Are you planning on integrating automation in your marketing strategy? The best first step is finding the best marketing automation tools for your startup.

51% of companies are using marketing automation. And this number is expected to grow.

Automation makes marketing less time-consuming and easier to manage. There are many automation tool options, each with their own features and benefits. Certain automation tools are better designed for small businesses and startups.

Which tools should you invest in? Here are the best marketing automation tools for 2020.


Ontraport is an automation software for all business functions.

Their software includes everything from a CRM and other features that can help run your small business. Ontraport also includes marketing functions such as landing page creation, email automation, and even marketing functions for e-commerce companies.

If you hope to automate your reporting and performance, you’ll benefit from using Ontraport. This feature is a favourite for existing customers. Ontraport provides clear reports, aiding you in future campaigns.

If you’re looking for a myriad of features, you’ll prefer HubSpot’s Marketing Automation tool.

HubSpot is one of the most famous CRM and marketing automation tools and it uses an all-in-one marketing software approach. You receive everything — this includes email, content creation, lead management, and more.

How do you manage your campaign with all of these tools? HubSpot offers an easy-to-use platform that organises your projects with blocks. The blocks give you a visual of your workflow, helping you stay organised and productive.

HubSpot is one of the biggest names in the automation industry. But they offer many benefits for small businesses, such as free CRM and free access to their Marketing Hub.

ActiveCampaign is one of the best digital marketing automation tools and it offers the best of email marketing and marketing automation.

Their segmentation capabilities are their most powerful. You can separate your customers into different categories. This creates unique content for each of your subscribers.

Do you need more than email marketing? ActiveCampaign offers a range of features. This includes advanced reporting, behaviour tracking on your website, targeting specific social media leads, lead scoring, and customer attribution.

Is this software ideal for startups? It’s best you invest in ActiveCampaign when you’ve had some marketing automation experience. Their platform is effective but advanced — not ideal for the beginner.

SendinBlue is one of the strongest automation tools for digital marketing and it has a unique history. They didn’t start as a marketing automation service — they started as a digital agency.

Eventually, they offered email automation software. The software’s popularity resulted in the adaption of full marketing automation software.

SendinBlue offers traditional automation features, such as lead scoring and reporting. Where this software differs is their free plan.

Their free plan includes 300 daily emails and SMS campaigns. This plan is more robust than what competitors offer. This is ideal for a startup who wants to integrate marketing software but doesn’t have the budget for powerful software.

SendinBlue also offers another huge benefit — their platform is completely GDPR-compliant. This will help relax your compliance worries.

Keap was originally called InfusionSoft. It’s one of the oldest and most trusted marketing automation tools on the market.

They’re especially popular among small business owners and solopreneurs. One of the main reasons for this is their easy-to-use platform.

Let’s say you’re creating a new campaign. You can configure your campaign and get to work on your tasks, all in one place.

Do you own an e-commerce business? If so, you’ll benefit from using Drip’s unique software.

Drip’s features include all marketing tasks e-commerce businesses need to fulfil, such as on-point personalisation and customer data.

Drip is especially famous for its email marketing capabilities. Their email features include automation workflows, email builders, email campaigns, multi-channel marketing, and one-off emails.

Startups will love Autopilot’s simple and visually appealing marketing automation platform as it is one of the best marketing automation tools for small business.

Autopilot is famous for its personalisation benefits. You can create a simple and unique email response that’s automated for sending a follow-up and other tasks.

You can also get to know your customers and leads better with Autopilot’s software. They’re also popular for their interactive content capabilities such as surveys. This will help you capture new leads and you can tailor your email marketing strategy better to their responses.

Are you looking for a powerful email automation tool that fits in your budget? GetResponse should be one of your first options. Their pricing starts out at $10/month, which includes basic email automation functions such as auto-response and email newsletter creation.

If you decide to upgrade to one of their premium plans, you’ll have access to other powerful tools including landing page creation.

GetResponse is also popular among startups because of its easy-to-use platform. Keep in mind, this goes for their basic plan. Their platform becomes more complex with each upgrade.

Are you specifically looking for open-source marketing automation software? Mautic is the best option for you. While it does have its limitations, the software does boast impressive features. You can create your marketing campaign and landing page creation.

Constant Contact is famous for its email automation capabilities. You can easily integrate email auto-responses and edit emails with their easy-to-use tools.

Constant Contact offers so much more. Take its social media automation as an example. You can easily connect your Facebook and Instagram accounts to Constant Contact. The platform aids in ad creation and social media promotion.

Constant Contact is affordable if you’re only looking for email automation. Prices start at $20/month. Additional features raise the price to $45/month. There are additional price upgrades for more email contacts and more marketing features.

Do you want to send unique emails to your customers based on their behaviour? You can automate this task with Customer.io.

Their unique platform makes personalised email creation and offers mobile marketing automation tools and more. You can also view all data in real-time.

Customer.io also offers additional features including conversion tracking, A/B testing, in-context conversations, and customer profiles.

Customer.io doesn’t stop with email automation. They also generate leads and improve customer relations with SMS marketing and push notifications.

Do these features sound too advanced for your budget? Customer.io offers a free plan for 200 subscribers and 400 monthly email credits.

Are you focusing your automation efforts on social media? If so, you’ll gain many benefits from using AdRoll. Their automation centres around retargeting your social media followers, specifically on Facebook and Twitter.

Want to attract and retarget customers on all platforms? AdRoll offers a powerful cross-channel marketing automation system that connects your social media, website, and email platforms.

AdRoll can also help you gain new social media followers and website visitors with interest and demographic targeting.

Why is AdRoll so effective? They use a unique strategy called D2C marketing, or direct-to-consumer marketing.

Are you not sure if AdRoll is what your small business needs? This tool offers a free two-week trial, with no contract and no commitment.

Voice-based interactions are at the forefront. Now, you can automate your marketing efforts with a tool such as Dialog Tech. They were formerly called Ifbyphone and the tool is one of the most innovative marketing automation tools.

You can measure your voice-marketing and voice interaction success.

Dialog Tech offers many unique features, including phone surveys, call-tracking, reverse lookup, caller-profile data, in-call scoring, conversation analytics, voice broadcasts, geolocation routing, SMS, and many more.

Dialog Tech also uses unique tools to gain marketing insights from your customer service calls. You can use this to create a powerful customer service phone strategy to win customers over every time.

Do you want to automate your marketing and sales process? If so, you’ll prefer using LeadSquared. LeadSquared specifically targets small- to medium-sized businesses and aims to help businesses capture leads and increase sales.

LeadSquared’s platform includes essential tasks such as online campaign creation, inbound email marketing, website chat optimisation, and even measures the effectiveness of your phone calls.

Compared to the other tools on this list, LeadSquared’s platform utilises the sales funnel to automate your leads.

LeadSquared is one of the pricier options on this list — their basic plan starts at $400/month. But they do offer a free trial if you’re unsure about this software.

Genoo automates many marketing tasks, such as customer profiling, capturing leads, and new landing page creation. Genoo stands out from competitors because they offer lead activity tracking, their own CMS platform, and even SEO analysis.

This platform is pricier than others on this list. Their basic plan starts at $199/month and is only available for three users and five lead capture forms.


Now that you know the best marketing automation tools, do you need more digital marketing news and trends?

We have a whole section devoted to what’s new in digital marketing.

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