporting, and website traffic and conversion analytics. It also has a dedicated hub for operations where you can automate processes, tracking and reports. 

Are they easy to use?  

Eloqua has what might easily be described as a steep learning curve to conquer on the way in. There is training and education via their Oracle University, but you have to be savvy enough to stitch together the various external applications that you need, which is no mean feat. 

With HubSpot, the learning curve is gentle and straightforward, making it easy to get going quickly. In fact, HubSpot claims you'll be up-to-speed 40% faster than with other marketing automation leaders. 

Speed aside, you can create content, pages, emails, and workflows easily, without needing to call in an IT expert. 

Then once you’ve mastered the basics, if you want to customise your offering or put your own stamp on it, there are plenty of free Academy training courses to help you to really make the most of HubSpot’s many tools and functionalities. 

Do you have a winner yet? 

The choice is yours, but as a guide, you’ll want a platform that does all of the following:

  • Quick and easy to set-up 
  • Straightforward to use  
  • Flexible and customisable
  • Has its own campaign builder and manager, and a powerful CRM  

 

To find out more or for any questions you may have, get in touch.

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Contact the team at Cognition Agency for all your digital marketing requirements.