Marketing automation helps agencies streamline processes, save time, and provide powerful insights into customer behavior. However, knowing the best fit for your agency’s needs can take time and effort with so many options available.
In this blog post, we will look at some of the best marketing automation software currently available on the market today.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation uses specialized software and technology to streamline, automate, and measure marketing tasks. This can include functions like:
- Email campaigns
- Social media management
- Website tracking
- Lead scoring
- Landing page optimization
- Content management
What Workflows Do You Need to Automate?
Client Onboarding
One example of a workflow that could be automated is client onboarding. This involves sending welcome emails, setting up accounts, collecting payment information, etc.
Project Management
This could include automating tracking progress on projects and ensuring deadlines are met. Enterprise project management tools can alert team members when projects are approaching their due dates or if progress has stalled on specific tasks. There are many free project management software to choose from that offer basic features with the option to upgrade to premium plans.
Tracking the time of team members is crucial, and timesheets can be an effective tool for this purpose. You can find a variety of employee timesheet templates online that can be customized to fit your project’s needs, ensuring accurate time tracking and resource management.
Customer Relationship Management
This could involve integrating a customer relationship management (CRM) system or software like salesforce alternatives with email marketing software to target specific customer segments based on prior behavior and interaction with the brand’s previous campaigns.
Best Marketing Automation Platforms to Consider
Marketo
Features
- Automation: Marketo’s automation suite allows marketers to easily create campaigns and automate tasks such as lead segmentation, email campaigns, and website personalization.
- Engagement Insights: Marketo’s engagement insights allow marketers to measure and optimize the performance of their campaigns.
- Real-Time Analytics: Marketo provides real-time analytics so marketers can gain insights into how customers interact with their products or services.
- Mobile Optimization: Marketo’s mobile optimization feature allows marketers to create mobile-friendly content for customers on the go.
- Integrations: Marketo has dozens of integrations with popular third-party tools such as Salesforce, Google Analytics, and LinkedIn Ads.
Drawbacks
- Steep Learning Curve: For new users, there is a steep learning curve when using the platform due to its complexity.
- Pricey: The marketing automation platform is quite pricey for smaller organizations, making it less accessible for those on tight budgets.
- Limited Support Options: Limited support options are available for those needing additional assistance when using Marketo’s features.
- Limited Customization Options: While some customization options are available in the platform, they are limited compared to other marketing automation platforms.
Pricing
The pricing structure of Marketo depends on the package chosen by the user, which can range from $895 – $3999 per month based on specific criteria such as the number of contacts or size of the organization etc.
Pardot
Best Features
- Automated Lead Nurturing: Pardot lets you create automated emails to keep leads interested in your company and nurture them until they are ready for a sales interaction. You can design personalized emails with different messages for different target audiences.
- Campaign Insights Dashboard: Pardot provides an intuitive dashboard that gives you insights into the performance of your campaigns, allowing you to optimize your marketing efforts and maximize ROI.
- Easy Integration with Other Systems: Pardot allows easy integration with other systems like Salesforce CRM, Google Analytics, etc., so you can get actionable insights from all these systems in one place.
- Dynamic Content Segmentation: With dynamic content segmentation, Pardot lets marketers create different versions of web pages or emails based on a user’s profile information, such as geography, industry, or any other criteria that may be relevant to the campaign.
- Lead Scoring & Grading: Pardot assigns scores to leads by monitoring their activities across channels like website visits, emails opened, etc., making it easier for marketers to identify qualified leads who are most likely to convert into paying customers.
Drawbacks
- Relatively Expensive Pricing Model: Although Pardot has some great features and capabilities compared to other platforms in the same category, its pricing model may be too expensive for smaller businesses or start-ups with limited budgets.
- Limited Customization Options: Despite having some basic customization options available, Pardot does not offer much flexibility when tailoring the platform according to the specific needs of businesses that require enhanced customization options.
- Easy Setup but Difficult Maintenance: While setting up Pardot is relatively straightforward, it can become complex and complicated if you need help managing updates or changes related to campaigns or customer data on a real-time basis due lack of enough technical support from the vendor side in this regard.
Pricing
- Pardot offers three plans – Basic ($1000/month), Pro ($2000/month) & Advanced ($4000/month).
Act-On
Best Features
- Automated Campaigns: Act-On enables users to create automated campaigns with prebuilt templates, drag-and-drop capabilities, and powerful analytics for optimizing results.
- Lead Scoring: The platform allows users to prioritize leads based on criteria such as website visits automatically, email opens and clicks, and form submissions.
- Advanced Segmentation: Act-On enables users to segment their customer databases by any combination of demographic or behavioral criteria to build highly personalized campaigns.
Drawbacks
- Limited video hosting capabilities.
- Limited tools for A/B testing.
- A steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with the platform’s capabilities.
Pricing
- Pricing for Act-On is subscription-based and ranges from $600 per month up to $1,800 per month, depending on the level of service desired.
eTrigue
Best Features
- Segmentation & Targeting: eTrigue allows users to easily segment their leads into different categories to target them with personalized messages and offers. This helps ensure each message is as relevant as possible for each target audience.
- Advanced Analytics & Reporting: eTrigue offers advanced analytics capabilities which allow users to track the performance of their campaigns in real time and generate detailed reports that can be used to measure marketing ROI.
- Automated Workflows & Campaigns: With eTrigue’s automated workflows and campaigns, users can quickly create and deploy campaigns based on their goals and objectives. This helps ensure that campaigns run smoothly without manually managing every step of the process.
- Intelligent Content Delivery: eTrigue uses an AI-powered engine that helps deliver the right content at the right time to maximize engagement with potential customers.
Drawbacks
- Price point and complexity may be overwhelming for beginner marketers who need to gain experience using CRM and marketing automation tools.
