Intercom Customer Communications Platform vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

Intercom and Salesforce are both solutions in the Social CRM category. Intercom is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0, while Salesforce is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Intercom holds a 3.1% mindshare in SC, compared to Salesforce’s 12.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Intercom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Intercom Customer Communica...

Read 1 Intercom Customer Communications Platform review

82 Views
47 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 56 Salesforce Marketing Cloud reviews

326 Views
198 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Intercom Customer Communica...

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Intercom Customer Communications Platform are competing solutions in customer engagement and communication. Intercom gains an advantage with its comprehensive features, offering significant value for price despite Salesforce's favorable pricing and support reputation.

Features: Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers robust automation, extensive integration capabilities, and is ideal for large-scale operations. Intercom focuses on conversational interactions, with tools enhancing personalized engagement and innovative messaging and chat-based solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Intercom provides a straightforward deployment model with accessible support for agile implementations. Salesforce, while offering comprehensive educational resources, presents a more complex setup process.

Pricing and ROI: Salesforce Marketing Cloud features higher setup costs but promises substantial ROI for larger enterprises. Intercom, with a flexible pricing model, often delivers quicker ROI by streamlining communication processes, highlighting Salesforce's appeal to large organizations and Intercom's value in cost-efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Social CRM Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Social CRM

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Intercom Customer Communica...

Ranking in Social CRM

6th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (12th), CRM (28th)

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Ranking in Social CRM

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of Intercom Customer Communications Platform is 3.1%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 12.4%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Social CRM

Featured Reviews

Karan-Singh

Account Executive at Speak Ai

A good tool that can be used to capture inbound leads and manage all customer interactions

Sometimes, the solution lags and takes time to update something. If I put a specific tag on an inbound lead, it would take around five minutes for that tag to reflect throughout the solution for all the users. If my colleague and I are using the solution simultaneously and I create a tag for a specific lead, then that tag would not be visible to my colleague for about three to four minutes. Since the solution is great at capturing leads and giving me an overview of all the people interacting with our platform, I would love to see a CRM structure created. We can create a pipeline in the solution itself, and then it can give us that CRM experience.

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SantoshKrishna

Director at BMO Financial

Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable

The encryption and decryption have room for improvement. We need to be confident that the customer's data is secure when shared outside of the organization. I would like to request additional mobile app features that go beyond push notifications. As the mobile development industry continues to advance with new technologies, such as AI components, it is important to consider these advancements when setting up campaigns. Currently, campaigns are scheduled to be sent to customers at a prescribed time, but they may not be relevant to the customer unless they see them as valuable. For example, if I want to run a campaign offering loans, I would need to consider the customer's needs and balance. In the future, I hope Salesforce can incorporate an AI component that utilizes the shared data, rather than just scheduling campaigns.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The live chat is pretty good because you can create a macro, which is a predefined input we can give customers."

"Marketing Cloud offers a 360 customers experience as it integrates with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud, the CRM portion of Salesforce. The different platforms integrate easily which makes it easy to manage customer communication using a single point of truth."

"Overall, I would rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a nine out of 10."

"Email automation is most valuable."

"It is straightforward to set up."

"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."

"The solution is very, very scalable."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud's journey builder is very easy to handle and quickly sets up a journey for clients who use a lot of communication."

"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

Cons

"Sometimes, the solution lags and takes time to update something."

"The main action I want to do in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is to export data into Excel and use it. My company may have that feature locked down, or if the Excel data exporting function still isn't available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, that's the feature I want."

"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."

"The majority of my clients are happy, but when it comes to the CDP of Salesforce, the client gets confused. They have no clue that Salesforce has a CDP platform too. If my clients want to go ahead with the same vendor, Salesforce, they get confused about the different marketing suites which are available. There is no clear marketing done for the suites available for the clients, this is where the client is facing the real challenges."

"An additional feature needed would be better capacity for personalization."

"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."

"The solution can have a better UI. Salesforce Marketing Cloud should consider making its solution more robust for error handling."

"Technical support is good but could be faster, maybe more knowledgeable, and more customer friendly."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should include more point-and-click functionality."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The price is expensive."

"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."

"Salesforce is an expensive solution."

"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."

"It's not cheap, which is why I recommend that you use Marketing Cloud to create automated journeys. If you plan to use Marketing Cloud just to send emails, use another tool."

"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."

"We did a yearly license. We negotiated and got a great deal. I don't think we would have gotten far with the regular price, but they negotiated, so it was worth that."

"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

56%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

The live chat is pretty good because you can create a macro, which is a predefined input we can give customers.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

We use the solution to capture leads and interact with them. Our company manages all the customer interactions through the solution.

See all answers

What do you like most about Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Salesforce is one of the most expensive tools. The pricing is around $10,000 per annum per user. It is a very expensive solution that I would rate a nine out of 10 in terms of cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

I would like to see improvements in the integration between Salesforce platforms and AgentForce. There are inaccuracies in how AgentForce retrieves information or interprets data. It still shows so...

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

Zeta Marketing Platform vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CRM Customer Engagement Centers

March 2025

Intercom Customer Communications Platform report

Download Intercom Customer Communications Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

April 2025

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Also Known As

Intercom

ExactTarget

Overview

Intercom Customer Communications Platform enhances interactions by offering robust tools designed to streamline customer engagement and support, effectively catering to modern business communication needs.

Providing a comprehensive approach to customer interaction, Intercom facilitates seamless conversation management through its adaptable suite of messaging, logistical, and analytical features. Frequently utilized for customer support and marketing, its flexibility and user-friendly design encourage efficient communication. While offering valuable insights through analytics, some users note areas for improvement in customizability and pricing models, pointing towards a potential enhancement in fine-tuning its cost-effectiveness and adaptability to diverse business strategies.

What are the standout features of Intercom?

Live Chat: Immediate customer support through real-time messaging.
Automated Bot: Streamlines inquiries by handling routine questions.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with third-party tools.
Inbox Management: Organizes conversations for efficient response.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Faster resolutions lead to happier clients.
Improved Team Efficiency: Automation reduces manual workload.
Actionable Analytics: Data-driven insights optimize strategies.
Scalable Solutions: Adapts to growing business demands.

Industries such as e-commerce, SaaS, and tech-driven businesses often implement Intercom for its ability to provide personalized customer journeys. Its messaging platform excels in maintaining customer relationships and resolving issues quickly, which is crucial in these fast-paced sectors.

Intercom

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that enables businesses to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

With its robust set of tools and features, marketers can easily manage and automate their email marketing, social media advertising, mobile messaging, and customer journey mapping.

The platform offers advanced segmentation capabilities, allowing marketers to segment their audience based on various criteria and deliver tailored messages to each segment.

Additionally, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides powerful analytics and reporting features, enabling marketers to track the performance of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

With its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Salesforce products, Marketing Cloud offers a seamless and efficient marketing automation solution for businesses of all sizes.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

Expensift, Moz, Invision, Salesforce, Droplr, Vend, BugHerd, Ghost, Put.io, Codeship

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips

Find out what your peers are saying about Sprinklr, Salesforce, Qualtrics and others in Social CRM. Updated: April 2025.

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