Before we go to that famed list, let us revisit the term automation. In simple terms, automation means finding a way of simplifying a task that needs repetition - which can not only save time and effort but also make the whole process less stressful.So what does marketing automation imply? Marketing is the process of selling products and/or services. So, marketing automation obviously means automating the process or actions involved in marketing.
Marketing activity involves many repetitive tasks such as sending out bulk emails, managing campaigns, social media marketing, website analysis, and more. Managing these tasks manually is not only tedious and time-consuming but can also create scope for manual errors. Marketing Automation can help in making these tasks much easier and this, in turn, can help business prosper. It is a part of Customer Relationship Management or CRM.
There are many marketing automation tools and platforms available for automating the processes of marketing. It is important to opt for the right ones to maximize the benefits.
The global marketing automation market size was valued at $4.06 billion in 2019 and is expected to witness an impressive compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent from 2020 to 2027.
The rising reach of the internet, increase in the digitalization of industries, and a huge surge in the use of mobile devices has resulted in a growing demand for automating marketing solutions. Also, the proliferation in adoption of IoT devices, more use of big data, the huge dependency on data analytics solutions, and the growing popularity of business automation, are all expected to push the market growth.
The industry is not yet settled with new marketing automation tools and platforms being added at a ferocious pace. Of course, users can enjoy the luxury of choice but the questions remain:
It is not an easy task as there are several things that must be considered. Your choice of marketing automation tool will depend on the size and spread of your brand. While some platforms do a great job with emails, others excel in social media management and analytics. You will also have to take into account user-friendliness and the simplicity of the interface while handling the seemingly complex software.
Despite its growing popularity and demand, there are many misconceptions floating around about the role of marketing automation tools and how it works in a specific business situation. Also, the glut of choices makes it difficult for technologically challenged professionals to make the best choice. It is important to understand what precisely these tools offer and what are the key features that differentiate one from the other.
Many users also have issues about the compatibility of some of these automation tools their CRM. There are performance issues too being reported on some fronts. That can be painful. Companies that do not carry out a detailed research and miss out the fine print can end up burning their fingers by the sliding scale pricing structures and unexpected additional costs.
What are the things you should look out for when comparing marketing automation software providers?
If you think marketing automation is an easy tool to handle, you are off the mark. In fact, it can be quite complex to handle. That’s why it is extremely important to look at the usability and determine if the tool will serve your purpose.
One aspect of marketing automation software that’s very critical but often overlooked is integration with your existing software. Some marketing automation tools only allow only limited integrations and that too with a small number of third party apps and systems. Top ones such as Dynamic 365 Marketing is designed for easy integration into nearly all types of existing software systems.
Research shows that a large number of marketing automation tools come with a sliding scale pricing model that can come saddled with extra costs for add-ons and training. The overall costs can skyrocket if you choose a product with these pricing specifications.
Now that you have identified the features you want in marketing automation software, you will have to look at other aspects:
Nearly all marketing automation tools have email marketing but with varying features and capabilities. Your choice would depend on what your email needs are – A/B testing, drip campaign, and demographic segmentation are some of the features offered.
Then there are marketing automation tools that can integrate with Facebook and Twitter. They are useful in carrying out social advertising, building social apps, social media monitoring, and even for pulling comments from SM into your CRM.
Most marketing automation tools allow you to create content in the form of webinars and landing pages. Some of these tools are user-friendly while others demand deeper knowledge of technical skills. Choose the one that you find convenient to work with.
Preference should be given for marketing automation tools with in-built CRM system and offering lead scoring and tagging abilities. Keep away from tools that have no in-built CRM. You will have to connect your existing CRM to the software.
There are some marketing automation platforms that can act as your product database. These tools are ideal for companies that sell products online as they come with features such as affiliate programs and coupon codes.
You will have to take into account the time and cost involved in implementing the marketing automation software. You must make a point to ask for details as these facts are sometimes not very clearly mentioned by the services.
Now that we have a fairly deep idea of what to look for in marketing automation software, we can look at the various options available and make a real, apple to apple comparison of their features.
Here are the top 20 marketing automation software currently available on the market:
HubSpot is a product designed specifically for small and medium businesses.
The inbound software comes with advanced marketing tools for a variety of online marketing processes and tasks, such as web analytics, social media marketing, creating a powerful landing page, content management, search engine optimization, and more. You can launch your campaign quickly and effectively with this marketing automation software.
HubSpot excels in capturing lead information and organizes everything efficiently. The tool is not only highly flexible but user-friendly as well. The interface is simple and the support is of the highest quality. It’s the best fit marketing automation system for small and growing companies wanting to use inbound marketing to increase traffic, convert leads, and boost ROI.
Starts at $50/month. There is a free version also available.
Ontraport solution is best for entrepreneurs and small businesses as it is a friendly automated business software. The services offered include email and SMS marketing, content management, CRM, billing and online payments, and others.
