A majority of companies use advertising automation instruments these days — in actual fact, research cite round 56% of businesses presently use the expertise, and that quantity continues to develop.
Whereas marketing automation software program might help corporations enhance effectivity by streamlining their workflows, there are such a lot of choices to select from, full of various options with varied options and use circumstances.
I’ll assist you reduce by means of the noise to seek out the highest advertising automation platforms, highlighting what they do and the way they might help your group.
On this article, I am going to cowl:
What are advertising automation instruments?
Advertising automation instruments use software program to automate repetitive advertising duties.
Some platforms solely supply electronic mail actions, drip sequences, and CRM updates. Others could assist with lead scoring, gross sales lead rotation, SMS, and extra.
Automating your advertising duties can benefit your business by rising general effectivity and permitting you extra time to work on high-level tasks.
For instance, you need to use advertising automation instruments to gather beneficial information that can be utilized to create extra personalised advertising campaigns and enhance conversion charges.
How I Examined the Finest Advertising Automation Software program
Each advertising automation platform affords totally different advantages and options, making it a problem to slender down the most suitable choice for your online business.
That’s why I examined a number of choices for you. Right here’s what I appeared for when testing one of the best advertising automation platforms.
Ease of Use
I don’t learn about you, however I’m a visible particular person. If an interface seems complicated, I’m hesitant to dive in. That’s why I look for easy interfaces that point out the instrument is straightforward to make use of.
I search for instruments with a easy interface that may information me by means of the platform once I first use it. It’s additionally useful if the platform consists of an easy-to-access data base so I can dive deeper into how a function works once I need assistance.
Integrations
Advertising automation instruments that combine together with your current instruments are important.
The entire level of selling automation platforms is that will help you save time by making duties seamless. That is made attainable when the whole lot in your tech stack connects.
When testing one of the best advertising automation platforms, I appeared for software program with a library of integrations. In my expertise, the extra app integrations out there, the higher related the platform is.
Value
This may be subjective to your finances and enterprise dimension, however value continues to be an element I thought-about when reviewing these instruments.
Instruments that provide extra options and help can command the next value just because they might help you cut back the variety of instruments in your tech stack.
In the event you’re simply getting began with automation and need to see if you happen to can profit from certainly one of these instruments, it’s additionally useful to search for ones that provide free trials. A free trial — or higher but, a free eternally plan — helps you to expertise what the platform affords with out absolutely committing.
The Finest Advertising Automation Instruments
- HubSpot Advertising Automation
- Sender
- ManyChat
- MailModo
- SureTriggers
- LeadSquared
- SendPulse
- Moosend
- Bardeen.ai
- Omnisend
- EngageBay
- Ontraport
- Brevo
- ActiveCampaign
- Salesforce Advertising Cloud Account Engagement
- Keap
- Marketo
- GetResponse
- Drip
- Mautic
Right here, I’ve cultivated a listing of selling automation instruments that will help you kind by means of your choices and really feel assured selecting one of the best answer for you and your group.
1. HubSpot Marketing Automation
HubSpot’s advertising automation performance is without doubt one of the strongest instruments on this listing by way of options. Based on the G2 Grid for Marketing Automation, it is also some of the standard by way of buyer sentiment.
In fact, HubSpot has a full progress suite that features gross sales software program, advertising software program, and help software program, which all combine robotically with HubSpot’s CRM.
In my view, the mixed impact of getting your whole information and progress exercise in a single place can unleash tons of inventive automation potentialities that might be troublesome or inconceivable if you happen to used separate instruments.
As a standalone, HubSpot‘s advertising automation performance consists of an easy-to-use visible board the place you may craft easy or extremely refined conditional workflows.
I’ve discovered it might probably take time to grasp the instrument (you’ll scale up extra shortly with the assistance of HubSpot Academy), however when you get a grasp on it, the inventive potentialities are infinite.
