10 Best Marketing Automation Tools

These days, you need to be where your customers are. But it is impossible to do it if you only have a few employees. You can also enroll in any affiliate marketing course or ecommerce classes to help you. Fortunately, there are now some marketing automation tools that you can use. Today, I’ll review the 10 marketing automation softwares that I love.

1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign may be one of those unpopular players but they deliver the value that they promise. In fact, it is one of those softwares that can do a lot of things such as email marketing, tracking behavioral data, tracking page visits with detailed triggers and others.

Pros

The pricing is friendlier than other softwares. You can get it for only $9 per month without other setyp fees. Plus, it has a great interface and a Zapier integration. Another thing that users love about it is the notifications that helps users to have a smoother workflow and e-commerce marketing automation.

Cons

The design could improve particularly in the CRM and email builder section. It should be updated. Also, it is lacking when it comes to integration with other tools.

Pricing

Active Campaign CRM starts with some fairly cheap pricing. It starts at $9 per month and this gives you access to marketing automation and email marketing. If you need access to CRM and SMS marketing, you’ll need to pay $49 per month. And if you need unlimited users with some dedicated phone support, you’ll need to pay $149 a month. Still, it is not as high compared to other marketing automation tools.

2. Aritic Pinpoint

Aritic PinPoint is a leading marketing automation software designed for small and medium enterprises and large businesses. It offers integration with multiple email delivery servers to facilitate high inbox placement and advanced email automation. Along with this, Aritic PinPoint integrates with various plugins, apps, websites, CMS, and CRMs to channelize multichannel marketing automation. Aritic PinPoint is an all-in-one integrated solution that helps in aligning sales and marketing teams to improve overall productivity and the ROI. It encompasses exclusive features like account-based marketing, omnichannel marketing, kiosk mode lead nurturing, browser fingerprint technology, ready-to-use templates for all automation campaigns, and more.

Pros

Aritic PinPoint, a cloud-based multichannel automation software, has garnered rave reviews for its extremely easy UI and features that are result-driven. It is designed to align sales, marketing, and support teams with high-end automation features that include anonymous lead tracking, API enhancements, a wide range of integrations, and omnichannel marketing. Aritic PinPoint is fully GDPR-compliant and strictly maintains user privacy in all circumstances.

Cons

Aritic PinPoint is, without a doubt, an integrated and comprehensive marketing automation solution. It definitely surpasses popular names like Marketo or Hubspot or Pardot if seen in terms of pricing and the available features. However, the only thing that pulls down this tool is their documentation. Since this tool has so many complex and advanced features, at times their documentations look incomplete. You have to contact their support team for little inconveniences which can be otherwise solved through a simple and clear help document.

3. Marketo

Marketo is a popular name in the marketing automation software domain and is designed for sales and marketing teams to drive measurable results. Recently, creative design suite provider Adobe acquired Marketo, marking the advent of Adobe into automation. Marketo continues to enable sales and marketing teams with best-in-class automation features like web tracking privacy, API enhancements, to mention a few. Unlike earlier, custom service is now accessible to only those workspaces that were selected during API-Only User creation.

Pros

Marketo has a user-friendly interface which allows the seamless integration of sales and marketing plugins, apps, and tools. By allowing the internal teams to collaborate more effectively, it automates tasks and allows sales and marketing team to focus more on strategic objectives.

Cons

One of the major drawbacks of Marketo is that it’s difficult to modify templates without proper knowledge of HTML. With the recent UI makeover, the layout is now more difficult to navigate.

4. HubSpot

If you love reading about different topics on Internet marketing, then you may have probably heard of HubSpot. Hubspot is more than just about content marketing, it also have tools for blogging, SEO, social marketing, email marketing and more.

Pros

You can get to test run this tool without any worries. It comes with a 7-day trial so that you can test all the tools before subscribing. Plus, it has a place where they educate their users on maximizing their tools.

Cons

Unfortunately, there is no monthly option for this tool. You should buy it for a year or not buy it at all. Also, the price can be pretty high for starting businesses when their tools is readily available in other places for free.

Pricing

Pricing for Hubspot starts at $200 per month. But that is only for 100 contacts and 3 users. If you want to have access to its other tools such as marketing automation and CRM, you’ll need to pay at least $800. And if you want unlimited users and up to 10,000 records, you will need to pay a whopping $2,400 per month.

