Successful marketing requires numerous tactics working together to achieve some common marketing goals.
Marketing automation can help improve your workflows and streamline processes to achieve quicker and better results. And using the best marketing automation software is the way to do it.
According to a 2021 report by Ascend2, 84% of marketers who used marketing automation found it to be at least somewhat successful.
But which marketing automation software solution should you choose? After all, there are so many options, each claiming to be the best.
Well, we’ve got you covered. In this post, you will learn the benefits of marketing automation and find a list of the best marketing automation software to choose from.
Benefits of marketing automation software
According to the previously-cited Ascend2 report, here are the top reasons why marketers use marketing automation.
Here are some of the key benefits of marketing automation:
- Time savings: Freedom from time-consuming, repetitive tasks that are traditionally done manually, such as collecting data and building reports, enables the focus to shift to more productive areas.
- Cost reduction: Letting marketing automation do all those mundane tasks saves you money too. A monthly, yearly, or one-off subscription payment might seem a bit of a luxury at first, but it’s an awful lot cheaper than hiring somebody to do the work
- Customized content: It optimizes workflows to segment audiences based on a complex and impressive array of factors, leading to increased personalization and a better experience for each individual customer.
- Flexibility: According to Omnisend research, automated messages generated 29.6% of all email marketing orders with only 2.2% of the sends. You can now tweak and experiment with your campaign in real-time to scale it up or down as needed to achieve your desired results.
- Reliability: Once you’ve set everything up according to your preferences, you can just let it run and wait for the reports to inform your next move. It really is as simple as that!
Basic features of marketing automation software
Every platform will have its own unique range of features or areas of specialization, but there are a few essentials that any tool worth its salt will offer. The following basic characteristics are the starting point for any ecommerce business looking to automate.
Gathering customer data
Without data, marketing automation is simply not possible. All platforms will offer legal and effective ways to track comprehensive customer data from a variety of sources while organizing it into an actionable database that will enhance your CRM efforts.
Workflows
Workflows decide how you engage with customers and respond to their behavior. Here’s an example of an automation workflow for shoppers that abandoned their carts:
Workflows begin by identifying customers and directing their attention to your product.
The customer is then guided through various stages of a journey of your choosing, finally leading to purchase and continued loyalty to your brand. Workflows are what make marketing automation tools so special, and are fully customizable to your particular goals.
Reports
Timely and comprehensive reporting is vital when working with marketing automation software—you need to see exactly what is working and what could be improved in order to streamline your strategy. Platforms can deliver reports specific to a number of KPIs, allowing you to see the big picture and set goals accordingly.
So, now you know what to look for in the ideal marketing automation tools for your business. The next step is choosing one!
To help, we’ve selected 10 of the best on the market—these platforms are popular with marketers all over the world, fairly priced (some are even free marketing automation tools, depending on your list size), easy to use, and packed with interesting and innovative features.
Marketing automation software comparison—10 best marketing automation platforms
Here is our top marketing automation tools list and a quick tools comparison chart to give you an overview.
| Free trial/plan | Starting price per month | Best suited for | |
| Omnisend | Free forever plan | $16 | Ecommerce businesses of all sizes |
| HubSpot | Free tools but no free plan or trial | $45 | SaaS businesses and SMBs |
| Active Campaign | 14 days free trial | $29 | Startups and small businesses |
| Mailchimp | Free forever plan | $9.57 | Solopreneurs and startups |
| Rejoiner | Free trial only for Shopify | $25 | Solopreneurs and small ecommerce businesses |
| Ortto (Autopilot) | Free plan & 14-day free trial | $29 | Solopreneurs and small businesses |
| Klaviyo | Free plan | $20 | Ecommerce businesses with large budgets |
| Sendinblue | Free plan | $25 | Small businesses with less than 20k emails monthly requirement |
| Getresponse | Free plan and 30-day free trial | $15.58 | Startups and SMBs |
| Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) | N/A | $1,250 | Enterprises and large B2B businesses |
Now that you have a basic idea about the top marketing automation platforms and their typical clientele, let’s discuss each tool in more detail.
1. Omnisend
The beauty of Omnisend is its specificity—it has been created with the precise needs of ecommerce businesses in mind.