You possibly can arrange easy electronic mail listing autoresponders or construct a wise and complicated community of guidelines designed to focus on particular customers with the precise proper electronic mail, live chat, web site expertise, and extra.
Principally, HubSpot’s automation instruments go far past email, so you may scale your progress and spend much less time on repetitive duties.
Value: HubSpot’s electronic mail and type advertising automation instruments are free. Paid versions of Marketing Hub, which begin at $15 per consumer/month, supply elevated entry and options.
Do you know? 57% of HubSpot Advertising Hub clients noticed a rise within the variety of leads generated with their advertising campaigns. Check out our whitepaper for extra insights into the enterprise worth of Advertising Hub (identical to this one).
2. Sender
Sender is a high electronic mail and SMS automation instrument that’s inexpensive for small and rising companies. It has the whole lot you want for profitable campaigns, from a easy drag-and-drop electronic mail builder to in-depth analytics and a heatmap.
I like Sender as a result of you may develop your electronic mail listing with high-converting pop-ups, customise pre-made electronic mail templates, and make use of an electronic mail design builder to create high-converting emails.
As soon as your electronic mail is prepared, you may create automated workflows with out a problem and ship the proper message to the proper viewers utilizing good segmentation.
After I examined Sender, I appreciated that I may get began instantly free of charge. Organising my first workflow (as proven above) was additionally very straightforward and included pop-ups that guided me by means of the method.
Value: Sender has a Free Perpetually plan that gives many premium options for as much as 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails monthly. Paid plans begin round $15 monthly.
Finest for: With its emphasis on electronic mail and SMS automation, Sender is finest for ecommerce manufacturers.
3. ManyChat
Advertising automation is not nearly electronic mail. Think about automating a number of the most repetitive conversations you will have with clients on different platforms.
ManyChat features as a chatbot that may do exactly that on Fb Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, WhatsApp, and SMS.
I feel ManyChat is nice as a result of you may construct a bot in minutes with its templates and easy-to-use interface. Plus, the data you find out about your customers may be synced to your CRM and different instruments.
Value: ManyChat affords a free month-to-month plan that permits engagement with as much as 1,000 contacts through Instagram Direct Messages, Fb Messenger, and WhatsApp. Further entry and options can be found by means of ManyChat’s paid plans, which begin at $15 monthly.
What I like: I’m a giant fan of utilizing templates to save lots of time and mind energy. With ManyChat, you need to use certainly one of their many templates or its AI assistant to generate automated messages.
4. MailModo
Mailmodo is a one-step electronic mail advertising answer platform. It lets you create and ship AMP-powered interactive emails with out coding.
I like that you need to use their drag-and-drop template editor to construct electronic mail templates with interactive widgets that give your emails app-like performance.
In the event you don’t need to construct one from scratch, you may select one from their template library, which accommodates templates for varied use circumstances.
Mailmodo additionally has a visible buyer journey editor that follows the identical drag-and-drop idea, making organising electronic mail automations a breeze.
For instance, you may arrange automations that ship an electronic mail after a set interval or by situation, like when a buyer opens an electronic mail, clicks on a hyperlink, or submits a response.
These workflows are straightforward to arrange and extremely customizable to your wants.
Mailmodo’s different options help you section your subscribers dynamically, arrange ship time optimization to ship emails on the most optimum time, check totally different variations of the identical electronic mail earlier than sending, and look at the efficiency of your electronic mail campaigns in a dashboard.
Mailmodo additionally affords AI-powered features, resembling its AI topic line generator, AI content material generator, and an AI template creator.
Value: Mailmodo has three pricing plans: Lite ($39/month), Professional ($79/month), and Max ($159/month). Every plan lets you ship emails to 2,500 contacts, with month-to-month ship limits that enhance with every plan tier.
What I like: Free trials have been one of many options I appeared for when testing these advertising automation platforms, so I used to be excited to see that Mailmodo affords a free 21-day trial interval.
5. SureTriggers
SureTriggers is an automation instrument that optimizes workflows and simplifies enterprise procedures.