5. InfusionSoft

InfusionSoft is one of the most popular marketing automation software out there. With over 25,000 customers in the small business industry and over 300 app integrations, it stands as the first choice when it comes to marketing automation.

Pros

You’ll love the user interface. In fact, I could say that it is one the best designed interfaces for marketing automation tools. Aside from that, you’ll appreciate its integrations with over 300 apps in the InfusionSoft Marketplace. There is also some support and training as well as a built-in shopping cart for eCommerce website owners.

Cons

The fees can get quite high. You need to steadily make money in order to use the tool. The kickstart fee is a whopping $1999. Also, it could improve by adding the setup of dedicated IP addresses when sending emails.

Pricing

InfusionSoft has 4 pricing options. It starts at $199 per month for 3 users and up to 2,500 contacts. This will only give you access to contact management and marketing automation. For sales automation or eCommerce, the price increases to $299 per month. You have the choice to either choose the plain (Deluxe) or the eCommerce (Deluxe eCommerce) option.  To have access to everything, you’ll need to pay $379 per month.

6. Ontraport

Ontraport is a great choice for people who are looking for an affordable marketing automation tool. Not only does it do away with the setup fees but it also boasts one of the highest email deliverability rates in the industry by using email deliverability optimization practices. Because of this, most bloggers and coaches choose Ontraport for their marketing automation.

Pros

Affordability is the competitive advantage of Ontraport. Aside from not having setup fees, it also entertains potential clients by giving them 2 hours of free onboarding calls. The community is also very friendly.

Cons

Visuals is Ontraport’s weakness. Its dashboard is not the most attractive. You will not see any graph or chart and this can get quite confusing to look at. Also, its campaigns are mostly text-based. This does not fare well with the flowchart style in other marketing automation tools.

Pricing

Ontraport may not be as cheap as Active Campaign, but it is still in the affordable side. It starts at $79 per month but it is only for 1 user and 1,000 contacts. The access is also only for email. If you want access to its other features, you’ll need to pay $297 per month or increase it up to $597 per month for more contacts and users.

7. Oracle Marketing Cloud

Back when marketing automation is still not called as it is, a company called Eloqua created a tool that could do this. This tool is later acquired by Oracle and it was named as Oracle Marketing Cloud.

This is perhaps the oldest player in the marketing automation scene. In fact, some of its clients include Sony, LinkedIn and American Express.

Pros

Oracle Marketing Cloud is one of those tools that stood the test of time. Because of this, the visuals of the tools is amazing and it has integrations with over 100 third party platforms. With it, you’ll know that you are working with the longest running marketing automation tool in the business.

Cons

It is not called the oldest for nothing. It caters to big clients that has a budget of at least $2,000 per month. Also, implementation is harder to do. While it may have stood the test of time, it seem to have the same slow process of the old times.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $2,000 per month for 5 users and 10,000 contacts. As you may have noticed, this price could have gotten a lot more if you chose to go with other tools. The price can also increase up to $4000 per month if you want to have 10 sales users and 10,000 contacts. There is also no option for unlimited users which is such a shame.

8. Pardot

Pardot started as an ordinary tool until it was acquired by Salesforce in 2013 and that’s when it became big.

It provides marketing insights and CRM marketing. Another thing you’ll love is the seamless Salesforce integration for it is owned by the company itself.

Pros

Pardot have some really unique features. Aside from the seamless Salesforce integration, it also has what it calls as a Lead Deck. This allows you to see what your customers are doing in real time in your website. I have not seen another marketing automation tool do this.

Cons

The integrations of Pardot is limited. While it boasts seamless integration with Salesforce, integration is limited to only 32 third party apps. This is few compared to the hundreds of third party apps in other marketing automation tools.

Also, pricing is also a bit steep. It starts at $1,000 per month. This means that only small businesses with a considerable amount of money can use it.

Pricing

The pricing scheme of Pardot increases as the contacts and features increase. The Standard package of $1,000 per month gives you access to its lead marketing, landing page and CRM features while the Pro package gives you access to API and social profiles. You can then upgrade to $3,000 per month for a dedicated IP address and phone support.

