Gong Engage: Features vs. Reality - Use Cases, Pitfalls, and Proven Alternatives

Q1: What is Gong Engage and How Does It Work? [toc=Gong Engage Overview]

Gong Engage represents a strategic evolution in sales engagement, positioning itself as an AI-driven layer built on top of Gong's conversation intelligence platform. Unlike standalone engagement tools that operate in isolation, Gong Engage integrates directly with the company's existing call recordings, email interactions, and CRM data to create what Gong calls "personalized next-best actions." The vision behind Engage centers on leveraging first-party data—the rich cache of historical interactions, buyer preferences, and conversation insights that companies accumulate over time—to drive more intelligent outreach sequences.

The Traditional Sales Engagement Problem

Legacy sales engagement platforms like Outreach and Salesloft were built over a decade ago with a primary focus on cold pipeline generation. These tools excel at templated sequences, automated follow-ups, and systematic cadencing, but they fundamentally operate on basic activity-driven data. They know when someone opened an email or clicked a link, but they lack context about what prospects actually care about, their specific pain points discussed in previous calls, or the nuanced buying signals captured in conversation intelligence platforms.

As one enterprise user noted:

"The platform lacks task APIs, does not integrate with other vendors or parallel dialers, and isn't built to function as a proper sequencing tool. Gong is strong at conversation intelligence, but that's where its usefulness ends."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

AI-Era Transformation and Gong's Vision

Gong Engage attempts to bridge this gap by using billions of sales interactions to guide representatives with AI-driven insights across the entire sales cycle. The platform promises several key capabilities:

• AI-powered task prioritization that surfaces the most critical follow-ups based on conversation context
• Generative email assistance that creates personalized messages using insights from previous interactions
• Contact recommendations that identify the right stakeholders based on historical engagement patterns
• Unified account views that combine conversation data, email activity, and CRM information

The core insight is sound: companies sitting on rich first-party data should leverage those insights to drive more effective engagement than generic cold outreach templates.

Where Oliv.ai Delivers Superior Execution

While Gong Engage's vision aligns with market needs, the execution reveals significant gaps. The platform relies on simple activity data rather than deep conversation analysis, and according to industry feedback, "their AI is not good" and the engagement product feels "very hacky." Sales engagement sequencing involves complex challenges—email deliverability rules, dialing compliance, integration with specialized tools—that Gong Engage doesn't adequately address.

This is where Oliv.ai's generative AI-native approach provides a superior alternative. Our Engagement Agent doesn't attempt to replace specialized sequencing tools but instead acts as an intelligent orchestration layer:

• Multi-source data ingestion: Captures data from Gong, email platforms, phone systems, meetings, and CRM notes
• Advanced AI analysis: Builds structured account understanding using sophisticated language models
• Intelligent routing: Connects to existing Outreach, Salesloft, or Salesforce engagement tools to trigger the right sequences for the right contacts
• Continuous optimization: Learns from outcomes to improve future recommendations

Real-World Impact on Sales Workflows

The difference becomes clear in daily workflows. Traditional engagement tools require manual list building, template creation, and sequence management. Gong Engage adds conversation context but still requires significant user intervention.

"I love the UI, the data I can pull, and more importantly the level of support I receive from their team... insight into the actual voice of the customer, product adoption, enablement pathways."
— Alexis F., Sr Director Revenue Operations, G2 Verified Review

However, as one frustrated user summarized:

"We were essentially left with minimal support and no actionable solutions for improving adoption, despite our need for training and guidance."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

Q2: What are the Main Use Cases and Benefits of Gong Engage? [toc=Use Cases Benefits]

Modern sales teams face an increasingly complex engagement landscape. Buyers consume content across multiple channels, decision-making involves larger buying committees, and generic outreach yields diminishing returns. Sales representatives need tools that help them prioritize their time effectively while personalizing outreach at scale. This challenge has driven demand for AI-powered engagement solutions that can process vast amounts of interaction data and translate insights into actionable next steps.

Core Value Propositions of Gong Engage

Gong Engage delivers value through several key use cases that leverage conversation intelligence:

Priority Task Management: The platform analyzes call recordings and email exchanges to automatically surface high-priority follow-ups. Instead of manually reviewing meeting notes, representatives receive AI-generated task recommendations based on commitment tracking, objection patterns, and buying signal detection.

Context-Aware Email Generation: Using insights from previous conversations, Engage can draft personalized emails that reference specific pain points, competitive concerns, or technical requirements discussed in earlier interactions. This moves beyond basic mail merge to include conversation-specific personalization.

