Sales
July 21, 2022
Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, Yesware was the go-to solution for AEs doing email outreach.
Times change.
And, while it’s made a valiant effort, Yesware just hasn’t been agile enough to maintain its position.
Sure, Yesware bills itself as a sales engagement solution but, truth is, the features leave a little something to be desired.
Ok, a lot.
Truth is, these days, it’s just not part of the sales engagement conversation anymore.
If you’re looking to shift up a gear by investing in a Yesware alternative, we’ve put together a few options for you to choose from. In this piece, we’ll cover:
Let’s take a look.
Yesware sits on top of email providers and is designed to improve email productivity by integrating with CRM systems and providing performance insights like email opens and link activity.
Customers tend to be medium or small businesses in the computer software, Internet, or IT sectors. Profiling Yesware’s end-user is more tricky, though. It’s designed for email outreach, which suggests it’s designed for SDRs. But it only really works decently for the AE part of the sales cycle. And even then it lacks some of the features required for nurturing. It does have an app, though, making it a good option for field sales agents that prioritize email templates and tracking over sequences.
Bottom line, if you want an affordable solution for email outreach and tracking, and don’t need advanced engagement metrics, Yesware isn’t bad value for money.
But if Yesware was meeting your needs, you wouldn’t be reading this right now, would you?
Yesware comes with email templates for Microsoft Outlook and Gmail
On the surface, Yesware offers a lot of functionality. But much of it isn’t fully baked. It also isn’t scalable and lacks many features you need to achieve true sales engagement.
Yesware sells itself on being best-in-class for email tracking but was overtaken by the competition a ways back, many of whom now deliver more granular insights.
Annoyingly for an email productivity tool, it also imposes monthly limits on tracking, and there’s no option to include attachments or images in email template bodies with mass mailings. It also has fewer integrations than other tools.
Yesware’s reporting capabilities also leave something to be desired. For example, it’s hard to get visibility on rep performance by territory or buyer persona or understand how prospects are interacting with your content at any given time. Sure, you can track email opens, but it’s harder to get visibility across the whole week, for example.
Creating email sequences within workflows is also challenging, and the organization of templates leaves a lot to be desired. It’s impossible for individual salespeople to see what templates are being created, so you need to tell them which to use.
The Salesforce sync also isn’t optimal, so it’s not appropriate for companies with a sizable Salesforce use case.
If all you need is email tracking for a very small team, almost any solution out there is a step up from Yesware.
If, however, you’re looking to achieve true sales engagement, here are the Yesware alternatives we recommend.
Here’s our pick of the best Yesware alternatives for sales engagement.
Mixmax was designed to enable true sales engagement at scale. It sits on top of Gmail and syncs seamlessly with Salesforce to allow salespeople to collaborate and perform essential tasks right from their inbox. No more juggling tools and tabs.
It’s also packed with enhancements and sales automation features to streamline workflows, eliminate busywork, and boost sales productivity. The intuitive interface also means all users can get up and running quickly without support from an admin.
Features
Mixmax sequences are more customizable than Yesware, so it’s easier for salespeople to keep on top of follow up and move prospects through the funnel
Pricing
How does Mixmax compare to Yesware?
While Yesware is designed for cold email outreach, Mixmax offers all sales acceleration features revenue teams need to personalize and nurture prospects at scale right across the sales cycle. It outperforms Yesware on customer support and G Suite inbox functionality, especially enhancements and personalization features. For example, the LinkedIn integration allows you to pull in a first name variable, making it easier to personalize at scale for better results.
The organization and segmentation of templates are also better, so it’s easier to see which templates are being created by your teams, and vice versa. Sequences are also more customizable, and engagement metrics more granular. The Salesforce integration is also more robust, making Mixmax more scalable for growing teams that rely heavily on Salesforce.
Mixmax’s interface is also more intuitive, so it’s easier for salespeople to find their way around and make the most of all its features.
Yesware does, however, work with Microsoft Outlook, so it’s a better option if that’s your email provider of choice. salespeople also like how Yesware notifications only show up in Gmail, rather than on your desktop, which means they don't pop up when you’re on video calls.
One of the biggest players in the sales engagement space, Salesloft has all the bells and whistles you need for prospecting, forecasting, opportunity management, analytics, and tracking. It’s a powerful AI-powered solution that even looks to be gearing up to take on Salesforce or Hubspot CRM in the customer relationship management space.
Salesforce customers tend to be mid-market to enterprise organizations, with a growing focus on the latter since its acquisition by private equity.
Features
Salesloft’s Live Call feature enables in-call coaching
Pricing
Customized for each of Salesloft’s 4 packages—Prospect, Sell, Engage, and Enterprise. By all accounts, though, none of those come cheap. No free trial.
How does Salesloft compare to Yesware?
Salesloft is far superior to Yesware if you’re looking for a solution for high-volume prospecting by SDR teams that need a lot of oversight and coaching. And you want granular insights for deal and pipeline management.
