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RFP Package · Enterprise Applications

Marketing Automation Platforms RFP questions and template

139 questions, 10 demo scenarios and a five-vendor scorecard for choosing Marketing Automation Platforms software, in one Excel workbook.

Buy the workbook, from $499Read sample questions

What this package is for

Use it to run a Marketing Automation Platforms software selection, from the first long list to the final scorecard.

What the category covers. Software that plans, sends and measures marketing across email, SMS, push, web and paid audiences: journeys, lead scoring and account programs, forms and landing pages, CRM and warehouse sync, deliverability and consent. Bought by marketing operations, demand generation and lifecycle marketing leaders replacing a platform or consolidating several tools.

A selection usually runs in three rounds. The package has questions for each:

  • RFI, to the long list. 28 questions screen out products that lack something you need.
  • RFP, to the shortlist. 75 questions ask how each product does the work.
  • Deep dive, to the finalists. 36 questions ask for proof on your own data.

10 demo scenarios tell each vendor what to load and what to show, so every product does the same work in front of you. 90 due-diligence questions cover security, integration, implementation and exit. The scorecard weights the answers and ranks up to five vendors.

Each question comes with why it matters, what a good answer looks like and the red flags, so the people scoring the replies know what to look for.

3 questions from the package

From the RFI round. The first shows part of the guide each question carries; the workbook adds follow-ups, how to verify the answer, a priority and a weight.

1. List each decision-split type your visual journey builder supports, with the data each split type can evaluate.

Why it matters. If splits can only evaluate static profile fields, the buyer cannot branch on behavior such as a click or a purchase. The team then has to build separate journeys for each path, and those journeys drift out of step.

Good answer
  • Splits can evaluate profile attributes, past events, engagement with an earlier step in the same journey, and random percentage allocation.
  • Multi-way splits with more than two branches are built in the visual builder without code.
  • Engagement splits work for every channel the journey uses, not only email.
Red flags
  • Only binary yes/no splits are available.
  • Branching on behavior requires custom code or a separate campaign.
  • Engagement-based splits are limited to email opens and clicks.

2. For each channel your product sends through (email, SMS, push, in-app, messaging app, web messaging), state whether delivery runs on your infrastructure or needs a provider account that we contract separately.

Why it matters. A channel that needs a separate provider contract adds a second contract and a second onboarding for the buyer. It also adds a second system where delivery failures must be traced.

3. Does your product store a behavioral (engagement) score and a demographic (fit) score as separate values on each lead, each usable on its own in qualification rules?

Why it matters. If engagement and fit are combined into one number, a student who downloads every asset can reach the same score as a target-role buyer. Sales then receives leads it cannot act on.

Capability areas

Journey Orchestration & Real-Time Triggering (12)

Visual journey building with branching, waits, decision splits, entry and re-entry rules, goal exits, frequency capping across journeys, and triggering on live behavioral events with measurable trigger latency. Channel-specific delivery mechanics are in CHN; B2B scoring and nurture logic is in LEA.

Channel Execution & Content (13)

Delivery across email, SMS, push, in-app, messaging apps and web messaging, plus templates, dynamic content blocks, personalization tokens, fallbacks and rendering previews. Paid-audience sync is in DWH; forms and landing pages are in WEB; sender reputation and inbox placement are in DLV; AI-generated content is in AIP.

Lead Management, Scoring & Nurture (B2B) (11)

Behavioral and demographic lead scoring, score decay, lifecycle stages, MQL definition, nurture programs, lead recycling and the marketing-to-sales handoff rules. Account-level scoring and buying groups are in ABM; the CRM data mechanics of handoff are in CRM.

Forms, Landing Pages & Web Tracking (10)

Forms and landing pages built in the platform or embedded on the buyer's site, progressive profiling, hidden-field and UTM capture, spam protection on forms, anonymous visitor tracking and the merge of anonymous history when a visitor becomes known. Consent capture wording and records are in CON; lead scoring on web activity is in LEA.

