The Best 7 Marketing Automation Software for 2024

Marketing automation software is a powerful tool that helps businesses create personalized and engaging campaigns across multiple channels.

Why It Is Important: By automating repetitive tasks, marketing automation software enables marketers to focus on more strategic goals that require personal touch and creativity.

In particular, with marketing automation software, you can:

• Automate and optimize your marketing strategy for email newsletters, SMS messages, social media posts, and web push notifications
• Create personalized content that resonates with your target audience
• Streamline your workflow and save time by automating repetitive tasks
• Track and analyze customer behavior to improve your marketing efforts
• Improve customer engagement and loyalty through targeted messaging.

Key Considerations When Choosing Marketing Automation Software

• Budget: Marketing automation software can range in price from free plans to enterprise-level subscriptions. Determine your budget before starting your search.
• Business Needs: Consider what specific marketing tasks you want to automate, such as email marketing, lead scoring, social media management, etc.
• Target Audience: Choose a platform that caters to your target audience's channels and preferences.
• Integrations: Ensure the platform integrates with your existing CRM, CMS, and other marketing tools.
• Ease of Use: Consider the platform's user interface and learning curve, especially if you have limited technical expertise.
• Scalability: Choose a platform that can grow with your business needs.

Here are some top picks for 2024.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best in All-in-One Marketing Automation Platforms

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a comprehensive marketing platform designed to equip businesses of all sizes with the tools needed to attract, engage, and convert leads into customers.

It boasts a wide range of features, including the following.

• Email Marketing: Create, send, and track email campaigns with drag-and-drop editing, A/B testing, and reporting capabilities.
• Landing Page Builder: Design professional and high-converting landing pages without coding knowledge.
• Contact Manager: It allows marketers to get updated lists of contacts and associated activities.
• Form Maker: Create personalized forms for increased customer engagement
• Analytics and Reporting: Gain insights into your marketing performance with comprehensive reports and dashboards.

Pros

• All-in-One Platform: HubSpot centralizes all your marketing tools and data in one place, streamlining workflows and improving efficiency.
• Scalability: Adapts to growing businesses with flexible pricing plans and additional features available in higher tiers.
• User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive and visually appealing design makes it easy to navigate and utilize, even for non-technical users.
• Powerful Automation: Automate repetitive tasks and create personalized experiences for leads and customers.
• Extensive Integrations: Connects with numerous third-party apps and services for enhanced functionality.

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• Knowledge Base: HubSpot offers a wealth of resources (blogs, ebooks, free marketing courses and certifications)

Pricing

It is available on free and paid plans. On Starter, the price is $18 per month

Overall: It is a robust and versatile marketing automation platform suitable for businesses of all sizes. Its one-in-all approach makes it a leading tool on the market.

Is HubSpot Marketing Hub Right for You?

HubSpot Marketing Hub is an excellent choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly platform to manage their marketing efforts.

However, if you're a small business with basic marketing needs and a tight budget, HubSpot might be overkill.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Best for Enterprise-Level Marketing and Integration

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a powerful marketing automation platform designed for large enterprises and organizations with complex marketing needs.

Functionality

• Drag-and-drop email builder: Create beautiful and responsive emails without coding.
• Personalization: Use data to personalize emails for individual subscribers
• Display advertising: Create and manage display ads across the web.
• Search advertising: Create and manage search ads on Google and other platforms
• Journey Builder: Create automated journeys to guide your contacts through the marketing funnel.
• Studio AppExchange: Extend the functionality of Marketing Cloud with third-party apps.

Pros

• Scalability and Customization: The platform is highly scalable to accommodate the needs of growing businesses. Extensive customization options allow users to tailor the platform to their specific requirements.
• Seamless Integration: Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates seamlessly with other Salesforce products, including CRM, Sales Cloud, and Service Cloud, offering a unified view of customers and their interactions. Additionally, numerous third-party integrations are available.

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• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: The platform provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities that enable users to track campaign performance, measure ROI, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior.