- Also, some features may need to be revised for small businesses looking for basic marketing automation capabilities, such as segmentation or app tracking system.
Pricing
- Prices start from $50 to $900 monthly, depending on usage levels and additional features.
Dotdigital
Features
- Easy-to-use interface: Dotdigital’s user-friendly dashboard makes it easy for marketers to design, launch and track effective campaigns without technical knowledge or experience.
- Automated workflows: It allows marketers to create dynamic customer journeys using automated workflows based on customer behavior, such as page visits, purchases.
- Powerful segmentation capabilities: Marketers can use Dotdigital’s advanced segmentation capabilities to target their audiences precisely with more relevant messages and offers.
- Comprehensive reporting tools: In addition to detailed performance reports on campaigns and critical metrics such as open rate, click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate.
Drawbacks
- Limited customization options: While the customization functionality offered by Dotdigital is quite good, there are still some limitations compared to other platforms in terms of what can be customized in a campaign or workflow.
- Need to include some features found in competitors: Compared to competitors like HubSpot or MailChimp, Dotdigital does not offer popular features such as A/B testing or real-time analytics tracking for emails sent.
- Complex pricing structure: Dotdigital’s pricing plan can be complicated for beginners or the sales team to understand due to its complexity as it is based both on the volume of contacts stored in the system and additional services.
Pricing
- Starter ($50 per month), Professional ($500+ per month), and Enterprise (customized)
EngageBay
Features
- Powerful Marketing automation: EngageBay offers a powerful multi-step, visual, drag-and-drop automation builder with actions, triggers, and conditions to create complex automations.
- Comprehensive omnichannel marketing: Marketers and salespeople can track and engage with customers across all touchpoints, including emails, phone, live chat, SMS, social media, and the web.
- Advanced segmentation: EngageBay offers a plethora of filters, tagging options, and other features to help segment your audience and send out personalized, tailored campaigns.
- Truly all-in-one CRM: EngageBay is a truly all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software with integrated CRM. This prevents data siloes and aligns all teams toward a unified view of customers.
Drawbacks
- Though EngageBay has an impressive collection of integrations and is adding new ones routinely, it does not have as much as some of its competitors.
- EngageBay has limited search engine optimization features.
- No advanced marketing automation in the free plan.
Pricing
- EngageBay offers 3 paid plans and one free plan
- Basic plan costs $14.99/month, Growth plan costs $49.99/month, and the Pro plan with unlimited contacts costs $99.99/month.
SendPulse
Features
- Mobile-friendly lead generation: Intuitive dashboard with access to the essential tools for lead generation like subscription forms and smart pop-ups.
- A multichannel approach to marketing automation: message flows can combine email campaigns, SMS notifications as well as chatbot marketing on social media platforms and messaging apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber. The latest addition to the platform’s functionality is the live chat feature.
- In-built CRM: better customer data management and marketing campaign adjustment.
- Open AI integration: create a GPT-powered chatbot for more human-like conversational marketing
- Official WhatsApp Business Solution provider: no setup or additional fees to access WhatsApp Business API.
Drawbacks
- Limited functionality for free plan users.
- Support only in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Russian.
- Limited support options for free plan users.
Pricing
- A free plan is available for almost any feature on the platform.
- Flexible pricing policy allows users to only pay for features they opt to use.
- Paid plans start at $7 per month and can be paid annually with a 20% discount.
Pepper Cloud CRM
Features
- Marketing Automation: Pepper Cloud‘s workflow automation feature enables automating marketing efforts. You can trigger emails and send WhatsApp messages to your leads and customers.
- WhatsApp Marketing: The CRM comes with WhatsApp Integration that empowers you to send marketing messages, trigger automated WhatsApp notifications, and set up auto-reminders. You can also broadcast promotional messages to bulk contacts at once.
- AI-driven CRM: The CRM offers the AssistAI feature, an AI-powered chatbot meticulously crafted to offer valuable chat assistance. This intelligent tool adeptly handles tasks like adding leads, scheduling follow-ups, taking notes, streamlining your workflow, and more.
- All-in-one CRM: It is an all-in-one sales CRM that comes with a variety of integrations including platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and more enabling efficient messaging.
- Real-time Analytics: Pepper Cloud CRM provides real-time analytics through comprehensive dashboards, facilitating you to monitor your sales and marketing efforts.
Drawbacks
- Ability to Run Marketing Campaigns Needs to Improve: The CRM allows you to sync contact details and other campaign details from email marketing tools such as Mailchimp and MailerLite. However, they don’t allow you to initiate marketing campaigns from within CRM.
- No Pre-made Email Templates: There are no readymade email templates provided by the CRM.
Pricing
The pricing structure of Pepper Cloud CRM depends on the package chosen by the user. There are three affordable pricing plans based on the size of the organization: Starter, Business, and Enterprise, and the features and user limit depends upon the plan you choose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there any free automation marketing tools?
Yes, other marketing automation tools are available such as HubSpot, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and Zapier. Each one has its unique features tailored for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
How do I select the best marketing automation software for my business?
The best marketing automation software for your business depends on the size and industry of your company, as well as the features you require. It’s important to research different marketing automation solutions to find one that best fits your needs while evaluating factors such as ease of use, customer support, scalability, and cost.
Which is the best marketing automation tool?
Many businesses swear by HubSpot as the best marketing automation tool. It offers a comprehensive suite of features such as email automation, lead scoring, website tracking, and more that help marketers drive better results for their companies. Other popular options include Marketo, Pardot, and Active Campaign.
Concluding Thoughts
Ultimately, selecting the right automation digital marketing platform will depend on your business needs – so do thorough research before making any decisions! With this in mind, we hope our guide has helped you identify the ideal marketing automation solution for your agency’s requirements.
