Researching reporting dashboard features for marketing automation tools - Research Paper Example

Researching Reporting Dashboard Features for Marketing Automation Tools Executive Summary Working with Microsoft Access, Excel, or similar software, logical programming and design, are integral for the creation of useful reports from raw data. It is essential to determine the data, how it is to be organized, and the way it should be displayed in final reports. These exercises are intense and could leave some people frustrated. For those who are technologically challenged, various Business Intelligence firms have developed cutting edge technology and are marketing it to enable regular business users to create visually stimulating and interactive reports through dashboards (Wolenik et al 11). These dashboards are the antithesis of the spreadsheets in the form of grids, replacing them with charts of all types, gauges, dials, and colors to display the exact information to the most unaccomplished user. For instance, if a firm wants to know how many counterfeit dollars are in circulation, one person could employ an application like Micro-strategy to come up with a dashboard to display information that has been requested in a matter of minutes by getting data from its existing source. A dashboard can also be quickly manipulated to get down to the bare specifics in case one wants to know where the dollars are located geographically. It feels better knowing all there is to know, about the business, to expand or streamline the pipeline limits instead of waiting for annual or quarterly reports. Objectives To determine if the software is compatible with the present platform. To determine whether the software for market automation is appropriate for the business size. To determine if the marketing automation software has numerous different features for the facilitation of tasks like social media outreach, lead management, campaign management, email marketing, and analysis. To identify what issues plague the current system, as well as the issues that the software will solve. To determine the pricing for the marketing automation software since they are considerably different as are the models of pricing. Comparison of software Aglione is a powerful business intelligence tool that is also easy to use as a dashboard tool and a marketing intelligence application. It allows for a single view into one’s data across every source, as well as pre-calculated key metrics like revenue by channel and acquisition, customer retention over time and by value, and lifetime value by segment or acquisition source (Agilone.com 1). The dashboard tool offers six views into one’s business data with basis on user type and needs. Marketing executives can also see summary business intelligence dashboard representing data visually through customizable widgets. In addition, analysts are able to do deep dives for data to attain answers to complex problems through their OLAP interface. It makes insight sharing an easy process; moreover, it is accessible by in-house or third party applications. Neolane’s marketing analytics technology is organized around three major steps. These are understanding, execution, and monitoring with marketers gaining insight into needs of the customer, followed by measurement through interactive, graphical, and personalized dashboards (Aquino 1). The marketer can analyze and monitor market performance through these dashboards to ascertain efficiency and optimize on their ROI, as well as aid in quickly and effectively piloting marketing activity. Measurements that marketers can carry out using Neolane’s technology include transaction data, marketing data, key performance indicators, and execution data. Moreover, the users can create contact lists using specific measurements like lists of young men between 25 and 35 years (Aquino 1). Software provider Aprimo’s latest version of their Relationships manager has several new features that include streamlined dashboards and reporting, enhanced user interface, and integration with Marketing Operations in enabling faster turnaround times, greater visibility, and increased productivity via the marketing campaign process (Kee 1). Their pre-built executive dashboard has over eighty standard reports with enhanced user interface inclusive of dashboard based access to campaign data. Additionally enhanced user interface delivers dashboards with campaign engines and whiteboards. Through this software, detailed and ad hoc metric analysis is enabled, with new reporting workbenches providing data visualization tools, as well as performing remote system segmentation. Marketo marketing dashboards are able to lead quickly the nurturing of programs and demand generation through spending hours adjusting reports, and assembling data using interactive pre-built dashboards. This marketing reporting software dashboard determines the channels, programs, and other factors, which influence close business and influence opportunity creation. It also permits monitoring the effectiveness of programs, as well as identification of what events and programs are giving the highest returns (Marketo.com 1). Finally, it can also be used, for the measurement of velocity and conversion, to see the programs channel prospects via the revenue funnel. Eloqua Insight’s marketing dashboards satisfies various distinct marketing needs and each has its own marketing dashboard set. Closed-loop campaign reporting, aids marketing professionals and executives in understanding the manner in which marketing campaigns and activities are driving ROI and revenue (Eloqua.com 1). Campaign engagement reporting aids marketers in understanding the channels that generate the most conversion, engagement, and interest. Asset level dashboards and reports focus on social media and website performance, landing and form page, and emails. Website analytics reporting allows marketers insight into the manner in which the website performs from the perspective of demand generation, who is accessing the site, and the manner in which they are converting. Finally, database health reporting can be used to diagnose the health of the database, how it is shrinking/growing, activity of the segments, and completeness of the records (Eloqua.com 1). Revenue analytics aids the executives in assessment of the revenue cycle across five vital revenue performance indicators, i.e. return, velocity, conversion, reach, and value. Lyris one, on its part, has rolled out its Bid Hero, which is a paid campaign tool of management with the latest feature integrated into the Lyris HQ marketing dashboard. By adding Bid Hero into its marketing dashboard, Lyris One has managed to assemble a search, continent management, web analytics, email marketing solutions, and landing page optimization in a hosted application (Kee 1). Their platforms are set up to give brands an individual view of customers and their location to improve ad messages via targeting. The dashboard also offers analytic engines for analysis of collected data to help in optimization of campaigns and messaging. Finally, IBM Unica’s marketing platform has flexible dashboards displaying relevant data from Unica for every user role or individual. The dashboards can feature lists, tables, charts, and graphs, as well as maps and automatic report generation and delivery (Unica.com 1). It is built on metadata models and open architecture, which allow direct access to tables for the generation of reports with other BI tools. Works Cited Agilone.com. AgilOne Launches Cloud-Based Predictive Intelligence for Marketers. 2013. Web 18 April 2013. . Aquino, Judith . Neolane Rolls Out Enhanced Marketing Analytics Platform. 24 January 2013. Web. 18 April 2013. . Eloqua.com. Get visibility into the marketing metrics that drive your business. 2013. Web 18 April 2013 . Kee, Tameka. Lyris Rounds Out HQ Dashboard With PPC Management Tool. 19 November 2012. Web. 18 April 2013 . Marketo.com. The Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics and Marketing Analytics. 2013. Web. 18 April 2013. . Unica.com. The Power of the Unica Marketing Platform - SmartBase Solutions. 2012. Web. 18 April 2013. . Read More