Companies can make use of the flexible campaign builder to automate critical functions efficiently. Almost any channel can be automated using endless integration options offered by OntraPort.
Basic plan starts at $79/month. Pro is available at $297 and Enterprise at $497/month. 14-day free trial is available.
Marketo is user-friendly and can be used by sales and marketing teams to boost revenue and achieve higher sales.
Marketo automation software for marketing is recommended for use in small to medium size business setups but it can be used in large enterprises as well. The company has been updating the product features on a regular basis to improve the effectiveness of the software.
The customer support team is very responsive and goes out of the way to resolve customer’s problems in the quickest possible time. The dashboard and report features also outperforms other more popular brands.
Starting Price: $1026.00/month or EUR 895 - 3195
ActiveCampaign is ideal for use in businesses with contacts driven purposes.
ActiveCampaign offers email marketing service with third-party integration and auto-responses of various types. ActiveCampaign can create and send out emails for different activities and purposes. The software is also designed to track website activities and events and provide real time analytics based on the results. ActiveCampaign is also useful for garnering customer data in an organized manner.
The ActiveCampaign marketing automation tools are fully customizable and allow users to create campaigns that can easily meet their marketing goals. The services include free implementation, migration, online training, and support.
The Lite Plan starts at $9/month, The Professional at $129/month and The Enterprise at $229/month.
SendPulse enables you to reach your customers through multiple channels be it automated emails, web push notifications or SMS. Targeted at small and midsize businesses SendPulse offers one of the most affordable solutions on the market with up to 2500 subscribers free plan and free web push notifications. Capture leads with subscription forms and nurture them with automated messages triggered by your customers’ behaviour.
With SendPulse, you can improve your open rates using features such as Personalization, Segmentation, and A/B testing. Sending notifications, tracking campaigns, and accessing statistics is easy with SendPulse.
$8/month for up to 500 subscribers.
Omnisend is an ecommerce marketing automation platform with an omnichannel approach.
Omnisend is oriented towards creating a seamless customer experience over several channels – email, Facebook messenger, SMS, Web Push notifications, Google and Facebook retargeting ads, and more. Its strong integration with ecommerce platforms means you can collect important data about your customers' shopping behavior and use it for better personalization and segmentation. Without any programming skills, you can setup Omnisend automation workflows, contact forms, and landing pages for easy email capture and list building.
Omnisend has some great templates. The marketing automation is easy to setup while the results are also easy to view and understand. Best-suited for ecommerce marketers looking for advanced marketing automation tools.
Starts at $16/month. A free version is also available.
Pardot is a marketing automation suite perfect for boosting your revenue.
Pardot is popular because of its ability to provide exceptional services, ease of use, and the availability of interface guides that can assist in creating powerful campaigns easily. Pardot works best for small to midsize companies looking for software tools to boost the efficiency of sales and marketing processes.
Pardot is designed for B2B marketers and comes with support tools such as B2B analytics and account-based marketing solutions. It now partners with Salesforce to offer a more robust group of products that can be used by sales and marketing teams to work in close synchrony.
Starts at $1,250/month and goes up to $4000/month based on depth of automation and analytics.
Infusionsoft makes work easy in the areas of follow-up, billing, contact management, and others.
Infusionsoft is an email marketing company that offers automation software for small and medium businesses, and is focused on helping companies achieve their growth objectives through the use of powerful technologies and an automated marketing platform.
Infusionsoft is now a part of the Keep brand and is the best marketing automation software for streamlining communication between the company and potential leads and customers. Small businesses can use this tool to build emails, manage workflows, create landing pages, and more using pre-build templates.
Starts at $199/month and ranges from $499 to $1999 based on contacts and features.
LeadSquared is the preferred marketing automation software for businesses dealing with real estate, education, travel, health, and finance. The software offers service in B2C business model areas where products and services are sold to the end consumer directly.
LeadSquared is chiefly focused on the lead nurturing phase and can help move leads through the funnel at an accelerated pace. The tool allows users to set triggers, conditions, and actions for automating drip marketing.
Starts at $150/month per user. Free version not available but they offer a free trial.
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Netsuite is an advanced marketing automation software capable of automating various marketing specific processes, flows, and tasks. You can use the platform to create multiple campaigns and align the same with your sales team. The execution of multiple marketing campaigns driven by email, social media, event management, and others can be streamlined effortlessly using Netsuite.
Generating highly qualified leads that are ready for sales engagement is easy with this powerful automation tool. You can easily track and measure prospect activity, identify when a lead is ready to convert, and let the sales know as soon as the prospect meets the pre-defined criteria.
Starts at $129/month
There are many quality marketing automation software solutions available for businesses but the ones we have covered above are among the most popular of them all. Comparing marketing automation tools is not an easy thing to do because almost every one of them has that one feature that becomes their USP. What we have summarized above are the best for all types of companies in terms of sizes and the sectors they operate in.
