Marketing automation software helps businesses automatically manage tasks like email campaigns, social media scheduling, and lead management. It saves time, increases engagement, and makes growing marketing easier.
Choosing the right marketing automation tool can make your marketing strategy succeed or fail. If you run a small business, you may need a simple and budget-friendly tool. Bigger companies need tools with AI analytics, CRM integration, and omnichannel features to manage complex campaigns. The main thing is to find a tool that can automate tasks, increase engagement, and grow with your business. In this guide, we will compare the best marketing automation tools and software, looking at their features, prices, and who they are best for—so you can pick the perfect tool to make your marketing easier.
11 Best Marketing Automation Software
Klaviyo
Starting Price: $20/mo
Free Version
- Intuitive drag-and-drop automation builder.
- Seamlessly connects with major eCommerce platforms and tools.
- Capture long-term customer behavior for better retargeting.
Best For: E-commerce brands that want advanced segmentation and personalized automation.
Why Use It: Klaviyo helps increase repeat purchases and boost lifetime customer value through detailed customer insights and predictive analytics.
Omnisend
Starting Price: $16/mo
14-Day Free Trial + Free Version
- Simple email & SMS marketing for e-commerce.
- Automation flows ready to use.
Best For: Small to mid-sized online stores needing easy multi-channel marketing.
Why Use It: Omnisend boosts conversions with pre-built workflows, product recommendations, and abandoned cart recovery tools.
DOT Ads
Starting from: $20 spend per day
No Free Trial
- Complete control over targeting, budget and spend.
- Free creative services including ad design & A/B testing.
- Multiple ad formats available with switching flexibility.
Best For: Brands wanting data-driven paid ads without hiring costly ad agencies.
Why Use It: DOT Ads increases conversions using expert-managed campaigns and free creatives, saving thousands in ad costs.
MailChimp
Starting Price: $9.99/mo
Free Version
Best For: Beginners learning email marketing with basic automation needs.
Why Use It: It offers templates, simple campaign builders, and affordable tools ideal for startups and small businesses.
Brand24
Starting Price: $49/mo
Free Trial Available
- Track and analyze online mentions.
Best For: Brands monitoring reputation and social mentions in real time.
Why Use It: Helps identify customer sentiments, competitor discussions, and engagement opportunities.
Thryv
Starting Price: Quote Only
7-Day Free Trial
- Secure, user-friendly marketing automation.
Best For: Service-based businesses needing appointment + marketing automation in one place.
Why Use It: Thryv offers CRM, scheduling, invoicing, and marketing under one secure platform.
ActiveCampaign
Starting Price: $11/mo
14-Day Free Trial
- Wide range of features and detailed reporting.
Best For: Businesses focused on complex automations and advanced customer journeys.
Why Use It: Provides deep automation, CRM tools, and precise sales tracking that improve conversion rates.
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Starting Price: $50/mo
14-Day Trial + Free Version
- All-in-one cloud platform + free CRM features.
- Drag-and-drop landing page editor.
Best For: Growing businesses wanting CRM + marketing + automation in one place.
Why Use It: HubSpot eliminates the need for multiple tools and allows unlimited team access for CRM features.
Drip
Starting Price: $19/mo
14-Day Free Trial + Free Version
- Multichannel email marketing for e-commerce.
Best For: E-commerce stores prioritizing automation + revenue tracking.
Why Use It: Drip focuses on advanced segmentation, personalized offers, and detailed e-commerce analytics.
Keap
Starting Price: $40/mo
14-Day Free Trial
- Drag-and-drop automation with templates.
- Combines CRM, marketing, payments & scheduling.
- Modern, easy-to-use interface.
Best For: Small businesses needing CRM + automation in one place.
Why Use It: Keap saves time with built-in invoicing, forms, booking tools, and automated follow-ups.
GetResponse
Starting Price: $15/mo
Free Version
- Email marketing + landing pages + conversion funnels.
Best For: Businesses needing marketing + funnels + website tools in one platform.
Why Use It: It reduces tech costs by offering AI emails, chatbots, automation, funnels, and landing pages in a single suite.
What Is Marketing Automation Software?
