Marketing keeps evolving over the years and that's what makes it both complex and exciting. One of the issues in this field is personalized communication. It gives the prospect the impression of being better considered and promotes conversion.

Marketing automation saves time and offers a 360° view on the whole behavior of your prospects. It allows you to adapt your communication according to the characteristics of each of your contacts, but also to their behavior and their history with you.

Many marketing automation tools exist and we will try to present you the best ones in this article. Before that, we will talk about the selection criteria of a marketing automation tool to consider according to your characteristics.

The selection criteria for a marketing automation tool

As explained above, there are multiple marketing automation tools. All of them offer different features. So how do you identify the best one among them?Before answering this question, let's remember that "THE BEST automation tool" does not exist. It's all about strategy and usage.

Take budget into account

As harsh as this reality is, the budget you can allocate to a marketing automation tool is the number one selection criteria. Depending on the tool and the scale of your campaigns, the budget can range from a few euros per month to several thousand euros for large companies. The more advanced the features, the higher the cost.

Consider the tool's features

Not all marketing automation tools offer the same features and thus do not meet the same needs. From one tool to another, you will find variations regarding:

  • Contact management and especially segmentation
  • Email marketing, i.e. programming and automation of mailings
  • The management of advertising campaigns with Google Ads, Facebook Ads or even LinkedIn
  • Creation of landing pages and lead capture
  • Automation of tasks following triggers
  • Lead scoring to qualify leads and prioritize actions
  • Data analysis to track campaign performance and lead behavior

The complexity of the marketing automation tool

The user interfaces or different features can help make the use more intuitive. But you have to understand that the more complex the tool is, the more time it will take you to get the hang of it. However, it will allow you to go further in the personalization.

Also, don't forget the support rate in your selection criteria. Some marketing automation tools offer phone or online support, where others have no point of contact.

The compatibility of the marketing automation tool with other marketing tools

Some marketing automation tools integrate easily with other marketing tools, while others require more technical skills. Depending on the marketing tools you already use, check if integration is possible. If it is, check the terms of integration such as cost and the level of technical skills required.

Not all marketing automation tools easily offer Abyssale integration, for example. Therefore, you will be limited to launch email campaigns containing a custom image like in this article.

How to choose the best marketing automation tool?

Although the criteria mentioned above will help guide your choice, it is through usage that we determine the relevance of a tool for our needs. Most marketing automation tools offer a free trial period or provide demonstrations. This is a good way to make sure the tool meets your requirements.

The 6 best marketing automation tools

We've prepared a non-exhaustive list of what we think is the best in the marketing automation market.

Hubspot

This is simply the benchmark on the market. This CRM system that integrates different prospecting channels has offerings for companies of all sizes. It facilitates teamwork between sales and marketers.

With Hubspot, you can:

  • Create and manage a blog, landing pages or email campaigns
  • Manage and automate your marketing campaigns
  • Segment your contact lists to facilitate personalization
  • Manage social media
  • Track the behavior of your leads
  • Ensure project and task management for your teams
  • Analyze the performance of your campaigns in real time

For marketing agencies, the tool offers interesting features:

  • Manage multiple clients from a single account
  • Automation of certain tasks in response to specific triggers
  • Reporting and performance tracking tools to communicate their results with their clients

Hubspot's pricing is relatively high and therefore not suitable for all organizations. In addition, the numerous features sometimes make the platform difficult to learn. For optimal use, it is often necessary to get trained.

ActiveCampaign

It is one of the most popular tools on the market, especially among infopreneurs thanks to its intuitive use. ActiveCampaign allows you to manage marketing campaigns, sales and customer relations from a single platform. And it's reasonably priced for the features it offers.

With ActiveCampaign, you can:

  • Create and manage email campaigns
  • Segment your contact lists for personalization
  • Manage and track interactions with contacts through CRM integration
  • Create and manage your ads on social networks
  • Analyze campaign performance in real time

For marketing agencies, the tool offers interesting features:

  • A reporting and performance tracking tool to communicate their results with their clients
  • Automation of certain tasks in response to specific triggers

The contact management tool takes some time to learn. In addition, navigation on the interface can be slow. So many barriers that you will have to face.

SendinBlue

Here is one of the favorite tools of French startups. It must be said that its ease of use and the quality/price ratio it offers are more than appealing. Over time, the tool has grown to offer its users a complete marketing solution.

