The marketing automation industry is growing, estimated at $6.62 billion as of 2024. Marketing automation software helps companies build smooth workflows and increase work efficiency.
Creative Automation software offers many features, and every use case has a unique purpose for your marketing campaign. These include drip sequences, CRM updates, SMS, and email marketing.
Given the many available options, choosing the right tool can be confusing. As marketing professionals, we’ve used multiple automation tools to save time and resources for our team and clients.
Hence, this blog will compare top tools based on our testing and experience, helping you select the best fit per your budget, scope, and project needs.
Let’s dive into it. But basics come first.
What are Marketing Automation Tools?
Marketing automation tools help you reduce repetitive marketing tasks, such as customer segmentation, lead scoring, customer journey mapping, and other tasks that require marketers to focus creatively.
These tools help improve the speed and improve your project management practices to high levels.
For example, you can sync customer data with the marketing automation tool and sales platform to track customer interactions, automate follow-ups, and grab the chance to upsell at the right time.
Using marketing automation tools, you can create small workflows like
Sending a message on the Slack channel with a custom username and emoji whenever a new purchase is created on your software.
Notify team members whenever you’re tagged on social media.
Notify a Slack channel with a custom username and Emoji whenever an email campaign is stopped.
Factors to Consider While Choosing a Marketing Automation Tool
- User Interface
A user-friendly interface gives a marketing automation tool maximum upvotes. Check if the tool you choose has a clean, simple design that’s not overwhelming. Preferably, look for intuitive navigation that guides you through the platform naturally.
When selecting management software, ensure it includes built-in tutorials or walkthroughs for new users, as these features can significantly ease the learning curve. Plus, it’s best if the tool has accessible help resources; your support would be quicker.
- Integrations
A marketing campaign requires multiple integration capabilities. Choose software with a rich tech stack that can integrate with your existing software. The integration library of the tool you are planning to consider can be found on its website.
- Price
This is an important factor that can make or break any deal. Choose the tool according to your budget, business scope, and size; often, it’s difficult to match the right tool with the expected price and required features. It’s important to find the balance. If you’re testing the platforms, go for free trials before investing.
- Learning Curve
The tool must not be difficult to learn. Some enterprise tools require rigorous training, like Hubspot (enterprise level). Go for quick and easy tools that make your work fun, not loaded with training courses to get your hands on it.
- Customer Support
The end-to-end factor is support. If support is poor, no matter how great the tool is, it’s not a utility tool overall. So always look for tools with a super cool support team that quickly responds to your queries without putting your case on hold for days.
Top 5 Marketing Automation Tools
Here, I’ve compiled a list of marketing automation tools to help you compare and choose the right option for yourself. Each tool’s positives and negatives are chosen based on the customer’s latest G2 User Reviews and our intense research.
This makes the blog a combination of user reviews and writer observation by taking free trials. Here are listed:
Pixelixe is a graphic design suite featuring a white-label graphic editor and design automation from a spreadsheet to help you power your marketing projects. It is designed for small businesses to create stunning, engaging images in minutes.
Pixelixe allows users to automate graphic creation using predefined templates and workflows. Users can quickly create social media graphics, marketing materials, or website images without manually designing each piece.
Source: G2
Features:
Pixelixe platform provides drag-and-drop tools,
Has capabilities for fonts, colours, and layouts,
Automate image generation for marketing campaigns
Price
The basic plan starts at $9/month and goes up to $249/month for enterprises. Check out their pricing page for feature specifications included in each plan.
Best For:
It’s perfect for non-graphic designers or tech experts, offering an easy way to create attractive visuals with minimal effort. However, it might not be the best choice if you’re looking for advanced editing features like those in Photoshop.
Source: G2
Hubspot is a modern marketing automation tool for marketers. HubSpot’s marketing automation simplifies your marketing efforts, boosting campaign effectiveness and reach. Use workflows, chatbots, and email triggers to send personalised messages to your audience. Gain insights to improve your strategies and achieve better results.
Features:
Easily create simple or complex conditional workflows using our visual board.
Marketing and sales support software that integrates with Hubspot CRM, so you don’t have to purchase a separate CRM. Use Hubspot CRM to manage your nurtured leads.