Beyond interactive forms and landing pages, this powerful ecommerce marketing automation software is comfortable in a range of environments. It boasts seamless integrations with the most popular ecommerce markets such as Shopify and BigCommerce and, as the name suggests, allows you to run your workflows through automated emails and multiple channels at the same time.
This is what really sets Omnisend apart–the power to reach people on their preferred channels. Because let’s face it, email has been great! But it has had its day as the one-and-only channel for ecommerce business.
Today’s customers expect a more immersive experience, which the flexibility of omnichannel campaigns allows for. Omnisend covers both email and SMS, but also integrates things like web push notifications, Facebook Custom Audiences, and Google Customer Match, too.
Because it’s made specifically for ecommerce, Omnisend seeks to address the issues that all online marketers run into. For example:
- Interactive forms and engaging landing pages to attract subscribers.
- A relevant Welcome Series to draw attention
- Robust Cart Abandonment strategies for lapsed customers
- Post-Purchase Messaging for building loyalty and encouraging reviews
- Simple and detailed segmentation for creating personalized messaging – leading to better sales and more effective customer retention
- Advanced reporting on customer behavior and sales from campaigns allow you to better foresee your next moves. By the way, this feature is available for free trial users. So you can start for free.
Key features
- Intuitive content editor
- Prebuilt-built workflows
- Email & SMS marketing automation
- Advanced reporting
- Third-party data integrations
- Conditional content blocks
- Personalized recommendations
- Audience segmentation
- Custom workflows
- Split testing
Pricing
- Free: all features included
- Standard: $16 per month
- Pro: $59 per month
2. HubSpot marketing automation software
HubSpot is perhaps the leader among the best email marketing automation tools that offer a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software. HubSpot Marketing allows organizations to bring all the tools they use to support their marketing under one umbrella and includes features that help to increase website traffic, convert website visitors into leads, and more.
The vast range of features that HubSpot offers can be quite intimidating to those new to ecommerce – this can be addressed by spending a little time familiarizing yourself with the free resources in the HubSpot Academy. However, it is more than possible to quickly set up simple email list autoresponders and build segmented workflows designed to target specific users with email, live chat, and website messaging.
The biggest advantage of Hubspot’s marketing automation software is its one-size-fits-all nature – it really is a complete automated marketing solution of which automation makes up just one aspect. You can easily integrate your whole marketing world onto HubSpot and have complete context over all of your activities in one place.
Key features
- Visual editor to customize workflows
- Email and form automation
- Omni-channel marketing automation
- Whitelabeling options
- A/B testing
- Custom reports
Pricing
- Starter: Starts at $45 per month for up to 1000 contacts.
- Professional: Starts at $800 per month for up to 2000 contacts.
- Enterprise: Starts at $3,600 per month for up to 10,000 contacts.
3. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is ideal for customer-focused ecommerce activities. Beyond its customizable subscription forms and drag-and-drop email builder, its signature features help you to identify your target audience through innovative contact and lead-scoring algorithms – customers are giving a rating based on their levels of interaction with your business, which is then used to inform specific workflows based on their requirements.
As well as identifying potential leads and engaged customers, ActiveCampaign also knows how to target those who might need a nudge in the right direction. This emailing system can automatically send messages based on when the recipient is most likely to read it, using powerful machine learning.
The more you use ActiveCampaign’s marketing automation software, the more accurate and effective it gets! As well as smart customer behavior predictions backed by data, its comprehensive data analysis allows you to accurately track the performance of your campaigns and provides analyses that will help you make more informed business decisions.
You can reach customers through email, SMS, Facebook, and on-site messaging–a flexible although not truly omnichannel experience. However, ActiveCampaign is fully compatible with all of the most popular ecommerce apps, including Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce.
Key Features
- Marketing automation
- Drag & Drop Email Builder
- Audience split automation
- Automation map
- 870+ integrations
- A/B testing
- Marketing attribution
- Advanced reporting
Pricing
- Lite: $29 per month, billed yearly
- Plus: $49 per month, billed yearly
- Professional: $149 per month, billed yearly
- Enterprise: Custom
4. MailChimp
An oldie but a goodie, Mailchimp is probably the first thing that comes to mind when considering email or newsletter-based automated marketing platforms. And for good reason too, these email giants have built a reputation based on a user-friendly interface, generous free features (such as their in-built CRM), and an excellent reporting system. Additionally, it boasts numerous professionally designed templates you can use to create your emails, forms, and landing pages.
