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Is your current marketing automation platform really making your marketing department more efficient and delivering the results that merit the price tag? If you have your doubts — or if you’re getting questions about your marketing ROI that you’re finding difficult to answer — that’s a good sign you’re wasting your investment.
If any of the following four statements apply to you, it’s time to make a switch.
1. You’re spending too much time on customization.
Personalization is critical to attracting the right prospects, but it doesn't require bespoke email templates and landing pages for every single campaign. The best of today’s martech software provides highly customizable options that are easy to use and save time for everyone one the team, while still providing prospects a seamless personalized experience.
For example, tech-heavy platforms like Marketo require a working knowledge of HTML and CSS to design landing pages and emails, but HubSpot comes with dozens of built-in templates. You can either use HubSpot’s templates as-is or further customize them — still without needing to code — instead of building from the ground up every time.
2. You're only using certain elements of the marketing automation platform.
Are you using your marketing automation platform in its entirety, or are you using some of its features in addition to third-party tools?
For example, if you’re using your marketing automation platform primarily for landing pages and using third-party tools for email marketing. reporting, social media or video, ask yourself why. Does your platform not offer those features? Are you reluctant to give up the tools you’ve used for so long, thinking it would be too painful to switch? Or do you think your third-party tools simply do a better job?
Whatever your answer, the result is the same: When you bring in third-party integrations, your information is siloed, which makes it more difficult to track the customer journey, obtain accurate analytics and measure your ROI. And that defeats the purpose of investing in a marketing automation platform.
Make sure your martech platform offers all the features you need, and that any third-party tools and integrations are purely options, and not necessary added expenses. For example, if blogging is an important part of your marketing strategy — as it should be, for generating organic leads — you may be surprised to learn that Marketo doesn’t offer its own blogging platform, unlike HubSpot and Pardot.
3. You’ve lost sight of your goals and strategy — or you hadn’t clearly defined them in the first place.
What are your specific goals for your marketing automation platform, and is your current solution meeting them? Even though HubSpot, Marketo or Pardot are capable of automating a variety multiple marketing functions, they all require clear marketing strategies to drive their use toward defined goals - this is what brings maximum utility and return on investment.
Finding that difficult to do with your current resources? An experienced inbound marketing agency can help you use your platform to its fullest potential by setting SMART goals and developing content and a strategy for automation.
If your marketing automation platform isn’t giving you the ROI you need, you're wasting money daily until you decide to switch to one that does.
4. You haven't zeroed in on the functions and elements necessary for all of your teams.
It’s also important to think beyond marketing when evaluating marketing automation platforms. Will the platform also serve the needs of your sales and customer service teams as well as your marketing team? Will it help actually help align sales and marketing, or will it create a technological barrier between the departments?
For example, one of the many reasons we like HubSpot is that you can seamlessly switch between sales and marketing dashboards and give all team members access to the same data. And we’ve already seen leads come into clients that are using HubSpot’s (free) new conversations tool. Does your platform offer those features?
Simply put: If your marketing automation platform isn’t giving you the ROI you need, you're wasting money daily until you decide to switch to one that does. 