The plugin assists within the automation of repetitive processes, the discount of guide errors, and the enhancement of productiveness in your WordPress web site.
I feel its capacity to combine with different CRM and advertising instruments makes it easy to automate quite a few processes and increase productiveness.
SureTriggers is a helpful answer for corporations of all sizes eager to optimize their advertising automation efforts because it consists of options like customized workflows, automation triggers, and reporting.
It additionally affords an efficient and user-friendly answer for automating repetitive operations like lead administration, customer support, and electronic mail advertising within the area of selling automation.
By automating these processes, customers could save working bills, improve lead technology, and increase buyer interplay, all of which contribute to raised advertising outcomes.
Value: SureTriggers affords a free eternally plan for one WordPress web site. Paid plans begin at $9 monthly.
Finest for: SureTriggers is designed for WordPress web sites, making it a distinct segment answer for the WordPress community of plugins and instruments.
6. LeadSquared
LeadSquared is a one-stop answer for gross sales execution and advertising automation.
You possibly can seize leads throughout varied campaigns and sources, monitor their exercise, and even section them primarily based on demographics for a focused strategy to advertising.
The omnichannel platform helps you contact base with leads over electronic mail, WhatsApp, SMS, social media, self-serve portals, and extra.
As soon as you intend to scale your advertising efforts, you may arrange automated and trigger-based workflows to make sure constant outreach throughout platforms.
LeadSquared additionally lets you arrange dashboards and in-depth, real-time reviews for insights into marketing campaign efficiency.
Value: The advertising automation suite is accessible in 4 tiers:
- Important for $150.
- Fundamental for $400.
- Customary $1,200.
- Enterprise for $2,500.
What I like: The most effective half concerning the emails and touchdown pages on LeadSquared is that they require no code, which is handy if you happen to’re a much less technical marketer like me. The pages may be fully personalized with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor.
7. SendPulse
Having began out as an electronic mail advertising service, SendPulse regularly advanced right into a full-scale advertising automation platform with quite a lot of channels to succeed in current and potential clients.
Established manufacturers and small companies alike can construct extremely personalised message flows that mix emails, chatbots, and SMS notifications.
I discovered the visual chatbot builder itself to be very versatile because it permits customers to create chatbots for Fb, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber. It additionally helps ChatGPT integration, which can make the chatbot much more human-like.
Value: SendPulse gives a month-to-month free plan. Paid plans begin at $8 monthly.
What I like: SendPulse is an all-in-one platform that even affords an internet course builder. In the event you’ve thought-about monetizing your data or utilizing programs for lead technology, this platform may very well be an amazing choice.
8. Moosend
Moosend is an electronic mail advertising automation platform that caters to varied industries, together with ecommerce, SaaS, and companies.
The automation feature makes use of superior web site monitoring and triggers that help you ship the proper electronic mail marketing campaign to these in your contacts who’re focused on a selected services or products.
For instance, you may arrange a cart abandonment sequence to focus on potential clients who left their procuring carts with out making a purchase order.
In my expertise, amassing and managing buyer information can come in useful as you need to use it to craft product suggestion campaigns primarily based on product views.
This information additionally lets you create detailed reviews of the marketing campaign’s progress and the customers’ exercise so you may optimize the effectiveness of your promotional messages.
Value: Moosend affords a 30-day free trial, so you may attempt before you purchase. After that, Professional plans begin at $7 monthly.
Finest for: One among my favourite components of testing Moosend was seeing its agency-side options. Moosend can act as a private shopper administration hub the place you may work on a number of shopper tasks from one place. Plus, it comes with customizations, making this an amazing choice for companies.
9. Bardeen.ai
Bardeen is an AI automation tool that optimizes workflows. With Bardeen.ai, automation is now so simple as texting a buddy.
Bardeen helps streamline your workflow with AI, whether or not it is advisable maintain your CRM clear and up to date, personalize outreach campaigns, or synchronize information throughout varied instruments your inside group makes use of.
