Best Marketing Automation Software Shortlist
Here’s a shortlist of the best marketing automation tools I'll cover in this article:
- HubSpot Marketing Hub - Best overall marketing automation software
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud - Best for enterprise accounts
- Omnisend - Best for ecommerce
- EngageBay - Best for small businesses
- Ontraport - Best for entrepreneurs
- Marketo Engage - Best for analytics
- Intercom - Best for customer service
- Manychat - Best for chat automation
- SimpleTexting - Best for SMS automation
- ActiveCampaign - Best for expanding CRM
- Semrush - Best for search engine marketing
- Mailchimp - Best overall affordable option
- Social Champ - Best for social media automation
- Constant Contact - best for lead nurturing
- Eloqua - Best for omnichannel marketing automation
- GetResponse - Best for automating customer engagement
- Ahrefs - Best for automating brand mentions
What is marketing automation software?
Marketing automation software is technology for managing marketing processes, engaging with customers, and analyzing data automatically. It can handle tasks such as running campaigns, responding to customers, tracking data, and optimizing your audience segmentation automatically in the background.
Overviews of the 17 Best Marketing Automation Software
Now that I've got all the niceties out of the way, it's time to dig into the stuff that made the final cut. I've provided overviews for all my selections below. I focused on standout features and noted what sort of company and use case each was best for. I also included screenshots so you can see what's hiding behind the sign-up screen.
Ready? Activate your content consumption bot, and let's dive right in!
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub - Best overall marketing automation software
HubSpot Marketing Hub earns a place here for its simplicity, wealth of integrations, and extensive features. It's a leading competitor for marketing overall, built to accommodate individuals, small teams, corporations, and everything in between.
Why I picked HubSpot:
HubSpot is over ten years young with customers in more than 120 countries. Thousands of positive reviews commend its robust CRM platform, which powers five different hubs—sales, CMS, service, operations, and marketing—from a single shared database.
You'll find features for virtually any marketing function in the Marketing Hub. It contains plenty of automation tools such as workflow templates, chatbots, triggers, and drip campaigns. There are more than 1,000 integrations available, a generous library of educational resources, and 24/7 live support.
HubSpot Standout Features and Integrations
Features include integrated blogging software, SEO tools, ad tracking, social media management, marketing automation, video hosting, and live chat.
Integrations include Airtable, DocuSign, Facebook Messenger, Google Search Console, Microsoft Teams, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Slack, Whatsapp, and Zapier.
Pricing: $20/month Starter plan and $890/month Professional plan.
Free Trial: There's a free version, and paid plans have 14-day free trial.
Pros
- Excellent selection of marketing automation tools that connect with sales, CMS, service, and operations
- 1,000+ integrations
- No credit card required for the free version
Cons
- Platform complexity might slow down your onboarding
- Many advanced features live in the Professional plan, which might cause sticker shock
2. Salesforce Marketing Cloud - Best for enterprise accounts
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a juggernaut that hits every touchpoint along the customer journey with options to prospect, personalize, automate, predict, and analyze. It's best suited for large enterprises with healthy budgets that can afford to invest in one of the most exhaustive toolsets in the industry.
Why I picked Salesforce:
Salesforce has been paving the way to successful CRM since 2003. More than 150,000 companies worldwide use it, and it has a track record of shipping superpowered products.
With Marketing Cloud, users can build a custom stack of tools from a menu of products tailored to specific tasks. These include content management, personalization, advertising, analytics, and data mining. You can activate each one individually, pair them with other Marketing Cloud products, and connect them with other Salesforce services.
Salesforce Standout Features and Integrations
Features include advanced data manipulation, automation tools, robust campaign builders, and predictive analytics powered by Einstein AI. Worth noting is the Journey Builder, a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for automating personalized customer experiences.
Integrations include ActiveCampaign, DocuSign, Dropbox, Google Cloud, HelloSign, Jira, LinkedIn, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Slack, and Zapier. There's also the option to build with MuleSoft, a platform that enables interaction with any external system or application.
Pricing: Salesforce offers customized pricing upon request.
Free Trial: 30-day free trial with no credit card required.
Pros
- Highly customizable software packages
- Advanced automation and artificial intelligence
- Powerful MuleSoft integration platform
Cons
- High cost can be prohibitive for small businesses
- Fees for access to guided and 24/7 support
3. Omnisend - Best for ecommerce
Omnisend does one thing and does it well: It provides efficient, approachable email and SMS marketing tools for ecommerce companies. If you're looking to streamline communications with online shoppers, Omnisend's marketing automation software should be on your robot radar.
Why I picked Omnisend:
Omnisend offers an attractive drag-and-drop interface for building automated campaigns for each of your customer segments. It supports A/B testing, automation splits, and conditional content blocks, and creates reports for tracking sales and engagement. The free version gives you access to the vast majority of features, including all automation tools, so if you're running on a tight budget you can test drive it with no strings attached.
What's especially helpful is the collection of workflows for common ecommerce scenarios. Omnisend has pre-built templates for things like welcoming new customers, sending notifications about cart abandonment, and confirming orders and shipping details.
Omnisend Standout Features and Integrations
Features include email and SMS messaging, push notifications, campaign automation, A/B testing, segmentation, and reporting tools. There are also several pre-built workflows, including a welcome series, product abandonment, cart abandonment, order confirmation, shipping confirmation, and a cross-sell series.
Integrations include Amazon Advertising, Intercom, LiveChat, OpenCart, Shopify, Sufio, WisePops, WooCommerce, WP Engine, and Zapier.
Pricing: $16/month Standard plan and $59/month Pro plan.
Free Trial: No free trial for paid plans, but there's a free version with no expiration and no credit card required.
Pros
- User-friendly platform with ready-made templates
- Free version with access to all automation tools
- 24/7 email and chat support for all plans
Cons
- Somewhat limited customization options in the campaign builder
- Pro plan required for high-volume SMS messaging
4. EngageBay - Best for small businesses
EngageBay combines tools for marketing, sales, and support in a single CRM platform at a price designed to attract small businesses. You won't find any plans over a Benjamin a month, and there's a free version you can try for as long as you like.
Why I picked EngageBay:
If you need both a marketing automation strategy and a CRM platform at a cost that doesn't crush you, then EngageBay is a good choice. It's an affordable, all-in-one solution packed with features for the entire customer journey.
However, you can still access the marketing automation tools without subscribing to the full stack. EngageBay packages its marketing, sales, and support products in standalone plans in addition to selling them as a bundle.
EngageBay Standout Features and Integrations
Features include autoresponders, drip campaigns, automated email templates, and smart segmentation. EngageBay also supports free migrations from any other platform you're currently using.
Integrations include Asana, BulkSMS, DocuSign, QuickBooks, LinkedIn, Shopify, Stripe, Twilio, WooCommerce, and Zapier. Note that third-party integrations aren't available with the free plan.
Pricing: $12.99/month Basic plan, $49.99/month Growth plan, and $79.99/month Pro plan.
Free Trial: There's a free version with no expiration and no credit card required.
Pros
- Low-cost contender for small businesses seeking an all-in-one CRM with strong marketing automation software
- Great selection of integrations
- Free migration service
Cons
- Free version has limited exposure to automation
- Contacts limited to 500 unless you choose the $49.99/month Growth plan
5. Ontraport - Best for entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs built Ontraport specifically for entrepreneurs, aiming to create a single gateway to every tool a business might need. People with big ideas and little time to waste navigating the open sea of sales and marketing automation software will likely see potential in unpacking Ontraport's box of quick, ready-made solutions.
Why I picked Ontraport:
Much of Ontraport's customer base consists of service providers, coaches, teachers, and sole proprietors who need an easy way to market and manage their business. And that's exactly what Ontraport provides—an entire library of pre-built campaigns and tools only a few tweaks away from activation.
With Setup Wizards, you can quickly get websites, landing pages, forms, and common marketing projects up and running right after you sign up. The platform's campaign editor is a work of automatic art, offering tons of building elements, real-time reporting, advanced tracking, and sophisticated funnel mapping. There's also a motley crew of triggers, goals, conditions, and forks at your disposal. From welcome emails to SMS appointment reminders, you can automate just about anything with Ontraport.
Ontraport Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a huge catalog of pre-built campaigns, Setup Wizards, advanced segmentation, tracking, attribution, and a powerful drag-and-drop campaign editor. You can also set up automated Facebook retargeting and deploy dynamic website content.
Integrations include Fuzed, JotForm, PlusThis, QuickBooks, Shopify, SimpleTexting, Stripe Connect, Wicked Reports, Zapier, and Zoom.
Pricing: $29/month Basic plan, $99/month Plus plan, $149/month Pro plan, and $299/month Enterprise plan.
Free Trial: 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Pros
- Large library of ready-made campaigns and tools
- Powerful campaign editor
- Fast activation with Setup Wizards
Cons
- Most of the advanced automation features don't unlock until the $149/month Pro plan
- Basic plan doesn't support online payments
6. Marketo Engage - Best for analytics
Marketo Engage by Adobe is a comprehensive marketing automation platform boosted by artificial intelligence. It's capable of automating everything from lead nurturing and segmentation to user experiences, content delivery, and analytics.
Why I picked Marketo:
Marketo Engage syncs all data between sales and marketing teams. It offers a sturdy collection of tools to design campaigns and manage your content and customers. But its real strength lies in the granularity of its advanced analytics, making it easy to prove which of your campaigns are working.
It's hard to overstate the level of insight marketers get with Marketo Engage. It tracks the customer lifecycle down to individual touchpoints across all marketing channels and campaigns, measuring engagement and updating customer profiles in real time along the way. With its multi-attribution capability, you can quickly identify your best-performing assets as well as opportunities for improvement.
Marketo Standout Features and Integrations
Features include Adobe's powerful Sensei AI that can run chat support, help with generating personalized content, create and update segments, and nurture leads. The visual editor lets you easily create campaigns, and deep-reaching insights, attribution, and analytics simplify measurements and reporting. Connect Engage with Adobe Analytics for an even more powerful data experience.
Integrations include Facebook, Google, Knak, LinkedIn, Microsoft, OktoPost, RainFocus, Salesforce, SAP, and Zoominfo. Marketo Engage provides the extensibility you need to connect any of your existing tools.
Pricing: Marketo Engage offers customized pricing upon request.
Free Trial: A free demo is available by request.
Pros
- Robust artificial intelligence
- Powerful automation tools
- Highly advanced analytics and attribution
Cons
- Price might be out of reach for smaller companies
- Software is complex and could steepen the learning curve
7. Intercom - Best for customer service
Intercom is where automation meets customer service. Founded in 2011, the company has become a leading choice for support services thanks to its beautiful app, lightning-fast speed, and time-saving features.
Why I picked Intercom:
Whether you're running chat support or scheduling an onboarding call, Intercom has a way to make everything fast and smooth. It's the poster robot of marketing automation software for customer service.
Intercom's Messenger matches your website's branding and presents customers with self-serve options for everyday support inquiries. Additionally, the Resolution Bot uses automation and machine learning to handle common conversations so humans don't have to. Intercom also offers a configurable inbox that combines all your channels and features keyboard shortcuts and macros to help you move quickly.
Intercom Standout Features and Integrations
Features include intelligent chatbots, a customizable inbox, a branded messenger, a knowledge base, customer profiling, segmentation, and automation tools. Intercom has three main products—Support, Engage, and Convert. Features vary depending on your selected package.
Integrations include Calendly, Facebook, Google Analytics, Instagram, Jira, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Stripe, Twitter, and Whatsapp. Custom integrations are available as well.
Pricing: Intercom offers customized pricing upon request.
Free Trial: Free demos are available by request.
Pros
- Smart chatbots and self-service capabilities
- One inbox for all communication channels
- Custom integrations
Cons
- Pricing is opaque
- Onboarding can be slow due to software complexity
8. Manychat - Best for chat automation
Manychat makes it possible to send automated chats and direct messages to engage with customers, drive sales, and get more leads. It works on Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and SMS.
Why I picked Manychat:
It's easy to connect with customers via Manychat's versatile chatbots. You can either choose from a number of templates or build your own automation flowchart with the visual drag-and-drop editor using various triggers, conditions, and actions. When a customer starts a conversation, Manychat takes the wheel.
Manychat is a great choice if you sell products or services online and need a way to present merchandise, answer questions, capture customer info, take orders, and book appointments automatically. You can also give customers the option to talk to human support whenever they want.
Manychat Standout Features and Integrations
Features include conversation templates, a visual editor to create your own messages, SMS compatibility, custom keyword triggers, segmentation, and analytics tools.
Integrations include ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Integromat, Klaviyo, PayPal, Shopify, Stripe, and Zapier.
Pricing: $15/month Pro plan.
Free Trial: There's a free version with no expiration and no credit card required.
Pros
- Handy visual editor for building automation flowcharts
- Easy to set up
- Free version with a good set of features
Cons
- No live support
- No SMS in the free version
9. SimpleTexting - Best for text automation
SimpleTexting is a robust text message marketing platform with a sole focus on helping marketers reach people right where they are—on their phones. Since 2010, the company has been building out its application with tools that can benefit virtually any business.
Why I picked SimpleTexting:
As its name suggests, SimpleTexting is easy to get up to speed with. You'll find a streamlined inbox that brings all your messages into one central place, and a mobile app for texting on the go. SimpleTexting can send extended SMS messages of up to 306 characters (instead of the usual 160), and it also supports MMS messaging with up to 1,600 characters.
The main challenge to successful text marketing is getting subscribers, so SimpleTexting offers web sign-up forms and short codes to help you get a list going. There's also flexibility if you want to text with your own business number or a toll-free number. Automation features include autoresponders, triggers, scheduling, and drip campaigns.
SimpleTexting Standout Features and Integrations
Features include automated text campaigns, extended SMS messaging, MMS messaging, mass texting, short codes, keywords, segmentation, and analytics.
Integrations include Constant Contact, Google Calendar, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, WordPress, Zapier, and Zoho CRM.
Pricing: starts at $29/month.
Free Trial: 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Mobile app
- Unused credits roll over
Cons
- Lightweight analytics tools
- Only available in the US and Canada
10. ActiveCampaign - Best for expanding CRM
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation platform built for growth, with an impressive selection of email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools. There are options for prospecting, nurturing, converting, and driving engaging customer relationships.
Why I picked ActiveCampaign:
What's attractive about ActiveCampaign is the large library of ready-made templates. Whether you're creating email marketing campaigns or setting up a lander, you'll have plenty of options to get going fast. A drag-and-drop editor simplifies workflow setup, and more than 800 pre-built automations give you a lot of flexibility for relevant, well-timed customer experiences.
ActiveCampaign provides a single viewpoint for all your automations across email, SMS, social, and live chat. It also gives you a lot of power in tracking leads, assigning engagement scores, segmenting audiences, and personalizing messages.
ActiveCampaign Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a library of email and lander templates, 800+ pre-built automations, dynamic and conditional content, SMS, segmentation, A/B testing, and reporting tools.
Integrations include ClickFunnels, Facebook, Google Analytics, Postmark, Salesforce, Shopify, Unbounce, WooCommerce, WordPress, and Zapier.
Pricing: starts at $29/month billed annually.
Free Trial: Free trial with no credit card required.
Pros
- Large library of ready-made templates
- 800+ pre-built automations
- 24/7 support
Cons
- Analytics and reporting could be more advanced
- No SMS in the starter plan
I’ve also included two bonus software:
11. Semrush - Best for search engine marketing
Semrush is an SEO platform that offers SERP tracking, backlink analysis, keyword and market research tools, ad campaigning, and social media management. It also has a rich suite of content marketing tools that use automation to assist with content creation, distribution, and optimization.
Why I picked Semrush:
Semrush is one of the premier search engine marketing tools available—indeed, the CEO says he'll eat his hat if you can find another tool that does what Semrush does. If your business is SEO and you need a helping hand for acting on your insights, Semrush is a great pick.
With the Content Marketing Toolkit, you'll get a big headstart on your content strategy. There are tools to find trending topics, analyze best-performing headlines, and generate SEO templates. There's a handy SEO writing assistant, too. You can also run audits to check for gaps and opportunities to improve your existing content.
Semrush Standout Features and Integrations
Features include powerful SEO and market research tools, advertising and social media management, and a Content Marketing Toolkit to help create and refine your content.
Integrations include Databox, Kontent.ai, monday.com, Pagecloud, Ryter, Quickblog, Surfer, Wix, Yoast, and Zoho.
Pricing: $119.95/month Pro plan, $229.95/month Guru plan, and $449.95/month Business plan.
Free Trial: There's a free version, and paid plans have a free 7-day trial (credit card required).
Pros
- High-performance SEO and research tools
- Excellent content marketing package
- Free trial
Cons
- Pricing is on the higher end
- $229.95/month is the lowest cost to access content tools
12. Mailchimp - Best overall affordable option
Mailchimp is much more than just an email application, offering a healthy dose of products for launching, marketing, and managing your online business. It's a good solution if you're looking for a lot of capability at a low price.
Why I picked Mailchimp:
All Mailchimp accounts come with a free website and ecommerce tools, plus access to dozens of pre-built email templates to get you started. You can easily set up landing pages, create ads, post to social media, and monitor all channels inside a unified campaign manager.
Mailchimp supports tons of different automation features. With the Customer Journey Builder, you can create automated campaigns based on customer behaviors. Mailchimp's advertising software lets you set triggers to retarget customers on Google, Facebook, and Instagram. Furthermore, the Content Optimizer makes it easy to improve your copy with the power of AI.
Mailchimp Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a free website, ecommerce tools, digital ads, a visual campaign editor, pre-built templates, marketing automations, A/B testing, segmentation, and smart reporting and analytics tools.
Integrations include Facebook, LinkedIn, QuickBooks, Shopify, SimpleTexting, Stripe, Typeform, Vimeo, WordPress, and Zapier.
Pricing: $13/month Essentials plan, $20/month Standard plan, and $350/month Premium plan.
Free Trial: There's a free version, and paid plans have a free one-month trial (credit card required).
Pros
- Lots of marketing automation features
- Visual editor with 100+ email campaign templates
- 24/7 email and chat support
Cons
- Free plan limited to 30 days of email support
- Limited customization of email templates
13. Social Champ - Best for social media automation
Social Champ can help businesses automate social media management across all major social networks.
Why I picked Social Champ: The platform is one of the top social media automation tools that can help you revamp your business’s marketing strategy. Social Champ supports nine social media networks and enables you to create dynamic digital presences on each one. Within a single platform, you can manage all conversations, schedule posts, and track performance.
Social Champ is well suited for any sized business operating in any industry. When using this tool, you can get access to an AI Content Wizard and AI Imaginator within the dashboard to help optimize your social media content. Social Champ’s content suggestions feature will give you the advice to help you stand out from the competition in the most straightforward way.
Social Champ Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a data dashboard, an image editor, sentiment analysis, performance tracking, smart automation, post collections, a bulk uploader, a visual planner, post filters, team collaboration tools, team performance tracking, and audience engagement tools.
Integrations include Flickr, Dropbox, Google Drive, Canva, Giphy, Wave.video, Imgur, Crello, WordPress, Bitly, and Social Media Hammer.
Pricing: From $26/month.
Free trial: There's a free forever subscription tier and a free 7-day trial for new, paid subscribers.
Pros
- Adding and editing images is easy
- Easy to schedule and reschedule content
- The free forever plan supports up to three networks
Cons
- No preview after scheduling posts
- The analytics needs more work
14. Constant Contact - Best for lead nurturing
Constant Contact can help businesses connect with leads and nurture relationships wherever they are.
Why I picked Constant Contact: The platform can help your company engage with leads and help you develop robust relationships, and create powerful results. Constant Contact allows you to engage with leads across multiple channels, such as text messaging, email, or social media. With Constant Contact, you can easily create a buzz around your brand with your targeted audiences and accomplish your goals.
Constant Contact is suitable for small businesses that need a simple marketing automation tool that can handle social campaigns, email marketing, and audience growth. Thanks to the tool’s event management and registration capabilities, it’s especially helpful for organizations that plan events. The software provides everything you need to handle crucial marketing functions.
Constant Contact Standout Features and Integrations
Features include autoresponders, an image library, event-triggered emails, customer surveys, reporting and analytics, pre-made templates, a text editor, a drag-and-drop editor, A/B testing, audience segmentation, team management, and an event calendar.
Integrations include Wrike, Freshdesk, Pipedrive, ProjectManager, Recurly, Freshbooks, Jotform, Chargebee, Basecamp, Nutshell, 1CRM, Zendesk, Salesforce, WordPress, HubSpot CRM, and Zoho CRM.
Pricing: From $12/month.
Free Trial: There's a free 60-day trial for new subscribers.
Pros
- Simplifies all aspects of campaign building
- Clear and concise error notifications
- Excellent templates are available
Cons
- Cleaning segmentation lists isn’t intuitive
- A/B testing doesn’t check subject lines
15. Eloqua - Best for omnichannel marketing automation
Eloqua helps businesses win over customers through customized campaigns across multiple channels.
Why I picked Eloqua: The software is a marketing automation tool that will help you monitor customers’ journeys across multiple channels, such as email, video, search, and mobile. Eloqua allows you to plan automated campaigns while personalizing them simultaneously. Its lead management tools enable you to efficiently manage data and maximize your organization’s sales. The platform is a versatile automation tool that helps you build and maintain long, valuable customer relationships.
Eloqua helps large-sized brands and marketing teams that need a solution to personalize and simplify all stages of their marketing process. It can personalize and simplify each step of the process because of its multiple data connectors. Thanks to its real-time reporting and insights, you can use Eloqua to determine when to engage with audiences in their buying journey.
Eloqua Standout Features and Integrations
Features include A/B testing, sales intelligence, analytics and ROI tracking, customizable CTAs, dynamic content, search marketing, website visitor tracking, audience segmentation, lead scoring, landing pages, web forms, and email drip campaigns.
Integrations include Domo, ClickSend, Opensense, BigMarker, Zendesk, Dropbox, Contently, Veelo, Chili Piper, SnapApp, Kaltura, Synthio, and SurveyMonkey.
Pricing: Custom pricing upon request.
Free Trial: Eloqua provides a free demo.
Pros
- Users can gather and evaluate customer information
- Excellent reporting capabilities
- Rigorous nurturing features generate high-quality leads
Cons
- Lack of AI and machine learning
- Support documentation is overwhelming
16. GetResponse - Best for automating customer engagement
GetResponse can help businesses engage with their audiences by delivering personalized experiences.
Why I picked GetResponse: By collecting data in your GetResponse account, you can communicate with your audiences by taking action based on pre-selected conditions. GetResponse enables you to create automation events based on customers’ behaviors and engage with them at the right time. You can use the software to track and rate your customers’ actions and create custom segments based on this information.
GetResponse is suitable for businesses of any size that need effective tools to grow, engage, and convert audiences. It offers powerful email marketing tools that include AI-enhanced content creation capabilities, templates, design features, and proven deliverability. You can use GetResponse to set up simple or complex campaigns with its drag-and-drop workflow builder.
GetResponse Standout Features and Integrations
Features include email marketing, autoresponders, a website builder, landing pages, audience segmentation, SMS marketing, web push notifications, conversion funnels, live chat, AI recommendations, and transactional emails.
Integrations include Recurly, SlickText, Jotform, FreshBooks, Outgrow, OptiMonk, LanderLab, LiveAgent, Zendesk, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Slack, HubSpot CRM, and Zoho CRM.
Pricing: $19/month when paying monthly, $15.58/month when billed annually, or $13.30, billed every two years.
Free Trial: There's a free forever subscription tier.
Pros
- Simple user interface
- The multiple prices match different budgets
- It offers a wide range of automation features
Cons
- There are limited template options
- Users can’t test different marketing automation workflows
17. Ahrefs - Best for automating brand mentions
Ahrefs helps businesses monitor every time their brand is mentioned online.