Build simple autoresponders for email lists or use smart rules to target specific users with emails, live chats, website experiences, and more.
Source: G2 Price:
You get free marketing automation in the form of HubSpot’s Chatflows. However, upgrading your freemium plan is a bit pricy, especially if you are a small business. It starts at $800/month. Check out their pricing page or talk to sales for a better understanding.
Source: G2Best For:
Mid-sized to large businesses that can fully utilise its expansive feature set, especially if they have the budget for the higher-tier plans like Marketing Hub Professional or Sales Hub Professional
It offers 1600+ integrations, which is quite intensive and worth the price, as not all automation tools support such vast integration capabilities, among other reasons.
Salespanel is first-party intent data tracking software for B2B businesses. It helps sales and marketing teams manage visitors, leads, and customers and understand each interaction while leveraging data to nurture and close deals.
Source: G2
Features:
Allow users and their client sites to track leads and frequently monitor websites.
Sales Panel performs 360-degree customer analysis (behaviour, touchpoints, website events, channels) from the path to purchase to tracking smart sales and aligning marketing automation efforts.
Run personalised marketing and automate actions, qualify customers, and retarget them to fast-track the sales cycle.
Price:
Prices start at $99/month. They offer custom plans based on customer requirements. Visit their website for details.
Best For:
It’s a perfect tool for smaller marketing organisations lacking the internal resources to build their data warehouse.
Mailmodo is an email marketing suite that drives conversion and helps users generate revenue by creating and sending interactive emails to customers. Most people rave about its email deliverability, bulk emailing, and ease of use.
Features:
- This feature is most loved: the drag-and-drop template editor, which allows users to build email templates with interactive widgets. See for yourself how users are happy with this feature.
- It offers amazing AI-powered features, such as an AI subject line generator, an AI content generator, and an AI template creator.
Price:
Mailmodo offers up to 10,000 contacts for $74 monthly, the most competitive pricing among Mailchimp, Brevo, and Constant Contact.
The best part is that Mailmodo offers a free 21-day trial period.
Best For:
Mailmodo is ideal for businesses that want to leverage AMP-powered interactive emails without the need for coding. It’s also perfect for marketers who want to create engaging, app-like emails using drag-and-drop editors and those looking to streamline their email automation using a visual customer journey builder.
No. of Integration: Offers 40+ integrations
LeadSquared is all-in-one handy marketing automation software that helps you understand your prospects from the start of the journey to the end while building lasting relationships.
It functions in both the areas of CRM + marketing automation to uplift your sales and marketing consistency.
Features:
Drag-and-drop automation is the most loved and overused feature. With just a few clicks, you can create a list of segmentation, autoresponders, nurturing across different channels, and more.
A combination of lead capture, CRM integration, sales, and reporting is done in a single software.
Enhance ROI while reducing your CAC and monitoring lead sources, engagement campaigns, and user journeys.
Source: G2
Price: It starts at $299 annually for up to 10,000 contacts. They offer special pricing for startups; check if you qualify.
Best For: Marketers and salespeople targeting sales goals to hit and for enterprises who want to reduce the manual effort involved in lead nurturing and include more focus on providing an excellent customer experience.
No. of Integration: 150+ integrations
Conclusion: Choose What’s Suitable for Your Business Nature
Choosing the ideal marketing automation tool requires careful consideration of your business goals, budget, and team’s technical abilities. If you prioritise advanced features and customisation, be ready for higher costs and a steeper learning curve.
Meanwhile, more affordable tools might meet immediate needs but need more room for growth.
Opting for an integrated platform can offer great long-term value for businesses that streamline multiple areas, such as marketing, sales, and customer service.
Lastly, it’s about identifying the right balance between functionality and cost that aligns with your business’s unique requirements. We hope this helps guide your decision as you weigh the options.
Author Bio:
Yash Chawlani is your go-to digital marketing specialist and founder of Merlin Marketing, a performance-driven marketing agency. With over 7 years of experience, Yash has worked with some big names like Elementor, G2, and Snov, just to name a few, to boost their online presence. When he’s not diving into the latest marketing trends, you’ll either find him at the gym or on the football field.