Are You Too Dependent on Your Martech Stack? What Happens When Costs Rise?

1. How to Manage Martech Costs Without Hurting Performance

1.1 1. Review Your Martech Stack—Are You Paying for What You Don’t Use?

Over time, companies end up with overlapping tools, unused features, and unnecessary expenses. Before making any decisions, take stock of what you have:

✔ Do multiple tools serve the same purpose?
✔ Are you paying for features you don’t use?
✔ Which platforms actually contribute to revenue and efficiency?

Reviewing your Martech stack can help you cut costs without losing important functions.

🔹 Who should be involved? CROs, CMOs, CTOs, CIOs, and Martech teams, working with data and marketing automation specialists.

1.2 2. Negotiate Before Accepting Higher Costs

If you’ve been with a vendor for years, you may have more room to negotiate than you realise. Vendors are often open to discussions – especially if you’re a long-term customer.

💡 What to ask for:

• Discounts for longer contracts or bundled services.
• Pricing adjustments based on actual usage.
• Flexibility if you’re considering a competitor.

🔹 Who should lead this? CFOs, procurement teams, and Martech directors.

1.3 3. Consider Other Platforms

If a platform’s price no longer makes sense, it might be time to switch. But don’t just look at cost—make sure a new tool fits your business needs.

🚀 Alternatives to consider:

• Braze, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign – Marketing automation and email marketing.
• Dotdigital – Email marketing, customer engagement, and personalisation.
• Postmark, Mailgun – Transactional email solutions.
• Customer.io, Iterable – Advanced segmentation and automation.

💡 Before switching, ask:

• Does it integrate with your existing tools?
• Will it improve how your team works, or is it just cheaper?
• How much time and effort will it take to migrate?

🔹 Who needs to be involved? Martech leaders, CIOs, CTOs, and data engineering teams.

1.4 4. Get More Value from the Tools You Already Use

Sometimes, the issue isn’t price—it’s how the platform is used. Many companies pay more than they need to because of inefficient usage.

✅ Are you sending unnecessary emails that increase subscriber costs?
✅ Are you triggering too many automated workflows?
✅ Can better segmentation reduce list sizes and lower costs?

Small adjustments—like cleaning up email lists, refining automation, and removing inactive contacts—can help you stay in a lower pricing tier without hurting engagement.

🔹 Who should focus on this? Digital marketing, lifecycle marketing, and CRM teams.

1.5 5. Consider a Mix of Platforms Instead of Relying on One

Instead of using one platform for everything, you can split functions across different tools to keep costs under control.

💡 Example:

• Use Dotdigital, Klaviyo, or HubSpot for marketing automation.
• Use Mailgun or Postmark for transactional emails.
• Use a CDP like Segment or Bloomreach to connect data across platforms.

This approach can help avoid overpaying for features that aren’t essential.

🔹 Who should be involved? Martech directors, CIOs, and data teams.

1.6 Are You Ready for the Next Martech Price Hike?

Price increases are inevitable, but they don’t have to derail your marketing efforts. The best approach is to be prepared:

✅ Review your Martech stack—cut what isn’t needed.
✅ Negotiate—vendors often have flexibility.
✅ Explore alternatives—but don’t switch just to save money.
✅ Make better use of your current tools—small changes can lower costs.
✅ Mix and match platforms—avoid relying too much on one vendor.

Are you reassessing your Martech stack this year? Let’s talk about how to make smarter investments in your marketing technology.

2. Fit Test (before you switch)

Use this 10-point check to compare vendors. Score each 0–2 (No / Partial / Yes). Anything <14 needs a rethink.

1. Integration effort: Native connectors for CRM, ecommerce/POS, data warehouse, consent centre.
   
2. Trigger latency: Can key events (browse/cart/purchase) fire emails/SMS in under 60 seconds at peak?
   
3. Journey logic depth: Branch on external data (SKU, value band, churn score), with easy testing and rollback.
   
4. Audience limits: Clear caps on contacts, API rate limits, and send concurrency; no hidden overage traps.
   
5. Editing safety: Draft → approve → publish, with version history and one-click rollback.
   
6. Deliverability & sending: Shared vs dedicated IPs, warm-up support, inbox testing, bounce/complaint handling.
   
7. Data handling: Field-level mapping, ISO timestamps, PII minimisation, soft deletes (so old emails don’t break).
   
8. Reporting that matters: Revenue influence per journey, retention/CLV views, “speed to launch” metric—not just opens.
   
9. Security & access: SSO, role-based permissions, audit logs, secrets management.
   
10. Commercials & roadmap: Transparent pricing tiers, named support/SLA, and a roadmap that aligns with how you operate.
11. Decision rule: Run a 14-day pilot on one high-value journey (e.g., browse-to-buy). Measure build time, trigger speed, deliverability, and revenue per recipient before committing.

3. Australia-specific Notes

Legal & compliance

• Spam Act 2003 (Cth): Identify the sender, obtain consent (express or inferred), include a functional unsubscribe, and honour it within 5 business days. ACMA enforces—budget for compliance reviews.
  
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) & APPs: Collect only what you need; disclose purpose; secure PII; support access/correction. If data leaves Australia, meet APP 8 cross-border disclosure obligations.
  
• Notifiable Data Breaches scheme: Have incident response plans; notify OAIC and affected individuals where required.
  
• Do Not Call Register Act 2006: If any telemarketing is in scope, align suppression lists across channels.

Data locality & industry expectations

• Government, finance, health, and higher-ed often require Australian data residency (Sydney/Melbourne regions) and vendor attestations. Confirm sub-processors and regions in the MSA/SCCs.

Payments & journeys (practical AU tweaks)

• Popular methods to reflect in triggers and templates: cards, PayPal, Afterpay/Zip, Apple/Google Pay.
  
• Shipping/returns microcopy: set realistic metro/regional ETAs; note public holidays and remote area handling.

Accessibility & content

• Aim for WCAG 2.1 AA patterns in email templates (contrast, alt text, tap targets).
  
• Use plain English and local date/number formats (DD/MM/YYYY, $AUD).
  

Record-keeping

• Keep consent evidence (source, timestamp) and unsubscribe logs. Retention policies should match your privacy notice and any sector obligations.

4. FAQ

1. Why should I worry about rising Martech costs if the tools are working fine?
Because price hikes can quietly erode your margins, especially if you’re paying for overlapping tools or unused features. Regular reviews help you stay confident that what you’re spending actually ties back to revenue and efficiency, not just “nice to have” software.

2. How do I know if I’m paying for Martech I don’t really need?
Look for duplicate tools doing the same job, modules no one uses, and platforms that don’t clearly support conversion, retention, or team productivity. A structured audit with marketing, Martech, and finance stakeholders will quickly show which tools earn their keep and which don’t.

3. What should I do before accepting a vendor’s price increase?
Don’t accept the new price at face value; approach your vendor with data on your usage, tenure, and alternatives you’re considering. Ask about longer-term discounts, bundles, or pricing aligned to actual use, and involve your CFO or procurement team in the conversation.

4. When does it make sense to switch to another platform?
It’s worth considering a move when a tool is expensive, underused, or doesn’t fit how your team works anymore. Before switching, check integration effort, migration complexity, and whether the new platform genuinely improves your operating model rather than just shaving a bit off the bill.

5. Is it safer to rely on one main platform or a mix of specialist tools?
A single platform can be convenient but leaves you exposed when prices jump or features change, while a mix of tools lets you assign the right job to the right product and control costs more finely. Many teams now pair a core marketing platform with separate transactional email tools and a CDP to keep performance high without overcommitting to one vendor.