What’s a Marketing Automation Software Solution?
To understand what a marketing automation software solution is, you first have to understand what we mean by marketing automation.
In the simplest terms, marketing automation is the process of minimizing human intervention in the marketing activities of an organization by getting a machine or tool to handle repetitive tasks.
Here’s a real-time example of how this works:
When a lead is captured via one of your landing page forms, there has to be an immediate response thanking them for the move and asking them to confirm if they’d like to be added to your email list.
That means your team has to be always on standby. But is this even realistic? And does your team even have the bandwidth to manually responds to all the leads coming in at a time?
Delayed responses may mean you’re losing prospects. But with the help of an automation software solution that picks up basic details of your prospects, you can send them automated emails.
How to Tell If Your Business Needs a Marketing Automation Solution
It’s wrong to buy a marketing automation tool simply because other people are using it.
The thing is, not every business out there needs an automation tool. And before you even think of adopting one, it would be helpful to ensure you have a true marketing operation first.
You can tell if your business is ready for marketing automation if it checks the following three boxes:
You have a team that’s only dedicated to marketing (at least one person): Automation will scale and streamline your marketing efforts. What it won’t do is substitute the actual marketing know-how.
If you’re just starting or are newly employed to perform a bunch of marketing activities, then an automation tool may not help you that much. It just can’t solve your problem.
If you have identified the right marketing channel to work with: An automation tool will help you scale your marketing operations. However, it wouldn’t be wise to waste it on something that doesn’t work. Sorry to say this but an automation tool isn’t here to help you identify which channel works and which one doesn’t.
You Already Have a Strategy: Using the same logic as the statement above, an automation tool will only work if you already have a strategy. The last thing you want to do is to experiment with it.
More Money than Time: Automation tools offer to help you automate your marketing operations. They’re here to help your team do more or be more productive in less time.
That means money. You’re not just freeing your marketing team huge chunks of their time. Instead, you’re using money to buy off this time.
That goes on to show why automation software solutions don’t come cheap.
You have to check all these boxes first before you can go ahead and apply for any automation tool. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money and resources on a tool that won’t be helping you that much.
7 Types of Marketing Automation Tools
Don’t dive all in by going with an all-in-one automation solution. Instead, you have to consider your needs when choosing a use case.
Here are the 7 types of marketing automation tools:
1# All-in-one marketing automation
An all-in-one marketing automation solution is ideal when your organization has successfully hit on a series of marketing channels, all of which work for it – it does matter which channels, but they have to be a handful of them.
Here are the boxes to check:
- You have success with more than one channel
- You’re already increasing your marketing budget to scale up your operations
- Your marketing team plans to scale the channels that are already working for them or are looking to explore new avenues
Examples of all-in-one marketing automation tools: HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot, Active Campaign, Omnisend
Eloqua
Pricing: You have to contact Oracle for a price quote
Eloqua is now part of Oracle’s tool suite. It’s an all-in-one marketing automation tool that can integrate with nearly all marketing tools out there. To be more specific, it boasts over 700 integrations.
The tool works even better with B2B companies and marketers.
Omnisend
Pricing: They have a free plan for running a basic email marketing campaign. They also have two paid plans: Standard (which goes for $16/month) and Pro Plan (which goes for $99/month).
Omnisend would easily blow all the other automation tools out of the water. But what sets it apart from the other automation tools of its kind is the omnichannel functionality.
By this we mean it’s possible to add multiple channels to a single automation workflow: SMS, Facebook Messenger, Push Notifications, and more. This enables you to create immersive omnichannel experiences, where you automatically send your customers messages via the channel they opted for.
Social media marketing encapsulates so many platforms and marketing strategies, with so many things that can be automated – starting with content publishing to monitoring and analytics.
It’s also safe to say that any brand can benefit from a social media scheduling tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer.
But before you rush to use any full-fledged social media automation solution, you must first establish that your business meets the following criteria:
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- Your social media account is being handled by a team of two or more people
- Your brand isn’t just active on one social media network, but on a number of them
- You have multiple uses for social media (for advertising, offering customer support, engagement, and so on).
Examples of social media automation tools: Hootsuite, Buffer, CoSchedule, Sprout Social, Mention
Hootsuite
Pricing: Ranges from $29/month to $599/month depending based on the number of social media profiles, users, and more
Hootsuite is a full-feature social media automation tool that allows you to schedule posts, monitor social media conversations on your brand and industry, and curate content from a pre-approved content library.
The platform has everything you’ll ever need to make your social media presence stand out.
Buffer
Pricing: Ranges from $15/month to $99/month based on the number of social media accounts, users, posts, etc.
