Category: Marketing Automation

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Last Updated on December 12, 2020 by Rakesh GuptaTo understand how to solve the same business use case using Process Builder. Check out this article Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 53 (Field history tracking for Multi-Select Picklist). Big Idea or … Continue reading →

Hi Everyone. I may be needing advice. Sorry if there are grammar errors as English is not my first language. Just a bit of a background. I am an IT graduate and have been working as a software developer in an IT company for more than 3 years. We use the company’s proprietary programming language though I have working exp also in SQL, PL/SQL, manual software testing and business analysis. I am now actively looking for new work to gain more marketable skills. A manager in one company I applied reached out to me saying I am fit for another role as Marketing Automation Specialist. I received the job description here. Honestly when I read it I’m surprised why I was considered since the role is different to my experience. However I believed I may be suited to some of the roles mentioned. I pursued the application and will be scheduled for an interview next week. I am open for a new career path just in case. I am also researching in the internet since this is not the typical roles (e.g. Business Analyst or QA tester) I apply. However I would appreciate if I get more insights so I can learn more. My questions are:
What things I should know or consider for me to fully go after after this career? I plan to work abroad (Australia, Canada or Europe) in the next several years. What skills on this role I should invest to develop?
I am also worried if they asked me questions about marketing automation since I really don’t have a working experience using those tools. I appreciate any of your help/suggestions/recommendations.
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I work for a company in the 100-300 employee range. We use Salesforce and one of the above MA platforms. I see that ActiveCampaigns is getting good reviews on G2 Crowd (G2.com), and that it appears to be a lot cheaper (<$500/mo. vs >$1000/mo.). Most of the ActiveCampaign reviewers I see on G2 seem to be from small businesses and are comparing AC to MailChimp or Constant Contact. Has anyone at a mid-market or larger company moved to AC from one of these platforms? What do you think? I’m particularly concerned about integration with Salesforce. I’ve read a few reviews suggesting that the integration is not native; that you have to use Zapier. Thanks in advance.
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Last Updated on December 11, 2020 by Rakesh Gupta Big Idea or Enduring Question: How do you allow your users to preschedule Chatter posts?   Chatter is a great way to boost collaboration in your organization. You can Post Status, … Continue reading →

Saw an older thread dated 3 years ago and thought I’d see if perceptions have changed. Where does Marketo sit? We use Salesforce for CRM
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Just the other day, I was Googling something in a rush and came across a blog post that I thought would give me all the information I needed.
But, when I clicked on the page and tried to start reading the post, the entire screen went dark and a giant “Subscribe to our email” CTA popped up — completely interrupting my experience.
I looked around for a “No thanks” button or an “X”, but I almost couldn’t find one. Just before I went to click the back arrow, I noticed a very faint, tiny “X” that was nearly the same color as the CTA background. It was obvious that this site’s designers wanted to trick visitors into signing up for an email list before reading their content.
Not only did this CTA almost backfire by causing me to bounce off the site, but it also made me judge the brand’s morals.
Although some business people might not think a code of ethics matters in design, it does.
In this post, I’ll explain what design ethics is, what guidelines ethical designers might use, and a few tips for avoiding questionable design ethics.

