Businesses using Microsoft Dynamics 365 have various integrative tools on their list, from sales and marketing to customer service and more. If you are looking for an automated marketing platform that integrates well with your existing Microsoft CRM, you’ll probably encounter two popular options- Dynamics 365 for Marketing and ClickDimensions.
Here is a detailed ClickDimensions vs Dynamics 365 Marketing guide for you!
Spoiler alert! There is no winner, but highlighted differences between each platform will help you make an informed decision on which platform best fits your unique business needs.
Learn more about Dynamics 365 Marketing!
Let’s begin with a basic introduction of both – D365 Marketing and ClickDimensions.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 For Marketing Overview
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is cloud-based hub for business applications, including an advanced CRM for marketing. Dynamics 365 for Marketing is equipped with multiple automation tools to manage multi-channel campaigns, landing pages, email marketing, behavior tracking, web forms, events, and lead scoring and nurturing. Additionally, users can also enjoy the perks of advanced social media management and LinkedIn connectivity features.
As an all-in solution, Dynamics 365 for Marketing is completely customizable both during configuration and later down the line. If your business already uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 application, you can purchase the Dynamics 365 for Marketing attach license at a discounted price.
ClickDimensions Overview
ClickDimensions is an advanced marketing automation solution natively built within the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. All data and features can be easily accessed from within your current Dynamics 365 or CRM solution. ClickDimensions includes dashboards for results and revenue, multi-channel automation, and social media marketing tools.
ClickDimensions’ campaign automation allows businesses to build multi-channel campaigns using a drag-and-drop interface. Furthermore, it helps your business in determining who is interested in your products, quantify their interest, and take the most appropriate actions.
ClickDimensions vs Dynamics 365 Marketing Pricing
As the very first Dynamics 365 app, the fee for Dynamics 365 Marketing is USD 1500/tenant/month. However, for clients with a minimum of 10 qualifying Dynamics 365 licenses, the marketing module is available at a discounted rate of USD 750/tenant/month.
- Starting price: USD 1,500.00 per month
- Free trial: Available
- Free version: Available
ClickDimensions most popular business plan totals USD 699 per month, enabling up to 200,000 annual emails. Additional costs apply for ClickDimensions Social Marketing or Intelligent Dashboards add-ons.
Businesses can purchase ClickDimensions licenses by choosing one of three tiers:
- Basic, which includes email marketing, web forms and intelligence, social media marketing, subscription management, and a calendar
- Business, which includes all Basic features plus campaign automation, landing pages, lead scoring, SMS messaging, surveys, and event management
- Premier, which includes all Basic and Business features plus intelligent dashboards
Each ClickDimensions pricing tier comes with unlimited users and contacts, and businesses pay in advance for one year of functionality.
Dynamics 365 For Marketing Dashboard
A wide variety of dashboards is available across D365 Marketing, each of which is optimized for a different use case and application. The below mentioned dashboards are provided within Dynamics 365 for Marketing, and are specifically tailored for marketing professionals:
- Lead Generation Dashboard
- Customer Journey Dashboard
- Email Marketing Dashboard
- Event Management Dashboard
Each dashboard is interactive and provides a widget that displays your most relevant activities. When you sign into Dynamics 365 for Marketing the first thing, you’ll see is the dashboard which helps you in setting your priorities for the day. Moreover, to streamline data you can add filters, every time you choose a new filter, you will see it at the top of the page.
ClickDimensions Intelligent Dashboard
ClickDimensions Intelligent Dashboards help marketers in understanding which one of their initiatives is working and which aren’t by offering a holistic view of the marketing and sales performance and connecting them directly to the sales pipeline.
As a fully equipped marketing solution it controls the cost and efforts associated with creating and maintaining comprehensive marketing documentation and reporting.
For all the tasks, including developing/optimizing dashboards for multiple marketing channels, integrating data from multiple sources, defining the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and refreshing data/reports on a recurring basis can need more than six different skillsets and 100+ hours to develop with traditional BI tools.
However, with ClickDimensions Intelligent Dashboards, marketing professionals have access to more than 13 marketing and sales dashboards. All these dashboards help in tracking 172 best practice KPIs across your marketing automation, CRM, web, social and advertising channels – all available to you in less than 24 hours from the time you first log in.
ClickDimensions vs Dynamics 365 Marketing: Easy Implementation & Configuration
For marketers who plan to make little to no customizations, ClickDimensions is a much easier option to set up as compared to D365 Marketing. ClickDimensions acts as a plug-and-play marketing automation solution.
On the contrary, Dynamics 365 for Marketing provides a broader scope of customizations, and numerous features offering greater flexibility. These features include landing page designer, audience segments, and customer journey builder. However, these advanced features can increase complexity and require additional configuration and training.
Note: both these solutions require that you install applications in your D365 environment. Both require configuration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 to your website domains and social media accounts.
Training Resources
Both platforms have multiple training resources available that can help users every step of the way. However, ClickDimensions is better supported with comprehensive documentation and training content under ClickDimensions Academy.
For ClickDimensions, users who are not familiar with the module can focus on various ClickDimensions 101 courses to ramp up quickly. Later they can advance to 201 courses for a deeper dive.
For Dynamics 365 for Marketing, Microsoft Learn offers multiple learning modules and paths for D365 Marketing covering basics, configuration, setup, and other core features. However, choosing the right Dynamics 365 for Marketing Partner to provide training is important to benefit from the full power of the platform you opt for.
Final Verdict
To conclude it all, Dynamics 365 for Marketing and ClickDimensions are two amazing marketing automation platforms to kick start your business’s marketing campaigns. However, when it comes to choosing one of the two platforms, it solely depends on the marketing scope, vision, and requirements of your organization.
For instance, if your business’s marketing strategy involves sending some emails, setting up website forms, and tracking KPIs then ClickDimensions is the best suited solution in this scenario.
However, if you want to elevate your marketing campaigns off the ground and make the most out of the available data by leveraging artificial intelligence then you require a more robust platform like Microsoft Dynamics marketing.