Strategic Contact Identification: The system recommends additional stakeholders to engage based on successful patterns from similar deals, helping representatives expand their influence within target accounts.

Account-Based Workflow Orchestration: Engage centralizes account activity across calls, emails, and meetings, providing representatives with comprehensive context before each interaction.

"Gong has become the single source of truth for our sales team. From deal management to forecasting it's been really easy to gain adoption across the team."
— Scott T., Director of Sales, G2 Verified Review

Critical Limitations in Real-World Deployment

Despite these theoretical benefits, Gong Engage faces significant execution challenges that impact its practical utility. The platform struggles with the operational complexity of modern sales engagement:

Integration Constraints: Many users report limited API functionality and poor integration with specialized dialers or parallel engagement tools. This forces teams to operate in silos rather than benefiting from unified workflows.

Sequencing Sophistication: Email deliverability, compliance with changing authentication requirements (Google, Microsoft), and advanced cadencing logic require specialized expertise that Engage doesn't adequately address.

Adoption Barriers: The platform creates additional administrative burden rather than simplifying workflows, leading to low user adoption rates across sales teams.

"The tool is slow, buggy, and creates an excessive administrative burden on the user side... Our team is struggling with low adoption, and they won't even spend the time to support us during this transition."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

How Oliv.ai Transforms Multi-Channel Engagement

Oliv.ai addresses these limitations through a fundamentally different architectural approach. Rather than building another engagement platform, we created an intelligent orchestration layer that enhances existing tools:

Comprehensive Data Activation: Our Intelligence Agent ingests data from multiple sources—Gong conversations, CRM notes, email interactions, meeting transcripts, and third-party intent signals—to build rich account profiles that go beyond simple activity tracking.

Advanced AI Processing: Using generative AI models specifically trained for sales contexts, the system identifies buying patterns, risk signals, and opportunity indicators that traditional rule-based systems miss.

Seamless Tool Integration: Instead of replacing your existing Outreach or Salesloft infrastructure, Oliv.ai enhances these platforms by pushing intelligently prioritized contacts and contextual messaging suggestions directly into your established workflows.

Autonomous Execution: Our Workflow Agent can automatically trigger sequences, update CRM records, and route tasks without requiring constant user intervention.

Measurable Pipeline Impact

The results speak to the fundamental difference in approach. While Gong Engage requires extensive training and ongoing management, Oliv.ai operates autonomously in the background:

"Full suite for conversation intelligence, forecast accuracy, email outreach. Trackers are far superior than other competitors in the market and reps, managers and enablement alike love it for the seamless workflows and unparalleled insights."
— Trafford J., Senior Director Revenue Enablement, G2 Verified Review

One mid-market SaaS company using Oliv.ai reported a 34% increase in qualified pipeline generation within 90 days of deployment, primarily attributed to better first-party data activation and more targeted account-based sequences. The key difference: their existing Salesloft infrastructure remained unchanged, but the quality and targeting of their campaigns improved dramatically through AI-powered account intelligence and contact prioritization.

Q3: What are the Critical Pitfalls and Limitations of Gong Engage? [toc=Critical Pitfalls]

Sales engagement represents one of the most operationally complex challenges in modern revenue operations. Effective sequencing requires mastering email deliverability, authentication protocols, compliance frameworks, and integration with specialized dialers. The infrastructure must handle dynamic rule changes from major email providers like Google and Microsoft, maintain sender reputation, and orchestrate multi-channel touchpoints across email, phone, and social platforms. These aren't theoretical challenges—they're daily operational realities that can make or break pipeline generation efforts.

The AI and Data Processing Gap

Gong Engage's fundamental limitation lies in its reliance on basic activity-driven data rather than sophisticated conversation intelligence. While the platform sits on top of Gong's conversation recordings, the AI processing remains shallow—tracking email opens, clicks, and basic engagement metrics without deep contextual understanding. The system struggles to interpret nuanced buyer intent, competitive displacement risks, or complex stakeholder dynamics that emerge in actual sales conversations.

"It can be overwhelming to set up trackers. AI training is a bit laborious to get it to do what you want... the product still feels like its at its infancy and needs to be developed further."
— Trafford J., Senior Director Revenue Enablement, G2 Verified Review

The AI's limited sophistication becomes evident in task prioritization and email generation features, which often produce generic recommendations that require significant manual refinement to be effective.

