Best Marketing Automation Software for Ecommerce Shortlist
Here’s the shortlist of the best ecommerce marketing automation tools that I’ll cover in this article, with detailed summaries below:
- HubSpot Marketing
Best marketing automation software for large marketing teams or enterprise organizations
- ActiveCampaign
Best marketing automation software for lifecycle marketing
- SendinBlue
Best marketing automation software for targeted communication
- Ortto
Best marketing automation software for attribution reporting
- Drip
Best marketing automation software for dynamic audience segmentation
- MailChimp
Best marketing automation software for new business owners
- GetResponse
Best marketing automation software for small businesses
- Keap
Best marketing automation software for simple pipeline creation
- Act-On
Best marketing automation software for small marketing teams
- Constant Contact
Best marketing automation software for ecommerce event marketing
Marketing automation software helps ecommerce businesses attract and retain more customers. These solutions enable you to create personalized shopping experiences for your customers, increasing their satisfaction and loyalty toward your brand.
Read my review to discover the best marketing automation software for ecommerce you can use today. My review includes a short description and a snapshot of each solution that made the list, along with a comparison chart so you can quickly identify the best tool for your needs.
How I Selected the Best Ecommerce Marketing Automation Software
Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best marketing automation software for ecommerce for this list? To develop this top 10 list, I initially evaluated a wide range of ecommerce marketing automation software with positive user ratings.
For the next step, I compared each software using the selection criteria below to see how each system stacked up against the next one. I also drew on my previous experience using automation software to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value.
If you have general questions about ecommerce marketing automation tools or how to pick the best option for your organization, take a look at my People Also Ask section below. Or, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries, if that's what you need the most.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main criteria I used to develop my list of the best ecommerce marketing automation software for this article:
Audience segmentation
Marketing automation cannot produce results without audience segmentation because your prospects and customers are in different stages of awareness, so you should address them accordingly.
Templates
Designing emails and/or landing pages from scratch is time-consuming, so I selected automation software that offers a variety of templates to choose from.
Multi-channel marketing
Even though each ecommerce business has one channel that earns more than others, the reality is that you cannot focus on a single channel in today’s crowded business environment. That’s why I selected tools that allow you to automate marketing activities across multiple channels.
Software integrations
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a marketing tool that does it all. As a result, your marketing automation software should integrate with the rest of the marketing apps you use on a daily basis.
Pricing
Marketing automation software helps you put your sales funnels on autopilot, so they’re priced accordingly. I selected tools that offer a good value for their cost.
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Overviews of the 10 Best Marketing Automation Software for Ecommerce
Here’s a brief description of each marketing automation software for ecommerce that showcases each software’s best use case, their noteworthy features, and some pros & cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface too.
HubSpot Marketing
Best marketing automation software for large marketing teams or enterprise organizations
HubSpot is a CRM platform with the necessary software, integrations, and resources to connect the customer service, sales, content management, and marketing aspects of a business. Their HubSpot Marketing Hub is a powerful product, including numerous marketing automation features that can help companies with their campaigns.
Why I picked HubSpot Marketing: Their automation tools allow you to produce marketing campaigns using real-time data gathered from customers who go through established automated workflows. You can use intuitive visual workflows and bot builders to automate emails and forms, and create robust automated campaigns through email, chat, and ads. Additionally, you'll gain access to HubSpot’s wide library of integrations to extend your campaigns across different channels.
Automating marketing campaigns through HubSpot will help you quickly move prospects down the marketing funnel, leading to more conversions. Their no-code visual editor simplifies the process, giving you tools to easily envision and create sophisticated and targeted workflows. In addition to marketing, you can also use the platform to automate other tasks, including setting up webhooks, scoring leads, rotating leads to sales, and managing data.
HubSpot Marketing Standout Features and Integrations
Features include automated workflow tools, integrated forms, landing pages, email automations, social media integrations, SEO tools, and attribution reporting.
Integrations include popular eCommerce platforms like BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, Stripe, and WooCommerce, as well as with CRM platforms like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Pros
- Up to 1,000 automation workflows (Enterprise plan)
- Some features are available for free
- Industry leader in the marketing software space
Cons
- Numerous features can take some time to master
- Pricing structure for multiple products is a bit complex
ActiveCampaign
Best marketing automation software for lifecycle marketing
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation tool that helps businesses win more repeat customers with drip campaigns.