Having been around for longer than most, Mailchimp offers integrations with just about every interface you could think of. Automation features include personalized, targeted emails that are triggered by specific dates, events, or activities; effective abandoned cart series; powerful retargeting tools; and specific product follow-up and category follow-up automations.
If you’re looking to run email-only campaigns, Mailchimp’s marketing automation tools offer everything an ecommerce business needs in an easy-to-use format. And while it is limited in terms of channel choices, what it does, it does well – making a great entry point for small businesses looking to get started with email automation software.
Key features
- Email automation
- Automated customer journeys
- Pre-built workflows
- Whitelabeling options
- A/B and multivariate testing
- 300+ integrations
- Basic reporting & analytics
- Advanced segmentation
Pricing
MailChimp’s prices vary by the number of contacts. Here are the starting prices for all plans:
- Free
- Essentials: Starts at $9.57 per month for 500 contacts
- Standard: Starts at $14.30 per month for 500 contacts
- Premium: Starts at $285.98 per month for 10,000 contacts
5. Rejoiner
Another email marketing automation tool created specifically with ecommerce in mind, Rejoiner ticks a lot of boxes when it comes to effective and easy-to-use automation.
As a comprehensive automation software that’s primarily email-based, Rejoiner offers highly personalized cart abandonment & browse abandonment, post-purchase, welcome series, win-back, and replenishment email campaigns.
Rejoiner’s true strength lies in its range of services, however. They can customize the perfect package for your business, giving you access to experts in email and opt-in form design and execution, copywriting, campaign management, and strategy development. With these critical aspects of your marketing efforts covered, in addition to effective automation running 24/7 in the background, you really are able to focus your efforts on your overall vision.
Key features
- Email automation
- Visual journey builder
- Segmentation
- A/B testing
- Revenue reporting
Pricing
The software offers two types of pricing options:
- Rejoiner (ESP Only): Starts at $25 per month for up to 1,000 contacts
- Rejoiner Plus (ESP Plus Services): Starts at $1,500 per month
6. Ortto (Previously Autopilot)
Ortto is a visually attractive drag-and-drop marketing automation tool with multi-channel marketing capabilities including email, in-app, SMS, Facebook Retargeting, and Google Ads Retargeting. Additionally, it has a robust form builder and widget creator that enables you to easily create engaging tools to help you grow your email marketing list.
Autopilot’s key selling point is its emphasis on the customer journey, which is clearly mapped out and easily customizable, based on audience behavior. You can build comprehensive workflows to automatically send messages through multiple channels – at precisely the right time in the customer journey–with reports available at every step of the way, so you can check on which journeys are the most engaging.
You can choose any of the ecommerce-specific templates when creating your own customer journey, or alternatively build from scratch using the intuitive drag-and-drop system that makes it a cinch to map out your triggers wherever you please.
Key features
- Marketing automation
- Customer journeys
- Audience segmentation
- A/B testing
- Ortto AI
- No-code integrations
- Audience analytics
- Revenue attribution
- Dynamic reporting
Pricing
- Free
- Campaign: $29 per month for up to 2,000 contacts
- Professional: $99 per month for up to 5,000 contacts
- Business: $299 per month for up to 20,000 contacts
- Enterprise: Custom
7. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is generally considered to be one of the most expensive, but best marketing automation tools for ecommerce. Although pre-made workflows are limited, their automation features are powerful, allowing for branch email flows that guarantee precise targeting and personalization. Despite its complex features, it boasts an easy-to-use interface that allows you to build forms and landing pages, design emails, and even develop workflows through a drag-and-drop interface that’s surprisingly intuitive.
Additionally, Klaviyo boasts detailed analytics to equip you with all the information you need to track and improve campaign performance. It enables you to customize reports so that you can measure what matters to your business quickly and accurately. It also has useful A/B testing features to help you optimize your email marketing campaigns.
Key features
- Email and SMS automation
- Customizable templates
- Data visualization & reporting
- Real-time audience segmentation
- Marketing attribution
- 220+ integrations
Pricing
- Free: For up to 250 contacts
- Email: Starts at $20 per month for up to 500 contacts
- Email and SMS: Starts at $35 per month for up to 500 contacts
8. Sendinblue
This is one of the most popular marketing automation software for small and medium businesses.