Buffer started as a content scheduling tool, but eventually, it would grow to reflect how brands use social media. You can still use the tool to schedule and curate social media posts. But there’s more to it. For example, their “Analyze” and “Reply” feature enable you to connect social media and the teams within your organization.
CoSchedule
Pricing: Ranges from $80 to $400 a month, depending on the number of social media accounts, features, users, etc.
CoShedule automation helps you with planning and strategizing your social media content. It’s here to help you map out your content, including what you say and how you say it.
It’s a great tool for taking a broader look into your content pipeline. They also offer suggestions on the type of content that strikes a chord with your target audience so you can know what content to create or reuse.
Sprout Social
Pricing: Ranges from $99 to $249 a month, based on users accounts, features, etc.
Sprout Social is heavily endowed with social automation features, enough to give any tool on the list a run for its money. All their solutions have been individually tailored to your social media needs – from social media management to customer care, marketing, employee advocacy, and data intelligence.
Mention
Ranges from free to $600/month, based on several factors, including the scale of your social listening operations
Mention focuses on social listening, exactly as it says on the tin. It’s here to help you track your brand mentions or your competitors’ across all social media platforms.
You can use it to keep track of your brand, as well as the conversations it sparks on social media and all across the web.
Other than that, it’s a great tool for monitoring industry trends.
3# Email marketing automation
Email automation is the first thing that comes to mind whenever someone mentions marketing automation.
It’s also a lot cheaper than all the other forms of automation. It goes without mentioning that they have the widest use case.
Your team will benefit from email marketing automation if it meets the following criteria:
- You’re not new to email marketing. You’ve already experimented with it and seen some baseline success.
- Your business needs to start sending transactional emails. It’s a great idea to automate the process.
- Your team has been manually sending these emails to customers
Examples of email automation tools: Mailchimp, Automizy, Constant Contact, customer.io, drip
Automizy
Pricing: Ranges from $9 to $199/month, depending on your number of active subscribers
Automizy is a top-rated email marketing solution designed with one thing in mind – to increase your email open rate.
It features a ton of features, all of which work together to increase your open rate. Examples include the AI-driven subject line tester, A/B testing, segmented email automation, and resend unopened emails.
It’s a great tool for keeping your email campaign personalized and consistent.
Constant Contact
Pricing: Ranges from $20 to $335/month, based on list size and features
Constant Contact is an email marketing tool specifically designed to work with small businesses. With this tool, you can automatically collect new emails, set up automated trigger campaigns, and send segmented email messages.
The program has all the email marketing features you’ll ever need, without the clutter that comes with most email marketing tools.
Customer.io
Pricing: Ranges from $150 to $1000/month, based on the list of features and support
Customer.io is an email automation tool for subscription-based businesses. Its primary area of focus is customer engagement. Meaning, it enables you to engage your customers throughout their lifecycle.
They have tons of integrations, which makes it easy to funnel your data and segment your audience for an email campaign that best resonates with your target audience.
Drip
Pricing: Ranges from $49 to $122/month, based on email subscribers
Drip is an email marketing automation tool for e-commerce businesses. That’s to say, it works with nearly all the e-commerce tools businesses use. It can personalize your content and automate your campaigns based on user behaviour.
It goes beyond email automation by ensuring that all your messaging stays consistent and are working together to drive your customers towards making a purchase.
4# Pricing automation
Pricing automation tools are designed to help you optimize your pricing model and maintain competitive prices. It can track your competitors’ prices in real-time and adjust your prices accordingly.
These automation tools tend to work well with e-commerce. If you have an e-commerce store and are targeting a price-conscious market, it helps to have a price automation solution as part of your marketing strategy.
Examples of pricing automation tools: Prisync, Wiser, Informed, Skuuudle
Prisync
Pricing: Ranges from $59 to $299/month, based on the number of products and features
Prisync a pricing automation solution for e-commerce. E-commerce customers are a price-conscious lot. The only way a brand can survive is by reacting to competitive pricing changes in time.
Prisync offers to help you automate the process by ensuring you’re always on top of your competitors’ pricing.
Wiser
Pricing: Contact Wiser for a quote
Wiser offers to help you devise a pricing strategy. Not only that, the tool also enables you to A/B test your prices and estimate demand. The goal is to find the right sweet spot for maximizing your bottom line.
Wiser offers to help you come up with a pricing strategy that works – not just for you, but for your customers as well.
Informed
Pricing: Ranges from $129 to $319/month, based on repricing strategies, marketplaces, support, and more
Informed is a pricing automation tool for e-commerce and any other type of online selling. The tool supports 13 different marketplaces, but with tools that work with virtually any platform.
They have a unique approach to repricing. You can use the tool to come up with your repricing strategy or work with any of their AI-powered suggestions.
