Top 6 Marketing Automation Tools for 2021

What is Marketing Automation? 

Marketing automation refers to the software and platforms that allow companies to effectively increase marketing across multiple channels online and grow. Marketers can specify criteria they want to focus on and use marketing automation tools to achieve their targets. Marketing Automation increases the marketing department’s efficiency and overall performance of the organization.

Here we discuss the 6 marketing automation tools that you, as a marketer, can incorporate in your operations to get the best results.

The 6 Marketing Automation Tools

1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an all-rounder when it comes to increasing revenue and enlarging customer base. It is ideal for small and medium scale businesses looking for an active interaction to enhance their customer relationships. Inbuilt features like lead scoring, lead win probability and segmentation makes it a perfect deal-closing marketing automation tool.

Pros of ActiveCampaign 

• • In-built marketing automation platforms for businesses. It contains features for email marketing, CRM, and social media personalization.
  • Easy to understand and use hence, does not require training.
  • Affordable price. The price of the software is budget-friendly and it remains affordable as your business grows.

Cons of ActiveCampaign

• • It can become a little ambiguous as it provides insights on multiple sales and goals conversions.
  • Does not have a free version

For Free Trial of an activecampaign, click here .

2. Autopilot

There are several email automation tools in the market, but Autopilot takes a special seat because of its fun design for email automation sequences. With no technical background needed, Autopilot is very easy to learn and use with amazing customer support and enough resources online for self-learning.

Pros of Autopilot

• • Simple and easy to use
  • No technical background needed
  • Excellent customer support
  • Can be integrated with lot of tools

Cons of Autopilot

• • When compared with its competitors, it is priced on a higher level. Not everybody can afford the tool.

3. Convertkit

A Perfect marketing automation tool that is ideal for bloggers and content creators. The automated tag and segment feature helps you organise your subscribers based on your interests, location and other important factors to know more about the customers and map them to your marketing funnel.

Pros of Convertkit

• • Converkit has a seamless dashboard design.
  • It has built-in landing page templates.
  • It provides easy to understand data analytics. This can help you keep track of your growing subscriber’s list.

Cons of Convertkit

• • It does not provide e-commerce integration.
  • It does not offer lead scoring.
  • It is not appropriate for large scale  businesses because of its limited features.

4. Omnisend

Another very simple to use marketing automation tool is Omnisend, targeting sales-driven marketers. With personalised messages and seamless automation workflows, omnisend helps you reach a wider audience and increase your sales. The  easy-to-use editor feature helps you grow  your subscriber list with a customised sign up forms and newsletters.The biggest advantage of Omnisend is that it works with all major e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Woo-commerce, Magento etc.

Pros of Omnisend

• • Omnisend offers e-commerce integration. This allows you to automate several e-commerce platforms through one software.
  • It is easy to understand and use.
  • It is ideal for sales-driven business.
  • Excellent customer support.

Cons of Omnisend

• • The price remains reasonable but it is still costly as compared to other marketing automation software.

5. Hubspot

Be it for marketing, sales, service or a powerful CRM, Hubspot offers these solutions under the roof that helps businesses to grow better. When it comes to inbound marketing, Hubspot marketing hub offers you everything you need to run an efficient inbound marketing campaign.

Pros of Hubspot

• • It is non-technical. Hubspot is highly intuitive, which allows business owners to use the software without difficulties.
  • It has several automation tools including CRM software for sales, email marketing automation, social media management, and a lot more.

Cons of Hubspot

• • It gets expensive. As a business grows the plans become expensive.
  • The plans cannot be cancelled once the contracts have been signed. Owners have to pay for the tools until the contract ends.
  • The free version offers limited tools, which might not be useful for growing businesses. This means they will have to purchase the plans offered by Hubspot.

6. Drip

Drip is a CRM designed marketing automation tool that helps sales-driven businesses to increase their customer base and convert leads to paying customers. Detailed tracking, segmentation and powerful email marketing automation makes drip a perfect choice for scaling up the sales-driven business.

Pros of Drip

• • Excellent email marketing automation support. This makes the software ideal for online businesses to allow them to expand their customer base.
  • It allows e-commerce integration, which makes automation easier for businesses.

Cons of Drip

• • It becomes expensive as the business grows.
  • The social media integration offered is not the strongest feature of the software.

Conclusion:

There are several benefits of incorporating marketing automation tools in your business, especially if you are entirely an online enterprise. Using the tools for time-consuming yet a little less important tasks can save you and your employees time, which can be allocated to more important tasks.

Secondly, marketing automation tools lead to a positive return on investment (ROI). The main reason it happens is when labour is not invested in doing small tasks, they can invest their time and energy in making breakthrough decisions. It also reduces labour costs.

Thirdly, marketing automation leads to increased accountability. When the processes and the company’s performance are clearly defined and transparent, it becomes easy to recognise the area needing improvement. Hence, promoting accountability amongst employees to perform their part effectively.

Overall, there are multiple perks of marketing automation that can prove to be beneficial for businesses, especially eCommerce businesses.