Why are ethics in design important?
One of the best places to highlight your brand’s mission, as well as its ethical values, is in your marketing and designs. After all, these are the areas of your company that prospects and customers might see most.
While ethics, inclusivity, and accessibility are not necessarily always top of mind for some busy marketers or designers,, it’s incredibly important to review any public-facing projects from an ethical perspective.
Today, more than ever, consumers are paying attention to the moral standards of brands. Research shows 62% of consumers are attracted to brands that have strong, authentic ethical values.
When companies are considered ethical, consumers trust them, feel like the brand cares about their experience, and identify with the company. On the other hand, when brands use tactics that feel unethical, consumers lose trust in the brand which could lead to less brand loyalty or purchases.
Ultimately, every aspect of your brand’s design contributes to the message you’re putting out. If you want to create content and that demonstrates your company’s values, you should regularly review your brand’s design ethics.
Ethics in Graphic Design
When creating marketing content like landing pages, web experiences, or other visuals, ethical graphic designers consider a handful of guidelines. Here are just a few:
1. Designs should not be misleading.
You should aim for your designs to engage people and nurture them towards converting. Your designs shouldn’t mislead, pressure, or coerce audiences into doing or thinking something.
In the intro, I noted a website I visited that tried to pressure me into signing up for email before I was even able to read their content. This just one of many sneaky dark pattern design techniques.
While it’s not uncommon or unethical to create colorful or embellished designs that draw attention away from an “X” or opt-out button, dark pattern designs happen when designers make an obvious and conscious effort to trick visitors into doing something, such as giving out personal information.
For example, making the “X” nearly invisible and darkening content behind a pop-up ad so visitors think they need to convert or subscribe to email list to see content is a dark pattern technique. You might also see similar techniques in spammy emails where the unsubscribe link is hidden or made illegibly small so you can’t easily find it.
While it’s understandable that you want to get as many people as possible on a promotional email list, tricking visitors into subscribing for something is not the answer.
Why? If the contact didn’t want to get signed up for the email, they might complain about the sneaky design, mark the email as spam, and unsubscribe immediately. If they aren’t annoyed to the point of unsubscribing, they might not engage with the email because they weren’t expecting it or were never interested in promotional content in the first place. This, in turn, could negatively impact email performance and future deliverability.
Ultimately, sneaking consent from visitors isn’t likely to create major engagement or brand loyalty. So, if you must use a similar tactic or an automatically checked box in your design, make sure the text is large enough so visitors can see it and easily uncheck the box if they aren’t interested in your offering.
2. Designs shouldn’t hurt the user experience.
We’ve all been on a website where an ad or full-page CTA blocked the content we wanted to see. Sometimes, this gets so annoying, it causes us to leave websites entirely.
When we bounce off a website with too many pop-ups or design glitches, the site not only loses visitors and credibility, but it also loses SEO strength.
Designers should make sure they’re creating experiences that nurture an audience member into doing something rather than force-feeding them an offer or advertisement. To do this, they should be asking themselves, “How can I design valuable online experiences that help visitors rather than shamelessly selling products to them?”
At HubSpot, we encourage companies to nurture leads rather than using unethical or desperate marketing tactics to trick them into signing up for something. Our natural lead nurturing approach can be seen right on our blog.
Each HubSpot blog post includes unintrusive CTAs at the bottom of the page, as well as a slide-in CTA that appears when the reader has scrolled passed a certain point in the post. Here’s what the bottom of a post looks like:

Not only do these CTAs fit smoothly within our blog design (and don’t cover up the content), but they also relate to the content we’re posting. This way, the reader gets a taste of our expertise in our blog content. Then, they can choose to dive deeper into our offers.
With unintrusive CTAs like this, we primarily send offerings to contacts that want them most, are likely to download more free resources, and might turn into qualified leads later on.
3. Messaging, disclaimers, and policies are clear and legible.
In the design below, another example of dark pattern design, the disclaimer, “Your subscription will renew automatically. You can cancel at any time,” is so small you might not notice it.

Image Source
Because of this, visitors might give credit card information not realizing that they’ll be charged without being asked at the end of their free trial. Ultimately, when someone’s card is surprisingly charged for a service they didn’t want because they didn’t see this message, they might get annoyed with the brand, unsubscribe, and potentially complain about the small text.
On the other hand, if your text is legible and understandable, you might only receive the customers that understand free-trial policies, are serious about your service, and won’t rush to complain if they forget to cancel their subscription before the credit card charge.
4. Use proper representation and embrace inclusion, whenever possible.
Ethical designers always ask, “Does this design accurately represent groups of people discussed?”
Between 2011 and 2015, Access Icon embraced inclusive design ethics when they revamped the International Symbol of Access — often seen on accessible parking spots or wheelchair-accessible bathrooms — to better represent people with disabilities.
While the original symbol showed a simple stick figure sitting in a static wheelchair, the new symbol shows a person’s arms moving with their body tilted forward as if they’re actively moving or speeding in their wheelchair.

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The new design came after a 2011 Boston-based street campaign, where Access Icon members placed a moving body over the static body on accessibility signs.

Image Source
Although Access Icon did not intend to replace or criticize the original symbol, created in the 1950s, the organization wanted the new version to create an “occasion for asking questions about disability and the built environment, in the largest sense. Who has access—physically, yes, but moreover, to education, to meaningful citizenship, to political rights?”
Between 2012 and 2015, state governments, cities, major companies, and local businesses around the world adopted the symbol.
By refining this design, the group aimed to accurately represent people with disabilities as mobile, energetic, and empowered, rather than as static, less mobile figures. Ultimately, they realized the original design wrongly depicted those with disabilities and created a new design that solved for it.
Ethics in the Design of Technology
Design ethics doesn’t just stop with imagery or website UX. Tech products, software, and other tools also need ethical designers to create smooth, pleasant, and trustworthy experiences for customers. While technical or product designers think about the ethical guidelines noted above, there are a few additional standards they might follow:
1. Designs should be accessible.
In recent years, accessibility has been a major topic in the world of tech and product design. Although you might not realize it, people with varying accessibility needs might be using your product. And, when your product is accessible to more people, more people can use it and buy it.
One recent example of an accessible technology design was Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller.
After learning that children with physical disabilities, such as missing limbs, were having trouble playing Xbox video games with the console’s controllers, Microsoft developed an adaptive touchpad controller, which enabled people with multiple types of disabilities to play games with their friends.