Why I picked ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign is a top-rated marketing hub that enables companies to plan and execute complex marketing campaigns that rely on customer data. The solution makes it easy to customize each campaign based on customer behavior, allowing you to replicate a one-on-one shopping experience for each user in your contact list.
ActiveCampaign helps you gain more returning customers with personalization. The software enables you to move prospects through the awareness stages and send them upselling or cross-selling communications based on their behavior.
ActiveCampaign Standout Features and Integrations
Features include welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, cross-sell emails, list segmentation, drag-and-drop automation workflows, CRM software, contact management, lead scoring, and forms & surveys creation.
Integrations include BigCommerce, Calendly, Magento Commerce, PayPal, Shopify, Stripe, Square, Typeform, WooCommerce, WordPress, and others.
Pros
- Out-of-the-box automation templates
- Simple to create branded email templates
- Easy to set up powerful automations
Cons
- Has a bit of a learning curve for beginners
- Customizing an email’s design can sometimes be difficult
SendinBlue
Best marketing automation software for targeted communication
Sendinblue is a marketing automation tool that enables companies to segment their lists and target them with relevant communications.
Why I picked Sendinblue: Sendinblue helps you break down your contact list using advanced filters. You can create custom automated workflows for each customer segment, so you can target each segment with relevant messages.
Sendinblue enables you to engage your customers via website chat, email marketing, or SMS marketing. You can also create targeted user experiences with dedicated landing pages for each customer segment. The software also enables you to export your contact lists to social media ad accounts, so you can include them in your retargeting campaigns.
Sendinblue Standout Features and Integrations
Features include contact segmentation, marketing automation, retargeting, CRM, A/B testing, landing page creation, forms & surveys, and email heatmap functionality.
Integrations include BigCommerce, Elementor, LeadSync, Magento, Microsoft Dynamics, PrestaShop, Shopify, Thrive Leads, WordPress, and others.
Pros
- No limit to subscriber database
- Straightforward onboarding
- Easy to customize emails
Cons
- Advanced tutorials can be difficult to find
- Automating a drip marketing campaign is not very intuitive
Ortto
Best marketing automation software for attribution reporting
Ortto is a marketing automation solution that helps ecommerce businesses understand which marketing channels works best for them with detailed attribution reporting.
Why I picked Ortto: Ortto is a platform that connects to all your work tools through native or third-party integrations. The software pulls data from all your tools to create detailed reports on your marketing activities and their results. This helps you understand what works and why, so you can redistribute your budget and improve your results.
Once you understand your data, you can use Ortto to make the most out of it. The software uses all the information at its disposal to create audience segments. You can use these segments to create tailored customer journeys and place the right message in front of your target audience, no matter which lifecycle stage they’re in.
Ortto Standout Features and Integrations
Features include SMS marketing, popups, surveys & forms, in-app nudges, analytics and reporting, email marketing, email templates, multilingual marketing, and customer journey templates.
Integrations include Calendly, Facebook, Google Workspace, Livechat, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Stripe, Zendesk, and others.
Pros
- Enables you to track KPIs across multiple platforms
- UI is easy to navigate and understand
- Great attribution functionality
Cons
- No possibility to delete creates audiences in bulk
- Platform can slow down when processing large sets of data
Drip
Best marketing automation software for dynamic audience segmentation
Drip is a marketing automation platform that helps you improve your marketing efforts with dynamic audience segmentation.
Why I picked Drip: Drip enables you to improve the customer experience your ecommerce website offers with personalization. The software helps you dive deep into your contact list and segment your list based on previous customer interactions, order history, and user behavior.
Drip updates your customer segments in real-time, so every customer interaction is accounted for when you create a new email list. This allows you to send highly relevant emails to every contact, increasing customer satisfaction.
Drip Standout Features and Integrations
Features include A/B tests, lead nurturing, lead management, omnichannel communication, multi-step surveys, and post-purchase workflows.
Integrations include BigCommerce, Box, ClickFunnels, Hootsuite, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Magento, Shopify, Typeform, WooCommerce, and others.
Pros
- Great reporting features
- Campaign duplication feature helps you save time
- Excellent list segmentation options
Cons
- UI takes some getting used to
- Has a learning curve, especially for beginners
MailChimp
Best marketing automation software for new business owners
Mailchimp is a marketing automation software that helps new entrepreneurs set up their email campaigns so they can start attracting new subscribers and build their contact lists.
