3/17/2017

Best Marketing Automation Software: 10 Tools to AutopilotMarketing Emails

process.st/marketing-automation-software/

Adam Henshall

March 17, 2017

Marketing your product to a wide audience is a real challenge for many businesses . Acquisition costs can be highand effective optimization of approach requires bucketloads of data.

According to research from Aberdeen Group, users of marketing automation software are 17 times more likely totrack all their data than those who don’t employ these platforms. This drives improvement and is one of the primaryreasons that users of marketing automation decrease customer acquisition costs year on year at over twice therate of their competition.

Modern marketing methods mean that multiple in-depth campaigns can be run without all the unnecessaryadministration and time-consuming efforts of the past.

There are many automation tools to choose from on the market and in this article we’ll run through 10 of the best,giving you a breakdown of what each offers.

Quicklinks:

Making the most of your marketing automation software

Thanks to a piece of McKinsey research entitled Four Fundamentals of Workplace Automation in 2015, we know the1/12

kind of benefits automation can bring in marketing departments.

Chui, Manyika, and Miremadi, the authors of the study, estimated that the average marketing executive couldsave 10-15% of their current working time by employing readily available automation tools.

Given that we are now in 2017, the improvement of available automation software suggests that this figure wouldnow be even higher!

The marketing automation tools currently available focus on automating repetitive tasks. This might be setting upcomplex email campaigns, managing online advertising, or automating social media publications.

Of the tools we’ll be focusing on, we’re looking for all-in-one packages. Platforms which perform a wealth ofdifferent tasks related to marketing and can act as a CRM tool get extra points in this article. Having fewer tools tojump in and out of benefits the end user by reducing interruptions and focusing the user on the task at hand.

We’ll look at the tools available for assisting in increasing the available automations. Tools like Zapier, the third partyautomation software, can be used to integrate your marketing CRM with the existing tools you use. Many of thesetools can be integrated with Process Street, for example, via Zapier, allowing you to follow your processes andtrigger pre-set actions in your CRM from your Process Street checklists.

Top 10 marketing automation software to bring in customers

Infusionsoft

If you’re an e-commerce SME then Infusionsoft is a great option to help push your sales forward. Infusionsofthelps you gather leads, qualify those leads, and turn them into customers, all through the power of inboundmarketing.

Infusionsoft integrates with Zapier and also has over 20 native integrations with other platforms. It has a long-2/12

standing presence in the marketing sphere, with over 15 years of experience in doing what it does. You canautomate campaigns in great detail, segmenting users depending on what they clicked on to become a subscriberand further segmenting them depending on how they interact with previous emails.

The drag and drop functionality of the campaign builder means Infusionsoft is a user-friendly tool which doesn’trequire specialist knowledge, yet packs a punch in its functionality. Infusionsoft starts at $199 a month for the basicpackage. Its e-commerce features require a more expensive package and are the key features which justify theprice.

Add new Eventbrite attendees to Infusionsoft as contacts

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Create Pipedrive deals when you tag Infusionsoft contacts

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Send Slack messages for new tagged Infusionsoft contacts

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ActiveCampaign

A similar package to what Infusionsoft provides, ActiveCampaign is ideal for email marketers who want to automatecustomer journeys.

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The email template builder offers a wide range of preset options to modify plus a simple way to craft one fromscratch. The email journey builder allows you to customize the nature of the campaign and segment users again andagain and again. The email journey builder is more easy on the eye than Infusionsoft and is very intuitive .

ActiveCampaign doesn’t have the same depth of features in regards to integrating with e-commerce functionalities,but its focus on email campaigns and audience building are what makes it shine. ActiveCampaign starts at $9 amonth for companies with less than 500 contacts which makes it a great resource for startups and other growingventures.

Add Subscribers to ActiveCampaign via Unbounce

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Add New Shopify Customers to ActiveCampaign

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Add new ActiveCampaign subscribers to a Google Sheet as rows

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HubSpot

One of the biggest names on the market, HubSpot is known not just for its marketing automation but also its saleswork too. As all-in-one packages go, HubSpot takes some beating.

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HubSpot is one of the primary tools for inbound marketing as it presents the ability to capture leads, qualify leads,and maintain customer relationships with a full suite of tools. HubSpot provides a variety of features which canhelp you with SEO and content marketing as well as the email campaign features offered by ActiveCampaign above.

HubSpot lets you define your workflows, allowing you to automate them and reduce the time you need to spend onthe platform. It aims itself at all areas of the market, providing value to companies from small startups to vastmultinationals. However, it doesn’t come cheap starting at $200 a month with a $600 onboarding fee. Probablyworth the outlay, though.

Send new HubSpot contacts to Google Contacts

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Create or update HubSpot contacts for new Typeform entries

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Create or updated contacts on HubSpot for new subscribers on SumoMe

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Marketo

If we’re going to mention HubSpot, then we should be mentioning Marketo too. Marketo is another big name withinthe field and has over a decade of experience enhancing marketing departments the world over.

Where Marketo dazzle is in their range of lead nurturing and lead generation software. One of the success stories,Algonquin College, reported increasing lead generation 71% year on year and seeing sales rise by 18%.

Marketo feels sleek and light when using it, but has a very powerful engine under the hood. Also, protip, check outthe content they produce. You can learn a hell of a lot from spending time on their blog. If you want to know pricing,you’ll need to contact them to discuss your needs. However, we do know that the basic version will likely set you

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back between $1,000 and $2,000 a month if you have less than 10,000 subscribers. A good option for a midsizecompany with solid revenues.

Create Zoho CRM contacts from new Marketo leads

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Capture Marketo leads from new ScheduleOnce bookings

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Create or update Marketo leads with new rows from Google Sheets

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RokoMobi

This one is my wildcard inclusion.