If all you really need is email templates and tracking, however, Salesloft is a hefty investment with a lot of features your salespeople may not actually use. The learning curve, need for ongoing admin support, and high price point also mean it takes time to get all team members up and running and see ROI. And, while it outperforms Yesware on sequences, Salesloft is less suited to one-on-one interactions.
Check out our piece on Salesloft alternatives to see how it stacks up against other Yesware alternatives.
Outreach is another big hitter that combines sales engagement, conversation intelligence, and revenue intelligence in one platform. Like Salesloft, users tend to be junior SDR teams in mid-market to enterprise organizations that need repeatable, scalable processes for high-volume outreach. For AEs, there are also a bunch of features to drive engagement and stay on top of follow-up. And managers get a lot of visibility on rep performance.
Features
Outreach offers a lot of features for pipeline and deal management
Pricing
Custom priced on request. Like Salesloft, though, expect it to be a significant investment.
How does Outreach compare to Yesware?
If you’re looking to step up your game with an AI-powered solution for SDRs and sales leaders, Outreach is a great tool. It’s less intuitive and user-friendly than other platforms, though. salespeople need admin support to get up and running, connect to Salesforce and ZoomInfo, and use features like sequences and rules. These last two are also less customizable than other tools on the market, and the email editor is a bit limited.
With Outreach, salespeople also have to perform all tasks in-platform instead of in-email or your CRM, so it’s less suitable for AEs who live in Gmail. Tiered support and a hefty price point also put it out of reach for a lot of smaller companies. Evaluate it carefully before signing up to avoid investing in a features-heavy tool your teams don’t use.
Check out our piece on Outreach alternatives to see how it stacks up against other Yesware alternatives.
Groove was designed as a sales productivity tool to work specifically with Salesforce, letting salespeople run multi-channel campaigns for account-based selling. Customers tend to be mid-market to enterprise companies in the software industry.
Features
Pricing
Custom pricing on request, but toward the mid-upper end of the scale. No free trial.
How does Groove compare to Yesware?
Groove is a more suitable, scalable Yesware alternative for customer-facing teams, and outperforms Yesware on pretty much every front. However, it’s less affordable than some other tools on the market, and the UX leaves something to be desired. Some users also complain the Salesforce sync can be buggy, and the email template creator and editor are tricky to use.
Groove offers conversation intelligence features that help with coaching
Cirrus Insight was designed to make it easier for AEs and other customer-facing teams to use Salesforce. It works with Gmail and Microsoft Outlook to sync emails and appointments to Salesforce, track open rates, and help salespeople stay on top of follow-up and admin.
Features
Pricing
Three Cirrus Insight pricing plans
How does it compare to Yesware?
If you’re just looking to improve email productivity, Cirrus Insight is an affordable—if basic—Yesware alternative. However, it’s not really designed for SDRs, and the lack of a dialer makes it less suitable for high-volume prospecting. It also lacks the full range of enhancements and functionality you need to achieve true sales engagement, and the most useful features are only available on Expert plans. Some users also complain the Gmail integration and Salesforce sync can be buggy.
Bottom line, Cirrus Insight can serve as a potential stop-gap if you’re desperate for a Yesware alternative, but it’s not a long-term solution for revenue teams looking to scale.
Yesware is a viable solution if you’re all about sending and tracking emails. But it lacks the features and flexibility modern revenue teams need to achieve true sales engagement and scale.
Yes, it’s more affordable than many platforms on the market offering similar functionality. But you get what you pay for. Plus, investing in point solutions is a risky short-term strategy that’ll see you eventually having to replace an unwieldy, fragmented tech stack.
To choose a Yesware alternative, think about your teams’ needs and look for a solution that integrates with your existing tech stack. It has to fit in with your sales processes, not the other way around, or it won’t get used.
Outreach and Salesloft are the best alternatives for companies with the budget to invest in a comprehensive AI-powered solution for SDRs and sales leaders. But they come at a price.
If you’re a fast-growing company looking for a cost-effective, user-friendly platform that serves all your revenue teams, we (cough, cough) think you won’t be disappointed by Mixmax’s. This user-friendly platform has all the customizable sequences, powerful rules engine, and enhancements you need to stand out from the crowd and engage customers at scale.
Welcome to the future of sales.
Yesware is mostly used to send and track emails. It bills itself as a sales engagement platform, but it lacks a lot of the functionality revenue teams need to personalize and achieve true engagement at scale.
The key features of Yesware are email templates, scheduling, and tracking. It also offers meeting scheduling, Salesforce and LinkedIn integrations, and limited reporting and analytics.
Yesware is not a CRM, but it does integrate with Salesforce CRM.
Yesware pricing plans are as follows:
Yesware has a free version that includes a limited set of features. Mostly, email tracking features, email templates, email and meeting scheduling, reminders and send-later features, and response insights. It also includes a limited number of campaigns.