Marketing automation software is a tool that helps a business do marketing tasks automatically. Many marketing activities are repetitive and take a lot of time if done manually. With automation software, tasks like email marketing, online ads, and social media posts can be done faster and more easily. All marketing work can also be managed from one platform.
When used properly, marketing automation combines smart strategies and software to guide potential customers and turn them into real buyers. It sends personalized messages on different online platforms to attract and engage customers. In this process, customers are not just the final goal—they are the center of the business.
In simple words, marketing automation puts the customer at the heart of every action. Good automation reduces extra work, speeds up the marketing flow, and helps build strong relationships between customers and the business.
What Does Marketing Automation Software Do?
People may describe marketing automation differently, but everyone agrees on its benefits. It improves both marketing and sales. If you want to use it for your business, here are the main things it can do:
✓ Lead Scoring
The software helps identify potential customers by tracking their online actions. For example, it checks who clicks links, visits pages, or interacts with emails and social posts. Based on this activity, it scores how likely they are to buy.
✓ Lead Nurturing
After scoring a lead, the software tries to convert them into a buyer. It sends automatic, personalized messages such as product information, offers, or reminders to keep them interested.
✓ Integration
One of the biggest advantages is that it connects with other tools. Your business website, CRM system, and advertising platforms can work together. When something happens on one platform, it can trigger actions on another platform automatically.
✓ Forms and Landing Pages
Forms are used to collect customer information, like email addresses or preferences. These forms are usually found on landing pages, which people visit after clicking a link. The collected data helps create personalized messages for each customer.
Benefits of Using Marketing Automation Software
Marketing automation tools can greatly improve how a business handles its marketing. The main purpose of this software is to manage all marketing channels from one place.
Let’s look at the main benefits of using marketing automation software.
Lead Nurturing
This software makes lead nurturing much easier. It can collect lead and customer information from different social media channels and automatically add them to your mailing list. With tools like lead scoring, you can also categorize leads and send personalized emails based on their interests.
Create Reports
Marketing automation tools monitor all your marketing channels. They collect data and help you create detailed reports that show how people interact with your business. With graphs and statistics, you can evaluate ad campaigns and identify areas that need improvement.
Maintain Consistency
This software performs tasks on time and keeps your processes consistent. You can schedule follow-up messages and plan social media posts in advance. This helps your business stay active without manual effort every day.
Track Contacts
Customers use the internet to search for products and services. Marketing automation software can track their web activities and buying behavior. With this information, you can send the right marketing messages at the right time through different channels. This helps build awareness and interest in your products or services.
Build Relationships
Strong relationships between businesses and customers are essential for success. Marketing automation software helps create personalized messages using customer data. By understanding individual needs and behaviors, you can communicate more effectively, which builds trust and long-term relationships.
Save Time
This software automates repetitive tasks, so your team can focus on important marketing strategies. It can run multiple campaigns, send scheduled emails, respond automatically, and post on social media based on triggers. As a result, your business saves time and effort.
Detailed Profiles
Marketing automation tools gather data from websites, emails, and social media to build detailed customer profiles. These insights help you understand customers better and send ads that match their interests.
Who Should Use Marketing Automation Software?
More businesses are realizing the benefits of marketing automation. However, some industries gain more advantages—especially those that rely heavily on online marketing. Here are a few sectors that benefit the most:
Financial Services
Banks and financial companies can use automation to analyze customer behavior, run nurture campaigns, and use analytics for better decision-making. This helps them deliver services and offers that customers really need.
Telecommunication Companies
Telecom companies constantly introduce new technologies. With automation, they can inform users about new features, send personalized offers, and improve communication based on customer interest.
Tech Industry
The tech industry is ahead of others in using automation. Most tech companies use integrated marketing automation tools, not just basic email services. This helps them manage large customer bases more efficiently.
How Much Does Marketing Automation Software Cost?
Pricing for marketing automation software mainly depends on:
The number of contacts on your list
The number of emails you want to send
Plans can be billed monthly or yearly. On average, the cost ranges from $15 to $50 for 500 contacts. Enterprise-level users often get customized plans based on their business needs.
