Why Consolidating Messaging Tools is the Right Strategy for Businesses Today

Managing multiple platforms can overwhelm marketing teams, requiring manual data transfers, workflow duplication, and additional training across systems. Consolidating messaging tools means your organization can centralize data across teams, creating new efficiences and seamless channel integration.

The Litmus 2023 State of ESPs report supports this, showing that only 9% of email marketing leaders say their email marketing channels are “very highly integrated” with other marketing channels​. This indicates a significant opportunity for businesses to improve efficiency through consolidation, ensuring a more cohesive integration across multiple messaging formats.

• According to the TEI Report, companies using Salesforce Marketing Cloud reported a 35% improvement in team productivity due to reduced time spent managing multiple tools.
• Centralizing tools led to a 22% reduction in the number of systems teams had to work across, significantly improving operational efficiencies.

In a world where time to market is a competitive differentiator, a single-vendor platform can help businesses deliver faster campaigns with fewer errors and manual bottlenecks. This integration simplifiess workflows, ensuring that marketing teams can focus on strategy rather than operational tasks.

Maintaining multiple vendors can lead to redundant costs in licensing, integration, and support. Consolidating these systems reduces complexity and helps businesses negotiate better deals with a single vendor, ultimately leading to greater return on investment.

 The Litmus 2023 State of ESPs Report reveals that a significant percentage of marketing teams (58%) face challenges managing multiple email service providers, which increases costs and complexity. By consolidating platforms, businesses can simplify their operations and reduce overall expenses.

• According to the TEI report, organizations consolidating tools saw up to $2.5 million in cost savings within three years.
• Gartner highlighted that vendor consolidation reduced the need for complex system integrations and cut IT support costs by up to 30%.

By working with a single vendor, businesses can consolidate spending, reduce IT overhead, and reinvest the savings into customer-facing initiatives that drive growth.

Managing separate platforms often results in fragmented communication that can harm the customer experience. A consolidated platform ensures that marketing messages are consistent, timely, and contextually relevant, no matter the channel.

The Litmus 2023 State of ESPs Report shows that only 30% of marketers believe their email service provider is highly integrated with other solutions. This limits their ability to provide a consistent communication strategy​, share and utilize data more effectively, and trigger next best action or journey orchestration as customers traverse channels. Consolidation bridges this gap, allowing businesses to create unified and engaging customer journeys across all messaging formats.

• The TEI report showed a 26% improvement in customer engagement when businesses moved to a unified marketing platform, allowing for more personalized, cohesive communication strategies.

By integrating all messaging tools into a single system, marketers can track and optimize the entire customer journey, delivering personalized experiences that increase satisfaction, retention, and loyalty.

Having customer data spread across multiple platforms creates silos that inhibit effective personalization and segmentation. With a single vendor solution, businesses can centralize data and use advanced analytics to better understand customer behavior and optimize messaging strategies.

The Litmus 2023 State of ESPs Report shows that marketers using consolidated platforms achieve better data centralization, leading to more accurate personalization and segmentation efforts​. This unified approach helps businesses analyze customer behavior comprehensively and tailor campaigns effectively.

• Businesses using consolidated marketing platforms reported a 40% improvement in data accuracy and a 30% faster response to market changes, according to the TEI Report.
• The TEI Report also revealed that companies using unified data analytics tools experienced a $4.9 million increase in marketing return on investment, driven by better segmentation and targeting.

A centralized platform enables a 360-degree view of the customer, offering deeper insights into behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns that can lead to more effective and profitable campaigns.

Managing compliance requirements across different systems — whether for General Data Protection Regulation, HIPAA, or other privacy regulations — can be incredibly challenging when working with multiple vendors. Consolidating messaging tools simplifies compliance management, centralizes security protocols, and reduces the risk of data breaches or regulatory infractions.

The Litmus 2023 State of ESPs report emphasizes that businesses with consolidated platforms report improved security measures and better compliance management. Specifically, businesses saw a 50% reduction in security vulnerabilities when using unified platforms.​

• Businesses using Salesforce’s unified platform saw a 50% reduction in security vulnerabilities and a 40% reduction in the time needed to manage compliance across multiple tools.
• A Ponemon Institute Study found that companies using a single platform experienced 58% fewer security incidents compared with those using multiple systems, greatly reducing the risk and costs associated with data breaches.

By consolidating tools, companies can ensure a stronger, more resilient infrastructure, helping mitigate risks and protect both company and customer data.

The challenges of managing disjointed marketing tools are well documented, but so are the benefits of vendor consolidation. From cost savings and improved efficiency to enhanced customer experiences and data accuracy, the evidence is clear: A single-vendor solution offers a strategic advantage. Supported by robust real-world data, consolidating your messaging tools can lead to a measurable improvement in business outcomes, from increased marketing return on investment to reduced security risks.

Consolidation isn’t just a cost-cutting measure — it’s a proactive way to elevate your marketing capabilities, simplify operations, and future-proof your business in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

If you’d like to learn more about how Salesforce can help, reach out to one of our digital experts today at Salesforce.com/marketing.