Making a Change: Smart Strategies for Managing Martech Consolidation

The allure of shiny, new martech is hard to resist. Whether it’s the promises of cutting-edge features or frustrations with your current setup, the thought of hitting reset on your tech stack can feel like a quick fix for your marketing woes. 

But here’s the reality: rip-and-replace isn’t always as clean or efficient as it sounds.

In this third installment of our Martech Stack Consolidation series, we’re peeling back the curtain on the true costs of overhauling your marketing technology. Spoiler alert: it’s about more than money. Operational downtime, team productivity, and even customer experience can all take a hit. Let’s break it down so you can make smarter, more strategic decisions for your stack.

Every change you make to your martech stack sends ripples across your operations—ripples that, if not carefully managed, can quickly swell into waves of disruption. Consider downtime, for instance. When a transition is poorly planned, it can bring marketing workflows to a grinding halt. Campaigns are delayed, lead-nurturing efforts are disrupted, and the momentum your team worked hard to build is suddenly lost. 

Then there’s the toll it takes on your team. Tools are the scaffolding of your marketing operations, and when they’re swapped out suddenly, that scaffolding can feel shaky. Your team’s ability to execute hinges on having systems they understand and trust. A new platform, no matter how promising, introduces a learning curve. Without property planning and change management, a hard rip-and-replace of major tools or platforms could lead to confusion, frustration, and even burnout as your marketers grapple with unfamiliar interfaces and workflows.

And let’s not forget the customer experience. In relationship marketing, consistency isn’t just important—it’s essential. A unified, seamless experience is what builds trust and loyalty with your audience. Yet, disruptions in your tech stack can lead to delayed communications, mismatched personalization, or missed touchpoints altogether. These small cracks in your customer interactions may seem insignificant, but over time, they erode the trust and connection you’ve built with your audience, potentially driving them toward competitors who can deliver the reliability they expect.

Learn More: Discover how brands like American Airlines and Magnolia Bakery are making relationship marketing core to their customer experience.

In short, the true cost of “rip-and-replace” isn’t just financial—it’s the cumulative impact on your team’s efficiency, your operational momentum, and your customers’ loyalty. While the risks are real, they’re far from insurmountable. By taking deliberate steps, you can mitigate these challenges and ensure your changes set your team up for long-term success.

Beyond the Sticker Price: The full cost of change

Swapping out tools isn’t just about the licensing fees for a new platform.

The hidden costs of “rip-and-replace” can mount quickly, including:

• Training and Adoption Costs: Introducing a new platform means your team will need time—and likely budget—for training. Every hour spent learning the ropes is an hour not spent executing campaigns or driving ROI.
• Data Migration: Moving data from one system to another isn’t just a technical hurdle; it’s a potential minefield. From misaligned fields to lost records, any misstep can lead to fragmented customer insights and reporting headaches.
• Implementation Delays: Even the smoothest transition can introduce downtime. Think delayed campaigns, disrupted workflows, and those awkward moments when your team is left waiting for “the system to be live.” This can be managed by scheduling these downtimes for slow times in your email cadence, e.g. the holidays.

There’s a reason the phrase “measure twice, cut once” exists, and it’s especially relevant when considering big changes to your martech stack. There are critical steps you can take to minimize risks, avoid unnecessary disruptions, and ensure that any new investment delivers on its promises.

Explore whether your existing tools can be optimized or integrated in ways that solve current frustrations. Many modern platforms are built with integration in mind, offering APIs or middleware solutions that can bridge gaps between tools. Before committing to a wholesale replacement, investigate whether your current tech can work harder for you by connecting with other systems to provide the functionality and efficiency you’re seeking. 

In a recent article, Jamshed Mughal, SVP of Global Customer Solutions said, “Finding a single solution that best fits a retailer’s many specific needs for inventory, customer management, sales, and marketing can be much like finding a needle in a haystack. Instead, the best way for retailers to activate a single, unified system is to leverage platforms that integrate with existing systems.” Sometimes, the issue isn’t the tool itself but the way it fits—or doesn’t fit—into your broader stack.

