Automation is the way of civilization and it’s good to not be a part of the marketing teams that deal with tons of assets and campaigns. If my marketing agency continues with the manual work they do now, they will only waste time that could be better spent on software-generated tasks.
There are many digital automation software and marketing tools available to create the best workflows, but some are better than others. After multiple tests, I have compiled a list of the top 7 marketing automation software systems.”
The Top 7 Marketing Automation Software Solutions
- Ortto
- Omnisend
- Klaviyo
- HubSpot
- Customer.io
- Brevo
- ActiveCampaign
What Qualities Define An Excellent Marketing Automation Tool?
If hearing “marketing automation tool” makes you think “What is that?” (and your eye roll becomes involuntary motion), that is also understandable. It is a very broad concept from where I can see that every tool under this umbrella offers some related automation tools, but due to this fact, everyone seems to have their own view on what is it. First of all, we should agree upon what is passive aggression.
Automation capabilities. Every platform I tested (and hence every platform that made this list) automates at least two of the following marketing channels: email, SMS/text, digital ad, and social media. The more the app automation the better, the apps rank higher here. I dedicated a major chunk of my time and attention to the workflow makers of each app. This enabled me to determine how easy it is to automate tasks that are part of the customer journey.
Integrations and functionality. Probably, you turn to a few of the most practical tools to help you with the beast that is marketing at your company—CRM for relationship management, CMS for content, and pipeline management tools. Marketing automation package that works in conjunction with similar tools (or even with them built-in) simplifies work processes by helping you to eliminate problems that occur due to lack of cooperation among tools.
Price to value. To be quite frank, I’m counting my blessings because the prices for these apps can be mind-boggling for those of us who are used to the free apps. For example, the “free forever!” to “custom pricing, but never less than $1,000 per user, per month” makes me wonder if I have to start selling things again to afford them.
What Characteristics Make An Outstanding Marketing Automation Tool?
Ease of use. It is inevitable that a learning curve would occur, but drowning in the “how do you…”s, “this isn’t working”s and many other complains from employees after three months of using a new tool shouldn’t be. Top-quality marketing automation tools are usually accompanied with top-notch customer service, or so simple, that you shouldn’t even have to necessarily depend on support services.
Reporting and analytics. A marketing platform should be data-driven. If I stumbled upon an app without it, I will let it go to the “nope” pile in a blink of an eye. The top of the line platforms will provide reports that encompass everything on which a marketing team should focus, as well as customized and simple dashboards for visualizing the data and the data for the future plan.
I took each marketing automation platform out for a spin by signing up for an account, producing or importing sample data, creating some custom automations, making some reports, and exploring everything visible (sorry) of the user interface of the apps. Having those metrics and my personal feedback about tools from this category in mind, I chose seven applications that will enable you to run of targeting marketing campaigns.
A Quick Look At The Top Marketing Automation Software
Name | Best for | Standout feature | Pricing |
Ortto | Reporting | Collects data on nearly every user behavior | From $99/month |
Omnisend | Small businesses on a budget | Very extensive free plan + inexpensive upgrades | Offers a Free plan; from $16/month |
Klaviyo | User-friendliness | Drag-and-drop implemented everywhere | Offers a Free plan; from $45/month |
HubSpot | A premium all-in-one solution | Extensive marketing features + CRM integration | From $800/month |
Customer.io | Powerful workflow automations | Large selection of marketing channels to automate | From $100/month |
Brevo | An affordable all-in-one solution | Also includes a CRM and meeting scheduler | Offers a Free plan; from $22/month |
ActiveCampaign | A massive pre-built automation library | Tons of multilingual workflows | From $49/month |
Top Marketing Automation Software For Generating Reports
Ortto (Web)
Ortto Pros:
- Efficient user activity tracking and reporting .
- User-friendly and easily accessible in its support.
Ortto Cons:
- Expensive
Ortto for me was one of the most exciting premium marketing automation tools in this test. Campaigning SMS and emails via Journeys automation is friendly to users and it takes place on a colorful and witty interface. This feature offers the possibility of restoring a previous version of your Facebook Ads Journey in case you make an error.