RokoMobi is a marketing all-in-one tool for companies with a mobile application . It gathers data on how yourcustomers interact with the app and provides you with tools to help manage that relationship. Being mobile-first, itisn’t as focused on email campaigns and content-driven lead captures, rather with in-app notifications and referralincentives.

It provides deep insights into acquisition data while also enabling real-time chat with customers in the app, meaningyou can improve your onboarding and your engagement. You need to have some technical knowledge to set this up

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of course, as it needs embedding into the code of the app. However, RokoMobi claims that their integration takesless than a day.

It has a freemium pricing plan which bumps up to $250 a month when you have between 10,000 and 25,000 activemonthly users or more than 1.5 million “events”. Ideal for startups, and hopefully we’ll see a Zapier integration inthe future.

Eloqua

Eloqua is the marketing automation platform offered by Oracle and is one of the most comprehensive tools on themarket.

Probably most similar to Marketo of the tools mentioned so far, Eloqua is enterprise software rather than startuplevel. It has a lot of power but also lacks a little in terms of simplicity and ease of use.

Eloqua combats this through a very customer oriented approach to support. When you become an Eloqua user, youget the chance to have coaching and guides which introduce you to the software and teach you how to makethe most out of it. Provided you take this opportunity seriously, you’ll find Eloqua has a lot to offer.

The pricing starts at $2,000 a month, so this is definitely more of a corporate option than the others.

Customer.io

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More of a newcomer than some of the established tools we’ve mentioned so far, Customer.io offers an interestingpackage for companies.

The design is nice and lightweight and the necessary features and functionality are present. In some senses,Customer.io provides a simple alternative to the bigger boys with a freemium option and a $75 a month startingprice. Nothing too showy; does the simple things well.

However, where Customer.io shines is its customization. If you’re a technical team and you’re willing to put somedevelopment resources into crafting a marketing CRM which suits your specific needs, then Customer.io might bethe best tool available to you. You can make all sorts of changes and configurations to tailor the software to your usecases. You can also connect Customer.io up with Zapier by using webhooks.

Marketing Cloud / Pardot

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Yes, I know. These are two separate tools, so this list is more of a top 11. Salesforce purchased ExactTarget andPardot and for that reason, I’m putting them together. Marketing Cloud, formerly ExactTarget, works the B2C anglewhile Pardot’s focus is more on the B2B.

Like Eloqua, these are more corporate oriented tools with pricing given upon speaking with one of their salesreps. The particularly interesting feature given is the number of channels a customer can be contacted through. LikeRokoMobi, you can contact your customers through in-app notifications as well as the traditional routes likeemail. Astoundingly, you could also use their package to contact your customers through their car’s dashboard if youwere an auto manufacturer, for instance. Pretty fancy, no?

Integration with Zapier is also offered through Pardot, and the range of automation possibilities for users areastonishingly high. Salesforce has some general zaps which you could use to keep things automated too.

Nurture Unbounce Leads with Pardot

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Create Pardot prospects for new cards scanned on FullContact

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Send Slack messages for new prospects on Pardot

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Userfox/AdRoll9/12

Another relatively new tool on the market, Userfox provided a similar option to Customer.io. They’ve since beenacquired and integrated by AdRoll, which has broadened their capabilities and suggests they’ll continue to grow.

AdRoll has a very lightweight interface and it makes for a simple to use piece of kit. It can be used to trigger emailsbased on events and lets you map out your customers’ journeys. Alongside the kind of functionalities offered byother similar tools, AdRoll also provides the ability to set up transactional emails to perform heavy lifting for largerorganizations. With the connection to AdRoll’s initial core product, the biggest selling point they offer is theirretargeting services.

Their pricing starts at $100 a month for the AdRoll/Userfox services. In comparison with a similar platform likeActiveCampaign, however, the options for email templates and building tools are limited. If you’re an existing AdRolluser, then the Userfox additions may have proved to be useful for your company. Here are a few AdRoll zaps to getyou started.

Add new MailChimp subscribers to your AdRoll CRM retargeting segment

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Add new Eventbrite attendees to your AdRoll CRM retargeting segment

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Add new Intercom customers to your AdRoll CRM retargeting segment

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Intercom

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Lastly, we have the customer support service Intercom. Their primary use case is to increase communication withcustomers, and they’re very good at what they do. We employ Intercom here at Process Street to manage ourcustomer support.

Intercom has recently pushed out a further range of features for engaging with customers. With the ability to engagein live chat with people visiting your website and features which can significantly increase both user engagementand re-engagement, Intercom deserves to be on this list.

If you’re a company who feel the best way to boost your growth is a deeply personal relationship with yourusers, then Intercom is a powerful tool which can help you do just that. Nick Sayers, from the SEO giant Moz, said:

“We’ve onboarded 40,000 customers with Intercom. Messaging through email and contextually insidethe app has dramatically changed how we engage new users”.

Pricing starts at $53 per month for 250 users on the lite version, with Zapier integration expanding your range offeatures.

Tag Intercom user when a task is checked off in Process Street

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Add new Intercom users from Typeform form entries

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Create or update Intercom users for new Recurly transactions

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Honorable mentions

There are a load of tools which could have made this list. Some didn’t because they have more limited or specialiseduses. As we said at the beginning, all in one tools are favored in this list. Here are just a few of the tools that wouldhave made the list had things been a little different:

Get set up and get automating

According to the Aberdeen Group research, 58% of best in class marketing organizations currently use amarketing automation platform.

If you team your choice of marketing automation system with Zapier, you can integrate it into your existing systemsand modes of operation.

Hooking your platform up to Process Street allows you to document your workflows and processes, making sure thatyour outreach efforts to potential customers are optimized, automated, and effective.

Which platform will you choose? Which platforms have you used and would recommend to others?

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