With SendinBlue, you can:

  • Create and manage email and SMS campaigns
  • Automate marketing campaigns
  • Segment your contact lists for personalization
  • Analyze the performance of your campaigns in real time
  • Send emails at the most convenient times

For marketing agencies, the tool offers interesting features:

  • Managing multiple clients from a single account
  • Automation of certain tasks in response to specific triggers
  • A reporting and performance tracking tool to communicate their results with their clients

SendinBlue is however very restrictive because of the restrictions it imposes on email capture. Moreover, the customer service has limitations for users who have not subscribed to the premium offer. It's best not to have an emergency to deal with if you don't subscribe to this offer.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp has millions of users and the platform owes its fame to its free offer that allows you to send free emails to a few thousand people every month. The tool manages to combine a lot of features and an intuitive interface.

With Mailchimp, you can:

  • Create and manage email campaigns
  • Automate marketing campaigns
  • Segment your contact lists for personalization
  • Analyze the performance of your campaigns in real time

For marketing agencies, the tool offers an interesting feature:

  • A reporting and performance tracking tool to communicate their results with their clients

Although the free offer provides many features, as soon as the contact lists become large, the prices quickly climb. Moreover, the management of contacts is sometimes complicated since they are classified by list and not by profile. Finally, customer support has binding limits.

LaGrowthMachine

LaGrowthMachine is a marketing automation tool that stands out from many others because it offers a multi-channel approach to marketing. It is new on the market and is particularly adapted to the needs of growth hackers/marketers.

With LaGrowthMachine, you can:

  • Create and manage multi-channel campaigns (email, Linkedin, Twitter, etc)
  • Automate marketing campaigns
  • Enrich your CRM with email recovery
  • Segment your contact lists for personalization
  • Analyze the performance of your campaigns in real time

For marketing agencies, the tool offers interesting features:

  • A reporting and performance tracking tool to communicate their results with their clients
  • Automation of certain tasks in response to specific triggers

Although very complete, the tool is not within the reach of all budgets. Moreover, getting to grips with LaGrowthMachine requires time to fully exploit its potential. It's best to be comfortable with other marketing automation tools before using it.

Mailmodo

Mailmodo is a new-age all-in-one email service provider that helps you reinvent your email marketing. The USP of Mailmodo is interactive AMP emails that deliver an app-like experience to your recipients. 

It also offer a drag-and-drop template builder to create custom email templates without coding. Mailmodo also allows you to automate your email campaigns, send targeted emails, measure performance and boost email deliverability.

With Mailmodo, you can:

  • Create and manage engaging email campaigns, including AMP mail (Interactive email)
  • Personalize your email content and segment your contact lists
  • Track and manage interactions with contacts through integrated CRM like Hubspot, WebHooks, and Calendly
  • Analyze real-time campaign performance and gain actionable insights
  • Drip campaign functionality to create personalized customer journeys

For marketing agencies, Mailmodo offers exciting features:

  • Reporting and performance tracking tools to showcase results to clients
  • Automation of tasks based on specific triggers for enhanced efficiency
  • The user-friendly interface ensures smooth navigation and efficient campaign management

Mailmodo offers a cost-effective solution with affordable pricing, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. With a wide range of features that enhance ROI, the platform ensures maximum value for your investment. Unlike other platforms, Mailmodo is user-friendly, requiring no extensive training, allowing you to easily leverage its capabilities for successful email campaigns.

Bonus: Abyssale

On this one, you'll say we're preaching to the choir, but that's because our solution customizes your visuals from any database. It allows you to automate the generation of visuals and videos for :

  • Social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc)
  • E-commerce websites
  • Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc
  • E-mail marketing
  • and more!

You won't manage your contacts, email sending or anything else from Abyssale. But our solution can be an integral part of your marketing automation campaigns and allow you to stand out to your prospects with relevant and personalized visuals.

Finally, the best marketing automation tool is the one that fits your needs and your technical skills or those of your team. This non-exhaustive list should help you make a choice. But, we invite you to continue your research on the subject, because maybe another tool will be more adapted to your use and your budgetary constraints.

Marketing automation aims to promote personalization without spending too much time on it. This is a real topic at Abyssale. That's why we have developed features to automate the personalization of your visuals and integrate them with some marketing automation tools.

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