What I like finest about Bardeen is that it’s a Chrome extension. This made it straightforward to get began and join it with my current workflow instantly.
The flexibility to combine with different CRMs like HubSpot and over 100 other integrations makes it straightforward to automate quite a few processes and increase productiveness.
Bardeen is a helpful answer for corporations of all sizes seeking to optimize their advertising and gross sales automation efforts. Getting began is straightforward, with 1000’s of ready-to-use automation templates to select from.
Value: Bardeen affords a free eternally plan, whereas a Skilled plan begins at $10 monthly.
Professional tip: Bardeen is a Chrome extension, so that you should be a Google Chrome consumer to benefit from this workflow instrument.
10. Omnisend
Omnisend is an omnichannel advertising automation platform constructed for ecommerce. Providing highly effective automation workflows, you will get began shortly with pre-built templates that maintain on-line retailers in thoughts.
With Omnisend, you may add a number of channels inside the similar automation workflow: electronic mail, SMS, Fb Messenger, push notifications, and extra.
I like that Omnisend additionally makes use of a user-friendly visible builder and templates, which make creating workflows, kinds, touchdown pages, pop-ups, and emails fast and straightforward.
Value: Omnisend affords a free plan with primary electronic mail advertising automation that’s finest fitted to small companies simply beginning out. Medium- to larger-sized companies will more than likely profit from Omnisend’s paid plans, which begin at $16 monthly.
What I like: Whereas I wasn’t in a position to see too many options out there since I don’t have an ecommerce store (most options required me to attach my store earlier than I may discover), I like Omnisend’s interface. It’s organized and straightforward to know, which makes organising workflows much less intimidating.
11. EngageBay
EngageBay is one other advertising automation platform designed particularly for small- to medium-sized companies.
This software program affords a variety of options, together with electronic mail advertising, social media administration, and web site chat.
Different commendable options, for my part, embody drag-and-drop builders for touchdown pages and emails, A/B testing, SMS advertising, push notifications, deserted cart retrieval and reminders, autoresponders, and canned responses.
Value: EngageBay affords a free plan for small companies, in addition to three superior paid plans that scale with your online business wants, beginning at $12.74 per consumer/month.
What I like: I like that EngageBay affords a free plan, making it straightforward for small companies to get began with automation, even with a restricted finances.
12. Ontraport
In contrast to different advertising automation instruments, Ontraport is a enterprise automation software program particularly designed for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small companies.
Whereas it has CRM and advertising automation performance, I recognize that it additionally has a number of different options to run and develop a small enterprise, together with, however not restricted to, electronic mail advertising, touchdown pages, reporting, and ecommerce.
One of the crucial beneficial issues Ontraport affords is its concentrate on reporting and insights. Whereas some instruments is usually a little bit of a black field, Ontraport offers you a transparent take a look at the efficiency of your campaigns.
Value: Although Ontraport doesn’t have a free plan, it does supply a free 14-day trial with every of its 4 paid plans. Pricing for Ontraport’s primary plan begins at $24 monthly, which incorporates limitless electronic mail sending and drag-and-drop advertising automation.
Finest for: Entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small companies.
13. Brevo
Previously SendinBlue, Brevo is a digital advertising platform that options well-liked automation software program fitted to each newbie and superior entrepreneurs.
With Brevo, you may design mobile-friendly electronic mail campaigns both from scratch or by means of customizable templates. You may also run SMS campaigns from Brevo. Superior options embody reporting and lead scoring.
Value: Brevo affords a reasonably spectacular free plan, which incorporates primary advertising automation performance, limitless contacts, and as much as 300 emails per day. Paid plans begin at $25 monthly.
What I like: Brevo affords different software program, resembling gross sales and conversations platforms, plus a CRM, so you may seamlessly combine your tech stack.
14. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an built-in electronic mail advertising, advertising automation, and small enterprise CRM.