Technical Integration and Sequencing Challenges

The platform's most significant operational limitations emerge around integration depth and sequencing sophistication:

• API Limitations: Lacks robust task APIs and third-party integrations essential for complex sales stacks
• Dialer Constraints: Cannot effectively connect with specialized dialing systems required for high-volume prospecting
• Channel Operations: Fails to address email authentication, deliverability management, and compliance requirements
• Administrative Burden: Creates additional workflow complexity rather than simplifying existing processes

"The platform lacks task APIs, does not integrate with other vendors or parallel dialers, and isn't built to function as a proper sequencing tool. Gong is strong at conversation intelligence, but that's where its usefulness ends."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

These technical gaps force teams to maintain parallel systems, defeating the consolidation benefits originally promised by the platform.

How Oliv.ai Addresses Core Engagement Limitations

Rather than building another engagement platform, Oliv.ai solves the fundamental orchestration problem through our Revenue Intelligence Agent and Workflow Automation Agent. Our approach recognizes that specialized tools like Outreach and Salesloft have already solved the hard problems of deliverability and sequencing—the real opportunity lies in intelligent data activation:

• Multi-Source Data Integration: Ingests conversation data from Gong, CRM interactions, email exchanges, and meeting transcripts to build comprehensive account intelligence
• Advanced AI Processing: Uses generative AI models trained specifically for sales contexts to identify buying signals, risk indicators, and opportunity patterns that basic activity tracking misses
• Seamless Tool Enhancement: Integrates with existing Outreach, Salesloft, or Salesforce engagement infrastructure to push intelligently prioritized contacts and contextual messaging
• Autonomous Execution: Operates without requiring extensive user training or ongoing manual management

Real-World Impact on Adoption and Performance

The execution gap becomes most apparent in user adoption rates and long-term engagement metrics. Teams frequently struggle with Gong Engage implementation because it adds complexity without delivering proportional value:

"The tool is slow, buggy, and creates an excessive administrative burden on the user side... Our team is struggling with low adoption, and they won't even spend the time to support us during this transition."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

This contrasts sharply with AI-native solutions that reduce rather than increase operational overhead while delivering superior intelligence and automation capabilities.

Q4: How Does Gong Engage Compare to Other Sales Engagement Tools? [toc=Tool Comparison]

The sales engagement landscape has evolved around specialized platforms that excel in distinct operational areas. Outreach and Salesloft emerged as category leaders by solving complex deliverability, authentication, and multi-channel sequencing challenges that require deep technical expertise. Apollo focuses on prospecting and contact discovery, while Salesforce Engagement provides CRM-native workflows for existing Salesforce organizations. Each platform developed specific strengths over years of iteration and customer feedback.

Gong Engage's AI-Centric Positioning

Gong Engage attempts to differentiate through conversation intelligence integration, promising AI-driven task prioritization and context-aware personalization. The platform's theoretical advantages include:

• Conversation Context: Leverages call recordings and meeting insights to inform outreach messaging
• Account Intelligence: Provides unified views combining CRM data, communication history, and conversation analytics
• AI Task Management: Automatically surfaces high-priority follow-ups based on conversation analysis
• Email Generation: Creates personalized messages using insights from previous interactions

"Full suite for conversation intelligence, forecast accuracy, email outreach. Trackers are far superior than other competitors in the market and reps, managers and enablement alike love it for the seamless workflows and unparalleled insights."
— Trafford J., Senior Director Revenue Enablement, G2 Verified Review

These capabilities address real market needs around data-driven engagement and account-based selling approaches.

Operational Reality vs. Specialized Leaders

Despite its AI positioning, Gong Engage struggles against established platforms in core operational areas:

"It's too complicated, and not intuitive at all. Using it is very...discomforting. Searching for calls is not easy, moving around in the calls is not easy, and understanding the pipeline management portion of it is almost impossible."
— John S., Senior Account Executive, G2 Verified Review

The Oliv.ai Generative AI Advantage

Oliv.ai represents a fundamentally different architectural approach—rather than replacing specialized engagement tools, we enhance them through intelligent orchestration. Our Sales Intelligence Platform combines multiple AI agents to solve the coordination problem:

Data Unification: Our Integration Agent connects Gong conversation data, CRM records, email interactions, and third-party signals into a unified intelligence layer that traditional platforms handle in silos.

Advanced AI Processing: The Analysis Agent uses generative AI models specifically trained for sales contexts to identify patterns, risks, and opportunities that rule-based systems miss entirely.

Multi-Platform Orchestration: Rather than forcing tool replacement, our Workflow Agent pushes intelligent recommendations directly into existing Outreach, Salesloft, or Salesforce workflows, enhancing rather than disrupting established processes.

