The Complete Guide to Marketing Automation Tools 2024

Marketing automation tools allow businesses to streamline repetitive tasks and provide personalized experiences. Top tools include HubSpot for its all in one CRM and automations. Eloqua and Marketo are powerful but pricey options best for large enterprises.

Customer.io and ActiveCampaign offer flexibility and value for growing companies. Constant Contact and Mailchimp are affordable starting points for small businesses focused on email marketing. Overall, the right tool depends on your budget, capabilities needed and growth plans.

Table of Contents

Best Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing automation tools allow companies to streamline and automate repetitive marketing tasks in order to provide more personalized customer experiences. This comprehensive guide will go over 13 of the top marketing automation tools on the market today and provide an in depth analysis of each.

Adobe Marketo Engage

Adobe Marketo Engage is perhaps the best known marketing automation tool, and for good reason. It’s one of the most mature tools, with a full suite of features that not only help marketers manage email campaigns, but also provide excellent tools for sales teams. Marketo Adobe Engage also has a vast marketplace, with dozens of integrations spanning social media, CRM, paid ads, and more to fully optimize your marketing efforts.

Whom it’s for: Adobe Marketo Engage is best suited for large enterprise organizations with complex marketing, sales, and customer service needs.
It’s closest to: Salesforce Marketing Cloud in terms of functionality and being geared towards large enterprises.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $12,000/month based on number of leads, contacts, and features needed.

Oracle Eloqua

Oracle Eloqua is a robust marketing automation platform best suited for large B2B organizations. It offers lead management, campaign tools, and revenue attribution capabilities integrated with account based marketing functionality.

Whom it’s for: Oracle Eloqua is aimed at large B2B companies with complex sales and marketing workflows.
It’s Closest to: Adobe Marketo Engage in terms of its robust feature set geared towards sophisticated B2B use cases.
Pricing Starts at: Pricing starts at $10,000/month and is based on number of contacts, accounts, and additional services required.

Customer.io

Customer.io allows users to manage omnichannel messaging and automations through powerful workflows and APIs, integrated data tools, and flexible pricing plans.

Whom it’s for: Customer.io is best for growing companies with omnichannel needs from small brands to enterprises.
It’s closest to: Active campaign in terms of affordability and ease of use but with more flexibility for complex automations.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $49/month for the basic plan and scales based on number of contacts and property.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact provides standard email creation and list capabilities suited for small businesses and non-profits with basic email marketing needs.

Whom it’s for: Constant Contact is best for small businesses and non-profits with basic email marketing needs.
It’s closest to: Mailchimp in terms of focus on small businesses and email as the primary channel.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $20/month for the basic plan and scales based on number of contacts.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers an all-in-one CRM, marketing automation and more via an integrated suite best for growing companies seeking holistic customer relationship tools.

Whom it’s for: HubSpot is best for growing companies with integrated marketing, sales, and service software needs.
It’s closest to: Marketo and Eloqua with more ease-of-use and affordability for SMBs.
Pricing starts at: Starter pack is free, Professional is $50/user/month, and Enterprise is custom priced.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud caters towards large enterprises with sophisticated B2C needs through best-in-class personalization, campaign management and analytics capabilities.

Whom it’s for: The Salesforce Marketing Cloud caters towards large enterprises with sophisticated B2C needs.
It’s closest to: Adobe Marketo Engage in terms of depth of features and reporting for complex use cases.
Pricing starts at: Pricing is custom and depends on number of contacts and required solutions/services.

Active Campaign

Active campaign is a beginner friendly all in one platform with marketing automation, workflows and additional tools for small businesses and agencies on affordable pricing.

Whom it’s for: Active campaign is best for small businesses and agencies with affordable all-in-one needs.
It’s closest to: Constant contact and HubSpot starter in terms of affordability and ease of use for small teams.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $9/month for up to 500 contacts.

Keap

Keap offers CRM, quotes, invoicing and an intuitive platform designed specifically for client relationship management within small service businesses.

Whom it’s for: Keap caters towards solopreneurs and small service businesses for client relationships.
It’s closest to: Active campaign in terms of affordability and ease-of-use focus but tailored for clienteling.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $15/month for up to 250 contacts.

Moosend

Moosend offers standard email creation, lists, and basic automations workflows suited for companies needing low-cost solutions for basic email and marketing automation needs.

Whom it’s for: Moosend is best for companies with basic email and marketing automations needs.
It’s closest to: Active campaign and constant contact for affordability and focus on email.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $19/month for the basic plan.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo provides robust site tracking, product alerts, abandoned cart recovery using purchase behavioral data for highly targeted automations. Really well-suited for online brands.

Whom it’s for: Klaviyo caters towards mostly ecommerce brands with its focus on online storefronts.
It’s closest to: Customer.io and others in features but tailored specifically for shopping data.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $49/month for the basic plan.

EngageBay

EngageBay provides CRM, marketing automation and collaborative project management tools integrated in one affordable all-in-one solution ideal for agencies.

Whom it’s for: EngageBay is best for companies seeking an affordable all-in-one for small-to-mid sized needs.
It’s closest to: HubSpot Starter in features but more tailored towards sales, support and project management.
Pricing starts at: Pricing starts at $29/month per user with additional services.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp offers standard email design, lists and basic automation capabilities for starting and scaling email programs, best for small businesses on a budget.

Whom it’s for: Mailchimp is best for small businesses and creators with basic email needs.
It’s closest to: Constant Contact with focus on email and affordability for small teams.
Pricing starts at: Free plan supports up to 2,000 contacts, paid plans from $10-$300 per month.

FAQs

How long does it take to see results from marketing automation?

Most experts recommend giving it 2-6 months as it takes time to set up campaigns, workflows and measure performance metrics.

What are some alternative options if marketing automation is not affordable?

Other software like email automation, CRM or social posting tools can provide some benefits of automation at lower cost. Manual processes also still allow basic automation.

Can marketing automation replace my team’s work?

While automation streamlines tasks, tools still require strategies, content creation, testing and optimizing campaigns which marketing teams must oversee. Technology enhances processes, not replaces work.

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide covered 13 top marketing automation tools on the market. The right solution depends on factors like team size, budget, requirements for specific channels and integrations. While some like HubSpot or Marketo provide more robust enterprise level features, there are also good basic options for any size business to start automating marketing. Testing multiple platforms is recommended to choose the best fit.