Pricing

Salesforce Marketing Cloud doesn't have a single, fixed price. Instead, it offers various editions and bundles tailored to different business needs and sizes. For instance, Einstein Marketing starts at $4,000 per month and offers AI-powered marketing insights and automation.

Overall: Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an advanced and feature-rich platform ideal for large enterprises. It offers excellent scalability, customization, and integration capabilities.

Is Salesforce Marketing Cloud Right for You?

Consider Salesforce Marketing Cloud if you are:

• Already using other Salesforce products and seeking seamless integration.
• Prepared for a steeper learning curve and potentially higher costs.

However, its complexity, cost, and learning curve might deter smaller businesses and those with less technical expertise.

Drupal

Best in Content Marketing Automation Software

Drupal is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) known for its powerful features, flexibility, and large community. While not the easiest platform for beginners, it empowers users to build complex and highly customized websites and applications.

Pros

• Highly Flexible: Drupal's modular architecture allows users to add or remove functionalities through thousands of contributed modules, making it suitable for diverse website needs.
• Robust Security: Backed by a large and active community, Drupal benefits from continuous security updates and enjoys a strong reputation for reliability.
• Scalability: From small blogs to enterprise-level websites, Drupal can seamlessly scale to accommodate increased traffic and complexity.
• SEO Friendly: Its clean code and flexible structure are ideal for search engine optimization.
• Open-Source and Free: No licensing fees are involved, making it a cost-effective option for many organizations.
• Large Community: Access to extensive documentation, support forums, and knowledgeable developers for assistance.

Pricing

Free to use, but additional costs might incur for premium modules, development services, and hosting.

Overall: Drupal is a multipurpose CMS platform ideal for users with technical expertise and those seeking extensive customization and scalability. Its open-source nature makes it a cost-effective and secure option for users. However, its steeper learning curve and development requirements might deter beginners and smaller organizations.

Is Drupal Right for You?

Consider Drupal if you:

• Are comfortable with technical aspects of website management.
• Require a highly customizable and scalable platform for your content marketing.
• Prioritize security and open-source solutions.

Keap

Best in Marketing Campaign Management

Keap (formerly, Infusionsoft) is a popular marketing automation platform designed for small businesses.

It provides a suite of tools tailored specifically for early-stage marketers and start-up businesses, including features for:

• Automation
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• E-commerce.

Pros

• Powerful Automation: Build complex automated workflows based on user behavior and triggers, including email sequences, landing pages, and appointment scheduling.
• Integrated CRM: Manage contacts, track interactions, and nurture leads seamlessly within the same platform.
• User-Friendly Interface: Clean and intuitive design makes navigating and setting up campaigns easy, even for non-technical users.
• E-commerce Functionality: Sell products directly through Keap (limited to specific plans).

Pricing

Keap offers three pricing plans, with Pro starting at $149 monthly.

Overall: Keap offers a strong marketing campaign management solution, especially for small businesses looking for an all-in-one platform.

Is Keap Right for You?

Keap is a solid choice for small businesses seeking a user-friendly and comprehensive marketing campaign management solution with multiple automation features.

Mailchimp

Best in Email Marketing Automation Software

Mailchimp, a widely recognized name in the email marketing sphere, caters to businesses of various sizes, offering a user-friendly platform and feature-rich plans to nurture your email campaigns.

Pros

• Beginner-Friendly Interface: Mailchimp offers an intuitive interface and a drag-and-drop editor, making campaign creation smooth, even for non-technical users.
• Extensive Template Library: Choose from a vast selection of pre-designed templates or build your own with customization options.
• Robust Segmentation: Target specific audience segments based on demographics, interests, and behavior for more personalized campaigns.
• Automation Workflows: Set up automated email sequences based on triggers like sign-ups, purchases, or abandoned carts to engage leads effectively.
• Landing Page and Form Builder: Design high-converting landing pages and signup forms to capture leads directly within the platform.
• AI-Powered: Leverages capabilities of generative AI to streamline tedious marketing processes.

Pricing

Free for Up to 2,000 contacts, limited features.