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Aside from two circular touchpads, which replace small controller buttons, the Xbox Adaptive Controller features large programmable buttons and can connect to external switches, buttons, mounts, or joysticks that make gaming more accessible for users.
The process of designing the controller was highlighted in a Super Bowl ad called, “We All Win,” which you can watch below:

On a smaller scale, accessible technological design could also involve including accessibility tools and symbols within your software interface or web page. 
For example, some brands might offer an accessibility icon at the bottom of their website where you can click to adjust settings for a smoother experience if you have a disability. Or, to make their site or UX accessible to people in other countries, websites, like HubSpot’s offer an icon and menu that allow you to toggle between languages:

2. Designs should promote safety and security.
In 2020, many people are thinking about data security as many are buying smart devices and software for workspaces and their homes. With many devices listening to our voices, logging our lifestyle habits, and even recording health data, some worry that this information could be sold, stolen, or used unethically later on.
Because of data concerns, many tech firms are emphasizing security in their overall product design.
For example, when smart home devices with virtual assistants initially hit store shelves, consumers panicked when they learned that some devices, such as Amazon’s Echo, would surreptitiously record them.
To make consumers feel more secure with Echo devices in their homes, Amazon designed each device with a very visible mute button on them. When the button is pressed, the Echo’s light ring and the button turn orange to visibly show people that the device has deactivated recording.

Image Source
While this button might make Echo owners feel secure at home, it might also ease the nerves of prospects who see it in product shots or Echo ads before purchasing it.
3. Consider or respond to unexpected ethical dilemmas.
If you’re helping to design a new piece of technology, you should consider all of the potential ethical dilemmas it could create and create a design that could either solve for them or ease your audience’s concerns.
In 2018, Netflix was forced to address a design strategy on its platform when a recommendation algorithm was panned across the web.
The algorithm in question, which Netflix called, “Artwork Personalization,” aimed to show users show thumbnails based on the design traits of thumbnails they’d previously clicked. While it sounded like an interesting personalization experiment, consumers quickly argued that this personalization was racially targeting users.
Specifically, some users noted seeing primarily content recommendations with white people in thumbnails while some BIPOC users saw mostly thumbnails that showed people of color. While Netflix denied that the algorithm targeted users by race, the news went viral.
In this scenario, had Netflix designers and developers researched their design tweaks or audited it from an ethical perspective, they might have been able to tweak the algorithm before launch.
How to Promote Design Ethics
If this post has inspired you to develop a new ethical standard for your designs, here are a few next steps you can take.
Audit Your Past Designs
Even if your designs have been successful in the past, it’s still good to re-audit them to ensure that they continue to promote design ethics. For example, you can look at your website or product’s design to ensure that they’re accessible, easy to comprehend, and inclusive to all potential web visitors.
Review Your Current Projects.
Whether you’re working on a product, website, graphic, or software-related design, reviewing it from a design ethics perspective might lead to a successful launch with fewer risks of complaints or concerns from the public.
Pivot if Needed
Sometimes a design tactic you once embraced is now considered out of date. For example, a design symbol that used to be culturally acceptable or valuable might now be seen as a misrepresentation or offensive. When you notice things like this changing, it’s smart to adjust or modernize your design tactics.
Want to learn more about design and ethics? Check out this post for additional information on dark-pattern design or this post on ethics in modern marketing.

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The days remaining in 2020 are few, and 2021 is just around the corner — things you undoubtedly know already.
But here’s something you may have forgotten about: There’s not much time left to finish up your holiday shopping. (Gasp! We know.)
Maybe you’re a marketer looking to complete your wish list. Or, maybe you’ve got a team of marketers you want to make smile.

To help you out, I’ve searched the internet far and wide (it’s kind of what I do), and found you some of this year’s best gifts for marketers.
Without further ado …
17 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Marketers
1. Send a Starbucks eGift Card
Once upon a time, Starbucks offered a Tweet a Coffee program, which was retired after testing it in beta. I tried it for the first time earlier this season when Emily Maxie, B2B tech marketer at Very said something nice about our social media tool. I was really thrilled and just wanted to do something nice in return. Tweeting a coffee was an easy, hassle-free way to surprise co-marketing partners, customers, or others. Plus, it was almost instantaneous, so it was a savior for last-minute shoppers.