Account & Buying-Group Orchestration (9)

The account as a first-class object: matching leads to accounts, buying-group roles, account scoring and engagement, target-account lists and account-level journeys. Individual lead scoring is in LEA.

Customer Profile, Identity & Segmentation (11)

The platform's own profile store: identity resolution across email, phone, device and account keys, merge and unmerge behavior, computed and behavioral traits, and real-time versus batch segment evaluation. Ingest from external warehouses and CDPs is in DWH.

CRM Synchronization & Sales Handoff Data (12)

Bidirectional, field-level sync with the CRM: object and field mapping, sync direction per field, conflict resolution, sync latency, error queues, record ownership and write-back of marketing activity. Generic API, SSO and connector catalogs are covered by the integration module.

Warehouse, CDP & Event Data Activation (11)

Warehouse-native or zero-copy audience activation, reverse-ETL ingest, CDP integration, paid-media audience sync, behavioral event ingestion through SDKs and streams, schema handling and data freshness for triggers and segments. The internal profile and identity model is in PRF; website visitor tracking is in WEB.

Deliverability & Sending Infrastructure (10)

Dedicated and shared IPs, IP and domain warming, sender authentication setup and monitoring, bounce and complaint handling, seed-list and inbox-placement reporting, engagement-based suppression and throttling to mailbox providers. Consent capture and legal opt-out handling are in CON.

Consent, Preferences & Messaging Compliance Controls (11)

Preference centers, subscription topics, per-channel consent records with source and timestamp, opt-out processing across email and SMS, quiet hours, global and list suppression governance, and the in-product controls that support anti-spam and telemarketing rules. Contractual data-protection terms, DPA and data residency are covered by the data-protection-privacy module.

AI, Predictive Models & Optimization (9)

Predictive scores and audiences, send-time and channel optimization, generative subject-line and content assistance, and AI-built journeys, with a focus on how marketers inspect, configure and override each feature. Model governance, bias and agent safety are covered by the AI cross-cutting modules.

Analytics, Attribution & Experimentation (9)

Program and journey reporting, A/B and multivariate tests, global and journey-level holdout groups, multi-touch attribution and reconciliation of campaign influence with CRM opportunities and BI. Data ingest for reporting is in DWH.

Marketing Operations & Program Governance (11)

Workspaces for multiple teams, brands and regions, role permissions on programs and assets, approval workflows, asset and template libraries, naming conventions, program cloning and versioning, and the skill level needed to build and maintain programs. Formal training programs are covered by the training-enablement module.

Demo scenarios

Each scenario lists the data to load before the demo, then the steps to show, and the questions it scores.

  1. Website event starts a branched cross-channel journey
  2. Messy contact import merges into sendable profiles
  3. Anonymous visitor becomes an MQL, then gets recycled
  4. Engaged contacts roll up to a target account
  5. Warehouse table feeds an email and paid audience
  6. New sending domain and IP reach the inbox
  7. Topic opt-out and SMS stop reach running journeys
  8. Inspect and override predictive scores and send times
  9. Brand marketer clones, submits and hits a lock
  10. Reconcile nurture attribution with CRM opportunities

Due diligence

The workbook carries the screening questions from these modules. Each module is also sold on its own.

Questions about this package

How many Marketing Automation Platforms RFP questions are there?

139 solution questions in 13 capability areas: 28 for the RFI, 75 for the RFP and 36 deep-dive questions for the finalists. The workbook adds 90 due-diligence questions on security, integration, implementation and exit.

What comes with each question?

Why it matters, good-answer signals, red flags, follow-up questions, how to verify the answer (a demo step, a test or a document), and a suggested priority and weight for scoring.

Can I edit the questions?

Yes. The workbook is an ordinary Excel file. Change, add or remove questions, and change the weights; the scorecard recalculates.

Which license do I need?

The Enterprise License covers any number of evaluations inside one organization. The Consultancy License covers use with any number of clients. Neither allows reselling or republishing the questions.

Before you shortlist

The buyer guide compares the products in this category and what decides between them.

Buyer Guide
Marketing Automation Platforms

For the business side of the same change: