Best marketing automation software compilation: The 6 best tools

The marketing automation industry is expected to touch $5.5bn in 2019. These numbers get more validation from Salesforce’s State of Marketing Report that says-

  • 67% of marketing leaders are already using atleast one marketing automation platform.
  • 21% of marketing leaders are almost decided to start using one in 2019.

Simultaneously, the list of marketing automation software keeps on growing every year. Each tool promises to be nothing but the best, making it harder to find the right platform for your business. 

Despite all the confusions, we have put together top six marketing automation tools that are not just judged by the “hype” but mostly based on user experience. 

With so many variations, you must know first WHAT TO LOOK FOR when you are comparing multiple marketing automation tools. What to look for when comparing multiple marketing automation tools?

How many times did it happen that you signed up for a marketing automation tool, and then after one month realized it wasn’t compatible? We’ve all been there. Sometimes your CRM doesn’t integrate; other times, it just doesn’t resolve your business problems. It is easy to get swayed with so many options. Add to that, those sliders on pricing structures make things worse. You can first straight off start with some of the basic questions before you think of implementing a marketing automation tool. We will start with some of the common deal breakers that you must be looking at when you are choosing a marketing automation tool.

Marketing automation tool comparison: The deal breakers

Usability

The first thing you look for is usability. Marketing automation tools are supposed to comprehensive and complex. It is important to go over the features and see if those are going to help your teams. If you don’t find the tool intuitive, you know you will have to pay more for training and onboarding. So, usability is very important.

Pricing

Having come past through usability, the very next thing you must see is the pricing structure. Each marketing automation tool comes with two or three different pricing plans. Some also include a free plan. Go over the pricing plans, what features each plan includes, and up to how many customers are these plans applicable. Simultaneously, look for the scope of scalability. You want your business to grow. This means, at some point in time, you will have more customers than what you are signing up for now. Is the tool scalable? Will it go beyond your estimated budget? Will you be able to sustain with this tool in the long-run?

Integrations

You are confident about the usability, you are good to go with the pricing plans. A crucial step is still pending. You must check what integrations your choice of marketing automation tool is providing. Are they all third-party integrations? Do you need additional data integration tools? What are the native integrations? Analyze if it has all those tools or plugins that you need for your business. Most importantly, see what CRM integrations it has. Does it include your CRM? If it comes with a default CRM, how smooth will be your migration? Make sure you have all these questions sorted before purchasing.

Below are some common features most marketers prefer in their marketing automation tools: 

  • Bi-directional CRM integrations that include their choice of CRM.
  • Scalability options. 
  • Behavior-driven email automation.
  • Multichannel marketing and Omnichannel messaging.
  • Content capabilities.
  • Integrations with their eCommerce tools.
  • Social media marketing opportunities.
  • Ready-to-use automation workflows. 
  • Training and onboarding services.

Marketing automation software compilation: The top 7 best of the lot

P.S. The user rating score is based on various online reviews available on the web and our personal experience with the tools. Also, the order at which the tools are mentioned is random.

1. Aritic PinPoint (5/5)

Aritic PinPoint is a comprehensive marketing automation tool for SMEs and enterprises. You can generate visitors for your website using various lead magnets. Nurture and convert anonymous visitors into potential leads using browser fingerprinting and ad retargeting. Get a detailed lead profiling, track lead behavior, nurture them using multichannel drip campaigns and convert them into sales qualified leads. Aritic PinPoint is designed to improve and align marketing and sales efforts to offer higher business ROI. Features like kiosk mode lead nurturing, dynamic segmentation, dynamic content in landing pages, detailed reports and analytics, competitor analysis, progressive profiling, and a large set of integrations included within the pricing plans set Aritic PinPoint aside.

  • Pricing: $19/month for up to 1,000 contacts
  • Free Trial: Yes. 
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

2. Autopilot (3/5)

Autopilot is defined as a visual marketing automation software. You can create and manage marketing campaigns and lead conversions easily on Autopilot. Features like multichannel marketing, in-app messaging, snail mail communication, drag and drop interface make Autopilot a visually engaging platform. Infact, this tool is actually visually quite enriched. In terms of complexities, Autopilot is often proposed as an alternative to a full-fledged marketing automation tool (as per user reviews).

  • Pricing: $99/month for 1,000 contacts. Integration prices are separate. 
  • Free trial: Yes
  • Free Plan: Yes. Available for 1,000 contacts as well. 
  • Demo Option: Yes

3. Albacross (4.5/5)

Albacross is a powerful B2B Lead Generation Platform that provides businesses with the possibility to identify and monitor companies visiting their websites. This tool literally shows which businesses are visiting your site, the pages they view, where they spent the most time, who the company’s leaders are and how to contact them. You’ll get a comprehensive profile of each company interested in your business including their size, revenue, industry, location, and contact details. All these features provided by Albacross, enable you to nurture these leads into loyal clients through email campaigns and other B2B marketing strategies.

The seamless integration with Zapier gives you access to a wide range of applications such as different CRM systems, email marketing tools, etc., so you can take action right away.