Sendinblue can help you integrate email marketing and SMS marketing to create high-impact campaigns.
It also has sales CRM capabilities that allow you to track and store customer data in real-time and even act on it. Real-time customer actions can trigger personalized marketing communications.
Key features
- Email and SMS marketing
- Customizable email templates
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Advanced integrations
- Reporting & analytics
Pricing
Sendinblue’s plans offer unlimited contacts but are limited by the number of emails.
- Free
- Starter: Starts at $25 per month for 20,000 emails
- Business: Starts at $65 per month for 20,000 emails
- Enterprise: Custom plans starting from $1,000 per month
9. GetResponse
This is predominantly an email and SMS marketing platform with great inbound marketing features.
Why is it included in the list of the best marketing automation software?
Because of its amazing visual automation builder that allows you to create custom, automated workflows. You can create triggers that lead to automated actions.
The best part is that it offers affordable pricing plans with great features, making it best-suited for startups and small businesses.
Key features
- Email and SMS marketing
- Visual marketing automation builder
- Pre-built email templates
- Product recommendations
- Behavioral targeting
- Useful ecommerce integrations
- Website and landing page builder
Pricing
- Free: Up to 500 contacts
- Email Marketing: Starts at $19 per month for up to 1,000 contacts
- Marketing Automation: Starts at $59 per month for up to 1,000 contacts
- Ecommerce Marketing: Starts at $119 per month for up to 1,000 contacts
10. Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Powered by Pardot)
This is a suite of marketing automation solutions provided by Salesforce. It is one of the best marketing automation software for large businesses that need an advanced tool.
It offers advanced features like predictive analytics and developer sandboxes, apart from basic marketing automation features. It’s one of the top marketing automation platforms for lead management and scoring.
As you can expect from one of the best marketing automation solutions, Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud Account Engagement offers everything you need to be at the top of your marketing game.
Key features
- Advanced marketing automation
- Numerous automation rules
- Advanced dynamic content
- API access
- AI-powered lead scoring
- Visual editor to build workflows
- Developer sandbox
- Advanced analytics
- A/B and multivariate testing
Pricing
- Growth: Starts at $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts
- Plus: Starts at $2,500 per month for up to 10,000 contacts
- Advanced: Starts at $4,000 per month for up to 10,000 contacts
- Premium: Starts at $15,000 per month for up to 75,000 contacts
What is the best marketing automation software?
The answer is really not that simple.
What may be the best tool for you may not be the best for others. There is no single tool that fits every customer’s requirements.
Ultimately, it depends on the overall goals of your business. Are you happy with email only, or do you want to see how other channels can contribute to the growth of your business? Do you need peripheral tools like form builders and advanced reporting? Can you benefit from a full suite of marketing services? Do you require that extra ‘personal touch’ with your customers, or are you just looking to save time on your daily tasks?
Whatever your needs are, you can be sure that the right tool is out there, waiting for you. We hope that this marketing automation software list and comparison goes some way towards helping you find it.
No matter what your requirements are, you’ll find something in our list of the best automated marketing software.
Here’s our final assessment of the top five marketing automation platforms for different requirements:
- Omnisend: Best overall for ecommerce businesses
- HubSpot: Best for SaaS and B2B businesses with great inbound marketing tools
- Ortto (Autopilot): Great for email marketing and automation for all types of businesses
- GetResponse: Best marketing automation tool for startups
- Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot): Best overall for large businesses
We recommend that you make the marketing automation platform comparisons based on the list of features and price.
Also, don’t forget to make a like-for-like price comparison as each of these marketing automation platforms has different restrictions on the number of contacts and emails.
Final thoughts
Choosing the best marketing automation tool for your business is crucial to the success of your marketing campaigns.
Good marketing automation software can help you create customized automated workflows to simplify your marketing process. That helps in saving time, effort, and money spent on doing repetitive tasks.
However, given the number of marketing automation software available in the market, it’s difficult to decide. That’s precisely why we curated this list of the best automated marketing software.
Most of these tools offer either a free plan or a free trial, so you can try them out and make an informed decision. We hope that our marketing automation platform comparisons will help make your decision easier.
Source from Omnisend
Disclaimer: The information set forth above is provided by Omnisend independently of Alibaba.com. Alibaba.com makes no representation and warranties as to the quality and reliability of the seller and products.