@emilymaxie, @meghkeaney just tweeted you a coffee! Redeem it now. https://t.co/0X3XIAVK4E — Tweetacoffee (@Tweetacoffee)
November 21, 2013

Although that program has been retired, there’s still a good alternative: Send a Starbucks eGift Card. Just add a personal message and the amount you’d like to give, enter an email address, and hit “send.”
Where to get it: Starbucks
Cost: Buyer’s choice
2. Blogging Fuel Mug
As comedic writer Dave Barry once explained, “It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.”
Not only is this mug a good way to keep your favorite marketer sufficiently caffeinated, but its message is also on point. Around here, at least, our marketers love creativity — but we also love precision. And, we love the written word. So when this mug came across our radar …

Source: Amazon
… we knew it had to make this list.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $14.95 + $4.95 shipping
3. “Eat. Sleep. Blog.” T-Shirt
This is a pretty great gig we all have. Sure, there are seemingly unattainable lead goals and endless writing deadlines. But think about it for a moment: Every day, we get to get up and figure out how to capture people’s fascination. It’s an amazing job.
This shirt summarizes that sentiment nicely.

Source: Amazon
Oh, and it’s really comfortable for blogging.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $17.39
4. HubSpot Fleece-Lined Winter Hat
We’re not sure how the weather looks in your neck of the woods, but around the holiday season, it starts to get cold where HubSpot is headquartered, in Boston.
It’s sweater weather. Hat weather. Fleece-lined hat weather, to be specific.
Luckily, HubSpot has a hat for that.

And while you’re at it, check out these other last-minute gifts from the HubSpot Shop:

Sprocket zippered hoodie
HubSpot camper mug
HubSpot dog collar

Where to get it: HubSpot Shop
Cost: $15
5. “But First, Coffee.” T-Shirt
It’s best to wear your priorities on your sleeve … er … torso. This cozy T-shirt puts your working style out in the open. In fact, it may double as a signal for the best way to bribe you for extra work.

Don’t work in a jeans-friendly office? Nothing a blazer and nice pants can’t fix (she writes as if she has actual fashion sense).
Where to get it: Skreened
Cost: $29.99
6. Mophie Smartphone Case
A few years ago, a group of HubSpotters got these cases while working long hours at the INBOUND. But they’re not just any cases — they’re Mophie smartphone cases.
Mophie is a smartphone cover that also doubles as extra battery life.

Source: Mophie
They’re a little clunkier than the standard phone case, but they can extend your phone’s life by 100% or more. If you know a marketer who is often working on the road.
Where to get it: Mophie
Cost: About $100, depending on variety
7. Book Cover Laptop Case
Rumor has it writer Jorge Louis Borges used to sleep surrounded by books. He’d crawl into bed with stacks of them on either side. His last scent before sleep would be that of open pages and intricately worded lines.

Source: Twelve South
This isn’t quite as poetic, but it’s close.
This laptop cover would be a good fit for the bookworm on your team.
Where to get it: TwelveSouth
Cost: About $80
8. Subscription to a Streaming Music Service
Okay, so music may not make you smarter, but it does make you happier. And isn’t delight what we’re really after here?
Many marketers already listen to streaming music while they work, but without a subscription, that streaming music is typically limited or interrupted by commercials.
Buying your marketing friend a subscription to a streaming music can get rid of all the commercial interruptions and just leave them with good working music. We’re inbound marketers — thus, we hate commercial interruptions.
Here are a few options:

Pandora: $54.89

Spotify: $9.99/month for Premium

Apple Music: Plans start at $4.99/month

Google Play Music: Plans start at $9.99/month

9. @TwitterName Necklace
It might be a bit excessive, but it’s also kind of awesome. Here’s a gift for the social media strategist who has single-handedly grown your company’s Twitter following from 15 to 500 and beyond.

Source: Etsy
If jewelry isn’t the right gift, there are also a range of social media coasters.
Where to get it: Etsy
Cost: $43.99
10. 1Password
Welcome to secure accounts on the internet. Your password must be 15 characters long with at least two capital letters, three symbols, two numbers, and at least one variation of the Jabberwocky poem.
Nope, that won’t work. And it can’t be the same as any password you’ve used since junior high school.
If you could spare the marketer in your life this frustration, wouldn’t it be a happier new year? Take a look at the 1Password app. It will create and store all of your passwords securely and enable you to log into your accounts with one click.