 

  • Pricing: $169/month for up to 500 company leads
  • Free Trial: Yes. 
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

4. Spark by Marketo (4.5/5)

Spark by Marketo, a cloud-based marketing automation solution, is designed for small and medium businesses. You can create simple marketing automation campaigns and manage them easily. From generating sales leads to driving growth for your brand, Spark by Marketo has it all. Features like lead nurturing, integrating with existing CRM solution, reports and analytics, managing productivity, and aligning sales and marketing communications make Spark by Marketo a great solution to start with. 

  • Pricing: Marketo always offers pricing plans in form of bundles. You need to contact the support team to know the exact prices. 
  • Free trial: No
  • Demo option: Yes

5. ActiveCampaign (5/5)

ActiveCampaign is a compact marketing automation solution that helps you automate your mundane tasks. From automated email follow-ups to identifying most engaged leads, from using drag and drop interface for campaign building to scheduling your campaigns – it is smooth and user-friendly. Features like A/B testing, site messaging tool, the chrome plugin, and more such product releases have placed Active Campaign at par with other leading marketing automation platforms. Their responsive support takes the final cake with their prompt and humble response. In terms of features, ActiveCampaign may still be adding a lot of new ones to meet consumer demands, but this tool has already made a mark. Check out EmailToolTester’s full review of ActiveCampaign.

 
  • Pricing: $17/month for upto 1,000 contacts. 
  • Free Trial: Yes
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: No

6. Pardot (3/5)

Pardot by Salesforce was initially acquired by Exact Target, post which Salesforce took over. This tool is popular for its great customer support as well as the $1,000/month base cost factor. If you want anything beyond email and basic CRM integration, you will have to pay for their $2k/month package. The marketing automation features of Pardot are good, but the user experience is not as smooth as expected. The learning curve with Pardot is steep, and some features tend to confuse users. 

  • Pricing: $1,250/month for up to 10,000 contacts. There are three pricing plans, and all of them offer plans up to 10,000 contacts only. 
  • Free trial: No
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

In conclusion:

For larger businesses, your choice narrows down a lot. In this list, Aritic PinPoint and Active Campaign are only two solutions that can help a large business or enterprise to scale up. Pardot, at this level, comes very costly. 

Choosing the ideal marketing automation tool depends on your budget, your business requirements, and your future expectations. However, you must not compromise on a few factors like integration options, migration support, and customer support. 

The marketing automation industry is expected to touch $5.5bn in 2019. These numbers get more validation from Salesforce’s State of Marketing Report that says-

  • 67% of marketing leaders are already using atleast one marketing automation platform.
  • 21% of marketing leaders are almost decided to start using one in 2019.

Simultaneously, the list of marketing automation software keeps on growing every year. Each tool promises to be nothing but the best, making it harder to find the right platform for your business. 

Despite all the confusions, we have put together top six marketing automation tools that are not just judged by the “hype” but mostly based on user experience. 

With so many variations, you must know first WHAT TO LOOK FOR when you are comparing multiple marketing automation tools. What to look for when comparing multiple marketing automation tools?

How many times did it happen that you signed up for a marketing automation tool, and then after one month realized it wasn’t compatible? We’ve all been there. Sometimes your CRM doesn’t integrate; other times, it just doesn’t resolve your business problems. It is easy to get swayed with so many options. Add to that, those sliders on pricing structures make things worse. You can first straight off start with some of the basic questions before you think of implementing a marketing automation tool. We will start with some of the common deal breakers that you must be looking at when you are choosing a marketing automation tool.

Marketing automation tool comparison: The deal breakers

Usability

The first thing you look for is usability. Marketing automation tools are supposed to comprehensive and complex. It is important to go over the features and see if those are going to help your teams. If you don’t find the tool intuitive, you know you will have to pay more for training and onboarding. So, usability is very important.

Pricing

Having come past through usability, the very next thing you must see is the pricing structure. Each marketing automation tool comes with two or three different pricing plans. Some also include a free plan. Go over the pricing plans, what features each plan includes, and up to how many customers are these plans applicable. Simultaneously, look for the scope of scalability. You want your business to grow. This means, at some point in time, you will have more customers than what you are signing up for now. Is the tool scalable? Will it go beyond your estimated budget? Will you be able to sustain with this tool in the long-run?

Integrations

You are confident about the usability, you are good to go with the pricing plans. A crucial step is still pending. You must check what integrations your choice of marketing automation tool is providing. Are they all third-party integrations? Do you need additional data integration tools? What are the native integrations? Analyze if it has all those tools or plugins that you need for your business. Most importantly, see what CRM integrations it has. Does it include your CRM? If it comes with a default CRM, how smooth will be your migration? Make sure you have all these questions sorted before purchasing.

Below are some common features most marketers prefer in their marketing automation tools: 

  • Bi-directional CRM integrations that include their choice of CRM.
  • Scalability options. 
  • Behavior-driven email automation.
  • Multichannel marketing and Omnichannel messaging.
  • Content capabilities.
  • Integrations with their eCommerce tools.
  • Social media marketing opportunities.
  • Ready-to-use automation workflows. 
  • Training and onboarding services.