9. SharpSpring

Have an agency? No problem! SharpSpring is created just for that. What it does is offer more than just a marketing automation tool. It offers services that can easily be sold to other clients.

Services include email automation, CRM, Behavioral tracking and others. You’ll also love that it has a landing page builder that is not as buggy as other all-in-one softwares.

Pros

If you are looking for an affordable alternative to the costly marketing automation tools out there, Sharpspring may be the tool that you’re looking for. It has a lower price than the others and allows monthly contracts.

Plus, you’ll love that it has integrations to over 700 third party apps. Out of all the tools that I have reviewed in this page, this amount is the highest.

Also, its landing page builder is something that you should commend. It is more than just a developer after-thought for it just plain works.

Cons

Its weakness lies in market segmentation. Although it can do all the processes that other marketing automation tools can do, it still lacks in the segmentation part by not customizing its message to its audience. Also, it has no feature when it comes to social marketing which is a must in today’s times.

Pricing

Pricing is not that low but it is certainly in the affordable range. Price starts at $400 per month for 1,500 contacts but this already gives you unlimited users. This is a low price for unlimited users. Then, the price increases to $600 per month for 10,000 contacts and $800 per month for 20,000 contacts.

10. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a tool created by Pat Flynn and it is geared towards online sellers that need call-to-action in their website. Unlike other marketing automation tools that targets small business owners, ConvertKit is created for bloggers. This is shown in its features in sending personalized emails as well as segmenting the market.

Pros

ConvertKit is the best when it comes to creating landing pages. I have mentioned awhile ago that it is for people who want to have a call-to-action in their website. Because of this, the tool focuses more on its landing page builder and email automation.

Cons

ConvertKit is a pay-to-use software. This means that you cannot try it out to see if it works for you. You have to pay right off the bat. The lowest you can pay is $29 for its first pack.

Also, it lacks some elements such as subscriber tagging or any type of subscriber activity tracking mechanisms.

Another drawback for me is the growing pricing. While it is cheap, the pricing increases based on your list. This means that you’ll have to pay a higher fee if you already have a huge list to begin with. So this is recommended for sole business owners who are just getting their feet wet.

Pricing

Pricing depends on the number of subscribers. If you have less than 1,000 subscribers, you’ll only have to pay $29 per month. That is very low and quite at par with Active Campaign’s monthly fee. Then, the price increases as your list grows. You may have to pay up to $79 per month with a list of 3,000 to 5,000.

11. Drip

If there is one tool that takes email marketing seriously, that would be Drip. True to its name, it is a tool designed to automate your email messages to your subscribers and it does that through seamless app integrations and customer tracking.

Like ConvertKit, Drip is not created for small business owners with a considerable amount of income. Instead, it targets digital product sellers such as ebook, software and service sellers.

Pros

Drip has a 21-day free trial. That is a lot of time to familiarize yourself with the tool. I guess it trusts that you’ll like the tool and pay for it afterwards.

Cons

Drip is so focused on email marketing that it can become a problem. With its focus on email marketing, it no longer has a landing page option as well as CRM or social media marketing options. Instead of being an all-in-one tool, it can be seen as a supplementary email marketing tool.

Also, the pricing depends on the number of subscribers. This means that it is a not-so-attractive option for people who already have a huge list.

Pricing

Price is not that high. In fact, it is free to join. As long as your list don’t go over 100, they will not charge you for anything.

However, you may need to pay $41 per month for more subscribers. If you subscriber base grow to 2,500, you’ll need to pay the $41. Then, the price increases to $83 for 5,000 subscribers.

So what software did you like? Tell me all about it below.

4 Response to "10 Best Marketing Automation Tools"

  1. Comment From Edgar Simon

    This is a great overview of the top email automation systems. I have experience with Drip and Marketo and highly recommend both.



  2. Comment From Sammy Alexandar

    InfusionSoft is one of the most popular systems however you really need a developer to set everything up for you. It is very powerful but not for a novice.



  3. Comment From Erica Landsing

    The main thing I look for when it comes to email automation tools is a smooth on boarding system. I like the tools that have a wizard that steps you through the initial setup.



  4. Comment From Mike

    Nice overview. We’re currently using GetResponse for marketing automation.



Comments are closed.