Why Most 1:1 Marketing Platform Reviews Fail, and What to Do About It

Oh no. You’re taking part in your company’s 1:1 marketing platform review … or worse, you’re leading it. Yikes.

OK. Your 1:1 customer journeys aren’t really journeys. They’re more like a collection of individual emails, SMS, app notifications, and the occasional retargeted web or display campaign. Your CRM is stuck at crawl. It’s generic, batch-and-blast, and not living up to the 'customer-first' vision your brand keeps talking about. Results aren’t where they need to be, and deep down, you know it’s time for a change.

But how do you convince the organisation to migrate (and harder still) how do you get everyone to agree which platform to migrate to? For most organisations, that’s where things grind to a halt. The process turns divisive and exhausting: weeks of vendor demos, months of Excel-based feature ranking, and endless debates as each department champions 'their' preferred platform.

What if you could lock your senior decision-makers in a room at 9 a.m., limit the coffee supply, and force glorious harmony (and a decision) by noon? Okay, maybe glorious harmony is a stretch. But there has to be a better way to chart the path forward than the slog most companies endure when choosing their next one-to-one marketing platform.

That’s exactly why we built Decision IQ.

Agreeing on priorities will set you free

The first time we previewed Decision IQ with a senior client, the impact was immediate. We’d pre loaded the tool with their agreed priorities and weightings. 'Cost of Ownership' was at the top, followed by 'Ease of Migration.' That pointed them toward simply upgrading their current platform; familiar, fast, low risk.

Then the CMO paused. “No… that’s not right,” she said. “This isn’t a decision for this year. It’s a decision for the next five. Getting to omnichannel is what will drive this business forward. Drag that category to the top. And AI, that’s number two. It’s our future.”

Two quick drags later, the entire dynamic shifted. The organisation’s long-term priorities were suddenly visible … and undeniable. Staying put no longer made sense. Migration did.

And the platform that would help them get there suddenly stretched its neck out of the pack. There was head nodding, a deeper understanding of why it was the right choice, and yes, the rarest of outcomes in platform reviews: a clear, collective, and dare we say, glorious final choice.

How it works

After decades of helping clients decide between platforms; Adobe Campaign or Marketing Cloud, rebuild or migrate, stay or switch, we’ve learned there’s no perfect answer. Every choice comes with trade-offs.

The irony of choice is that it often traps organisations. The endless comparisons, the detailed feature grids, the lack of alignment, all of it becomes the bog companies can’t escape. Everyone has a strong opinion – and no one’s wrong. That’s what makes it hard.

Decision IQ helps bring order (and progress) to that chaos by focusing on what really matters: your organisation's priorities.

It starts with the teams undertaking the review. Each department scores the competing platforms across ten core categories (cost, scalability, integration fit, data flexibility, innovation, and more). Every group has a voice where it matters most: marketing scores the tools that best enable them, the data team weighs in on integration and compatibility, and IT assesses technical fit and security.

Then, with the scoring in place, the executive team takes the reins. They review the categories and reorder them by business priority. If 'Total Cost of Ownership' is the key driver, drag it to the top. If “Omnichannel Enablement” or “AI Readiness” is what matters most, move those higher. The weighting automatically adjusts so the higher categories count for more and the lower for less.

This strikes the ideal balance between in-the-trenches comparison and executive direction. The people closest to the platforms contribute their expertise, while leadership ensures the decision aligns with strategic goals.

It’s not about replacing deep analysis or vendor research. It’s about channelling it into one clear, objective conversation.

Try Decision IQ at https://decisioniq.jamcrm.com.