The State of Marketing Report by Salesforce states that 67% of marketing leaders are currently utilizing at least one marketing automation platform, with an additional 21% intending to adopt one in the future.
Let’s examine the leading marketing automation tools for the year 2023.
What is a Marketing Automation Tool?
Marketers can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing campaigns by using a marketing automation tool. This tool is specifically designed to automate various marketing activities, including but not limited to email marketing, social media scheduling, advertising campaigns, report generation and analysis, and data management.
In addition to its automated functionality, the software also encompasses other features including CRM, website design, integration, and marketing intelligence.
What Are the Advantages of Using Marketing Automation Tools?
You can improve your marketing processes and strategies with the help of marketing automation solutions, which have the following benefits:
- You can use them to optimize your campaigns so you can concentrate on the channels and strategies that work best.
- You can use marketing automation solutions to gain helpful insights about consumer behavior and preferences so that you can plan your marketing activities effectively.
- They can also save you time by automating complex processes so that you can focus on other crucial aspects of your company.
By utilizing automation, marketers can expedite and enhance the achievement of their marketing objectives. Marketing automation technologies enable swift processing of data and information, aiding in the generation of well-informed decisions that elevate client engagement and generate revenue. Furthermore, personalized and focused campaigns can be devised for every individual customer.
How to Pick the Best Marketing Automation Software?
When considering a marketing automation system for your company, it is crucial to think about various factors. These factors include pricing plans and features, usability, customer service, integrations, scalability, and more. Additionally, it is important to take into account the size of your team and the specific objectives you have for your marketing automation platform.
When choosing marketing automation software, it is important to take into account the following factors:
- Understand the objectives and needs of your business.
- Research several platforms to determine which one is ideal for you.
- Whenever possible, set up a trial period.
- Test various features to see if they fit your needs.
By carefully considering all of these factors, you can select the perfect marketing automation platform for your company.
Common Marketing Automation Features
- Email marketing
Despite being one of digital communication’s earliest forms, email continues to hold a dominant position. Although consumers may have grown somewhat annoyed by email marketing due to marketers’ expertise and persistent media attention, it is still one of the most powerful methods for engaging with your clients. As a result, it serves as an ideal starting point for marketing automation.
- Lead Management
Lead management, which is provided by top marketing automation software tools, aids businesses in monitoring, categorizing, and engaging with leads in order to convert them into paying customers.
- Social Automation
Social media managers often rely on autonomous applications such as Hootsuite and Buffer to simplify their workload. These applications allow for scheduling pre-planned posts on multiple social platforms. In addition, marketing automation software often includes social analytics tools, which enable managers to monitor audience posts on various social platforms and share their content.
- Analytics and Reporting
The primary benefit of automating marketing efforts is the availability of thorough analytics. Many marketing automation tools have interfaces that resemble business intelligence software, displaying a company’s essential marketing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) through visually appealing and comprehensible dashboards.
- SEO, paid media, and digital advertising
SEO paid media, and digital advertising features are universally available. They aid marketers in the execution of their paid campaigns through a centralized marketing tool, which serves as the hub for various marketing campaigns. While managing these campaigns may seem daunting for SMBs, consolidating all the data into a single analytical interface progressively simplifies the process.
- Integration with eCommerce platforms
For eCommerce marketing automation software to perform all its functions, it is essential to integrate with various shopping platforms. This integration allows access to data relating to online store orders, products, and customers.
Integration enables marketing solutions to send emails to e-store customers, showcasing new items, discounts, and special offers while managing abandoned cart data.
Using API2Cart’s unified API is the simplest method to establish integration between marketing automation software and various eCommerce platforms such as Magento and Shopify.
Top Marketing Automation Software Tools in 2023
After acquiring knowledge about the features, it is now time to explore the CRMs that offer these features.
- HubSpot
One of HubSpot’s most successful features is its automation software, which contributes to its recognition in the world of SaaS. It is known for providing a variety of resources, including live chat, marketing, services, and sales Hubs.
When comparing HubSpot to other CRMs on this list, what sets it apart is its extremely user-friendly and straightforward visual editor for workflows.
For whom is it designed?
If a company is in search of a comprehensive marketing system that provides a multitude of tools in one convenient location, HubSpot should be taken into consideration. Moreover, HubSpot is highly adept at accommodating the evolving needs of your company. Nonetheless, if you have already invested in separate CRM and sales solutions, the all-in-one nature of HubSpot may prove to be a drawback.
Regarding pricing:
- Free plan available
- Starter: $20 per month
- Professional: $890 per month
- Enterprise: $3,600 per month
Main characteristics:
- No coding needed
- Easily integrates with HubSpot’s CRM
- Visual editor to personalize your email campaigns
- Automation of emails, messages, lead scores, webhooks, etc.
- ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a platform for small businesses that integrates email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM.