ActiveCampaign‘s strongest level is its highly effective and versatile advertising automation performance. I feel it’s some of the complete options available on the market, and its deliverability is also rated as the most effective out there.
I’ve discovered that this most likely isn‘t one of the best instrument for newcomers or these with low technical capabilities, because it takes a bit extra effort and time to be taught. However if you do be taught the platform, it’s fairly highly effective.
Value: ActiveCampaign affords a 14-day free trial. Paid plans begin at $15 monthly.
What I like: ActiveCampaign’s top-rated deliverability charges are an amazing promoting level if you wish to make sure you get into your clients’ inboxes.
15. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
Previously generally known as Pardot, Salesforce Advertising Cloud Account Engagement is a cloud automation answer that largely serves enterprise shoppers which have the technical sources and time to be taught the platform.
It has a ton of options that automate communication to current contacts, from CRM integration to electronic mail advertising, lead nurturing, and an ROI reporting performance to verify your campaigns are working.
You possibly can monitor all interactions in your web site and construct predictive lead scoring primarily based on the parameters you set. All of this helps enhance marketing efficiency and take away wasted effort and time out of your gross sales group.
I ought to word that whereas it’s extremely highly effective, this software program will not be as accessible or inexpensive for smaller companies or entrepreneurs as there may be not a free plan or trial.
Value: Plans for Advertising Cloud Account Engagement begin at $1,250 monthly.
Finest for: At its steep value level, this advertising automation platform is finest for enterprise corporations.
16. Keap
Keap (previously generally known as Infusionsoft) has been round since 2001 and has helped 1000’s of entrepreneurs ship on leads, income, and buyer acquisition targets.
Keap actually thrives within the small enterprise and solopreneur crowd, and in my expertise, I’ve observed it has a reasonably refined consumer base.
You possibly can arrange comparatively advanced choice bushes relying on which lead magnet somebody indicators up for, what number of (and which) emails they open and click on, or different contact property information.
As Keap‘s options proceed to evolve, long-time clients could choose Keap’s Max Traditional plan since it’s most much like Infusionsoft’s authentic platform.
Value: Keap affords a free 14-day trial and three totally different paid plans primarily based on buyer wants, beginning at $249 monthly.
What I like: Keap’s options are finest for small companies that want built-in gross sales and advertising automation.
17. Marketo
Marketo was based in 2006 as a advertising automation software program firm. It was later acquired by Adobe and included into its enterprise advertising cloud.
The Adobe integration implies that, if you happen to use Adobe Analytics for information measurement and Adobe Goal for experimentation and personalization, you will have a strong enterprise advertising automation and optimization suite.
The instrument is usually geared towards enterprise clients — it’s kind of out of vary for many small enterprise house owners.
Value: Adobe doesn’t supply a free trial or plan for Marketo. Since Marketo’s plan costs are decided by your database dimension, you have to to succeed in out to the gross sales division for a quote.
Finest for: In the event you already use different Adobe merchandise, this may very well be a seamless instrument so as to add to your tech stack.
18. GetResponse
GetResponse is advertising automation software program with many various layers and options. Its inexpensive E mail Advertising plan consists of primary autoresponders, templates, and a listing dimension of 1,000 contacts.
GetReponse’s extra premium plans embody highly effective options like drip campaigns, contact scoring, event-based automation, ecommerce monitoring, and extra.
Basically, I discovered this software program straightforward to make use of. You will sometimes discover good outcomes from the instrument, though it really works finest with the less complicated options, like electronic mail newsletters. It will possibly grow to be trickier to work with the platform if you happen to plan on implementing sophisticated conditional logic and advertising automation.
Value: GetResponse affords a free 30-day trial. Paid plans begin at $19 monthly.
Professional tip: GetResponse affords a reduced plan — 50% off month-to-month plans — for nonprofits.
19. Drip
Drip is without doubt one of the few advertising automation instruments on this listing that’s primarily centered on ecommerce advertising automation.