Ortto has many impressive traits but, most definitely, the best one is its reports and analytics. The monitoring includes all the user behavior. First, it is a ready to install scalable package that features over 60 presets for instance, email opens, reactions to buttons, and trial terminations and allows you to even create your own activities to track.
After this, the app’s Reports features will provide you with important metrics on customer engagement. Transaction attribution, and the best time to send a message. You might as well use a drag-and-drop feature (my favorite) to design dashboards. ith the S.M.A.R.T goals shared between the team members.
Ortto Price: It’s $99/month for the Professional plan.
Top Marketing Automation Software For Budget-conscious Small Businesses
Omnisend (Web)
Omnisend Pros:
- High quality support; boasts an academy full of learning tools to help you master the app.
- Free version is featured with complex and sometimes sophisticated results.
Omnisend Cons:
- Narrowly focused on eCommerce
Apparently, the Brevo’s Free Plan amazed me, yet the app is very straightforward. Instead of Omnisend, which offers much more flexibility. And which its Free plan allows to use many features that some apps have in premium, all listed.
I could not access many of Omnisend’s features hands-on. As this tool relies on a live eCommerce site (I don’t have one). However, owing to the fact that I had some understanding based on the bits that I was able to try. Including other tools and demos, I had a feel of the platform.
Omnisend offers email and SMS automation, of which you pick from a ready-made library of categorized workflows that cover. The whole customer journey path or create your own custom ones. The workflow builder is rather user-friendly – simply drag and drop the conditions and actions wherever you like them.
Two marketing features of the platform were also remarkable. It provides very creative, professional, easy-to-use email templates with an editor, A/B testing of emails. And artificial intelligence which writes your emails.
To top it all, the free plan of Omnisend includes email and live chat support for 24/7. Which goes hand in hand with the Omnisend Academy. A sophisticated library of well-crafted demos and courses, which farmers are welcome to use to get everything from Omnisend.
Omnisend price: It is free; from $16/month onwards for the Standard plan.
Top Marketing Automation Software Known For Its User-friendly Interface
Klaviyo (Android, Web, iOS)
Klaviyo pros:
- Extensive templates library of high grade and customized
- Good price-to-value
Klaviyo cons:
- Relatively few workflow options
If there is one app among the list that can be called as the “drag-and-drop” champion, then it is undoubtedly Klaviyo. Basically everything, from workflows to dashboards to forms. Is almost like a building block that you can drag away and place anywhere you want. At the very least in my practice, such a flexibility mostly results in a really good outcome.
The interface is visually appealing—it doesn’t have a large number of features as HubSpot. But it is not excessively bare either like it lacks tools for marketing automation.
The platform offers you several starting points for workflow and utilizes existing processes. You can add them to prevention of lost sales, nurturing subscribers, building customer loyalty, remind customers to purchase. Encouraging repeat purchases, updating customers on their order status, and many more.
Klaviyo Price: Comes with a Free plan, and starting at $45/month for Email plan.
Top marketing automation software offering a premium all-in-one solution
HubSpotMarketing Hub (Web)
HubSpot pros:
- Marketing Hub’s integration with HubSpot’s CRM, CMS, and other essentials delivers an all-in-one solution.
- Extensive yet well designed.
HubSpot Cons:
- Very expensive
In marketing, software, if we talk about the one that sets the bar, this is HubSpot. The pure platform has a lot of features, but it needs an upgrade to Marketing. Hub Professional to do multi-channel automation. It is, of course, extremely costly and probably. Not the best choice for startups and small companies due to their budget restrictions.
While the app is known for its complexity and depth, HubSpot certainly also works on user experience. When running the demo from the workflow feature. I was welcomed by one of the best demonstrations I have ever seen. It illustrated for me exactly how to create a workflow designed to ensure that the lead is qualified for the path. And follow through this path by means of an engaging animated example.