Types of Marketing Automation Software
Marketing automation software comes in different types, each made for specific needs and marketing plans. Knowing the types helps you pick the right tool for your business:
All-in-One Platforms
These have many features in one, like email, social media, and CRM tools. They are for businesses that want to manage and automate all marketing in one place.
Email Marketing Automation Tools
These tools focus on email. They help businesses plan, send, and track emails, divide audiences, and see how well each campaign works.
Social Media Marketing Automation Tools
These tools help schedule posts on social media and track results. Businesses can plan posts, check engagement, and see how social media is performing.
AI-Powered Marketing Automation Tools
These use artificial intelligence to give advanced features, like predicting customer behavior and sending more personal content, making marketing better.
CRM and CDP Automation
These connect with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Data Platforms (CDP). They help manage customer data, automate messages based on user actions, and keep smooth communication with customers.
E-commerce Marketing Automation
These are made for online stores. They help automate tasks like cart recovery, product recommendations, and managing customer lifecycle.
Important Features of Marketing Automation Software
Good marketing automation software has many tools that help businesses make their marketing work better. Here are the main features and how to use them in a simple way:
Email Automation
What it does: Sends emails automatically when something happens — like when a customer signs up or clicks a link.
How to use it: Send the right emails at the right time to guide customers through their journey and help them buy your product.
Customer Segmentation
What it does: Groups customers based on things like age, interests, or what they bought before.
How to use it: Send different messages to different groups so each person gets what fits them best.
Lead Scoring
What it does: Gives each lead (possible customer) a score to show how likely they are to buy.
How to use it: Focus more on the people who are most likely to become customers. This saves time and improves results.
CRM Integration
What it does: Connects with your CRM system so all customer data is in one place.
How to use it: See everything about each customer easily. This helps you give better and more personal service.
Analytics and Reporting
What it does: Tracks how well your marketing campaigns are doing and collects data about customers.
How to use it: Use these reports to see what’s working and what’s not, so you can make smarter choices next time.
Social Media Management
What it does: Helps you post and manage your social media automatically.
How to use it: Keep your social media pages active without posting by hand. Check the data to see what people like most.
Workflow Automation
What it does: Automatically handles complex marketing tasks with many steps.
How to use it: Makes your work faster, reduces mistakes, and keeps the customer experience smooth.
Each of these features helps make your marketing stronger, faster, and easier — so you can get better results with less effort.
How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation Software
To pick the right marketing automation software, first understand what your marketing needs are and what the software can do. Here’s an easy guide:
Email and SMS Automation
Check if the software can handle complex email and SMS campaigns. It should have templates you can change, scheduling options, and tools to manage campaigns easily.
Know Your Audience
Find out which channels your customers use most—email, SMS, or social media. The software should manage all these channels well so your messages are clear and interesting.
Industry-Specific Features
Different businesses need different tools. For example, online stores may need cart recovery campaigns and dynamic content, while B2B companies may need lead scoring and CRM connections.
Integration with Other Tools
Make sure the software works with tools your business already uses, like CRM systems, online stores, or other marketing tools. This makes work easier and keeps data consistent.
Analytics and Reporting
Choose software that shows clear reports and analytics. This helps you understand how campaigns are doing and what your customers like, which helps plan future marketing.
Budget and ROI
Set your budget and check the possible return on investment (ROI). Think about not only the cost to buy but also upgrades and extra services later.
Compliance and Security
Make sure the software follows marketing laws and data protection rules, like GDPR or CAN-SPAM. Also, check that it keeps customer data safe.
Support and Community
Pick a provider with good customer support, training resources, and an active user community. This helps solve problems, learn new tips, and get the most out of the software.
Final Thoughts
No customer wants to get emails or text messages that are not useful and feel annoying. Today’s people want to feel connected to the brands and companies they buy from. They want to feel special and understood.
Using marketing automation software is a smart way to make marketing easier and better. It can do routine tasks automatically, make messages personal, and organize data from different channels. This helps your business grow and keeps customers happy.
When you think about using marketing automation in your business, remember it’s not just about the tools, but how you use them. Match the software to your business goals, make sure it works well with your current systems, and always think about the customer experience first.
Investing in marketing automation is investing in your business’s future.
It helps you reach and understand your customers better and build a strong foundation for long-term success.