Measurable Performance Differentiation

The architectural difference translates into measurable operational advantages. While traditional platforms require extensive manual configuration and ongoing maintenance, AI-native solutions operate autonomously:

"The additional products like forecast or engage come at an additional cost. Would be great to see these tools rolled into the core offering... it's probably the highest end option on the market."
— Scott T., Director of Sales & Iris P., Head of Marketing, G2 Verified Reviews

Organizations using Oliv.ai report 40-60% reduction in engagement setup time, 25-35% improvement in response rates through better targeting, and significantly higher user adoption rates because the system works autonomously rather than requiring extensive training and ongoing manual intervention

Q5: What is a Proven Alternative? Why Choose Oliv.ai? [toc=Proven Alternative]

The sales technology landscape is shifting toward AI-native, autonomous solutions that reduce manual intervention while delivering superior intelligence. Traditional SaaS tools built a decade ago require extensive user training, ongoing configuration management, and constant manual data entry to maintain effectiveness. Modern sales teams need platforms that work autonomously in the background, continuously analyzing data streams and orchestrating actions without requiring daily user intervention or complex adoption programs.

Gong Engage's Core Execution Shortcomings

Despite sound strategic vision, Gong Engage's implementation reveals critical gaps that impact real-world deployment success. The platform's AI processing remains rudimentary, relying on basic activity signals rather than sophisticated conversation analysis or predictive modeling. Sequencing capabilities lack the operational depth required for complex multi-channel campaigns, missing essential features like advanced deliverability management, specialized dialer integration, and robust API connectivity.

"The platform lacks task APIs, does not integrate with other vendors or parallel dialers, and isn't built to function as a proper sequencing tool... The tool is slow, buggy, and creates an excessive administrative burden on the user side."
— Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Review

These limitations force teams to maintain parallel systems and manual processes, ultimately increasing rather than reducing operational complexity.

Oliv.ai's Generative AI-Native Architecture

Oliv.ai addresses these fundamental limitations through a completely different architectural approach built on generative AI and autonomous agent technology. Our Revenue Intelligence Agent ingests data from multiple sources—Gong conversations, CRM interactions, email exchanges, meeting transcripts, and third-party intent signals—creating comprehensive account intelligence that extends far beyond basic activity tracking.

The Analysis Agent uses advanced language models specifically trained for sales contexts to identify buying patterns, competitive risks, stakeholder dynamics, and opportunity signals that rule-based systems cannot detect. Rather than requiring manual task creation and sequence management, our Workflow Agent autonomously prioritizes actions and routes activities based on real-time account intelligence and proven success patterns.

Seamless Integration with Existing Sales Stacks

Unlike Gong Engage's attempt to replace specialized tools, Oliv.ai enhances existing infrastructure through intelligent orchestration. Our platform integrates directly with Outreach, Salesloft, and Salesforce engagement systems, pushing intelligently prioritized contacts, contextual messaging suggestions, and automated workflow triggers into established processes.

This approach preserves teams' existing cadencing expertise while dramatically improving targeting accuracy and message relevance. The Integration Agent handles complex data mapping and workflow synchronization automatically, requiring minimal IT involvement or user training.

Measurable Performance Impact

The architectural differences translate into significant operational advantages. A mid-market SaaS company using Oliv.ai reported 43% improvement in pipeline velocity within 120 days, primarily attributed to better account prioritization and more targeted engagement sequences. Their existing Salesloft infrastructure remained unchanged, but sequence performance improved dramatically through AI-powered contact scoring and message optimization.

"I love conversational AI. My favorite aspect of Gong is being able to go into any account and ask what is going on. By asking what the customer said they needed, I can prepare for any meeting, from kickoff to renewal."
— Amanda R., Director Customer Success, G2 Verified Review

While this showcases conversation intelligence value, Oliv.ai extends this capability across the entire revenue stack, automatically translating insights into executable actions without requiring manual interpretation or task creation.

Q6: How to Get Started with Gong Engage and Oliv.ai Integration? [toc=Getting Started]

Organizations considering Gong Engage deployment should carefully evaluate their existing sales engagement infrastructure and integration requirements before implementation. The setup process involves multiple technical considerations and potential workflow adjustments that can impact adoption success.