Why I picked Ahrefs: The platform allows you to monitor how people are mentioning your brand online. When using Ahrefs, you can understand what people say about your business or your competition and use that knowledge to grow. You can also set up mentions for relevant keywords to your business, enabling you to discover whoever is talking about the things you do but hasn’t discovered your brand yet.
Ahrefs helps organizations and SEO professionals that need a tool to simplify their marketing efforts. You can use the software to identify your competitor’s organic keywords and marketing strategies to replicate their results. Ahrefs can also audit your website to help you identify any issues your site has and understand how to fix them.
Ahrefs Standout Features and Integrations
Features include SEO auditing, keyword research tools, link management, competitor analysis, mobile search tracking, keyword tracking, and rank tracking.
Integrations include Rambox, Reportz, Marketing Miner, GuinRank, Google Search Console, AgencyAnalytics, DashThis, Klipfolio, Databox, Linkody, Pipedream, and SEO Review Tools.
Pricing: $99/month when paying monthly or $83/month when billed annually.
Free Trial: Ahrefs doesn’t provide any free trial information.
Pros
- An essential tool for SEO marketing
- Effective site auditing capabilities
- Easy-to-use interface
Cons
- No free trial is available
- The data isn’t always accurate
Other Options
There are hundreds of marketing automation solutions to choose from—and what's best for one company might not be best for yours. If none of the above tools look like the right fit, here are a few more I'd recommend checking out:
- Keap - Best for beginners
- Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue) - Best free marketing automation
- SharpSpring - Best enterprise alternative
- Drip - Best ecommerce alternative
- ConvertKit - Best for creators
- Notificare - Best for push notifications
- Zoho - Best for B2B CRM
- Snov.io - Best for lead prospecting
- SendGrid - Best for email marketing
How I Selected the Best Marketing Automation Software
To create this article, I reviewed dozens of marketing automation software platforms, including established players as well as industry newbies. I looked closely at features, integrations, user experience, and cost. Below are brief overviews of my criteria:
User experience
Marketing automation loses a lot of power if customers can't figure out how to use it. For a tool to qualify for this list, it needed to have an intuitive interface that made it simple to set up and manage campaigns. Some of the specifics I wanted to see were ready-made templates, pre-built automations, and a visual drag-and-drop editor.
Features
There are certain features you just expect from marketing automation software these days, such as drip campaigns, templates, resource guides, personalization, and reporting. I made sure my selections offered the basics, plus whatever else was relevant for the stated use case.
Integrations
Integrations are important for smooth operations across all your marketing efforts. Whether natively or via third parties, each tool on this list has compatibility with most major apps including Facebook, Google, Intercom, PayPal, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Shopify, Stripe, WordPress, WooCommerce, Zapier, and Zoom.
Pricing
I did take cost into account for this article, but with the awareness that every business has a different idea of what affordable means. My goal was to build a list that had something for everyone. For example, small businesses should be able to access all of the basic automation features noted above for well under $100/month. Several of the tools on this list fit that bill, including Omnisend, EngageBay, and Mailchimp. On the other hand, large enterprises often require advanced analytics, SEO tools, and CRM customizations with price tags in the hundreds or thousands a month. Software like Salesforce, Semrush, and Marketo Engage can come at a high price, but in such cases, I believe the product offering justifies the cost.
People Also Ask
Finally, I’d like to answer a few frequently asked questions about marketing automation software.
Why do I need marketing automation software?
What features should I look for in marketing automation software?
How much does marketing automation software cost?
Other Marketing Planning & Management Software Reviews
Marketing software comes in all shapes and sizes, from social media platform management to website and product reporting. You'll probably need several tools to cover the whole gambit of needs. Here are some other software review lists that I recommend checking out:
- Best Marketing Software
- Social Media Management Software
- Marketing Automation Software
- Marketing Workflow Software
- Marketing Management Software
- Marketing Calendar Software
- Marketing Collaboration Software
- Marketing Planning Tools
- Marketing Asset Management Software
Further Reading
I hope you find this list vital in your quest for marketing automation software that helps your business succeed. Thanks for taking the time to read, and may the robots be ever on our side!
If you'd like to learn more about marketing tools, I'd suggest browsing through our other marketing technology reviews.
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