Skuuudle
Pricing: Ranges from $89 to $999/month, based on features and analytics
Skuuudle is a great pricing automation tool for brands with large product catalogues. It can effortlessly monitor your competitors’ pricing and reprice your products accordingly.
With this tool, we can almost guarantee you’ll never lose a customer because of pricing.
It can pull data directly from any e-commerce store, marketplace or direct seller.
5# Customer journey automation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ5uXZFQ2Ys
A customer’s journey occurs in three stages:
- Lead generation
- Lead nurturing
- And lead scoring
Customer journey automation tools are designed to make each one of these steps flow smoothly without the need for a human babysitter.
These tools work better with B2B and enterprise sales teams, and this is how you tell if your business needs one:
- You already have a mapped-out customer journey, from taking a new lead to making sales
- You have a marketing and sales team that works closely together in managing the customer journey
- You’re using an ABM or account-based sales model
Examples of customer journey automation tools: Leadfeeder, Act-on, Lead Squared, Infusion
Leadfeeder
Pricing: Ranges from free to $55/month, based on unique leads and features
Leadfeeder is a great customer journey automation tool for enterprise and B2B marketers.
When companies and their representative or employees visit your website, do you just let the opportunity slip by?
Leadfeeder offers to help you capitalize on every company visit you get. You can use it to surface that information and create custom feeds that narrows down to the best fit leads.
You’ll also be notified automatically via email whenever a potential lead visits your website so you can know who to target.
Act-on
Pricing: Ranges from $900 to $2, 000/month, based on users and features
Act-on is another great tool that’s been specifically created for enterprises and B2B marketers.
Their focus is on helping you connect the two most important things to an enterprise marketer:
- Dropped breadcrumb leads on the web
- Your marketing team and your sales department
That way, it will be a lot easier for you to identify the leads to pursue.
6# Advertising automation
Digital ads have grown to be a little complicated nowadays, and it’s only natural that marketers will want a helping hand.
From building ad creatives across different channels to optimizing your bidding strategies, ad automation tools come in handy when you’re looking to scale up your digital ad efforts.
Not so many businesses can benefit from using an advertising automation tool, this is how you tell if your business needs one:
- You’ve been seeing traction from multiple advertising channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on).
- You’re looking to perfect your bidding strategies and ad creatives instead of just testing them
- You’re planning to advertise to a hyper-targeted market segment, such as remarketed audiences
Examples of advertising automation tools: AdRoll, Metadata.io, Zalster, Revealbot, Trapica, Shoelace
AdRoll
Pricing: You have to contact AdRoll for a quote
AdRoll is one of the best digital advertising platforms you’ll ever come across. It’s a simple tool that simplifies the process of running ads across channels, from social to display to email.
They also offer retargeting campaigns that work to ensure you’re able to stay on top of your prospects’ minds at all time.
Metadata.io
Pricing: Ranges from $1000 to $5000, depending on the channel and your monthly ad spend
Metadata.io enables you to run account-based ads. Through multivariate testing, the tool can help you identify the right combination of ad copy, creative, and placement for the best possible results.
Zalster
Pricing: Starts at $39/month, after which the amount you pay will be determined by your Facebook ad spend (usually 2% of your ad spend). They also have a 14-day free trial – with no credit card info.
Zalster is an ad automation tool focused on Facebook and Instagram. It’s a great tool for automating and optimizing your Facebook and Instagram ads – and mostly because, it simplifies your daily workload.
Revealbot
Pricing: Ranges from $49 to $2, 999, depending on your monthly ad spend
Revealbot is quite similar to Zalster, only that it focuses on Facebook and Google – not Instagram. It’s designed to provide an in-depth analysis of your campaign so you can know which campaign to double-down on.
Trapica
Pricing: Contact Trapica for a quote
Trapica uses AI to help you find the most targeted audience to spend your ad money on.
7# Loyalty Marketing Automation
Loyalty Marketing is one of the most overlooked aspects of marketing automation.
Yet it capitalizes on one of the most powerful marketing tools – word of mouth.
So, how do you tell if your business could benefit from an automated referral or loyalty program:
- You’ve already seen the demonstrated results of word-of-mouth
- Your products are straightforward and don’t need extensive research and negotiation for a potential customer to make a buying decision
- The average lifetime value of your customers is high enough to justify the high upfront investment
If your business meets the above criteria, then you be sure an automated referral or loyalty program will be taking your business to a new height.
Examples of referral and loyalty automation tools: Referral Rock, Tap Mango, Ambassador, Clutch, Belly by Mobivity
Referral Rock
Pricing: from $200 to $800/month, based on members and program
Referral Rock is here to help you determine which referral program works best for your business – friend-to-friend, business partner program, or influencer marketing.