Mailchimp is popular and respected as one of the earliest email marketing tools. It has grown rapidly to become a full-fledged marketing automation tool. Mailchimp makes it easy for businesses to collate all their audience data, marketing channels, and insights to hit their marketing goals faster. Mailchimp also makes it easy to promote any business across email, social media, and landing pages from a single user-friendly platform.
With Mailchimp, marketing campaigns can be built quickly with its pre-built templates and one-click automations. The intuitive design tools have helped many businesses create powerful campaigns to put their brand ahead.
The Essential Plan starts at $9.99/month. Premium plan costs $299/month. Free basic subscription is available.
Automizy is the email marketing software your business needs to boost open rates. The user-friendly automation tool is a fully integrated automation builder that can help create email automations that can help you achieve greater efficiency.
Automizy is intuitive and makes life easy for users with its attentive and well-informed customer support team that aims to resolve requests as quickly as possible. The templates are also thoughtfully designed.
Starts at $9/month for 200 contacts. Free trial available
This digital agency got transformed into a powerful email marketing tool and soon progressed to a popular and effective marketing automation software. SendInBlue scores high on the lead scoring and reporting areas of marketing. The marketing tool is also designed to allow businesses run a flawless SMS campaign.
SendInBlue is best suited for automation needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Its cloud-based digital marketing tools serve the needs of many growing companies around the globe.
Starts at $25/month. You pay only $22.50 for annual payment. Free basic plans available.
Autopilot is gaining in popularity rapidly and is touted as one of the most user-friendly marketing automation platforms on the market. It also has a high visually appealing. Autopilot makes a host of things easy to manage for marketers. The platform can be used not only for creating a simple auto-responder according to a time sequence but also for advanced messaging and targeting tasks.
With Autopilot you can automate the entire customer by simply by dragging and dropping text, images, stickers, and emojis. It is the best automation software if you want to build your own journey from scratch.
The basic silver plan starts at $49/month. 30-day free trial is available
GetResponse is a sophisticated marketing automation software with multiple layers and features. The user-friendly platform can be trusted to deliver great results and can be the best-fit for features such as email newsletters. It also does a great job with contact records and potential clients list.
The exceptionally efficient email editorial manager is the key USP of this platform. You can find contacts that satisfy specific conditions and then allow the system to direct the appropriate actions.
The basic plan starts at $15/month. Free trial is available.
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If you marketing efforts are focused more on social media, then Constant Contact can be the right choice. SMBs can use this platform to boost their digital marketing outreach. The features include template building, list management, and audience segmentation. The campaign setting process is easy and quick and can be handled even by those who are not very tech-savvy. There is a video tutorial that explains all its features in a very simple manner.
Constant Contact’s reporting tools, and integrations have become more sophisticated with its recent upgrades. It now ranks high among its peers and is becoming the favorite of many small and medium businesses.
Basic pricing begins at $20/month for up to 500 contacts. There is a 30-day guarantee on performance satisfaction.
Campaigner is another top-performer in the marketing automation tools domain and offers a host of valuable features at a very competitive price. Marketers can embed read-time display ads in newsletters, and target their subscribers according to their location using the geo-location tool.
Campaigner also offers integrations with Adobe Analytics, Facebook, Google Analytics, Salesforce and Twitter. The auto-responders can be used for building a subscriber list. Setting up a campaign is also simple and quick with Campaigner.
Starts at $40.95/month for up to 5K contacts. You can get started on the lighter plan of $19.95 with basic features. Free trial available for one month.
Act-On is not just another marketing automation tool. It stands apart because of its strong performance and range of features. If you are looking for a business automation platform that can help connect email operations to other aspects of business, this one is the best choice.
Act-On offers as many as eight automated program templates that can be customized to meet your unique needs. Lead scoring and integrations becomes easy with Act-On. This platform also offers one of the most comprehensive social media and SEO-based automation tools.
Professional Plan begins at $900/month for 2500 contacts. The Enterprise plan begins at $2000/month
Drip has emerged as the marketing automation tool of choice for businesses looking for primarily on ecommerce automation. It is an open platform that works well with nearly any type of marketing strategy that users may want to implement.
Drip has email as one of its core strength but it also performs well in other areas which require powerful and smooth automation. The personalization and analytics features also stand apart from other similar tools.
Starts at $19/month for 500 contacts. Free trial available for 14 days.
This popular open-source marketing automation tool is slowly becoming a favorite of high-tech companies with over 200,000 users. The tool can be used for various business purposes and can fit almost every budget.
Mautic is simple to use and is a definite time saver as it takes far less time to implement the automation tasks into your business processes. It can be installed on the website or server. Ideal for those looking for cutting-edge technology within a small budget.
Free to use open-source technology
There are many quality marketing automation software solutions available for businesses but the ones we have covered above are among the most popular of them all. Comparing marketing automation tools is not an easy thing to do because almost every one of them has that one feature that becomes their USP. What we have summarized above are the best for all types of companies in terms of sizes and the sectors they operate in.