Why I picked Mailchimp: Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing tool of all time. The tool’s generous free plan makes it the top choice for startups and SMBs, and its easy-to-use marketing automation features help business owners who are not familiar with digital marketing deploy campaigns without previous experience.
Even though most people know Mailchimp as an email marketing platform, the tool is now a proper marketing automation software, allowing you to build custom purchasing paths, segment users based on their activity, and retarget them with pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
Mailchimp Standout Features and Integrations
Features include welcome sequences, abandoned cart reminders, user tagging, email templates, surveys, cross-selling automation, and A/B testing.
Integrations include Adobe Commerce, Google Analytics, Instagram, Salesforce, Shopify, Squarespace, QuickBooks, WordPress, and others.
Pros
- Excellent deliverability
- Simple interface that’s friendly toward beginners
- Good variety of email templates
Cons
- Analytics could be more granular
- List segmentation could be better
GetResponse
Best marketing automation software for small businesses
GetResponse is a marketing automation software that has been helping small businesses grow with out-of-the-box solutions for over 20 years.
Why I picked GetResponse: GetResponse is a great tool for small businesses because it offers everything you need to start advertising your products. The software enables you to create a nice-looking website from scratch without writing code. You can integrate the website with popular ecommerce marketplaces or shopping carts, and you can use GetResponse’s marketing tools to grow it.
GetResponse offers pre-built workflows you can use to deploy automated marketing campaigns. The workflows are designed to capture leads, segment them according to predefined characteristics, and nurture them with relevant offers.
GetResponse Standout Features and Integrations
Features include website builder, email autoresponders, landing pages, list segmentation, email templates, a free image library, analytics, and reporting.
Integrations include BigCommerce, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Magento, Mixpanel, PrestaShop, Salesforce, Shopify, WordPress, and others.
Pros
- Proactive customer support team
- Good variety of website and landing page templates
- Easy to create branded email templates you can reuse
Cons
- Customer segmentation takes some getting used to
- Some landing pages can load slowly on mobile devices, which can affect your SEO score
Keap
Best marketing automation software for simple pipeline creation
Keap (formerly known as Infusionsoft) is a marketing automation tool that enables you to create multiple pipelines so you can qualify leads for your sales team.
Why I picked Keap: Keap helps you build pipelines with pre-made templates. The software’s visual automation builder enables you to combine multiple tools to create complex automations. This helps you save time by skipping over repetitive tasks or marketing processes, such as tagging and segmenting your contact list. It also allows you to create predictable pipelines and nurture sequences too.
Keap helps you retain more customers with automated emails and newsletters. The tool allows you to set up post-purchase follow-ups to increase customer satisfaction, and it enriches your contact list based on user behavior.
Keap Standout Features and Integrations
Features include automated follow-ups, CRM, appointment booking, sales nurturing, a visual automation builder, personalization triggers, and advanced analytics.
Integrations include AdEspresso, BigCommerce, Google Workspace, Instapage, Microsoft Outlook, PayPal, QuickBooks Online, Xero, WooCommerce, and others.
Pros
- Enables you to create complex email marketing funnels
- Straightforward social media management tools
- Helps you deliver relevant content to each pipeline
Cons
- UI could be simpler
- Has a learning curve
Act-On
Best marketing automation software for small marketing teams
Act-On is a marketing automation platform that helps small marketing teams execute complex strategies for their ecommerce brands.
Why I picked Act-On: Act-On is a platform that helps teams perform a variety of marketing tasks in order to produce results for their websites. The software offers native integrations with popular MarTech tools, and pulls data from those tools so marketers can make data-driven decisions about their campaigns.
Act-On allows marketers to create multi-channel shopping experiences for their customers. The software enables marketing professionals to enrich their email templates with dynamic content and personalize them based on user activity, so they feel personal to the recipient.
Act-On Standout Features and Integrations
Features include website building, landing page creation and optimization, contact list segmentation, lead scoring, CRM integration, account-based marketing functionalities, and forms.
Integrations include GoToWebinar, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Netsuite, Salesforce, Sugar CRM, Zendesk Sell, Zoom, and others.
Pros
- Dedicated support representatives
- Comprehensive training materials
- Good attribution capabilities
Cons
- Some email templates can be difficult to customize
- Has a learning curve
Constant Contact
Best marketing automation software for ecommerce event marketing
Constant Contact is a marketing automation platform that helps companies organize ecommerce events.