It gives one of many extra “open” platforms, claiming that it performs properly with “just about any advertising technique you need to put in movement.”
Moreover, I discovered electronic mail to be certainly one of its strengths. Some electronic mail advertising and automation options embody limitless electronic mail sends, pre-built workflows, and multi-channel advertising.
Value: Although Drip doesn’t have a free plan, it does supply a free 14-day trial. Paid plans are primarily based in your variety of electronic mail contacts and begin at $39 monthly.
What I like: Drip excels in personalization and analytics. Total, I discovered it to be a strong instrument for ecommerce advertising automation.
20. Mautic
Mautic is the one open-source advertising automation platform on this listing. Based in 2014, Mautic has grown shortly and is seemingly selecting up steam with high-tech corporations.
Presently, over 200,000 organizations use Mautic, and it’s out there in over 35 languages.
Value: Free
Finest for: For extra technical entrepreneurs who need entry to open-source codes.
The way to Select the Finest Advertising Automation Software program
A extra area of interest advertising automation product could also be higher for SMB and B2C environments, however B2B and enterprise corporations might have a platform with wider functionality.
Listed below are some key areas to contemplate as you consider advertising automation software program merchandise to decide on the one which’s best for you:
1. Decide your finances and enterprise wants.
If automation’s advantages may be summed up with one assertion, it’s this: It can make you extra environment friendly, so you may concentrate on the duties you take pleasure in and which have the very best return.
With that in thoughts, you’ll need to consider the worth as you contemplate functionality.
For SMBs and B2C organizations focusing totally on electronic mail, a scaled-down system could be ample. Nevertheless, with extra superior wants, enterprise (and thus larger ticket) software program is extra cost-efficient in the long term.
I like to recommend you select a supplier that is moderately priced however may develop with you as your wants change. In spite of everything, lowering bloated operations is important to scaling successfully.
2. Consider the software program’s ease of use.
Automation is not a easy factor to implement, so ensure that the interface of the software program will work with you, not towards you. See if you’ll find screenshots of the UX or demo the software program so you may decide if it seems easy and straightforward to navigate.
Automation may be technical, so I counsel in search of suppliers which have sturdy data bases, tutorials, and different buyer help choices.
3. Discover analytics and reporting choices.
You will need to have the ability to measure the success of any drip campaigns you will have working, so ensure that your automation software program will maintain monitor of the metrics that matter most to you.
In B2B and enterprise environments with many stakeholders, you might also want superior reporting skills resembling personalised dashboards or automated reporting through electronic mail.
For instance, HubSpot’s marketing analytics software helps you to arrange customized dashboards to watch something from web site site visitors analytics to electronic mail signups, top-performing income sources, and extra.
4. Analysis integrations.
How properly does the advertising automation software program play together with your current stack? Integrations help you handle information and get extra out of your instruments.
Professional tip: You will discover our essential apps for marketers in HubSpot’s App Market.
5. Think about potential limitations.
Some automation software program platforms could restrict the variety of actions in a month or the database dimension you are allowed.
Going into any analysis, I counsel you understand how many contacts you will have, what number of emails you ship on common, and what you need the software program to realize.
This can stop you from underestimating the price of your automation software program.
6. Request a demo.
Earlier than making a remaining choice, contemplate reaching out to every supplier’s gross sales group to request a demo or join free trial affords.
Making an attempt out a advertising automation instrument before you purchase it might probably assist you decide which options finest serve your wants.
Getting Began With Advertising Automation
There are tons of choices for advertising automation software program. It is all about choosing the proper one for your online business functions, finances, and technical experience.
Need one thing extremely highly effective and limitless? It could find yourself costing extra and taking effort and time to be taught. The cheaper choices, by comparability, may need too restricted a scale.
In the end, it is a trade-off that it is advisable weigh for your online business.
Editor’s word: This submit was initially printed in April 2019 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