The workflow builder provided by HubSpot is yet another tool that is worth mentioning. It has a large stack of actions which are basically classified as internal and external communication. Ads management, integrations with various other apps and even a feature for enrolling in other workflow(s). Also, it allows to classify leads and receive them on the right ones.
The platform is built with top notch analytics for campaigns. These days, customized reports, pulling in insights into dashboards. And even customizing the dashboards using drag-and-drop are all at your fingertips.
HubSpot Price: From $800/month, payable annually, for Professional Marketing Hub.
Top Marketing Automation Software For Robust Workflow Automations
Customer.io (Web)
Customer.io pros:
- Automates marketing a wide variety of marketing channels.
- Customizable—you can use as much or as little code as you’d like to personalize email blasts, enabling you to use liquid to make messages personal.
Customer.io cons:
- Relatively expensive
This is the case with many of the marketers who are busy selling apps that focus on automation. But they are just simple CRMs with weak features of automation. Though Customer.io does not try to hide its badge, as a marketing automation point solution it does the job perfectly.
Automation of e-mail, SMS, Slack, notifications to apps, and others was possible–certainly, the highest among the apps I tested. The workflow builder lets you create webhooks, multi-split branches for customer journeys, and a range of other flows. I also discovered that this interface was very user-friendly. Which made it possible to move actions and triggers around on the canvas and to save templates as well.
Besides that, the app’s A/B testing option – showing you up to eight variations of a newsletter based on its performance – impressed me most.
Customer.io Price: 100$/month for the Essentials plan.
Top marketing automation software for a cost-effective all-in-one solution
Brevo (Android, Web, iOS)
Brevo Pros:
- CRM-meeting scheduler-marketing automation hybrid
- Automates 4+ marketing channels
- Offers a free plan
Brevo Cons:
- Relatively simple and inflexible
At the very start, I was undecided on whether my fulfilment with Brevo was influenced by having not yet tested any other applications. However, on the other hand, I have to be honest. And after using over a dozen apps, I must say this app is the best option.
On the other hand, its free plan can do the job of email. SMS, chat and everything on social media including WhatsApp, which is more than many programs you have to pay for. In addition to workflow builder, the app also has a lot of options including. Delays, A/B splits which divides contacts 50/50 among groups and actions, which leads me to my next point: webhooks and CRM updates.
This platform is not limited to only the role of a marketing workflow builder. It can also aid in CRM management and meeting scheduling. The reality was that CRM was indeed limited in functionality and flexibility. It merely offered a dashboard with a sales pipeline that didn’t let me to put in too much data about leads in my pipeline.
Moreover, I enjoyed using a meeting scheduler. When I set my availability schedule, the scheduling software itself then created a booking page. With a unique URL address that people were able to use to add a time slot to my calendar.
Brevo Price: Free plan; from $22/year, for a Starter plan.
Top Marketing Automation Software With Pre-built Automations
ActiveCampaign (Android, Web, iOS)
ActiveCampaign Pros:
- Wide multilingual library of workflow automations.
- AI features as it entails email content generation and forecast email sending.
ActiveCampaign Cons:
- Doesn’t have pre-designed forms building.
- A little glitchy
Campaign Active is unmatchable in terms of the traditional marketing. Software that gives one basic jumping off points via pre-built automations. But ActiveCampaign goes several steps forward. First of all, its reel of workflows that are industry-specific. And cover internal and external communications like deal win updates and re-engagement campaigns, is vast.
Unlike any other app that I tried, the app also feature workflows in the Portuguese, Italian, French, Spanish and German. So that your business operates globally as well, ActiveCampaign becomes your best ally.
Although the app was user-friendly in the most part, I have encountered some UX drawbacks. One of such instances was when I tried to click some buttons to reach next steps, e.g. When building forms but the platform didn’t let me do so. For several occasions, haphazard expansion of my browser (strange as it may sound) corrected the matter. But there were instances when I had no option other than staring at that form builder for a very long time.
ActiveCampaign Price: From $49/month, or annually billed, the Plus plan costs.