Why I picked Constant Contact: Constant Contact is the ideal solution for ecommerce businesses who rely on events to launch new products. The software’s campaign management features enable you to promote your event on social media, track your attendees across different platforms, sell tickets, and automate your communications.
Constant Contact enables you to build relationships with your event attendees. The tool helps you connect with your audience on social media and via email, so you can keep in touch long after your event is finished.
Constant Contact Standout Features and Integrations
Features include event marketing, landing pages, A/B testing, SMS marketing, a mobile app, and social media marketing.
Integrations include BigCommerce, Canva, Etsy, Eventbrite, Google Ads, Salesforce, Shopify, SurveyMonkey, Vimeo, WooCommerce, WordPress, and others.
Pros
- Enables you to promote your event on multiple social media platforms at the same time
- Good variety of templates
- Visual landing page and email builder
Cons
- Reports could be more granular
- Changing one element in the landing pages can affect other elements, which can be time-consuming
The 10 Best Marketing Automation Software for Ecommerce Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top marketing automation software systems for ecommerce. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software for your budget.
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | HubSpot Marketing Best marketing automation software for large marketing teams or enterprise organizations | 30-day trial + free plan available | From $50/month | Visit Website |
2 | ActiveCampaign Best marketing automation software for lifecycle marketing | 14-day free trial | From $39/month | Visit Website |
3 | SendinBlue Best marketing automation software for targeted communication | Freemium version available | From $25/month | Visit Website |
4 | Ortto Best marketing automation software for attribution reporting | 14-day free trial | From $99/month | Visit Website |
5 | Drip Best marketing automation software for dynamic audience segmentation | 14-day free trial | From $39/month | Visit Website |
6 | MailChimp Best marketing automation software for new business owners | Freemium version available | From $13/month | Visit Website |
7 | GetResponse Best marketing automation software for small businesses | Freemium version available | From $19/month | Visit Website |
8 | Keap Best marketing automation software for simple pipeline creation | 14-day free trial | From $169/month | Visit Website |
9 | Act-On Best marketing automation software for small marketing teams | Free demo available | From $900/month | Visit Website |
10 | Constant Contact Best marketing automation software for ecommerce event marketing | 60-day free trial | From $9.99/month | Visit Website |
Other Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best marketing automation software for ecommerce list:
- Rejoiner
Best marketing automation software for increased customer lifetime value
- Klaviyo
Best marketing automation software for direct-to-customer brands
- Omnisend
Best marketing automation software for SMS marketing
- Braze
Best marketing automation software for consumer-centric interactions
- Emarsys
Best marketing automation software for out-of-the-box automations
- Listrak
Best marketing automation software for AI-driven campaigns
- Shopify Flow
Best marketing automation software for Shopify users
- Dotdigital
Best marketing automation software for contact scoring
- Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation
Best marketing automation software for account-based marketing
- Marketo Engage
Best marketing automation software for account-based marketing
People Also Ask
Have additional questions about marketing automation software? No worries, I’ve got your back.
What is marketing automation software?
Marketing automation software is a type of tool that helps you automate tasks commonly associated with marketing campaigns, such as email marketing, lead generation, campaign management, social media advertising, and more.
What does marketing automation software do?
Marketing automation software helps you attract and retain more clients with less effort. The end goal of using marketing automation software is to increase your profits without increasing your workload.
How will marketing automation software benefit my ecommerce business?
Marketing automation software offers multiple benefits, such as increased marketing efficiency, better customer engagement, increased customer lifetime value, and increased profits.
As Yasin Altaf, Executive Director of GoodCare Software, said:
“As an online business, staying in consistent contact with your target audience is the basis of your success. Automation software for email campaigns can send out information for promotional or retentional purposes or as soft reminders to lost customers or for abandoned carts. Businesses can also boost cross-selling and up sales by offering bundled packages or product suggestions based on learned user behavior. Lastly, AI marketing automation software can be used to gather leads for specially created landing pages.”
More Ecommerce Resources
Marketing automation software can take your business to the next level. Here are some other top-notch resources if you want to learn more about growing your ecommerce business:
- What Is Marketing Software And How Can It Benefit Your Business
- What Is Ecommerce Marketing Automation And How Can It Improve Your Business Strategy
- 10 Best Ecommerce Marketing Analytics Software In 2023
- Omnichannel Marketing Strategy For Beginners + Useful Tools
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