ActiveCampaign is widely known for its efficient and versatile integration of marketing automation, making it one of the most extensive choices available.
Who is it intended for:
ActiveCampaign should be used by anyone interested in maximizing the potential of email marketing. It is specifically designed for companies looking to automate their marketing strategies and increase conversions and sales beyond simply sending newsletters. Additionally, businesses with intricate offerings or multiple products can effectively manage their contact lists, track reports, and personalize the customer journey using ActiveCampaign. However, it is important to note that ActiveCampaign is not suitable for beginners or individuals lacking technical skills, as it requires a modest time and effort commitment to learn.
Pricing structure in a sequential manner – do not include additional details and do not omit any details.
- Lite: $29 per month, billed annually
- Plus: $49 per month, billed annually
- Professional: $149 per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: contact the sales team
Key characteristics:
- The site, event, and goal tracking
- Powerful attribution tools to track conversions
- Professional test split test
- Drag and drop automation map
- Mailchimp
Mailchimp started out mainly as an email marketing solution but has expanded into the marketing automation field. Its newest version includes basic e-commerce, survey, and CRM functions, in addition to basic campaign automation and analytics. By consolidating all these tools, you can access all the necessary features in one place.
Who is it for:
If small businesses are new to marketing automation and looking for a complete e-commerce solution, they should take into consideration Mailchimp. Nevertheless, it is most appropriate for simple marketing tasks, which means experienced marketers might surpass its capabilities in no time.
The pricing is to be considered by thinking in a step-by-step manner.
If there are 500 contacts, please rephrase the text below while maintaining the same meaning. Do not add new information and do not remove information. For a total of 500 contacts:
- Free plan available
- Essentials: free for 1 month, then starts at $13 per month
- Standard: free for 1 month, then starts at $20 per month
- Premium: starts at $350 per month
Characteristics that are important and distinct.
- Email designer, email client testing, RSS-to-Email, email beamer, and email delivery
- MailChimp editor
- SMS for events
- Custom forms
- Segmentation and groups
- Multi-user accounts
- Integrations
- Overloop
If lead generation or any other kind of marketing outreach is what you’re working on, then you require Overloop, an exceptional automated marketing tool primarily utilized by businesses for sales activities and lead generation.
Who is it intended for:
If you are in search of a CRM system that can assist you in finding new contacts, effectively communicating with them throughout the sales process, and enhancing your company’s outreach and communication capabilities, Overloop CRM is an exceptional option. Additionally, as your team expands, the cost of the system becomes more reasonable with each new user added.
The pricing is to be thought of step by step.
- No-brainer pricing: $99 per user/month, billed monthly
- Custom pricing: contact the sales team
Characteristics that are particularly important or noteworthy:
- Create automated emails and automated email campaigns
- Find and verify email addresses
- Integration with Slack, Zapier, and other CRMs
- Ontraport
Ontraport, an enterprise automation platform, stands out for its emphasis on reporting and insights, distinguishing itself from other tools that may lack transparency by scrutinizing campaign performance.
The target audience:
Ontraport can be adapted to suit virtually any type of business, although it is particularly tailored for education-based organizations and membership-based sites. Consequently, if your company belongs to either of these categories, it may be worth considering Ontraport. Furthermore, Ontraport remains a popular choice for marketers and salespeople in over 63 countries due to its ability to facilitate intelligent automation and customer relationship management. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the pricing plans of Ontraport can be expensive for those who are new to the field or running startups.
The cost of a product or service.
- Basic: starting at $24 per month
- Plus: starting at $83 per month
- Pro: starting at $124 per month
- Enterprise: starting at $249 per month
Here are the key features:
- Integrate with other Ontraport marketing tools
- Have pre-built templates for quick content generation
- Create sophisticated funnels and goals for your campaigns
- Infusionsoft
For a while, InfusionSoft has assisted countless marketers in achieving their lead generation, revenue generation, and customer acquisition goals. InfusionSoft has now been rebranded as Keap Max Classic.
You can create a relatively complex tree structure based on the lead magnet someone signs up for, the number of emails they open and click, or other contact property data.
Who is it for:
Infusionsoft is a great choice for new businesses embarking on their email, marketing, and sales campaigns, especially those that view sales and marketing as a combined effort. However, larger businesses with distinct sales and marketing divisions may prefer a solution that prioritizes marketing automation and utilizes a separate program for CRM functions.
The pricing is to be thought of step by step, without adding or removing any information.
- Contact the sales team
Listed below are the main characteristics:
- Drag and drop campaign builder
- A plethora of other tools connected with marketing automation
- Multimedia marketing management
- Ortto
Ortto stands out among marketing automation systems due to its highly appealing visual elements. Its visual editor, which is easy to navigate and enjoyable to utilize, is particularly noteworthy.
Typically employed for intricate messaging and targeting purposes, its system can also be utilized to create a basic autoresponder by following a specific time sequence.