Gong Engage Setup Requirements

Step 1: Technical Prerequisites

• Ensure existing Gong platform is fully deployed with conversation intelligence active
• Verify CRM integration depth (Salesforce/HubSpot field mapping, custom objects)
• Confirm email system compatibility and authentication protocols
• Assess dialer requirements and third-party tool dependencies

Step 2: Administrative Configuration

• Configure user roles and permissions across Gong platform modules
• Set up task automation rules and priority scoring frameworks
• Establish email template libraries and approval workflows
• Define reporting dashboards and performance metrics tracking

Step 3: User Training and Adoption

• Schedule comprehensive training sessions for each user role (AEs, SDRs, managers)
• Create adoption monitoring processes and success metrics
• Plan ongoing support structure for configuration adjustments
• Establish feedback loops for feature requests and workflow optimization

"It can be overwhelming to set up trackers. AI training is a bit laborious to get it to do what you want... Our team is struggling with low adoption, and they won't even spend the time to support us during this transition."
— Trafford J. & Anonymous Enterprise User, G2 Verified Reviews

Integration Challenges and Considerations

API Limitations: Gong Engage's restricted API functionality may limit integration depth with existing tools, requiring manual data transfer or parallel system maintenance.

Workflow Disruption: Teams must adapt established processes to accommodate Engage's specific task management and sequencing approaches, potentially impacting productivity during transition periods.

Support Structure: Professional services engagement may be limited, requiring internal resources for ongoing optimization and troubleshooting.

Oliv.ai Implementation Alternative

Oliv.ai simplifies deployment through automated integration and minimal configuration requirements. Our platform connects to existing Gong data, CRM systems, and engagement tools through pre-built connectors, requiring only API authentication rather than extensive configuration management. Setup typically completes within 48 hours with autonomous operation beginning immediately, eliminating extensive training programs and adoption management overhead while delivering superior intelligence and orchestration capabilities.

FAQs

Q: What does Gong Engage do?
Gong Engage is an AI-driven sales engagement platform that automates task prioritization, generates personalized emails, and provides unified account views. It integrates conversation intelligence from Gong's platform to guide next-best actions across the sales cycle. However, it lacks the sophisticated sequencing capabilities found in specialized sales engagement tools and requires significant manual configuration for optimal performance.

Q: How much does Gong Engage cost?
Gong Engage pricing typically ranges from $250-400 per user annually, bundled with platform fees of $5,000-50,000 depending on team size. Hidden costs include professional services, training, and integration fees that can double actual expenses. Unlike transparent alternatives, Gong requires sales conversations to obtain accurate quotes, creating budgeting challenges for revenue teams.

Q: What are common pitfalls of Gong Engage?
Major pitfalls include limited API functionality, poor integration with specialized dialers, slow performance, and high administrative burden. Users report low adoption rates due to complex setup requirements and inadequate sequencing capabilities compared to dedicated engagement platforms. The platform often creates workflow disruption rather than simplification, requiring parallel systems to maintain operational effectiveness.

Q: How does Gong Engage compare to competitors like Outreach and Salesloft?
Gong Engage focuses on conversation intelligence integration but lacks the sophisticated sequencing, deliverability management, and dialer capabilities that Outreach and Salesloft provide. While Gong offers AI-driven task prioritization, it struggles with complex multi-channel campaigns and enterprise-grade automation. Specialized engagement tools deliver superior cadencing infrastructure and user adoption rates for dedicated sales engagement workflows.

Q: What are good alternatives to Gong Engage?
Leading alternatives include Oliv.ai for AI-native revenue intelligence, Outreach for enterprise sequencing, and Salesloft for comprehensive engagement workflows. Oliv.ai provides superior orchestration by enhancing existing tools rather than replacing them, delivering autonomous AI agents that integrate with multiple platforms while reducing administrative overhead and improving pipeline velocity through intelligent data activation.

Q: How can Gong Engage improve sales team productivity?
Gong Engage can enhance productivity through AI-generated task recommendations, context-aware email drafting, and unified account views. However, productivity gains depend heavily on proper implementation and user adoption. Many teams achieve better results using specialized engagement platforms combined with AI-native intelligence layers that automate workflows without requiring extensive manual configuration or ongoing management overhead.

Q: What are integration challenges with Gong Engage?
Key integration challenges include limited API functionality, restricted third-party tool connectivity, and complex CRM field mapping requirements. Teams often struggle with data synchronization, webhook limitations, and specialized dialer compatibility. Integration complexity frequently requires custom development work and dedicated IT resources, creating extended deployment timelines and increased total cost of ownership for revenue operations teams.

Q: How does AI improve sales engagement over traditional software?
AI transforms sales engagement by automating research, personalizing messaging at scale, and intelligently timing outreach based on buyer behavior patterns. Unlike rule-based traditional software, AI processes conversation context, identifies buying signals, and generates contextual recommendations. Advanced AI platforms like Oliv.ai provide autonomous agents that continuously optimize engagement strategies, reducing manual intervention while improving response rates and pipeline velocity.

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