Finally, partner with vendors who bring more to the table than just technology. Seek out those who offer expert guidance and strategic services to support your transition. For instance, Marigold’s Global Strategy and Services team is purpose-built to help clients navigate the complexities of marketing technology. Their expertise spans everything from technical advisory and audits to creative design, loyalty program strategy, and analytics. Engaging with a team like this ensures that you’re not just adopting a tool but building a roadmap for success, backed by insights tailored to your industry, goals, and unique organizational needs.

Navigating stakeholder influence

Making decisions that will affect stakeholders across the organization is not for the faint of heart. Other teams or executives may advocate for specific tools based on their priorities (or their favorite sales pitch). Here’s how to navigate those conversations with confidence:

• Build a Business Case: Highlight how your current tools or, alternatively, incremental changes can achieve the same goals with fewer risks or costs.
• Focus on Outcomes: Keep the discussion centered on the customer experience and marketing performance, rather than shiny features or internal preferences.
• Engage Early and Often: Collaboration is key. Involving key stakeholders in the evaluation process from the start can help align expectations and reduce resistance.

If you’ve decided that some level of martech replacement is the right move, don’t leave it to chance. Here’s how to approach it strategically:

1. Audit first:

Before you can make informed decisions about your martech stack, you need a clear picture of what’s working, what’s not, and where integration or consolidation could make a difference. Begin by mapping out your current tools, their costs, and their functions. Are there redundancies? Are there tools that your team underutilizes or struggles to integrate? By conducting a comprehensive audit, you can pinpoint inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

Need help here? Check out our roadmap to auditing your tech stack in Part 2 of this series: Consolidation vs. Specialization in Your Martech Stack. This step-by-step guide walks you through the essentials of auditing and evaluating your tools to ensure every piece of your stack pulls its weight.

2. Pilot programs:

Rather than jumping headfirst into a new tool, test its capabilities through a carefully designed proof of concept (POC). A pilot program allows you to evaluate whether the tool can meet your most critical needs before committing fully. Focus on testing features that directly align with your business priorities that will deliver tangible, measurable results..

For example, if you’re considering a new email service provider (ESP), you might pilot it by testing its ability to maintain consistent branding through templated emails across multiple departments. Or, if segmentation is critical to your marketing success, evaluate how effectively the tool handles audience segmentation with a low-risk, friendly part of your customer base—like lapsed loyalty members or past seasonal buyers. The goal is to validate that the tool performs well in real-world scenarios that mirror your most significant business challenges.

3. Prioritize training:

The best martech tool in the world won’t deliver results if your team doesn’t know how to use it effectively. Training should be a cornerstone of your transition plan. The good news is that many vendors already offer robust enablement resources, from self-service tutorials to guided onboarding sessions. These roadmaps are often based on years of experience successfully deploying their solution for businesses just like yours.

For larger enterprises or highly matrixed teams, consider involving your internal enablement or change management groups to support the rollout. Additional support from vendors’ professional services can provide tailored support during onboarding, ensuring that your team not only understands the tool but knows how to use it to drive measurable results. This dual focus on external expertise and internal alignment helps ensure a smoother transition and stronger adoption.

4. Measure ROI early and often:

Establish clear key performance indicators (KPIs) from the start, and monitor them closely to ensure the new tool delivers the value you anticipated. Whether it’s increasing efficiency, improving campaign performance, or reducing operational costs, tracking progress against these goals will help you determine whether the change is truly driving the outcomes you need. 

Learn More: See how Palm Beach Tan partnered with Marigold to increase customer spend by 65% with a streamlined user experience.

Rip-and-replace may sound like a clean slate, but in reality, it’s a complex, resource-intensive undertaking that can disrupt more than it solves (particularly in the short term) if not carefully planned. The good news? With thoughtful evaluation and a strategic approach, you can make smart changes to your martech stack without jeopardizing the efficiency, performance, or customer experience you’ve worked so hard to build.

In the next part of our series, we’ll dive deep on the power of purpose-built, best-of-breed tools. We’ll explore the areas of marketing that greatly benefit from specialized capabilities and why these super tools are critical to your individual and team’s performance. Stay tuned!