Marketers are more laser-focused than ever on delivering the best possible customer experience. Achieving that requires a multifaceted approach – leveraging the right data, incorporating AI into workflows, and building internal knowledge to become more digitally savvy.
Given the current global economic climate, making conscious, ROI-driven technology decisions is more important than ever. The era of throwing budget at the latest shiny platform is over (at least for now). This article takes a grounded, pragmatic look at three marketing automation tools worthy attention of companies prioritizing digital-first strategies.
What Is Marketing Cloud Growth/Advanced (MCG/A)?
Marketing Cloud Growth is one of Salesforce’s newest marketing automation solutions, built natively on the Salesforce Core platform and tightly integrated with Data Cloud. Unlike Marketing Cloud Engagement or Account Engagement, MCG is designed for seamless, digital-first marketing. There are two tiers available: Growth and Advanced.
The Growth Edition helps companies scale marketing efforts through powerful data tools and content management capabilities. The Advanced Edition includes everything in Growth, plus additional functionality for deeper insights and more sophisticated engagement strategies.
While both are strong, Advanced is built for experimentation and fine-tuning, whereas Growth emphasizes scalability with a data-driven foundation.
Who Is it Best Suited For?
MCG is best suited for digitally savvy companies already using Salesforce, particularly those leveraging Data Cloud.
It’s a smart choice for teams looking to improve marketing orchestration while staying aligned with other Salesforce products.
What Does it Offer?
Purchasing MCG today offers a lighter, faster-to-deploy Salesforce marketing experience. With built-in AI tools like Einstein, marketers can enhance segmentation, journey optimization, and generative email content.
Importantly, Salesforce’s AI philosophy emphasizes the “person in the middle”, giving humans control over AI outputs for better accuracy and trust.
As segmentation is primarily handled within Data Cloud, users can easily adjust segments in MCG via a drag-and-drop interface. Implementation is notably quicker than classic SFMC, and the platform is designed for everyday marketers – no dedicated technical resources needed.
What Is Braze?
Braze positions itself as a customer engagement platform, built for real-time, cross-channel marketing automation.
It’s especially known for lifecycle marketing, mobile push, in-app messaging, and high levels of personalization.
Who Is it Best Suited For?
Braze is ideal for consumer-facing, digital-first brands, especially those in mobile apps, e-commerce, retail, and media. It’s a strong fit for growth-stage companies or enterprises with mature products and digital experience teams.
Seamless integrations with CDPs like Segment and mParticle make it a marketer-friendly solution, particularly for teams managing mobile or app-based engagement.
What Does it Offer?
If your company has a strong data maturity and is ready to elevate its customer experience, Braze is a compelling choice.
You’ll benefit from AI-powered personalization (via its Sage AI suite), real-time segmentation, and predictive engagement tools like churn prediction and message optimization.
Braze is API-friendly and designed for integration with leading data platforms, enabling marketers to orchestrate complex, behavior-driven campaigns with precision.
What Is Klaviyo?
Klaviyo is an all-in-one marketing automation platform built specifically for e-commerce brands.
It offers email, SMS, and robust customer segmentation features that are deeply integrated with commerce platforms.
Who Is it Best Suited For?
Klaviyo is a go-to solution for small to mid-sized DTC and eCommerce companies. It excels within the Shopify and WooCommerce ecosystems, though it’s expanded to support a wider range of commerce stacks.
The platform is intuitive for marketers and focuses heavily on customer lifecycle marketing.
What Does it Offer?
Buying Klaviyo today gives you a lightweight, high-impact platform with strong predictive AI features tailored for e-commerce, like expected next purchase date, churn risk, and lifetime value predictions. AI-driven copy suggestions and dynamic product recommendations are included out of the box.
Klaviyo’s main strengths lie in its ease of use and rapid onboarding, with most teams going live in days. While it’s not designed for complex enterprise orchestration, it delivers serious value for growing DTC brands.
Marketing Automation Tool Checklist
Before deciding on a new marketing automation platform, consider these important questions to help you understand which tool is best for you.
- Are you a digital-first (eCommerce) company?
- What’s your current tech stack?
- Are you using a CDP (and if so, which one)?
- What CRM do you have in place?
- What legacy marketing tools are in use – and how easily can they be integrated?
- How experienced is your marketing team?
- Do you have technical marketing profiles on your team?
- How closely does marketing collaborate with sales and service teams?
- What core marketing needs are you trying to solve?
- When do you expect to see ROI from your marketing automation investment?
Summary
The marketing landscape in 2025 is rich with platforms competing for the attention of SMEs and mid-sized digital-first companies. In today’s economic climate, the era of overspending on tech without strategic alignment is gone. Smart, sustainable choices are what define modern marketing leaders.
In this article, we analyzed three of the most forward-looking platforms – Marketing Cloud Growth, Braze, and Klaviyo – based on their ability to improve customer experience and deliver ROI. And ROI today isn’t just about revenue; it’s about adaptability, team readiness, and long-term alignment with your business model.
We hope this comparison brings clarity as you evaluate the best-fit tool for your next stage of growth.