Overall: If you're looking for an intuitive platform with a free plan and basic features, Mailchimp is a strong contender.

Is Mailchimp Right for You?

Mailchimp is a user-friendly marketing automation tool, providing an easy entry point for email marketing newbies.

Its free plan and affordable starter options suit individual creators and small businesses.

However, its limited automation on the free plan and potentially high costs for advanced features might hinder larger companies or those seeking complex workflows.

CleverTap

Best in Customer Engagement Automation Software

Among the best marketing automation software, this user engagement platform focuses on enhanced user experience and customer lifecycle management.

Pros

• Omnichannel Engagement: Reach your users across various channels like push notifications, in-app messaging, email, SMS, and webhooks, creating a unified customer experience.
• Advanced Segmentation: Craft highly targeted campaigns based on rich user data, including demographics, app behavior, and purchase history, for maximum impact.
• Real-time Analytics: Gain deep insights into user behavior with detailed analytics, dashboards, and A/B testing, allowing you to optimize campaigns in real time.
• Powerful Automation: Automate repetitive tasks like trigger-based messaging, re-engagement campaigns, and lifecycle marketing journeys for increased efficiency.
• Machine Learning Insights: Leverage AI-powered recommendations and user predictions to personalize messages and deliver relevant content at the right time.
• Strong Customer Support: Enjoy dedicated customer support, onboarding assistance, and educational resources to get the most out of the platform.

Overall: CleverTap stands out as a leading customer engagement platform, empowering businesses to send targeted and personalized campaigns across multiple channels, boost user retention, and drive growth.

Pricing

CleverTap offers paid plans starting at $75 per month for 5000 active users (MAU).

Is CleverTap Right for You?

CleverTap is an excellent choice for businesses seeking a powerful and scalable customer engagement platform. Its omnichannel capabilities are well-suited for achieving personalized user experiences and driving retention.

Hootsuite

Best in Social Media Marketing Automation Software

Hootsuite, a well-established name in the social media management game, promises to be your one-stop shop for scheduling, publishing, and analyzing your social media activities across various platforms. But does it live up to the hype? Let's dissect its strengths and weaknesses to see if it aligns with your social media needs.

Pros

• Multi-Platform Management: Manage all your social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) from a single, intuitive dashboard.
• Streamlined Scheduling & Publishing: Schedule posts in advance for a seamless social media presence, even when you're away.
• Content AI Creation, Curation & Collaboration: Deploy innovative content creation solutions with OwlyWriter AI. Discover and share relevant content, and collaborate with team members on social media strategies.
• Analytics & Reporting: Track performance metrics like engagement, reach, and brand mentions to measure your social media impact.

Pricing

For Professional Plan users with access to 10 accounts, the price of the service is $99 per month.

Overall: Hootsuite is a powerful social media management platform with extensive features and multi-platform support. If you are an agency managing multiple social media presences, Hootsuite could be a valuable asset.

Is Hootsuite Right for You?

In case you manage numerous social media accounts, crave in-depth analytics, and have the budget to spare, Hootsuite, as the top marketing automation software, can be a game-changer.

How TMetric Enhances Marketing Automation

TMetric, as a time tracking and project management tool, significantly enhances marketing automation software by providing detailed insights into how marketing teams allocate their time across various campaigns and tasks.

Improved Resource Allocation

TMetric data provides insights into the time spent on specific marketing automation tasks like:

• creating email campaigns
• managing social media posts
• analyzing campaign performance.

This data helps marketing teams understand how their resources are being allocated and identify potential bottlenecks or over-allocated areas.

This granular visibility into task durations and project progress helps marketers optimize their workflows and maximize the impact of their marketing automation efforts.

Data-Driven Campaign Optimization

Integrating TMetric with the best marketing automation software allows a unified view of campaign performance data.

This includes:

• traditional marketing metrics (click-through rates, conversion rates, etc.)
• time invested in each campaign element.

By analyzing this combined data, marketers can better understand which campaign activities are most time-efficient and impactful.

This data-driven approach enables them to optimize their campaigns for better results and a higher return on investment (ROI).