For whom it is intended:
Ortto is a great choice if you are seeking a marketing automation platform. Although it does not have a CRM and could be expensive for some companies, it also provides reasonably priced plans that grant access to all of Ortto’s features. This makes it a suitable option for startups and SMBs.
The pricing information will be adjusted gradually to ensure step-by-step changes without adding or removing any details.
- Professional: from $99 per month
- Business: from $299 per month
- Enterprise: contact the sales team
- Startup: from $199 per month
- NFP: from $199 per month
The main characteristics are:
- Outcome wheel
- Excellent collaborative features such as annotation and Slack/email sharing
- Well-designed templates
- Marketo
Marketo was acquired by Adobe and subsequently integrated into a marketing platform after a considerable period of time.
If you have Adobe Analytics for data measurement and Adobe Target for experiments and customization, you will possess a robust automation and optimization toolkit for startup marketing.
Who is it intended for:
Marketo is a great option for businesses looking to utilize the various features of the tool that go beyond basic marketing automation. Although it is not the most economical tool, it is also not the most costly. If you do not plan on utilizing the advanced features of the system, you can achieve similar results with a less expensive tool. Nevertheless, beginning with a tool like Marketo can be a wise choice if you want to start with the fundamentals and progress to more advanced functions in the near future.
The cost of goods or services.
- Contact the vendor
Characteristics:
- A powerful collection of tools
- It works better if you’re already using other Adobe tools such as Target
- B2B marketing & lead management
- GetResponse
GetResponse is a marketing software platform that offers tools to entrepreneurs, online marketers, marketing managers, and companies for content creation, sales generation, and traffic improvement. It provides marketing automation tools such as pre-built workflows, email automation, contact segmentation, and behavioral targeting. With a choice of four pricing models (Basic, Plus, Professional, and MAX) and a free 30-day trial, GetResponse is suitable for companies of different sizes and budgets.
- Keap
Keap offers CRM and marketing automation options for small businesses. The solutions provided by the company can aid SMBs in converting more leads by utilizing personalized and automated follow-up messages, monitoring lead behavior, and boosting engagement. Moreover, Keap has the ability to integrate its marketing automation features with third-party apps, enhancing opportunities for additional sales. The pricing options provided by Keap, which include Lite, Pro, and Max, can be tailored to the number of users within a company’s system.
- Klaviyo
Klaviyo offers a marketing automation platform specifically created for growth-focused e-commerce brands. This platform assists in boosting sales through email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing campaigns that are targeted and relevant. The platform comprises various features including segmentation, web tracking, autoresponders, automated email flows, reporting, AB testing, email content creation, and more. Additionally, Klaviyo integrates with popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento, enabling the tracking of essential data from the company’s chosen platform. Klaviyo employs flexible pricing models that do not require annual contracts, allowing companies to only pay for the tools and features they utilize.
- Omnisend
The platform provided by Omnisend fulfills a company’s requirements for e-commerce, email marketing, SMS, and automation. Companies utilize Iterable’s centralized marketing platform and automation tools to create omnichannel workflows, utilize pre-built messages, conduct A/B tests, monitor success through reporting tools, and make use of over fifty integrations. Omnisend provides companies with a complimentary version of their platform to begin with email marketing. The Standard package includes marketing automation, pre-built workflows, the ability to send 15,000 emails per month, and additional features.
- Sendinblue
SendinBlue is a platform for marketing that offers small businesses the ability to grow using email marketing, SMS marketing, CRM, and marketing automation. By utilizing its marketing automation features, SMBs are able to customize each stage of the customer journey, create omnichannel outreach strategies, and transform website visitors into customers. These features encompass transactional email tools, audience segmentation, integration with CRM systems, SMS marketing, web chats, landing pages, signup forms, Facebook ads, email marketing, and additional functionalities.
- SharpSpring
SharpSpring offers sales and marketing automation platforms that are ideal for SMBs, enterprises, and agencies. The platform utilizes a tracking tool based on behavior to assist companies in comprehending the reasons behind customer interactions. This tool can be applied to all of SharpSpring’s marketing automation services. SharpSpring allows users to create automation tasks, enhance workflows with branching logic, establish nurturing campaigns that react to lead behavior, and modify buyer personas instantly to enhance segmentation. Its Small Business pricing model is accessible in both annual and monthly formats and grants complete access to its growth marketing platform.
- Thryv
Thryv is a customer experience platform designed for small businesses. It provides a complete solution for businesses to expand their customer base, increase interaction, and enhance revenue. The platform focuses on marketing automation specifically tailored for small businesses. It enables them to create campaigns triggered by specific events, send automated messages using pre-designed templates, monitor engagement through analytics, and offer additional features. Thryv offers flexible pricing options that depend on the number of users, additional features, and add-ons.