Where to get it: 1Password
Cost: Plans start at $2.99/month
11. 99U Essays: Manage Your Day-to-Day
One of my favorite books, this collection of essays from 99U, focuses on how to develop a habit of creativity in your work and personal life. It gives you tips on how to put your creative work first and fend off a stream of endless emails, texts, and other interruptions.

Source: 99U
With an average 4.4-star rating on Amazon, this book offers concrete ideas for getting more out of your daily routine and finding the right moments for creative, complex work.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $10.99
12. Freelancer Tools From WriterAccess or Zerys
While they don’t do gift cards, you could help a freelancer’s life easier with tools from WriterAccess of Zerys. Create a gift certificate yourself and wrap it up in a bow: Good for one day of reprieve from creating content.
Where to get it: Zerys or Writer Access
Cost: Varies
13. Premium Versions of Productivity Apps
Marketers use all sorts of freemium tools to organize their time and plan campaigns. Find out what online apps your marketer uses to make his or her day-to-day easier with access to all the bells and whistles for a year.
Here’s a breakdown of some popular ones:

Evernote: Evernote is a repository for just about anything: ideas, articles, documents, photos, marketing examples. You can use the tool on your phone, desktop, and tablet, so it goes where you go. The big benefit of Evernote is how searchable it is. You can search documents or even the words in a picture to quickly retrieve your content again. The premium version gets you more storage, better search, and an interesting presentation mode. Cost: $69.99/year

Dropbox or Box: We all could use a little space. Help your marketer out by upgrading their Dropbox or Box accounts to a pro version. Cost: Varies

Feedly Pro: When Google Reader closed its doors, Feedly was widely adopted as the replacement RSS reader. Feedly Pro is a more powerful version of Feedly with one-click integrations, custom sharing URLs, and full support. Cost: Plans start at $5.41/month

14. Noise-Cancelling Headphones
Can you really put a price on peace and quiet? Turns out, Bose can: At a minimum, it’s about $180. Yikes.
But if you can get over the price, this is an amazing gift for anyone who needs to focus throughout the day. Noise-cancelling headphones put your marketers in their own cozy and uninterrupted lead-generating world.
Whether they listen to Mozart or Modest Mouse, these headphones give marketers a chance to block out everything but the work ahead of them.
Where to get them: Bose
Cost: Models start at $179.95
15. Class Reimbursement
For intellectually curious marketers, think about giving them the combo-gift of classes plus the time to learn a new skill.
There are a number of low-cost and free online classes and tutorials out there for people looking to code (Codecademy), design (Skillshare), or acquire other relevant skills. The trouble is finding the time.
If you really want to thrill a marketer on your team this season, give them the classes plus an approved block of time each week to dedicate to the lessons. Wrap it up in one package.
Where to get it: Check out Code Academy and Skillshare, plus your local continuing ed classes. Then, help your favorite marketer figure out how to make the class time possible.
Cost: Varies
16. INBOUND Ticket
Surprise! It’s not too early to buy tickets for INBOUND 2021.
INBOUND is an industry event like no other. Of course, I would say that, because as a HubSpotter, it is the center of my life in August and September. But as it turns out, others think so, too.
Darby Tinch of Mohawk Home said, “This was by far the best conference I’ve attended in a very long time. Not only was it the recharge I needed professionally but also on a personal level. It has been a long time since I’ve been this excited about my career. I cannot wait until [the next] INBOUND!”
Where to get it: INBOUND
Cost: Digital pass on sale right now for $49 (typically $149)
17. Donation in the Marketer’s Name or Honor
If none of the above seems like a fit, consider a donation in your marketer’s name or honor. Donations are a personal thing, so be sure you have a sense of the issues your marketer cares about. But once you do, a gift in his or her honor can be really meaningful.
Where to get it: Because the donation should reflect the gift recipient and there are so many nonprofits we care about here at HubSpot, I’m going to leave the door open here and not make any specific suggestions. Talk to the gift recipient and see what they care most about.
Cost: Whatever amount you see fit.
There’s your starter list. There are dozens more ideas out there: subscriptions to magazines or journals, lunch from a local restaurant, or a plethora of other gift certificates anyone would love.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

There are many ways to reach online consumers. But in terms of return on investment, there’s one that’s hard to beat. Know what it is? Yep, it’s still the good ol’ email marketing. I’d like to show you why using email marketing is a must, especially if you’re running an ecommerce business.