Marketing automation software compilation: The top 7 best of the lot

P.S. The user rating score is based on various online reviews available on the web and our personal experience with the tools. Also, the order at which the tools are mentioned is random.

1. Aritic PinPoint (5/5)

Aritic PinPoint is a comprehensive marketing automation tool for SMEs and enterprises. You can generate visitors for your website using various lead magnets. Nurture and convert anonymous visitors into potential leads using browser fingerprinting and ad retargeting. Get a detailed lead profiling, track lead behavior, nurture them using multichannel drip campaigns and convert them into sales qualified leads. Aritic PinPoint is designed to improve and align marketing and sales efforts to offer higher business ROI. Features like kiosk mode lead nurturing, dynamic segmentation, dynamic content in landing pages, detailed reports and analytics, competitor analysis, progressive profiling, and a large set of integrations included within the pricing plans set Aritic PinPoint aside.

  • Pricing: $19/month for up to 1,000 contacts
  • Free Trial: Yes. 
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

2. Autopilot (3/5)

Autopilot is defined as a visual marketing automation software. You can create and manage marketing campaigns and lead conversions easily on Autopilot. Features like multichannel marketing, in-app messaging, snail mail communication, drag and drop interface make Autopilot a visually engaging platform. Infact, this tool is actually visually quite enriched. In terms of complexities, Autopilot is often proposed as an alternative to a full-fledged marketing automation tool (as per user reviews).

  • Pricing: $99/month for 1,000 contacts. Integration prices are separate. 
  • Free trial: Yes
  • Free Plan: Yes. Available for 1,000 contacts as well. 
  • Demo Option: Yes

3. Albacross (4.5/5)

Albacross is a powerful B2B Lead Generation Platform that provides businesses with the possibility to identify and monitor companies visiting their websites. This tool literally shows which businesses are visiting your site, the pages they view, where they spent the most time, who the company’s leaders are and how to contact them. You’ll get a comprehensive profile of each company interested in your business including their size, revenue, industry, location, and contact details. All these features provided by Albacross, enable you to nurture these leads into loyal clients through email campaigns and other B2B marketing strategies.

The seamless integration with Zapier gives you access to a wide range of applications such as different CRM systems, email marketing tools, etc., so you can take action right away.

 

  • Pricing: $169/month for up to 500 company leads
  • Free Trial: Yes. 
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

4. Spark by Marketo (4.5/5)

Spark by Marketo, a cloud-based marketing automation solution, is designed for small and medium businesses. You can create simple marketing automation campaigns and manage them easily. From generating sales leads to driving growth for your brand, Spark by Marketo has it all. Features like lead nurturing, integrating with existing CRM solution, reports and analytics, managing productivity, and aligning sales and marketing communications make Spark by Marketo a great solution to start with. 

  • Pricing: Marketo always offers pricing plans in form of bundles. You need to contact the support team to know the exact prices. 
  • Free trial: No
  • Demo option: Yes

5. ActiveCampaign (5/5)

ActiveCampaign is a compact marketing automation solution that helps you automate your mundane tasks. From automated email follow-ups to identifying most engaged leads, from using drag and drop interface for campaign building to scheduling your campaigns – it is smooth and user-friendly. Features like A/B testing, site messaging tool, the chrome plugin, and more such product releases have placed Active Campaign at par with other leading marketing automation platforms. Their responsive support takes the final cake with their prompt and humble response. In terms of features, ActiveCampaign may still be adding a lot of new ones to meet consumer demands, but this tool has already made a mark. Check out EmailToolTester’s full review of ActiveCampaign.

 
  • Pricing: $17/month for upto 1,000 contacts. 
  • Free Trial: Yes
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: No

6. Pardot (3/5)

Pardot by Salesforce was initially acquired by Exact Target, post which Salesforce took over. This tool is popular for its great customer support as well as the $1,000/month base cost factor. If you want anything beyond email and basic CRM integration, you will have to pay for their $2k/month package. The marketing automation features of Pardot are good, but the user experience is not as smooth as expected. The learning curve with Pardot is steep, and some features tend to confuse users. 

  • Pricing: $1,250/month for up to 10,000 contacts. There are three pricing plans, and all of them offer plans up to 10,000 contacts only. 
  • Free trial: No
  • Free Plan: No
  • Demo Option: Yes

In conclusion:

For larger businesses, your choice narrows down a lot. In this list, Aritic PinPoint and Active Campaign are only two solutions that can help a large business or enterprise to scale up. Pardot, at this level, comes very costly. 

Choosing the ideal marketing automation tool depends on your budget, your business requirements, and your future expectations. However, you must not compromise on a few factors like integration options, migration support, and customer support. 

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About the author:
Jnana Rao

Jnana Rao

Jnana is in love with coding and currently working as a Digital Marketing Lead at Dataaegis Software.

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