A marketing automation software can reduce the workflow of a Singapore digital marketer significantly, quite relieving. As a marketer in the current competitive digital business landscape, the to-do list can be overwhelming ranging from optimizing targeted marketing campaigns to facilitating campaign performance tracking.
Marketing automation software will allow you to focus on the critical objectives and at the same time uphold efficiency. Automating marketing processes allows you to reach out to your target market fast.
Increase productivity, flexibility, as well as remain competitive by automating marketing processes. The best marketing automation software should be easy to use, provide detailed reporting, integrate with CRM, as well as promote flexibility.
Top 10 Marketing Automation Software
Below are 15 of the top marketing automation software you can use to improve your Singapore marketing strategies.
MailChimp
MailChimp is popular among marketers due its diversity. It is the world’s largest automation platform and is compatible with a number of operating systems and this makes it ideal for most businesses.
Some of its crucial marketing features include ROI tracking, A/B testing, campaign management, email marketing, and sales intelligence.
To further support marketing strategies, it provides helpful guidelines, case studies and on-site training for marketers. It is ideal for businesses of all sizes except freelancer businesses.
One of the added advantages is its ability to track consumer behavior and create a forecast marketing plan. Its ability to integrate with other platforms such as Squarespace allows marketers to diversify.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is an “all under one roof” software for marketers. This software will organize, track, and nurture all leads as well as already existing customers.
You do not have to worry about making payment after a specific duration. It is 100% free. It comes equipped with sales productivity tools. Consider synching the sales productivity tools with your inbox to ensure you never miss a message from your clients.
Sealsoar
Sealsoar allows marketers to automate and optimize search and shopping ad campaigns. You can keep track of what the target market is looking to buy.
It is compatible with all operating systems. Also, you can link the software to social media sites.
Reduce your workload by more than 50% with this software and at the same time, attract more potential consumers. For instance, its ability to create a link makes it easy to monitor ads and campaigns in real time.
This software integrates the Google AdWords and Google Merchant Centre to produce a high-ranking ad fast. You no longer need to attain statistics from Google Search manually.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign provides minimal tools to automate marketing. The diversity of its tools makes it ideal for every marketer.
Its functionality is unbeaten in the market. For example, it has a live chat feature that most of the conventional marketing automation software do not have this feature. You can enjoy one-on-one conversations. The direct link promotes raw feedback.
Raw feedback is important especially when venturing into new markets as it provides a better understanding of consumer needs and preferences
It is compatible with various operating systems. Link it to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote business visibility.
Pardot
B2B businesses will benefit from Pardot software. It is ideal for easing communication between marketers and their sales teams. They work with marketing automation software to create marketing campaigns and maximise efficiency.
Just like other platforms, it is compatible with a majority of operating systems. You can use it to monitor social media marketing strategies on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with Pardot.
It does not allow for customizable CTA and is ideal for drip campaigns, campaign management, email marketing, sales intelligence, and segmentation and targeting.
Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft is ideal for marketing a small business in Singapore. The key objective is to organize, save time, while at the same time grow sales for the company. Competing in the market with giants can be tormenting but not anymore.
The software offers a web-based solution and has the ability to coordinate tasks across different departments.
Compatibility with different operating systems is not a problem. You can also link with some social media platforms to help monitor business visibility. If this is the first time using a marketing automation software, you can test it by subscribing to the trial package.
Its key features include contact management, customer opportunity management, lead management, and mobile CRM. Marketers can monitor campaign ads even while they are on the go using smart mobile devices. Note that regular monitoring promotes convenience and efficiency.
Marketo
Marketers seeking to grow revenue and boost customer relations will appreciate Marketo. It is easily scalable, reliable and easy to use compared to other marketing automation software.
It remains competitive in the market for various reasons. First, it is compatible with the major operating systems. These include Windows, Mac, iPhone, and web-based operating systems. Secondly, you can link it to social media sites that are popular in the country such as Facebook and Instagram.
Core features of the software include email marketing, lead management, search marketing, and sales intelligence. However, it does not allow for Google AdWords visibility. It is ideal for both large and medium business sizes.
LeadSquared
The main goal of LeadSquared is to help businesses and companies to manage their marketing campaigns better.
Features that stand out include search marketing, drip campaigns, Google AdWords visibility, as well as for analytics ROI tracking.
It is compatible with all operating systems so that every customer can have a view of all opportunities. Also, you can link the software to social media sites. The ability to create a link makes it easy to monitor ads and campaigns using one software.
The software has a link to sources such as video guides, on-site training, case studies, and help guides. These support systems make it easier to use the software especially if you are new in the Singapore market.
It supports phone, email, and online (ticket) features. This support systems help marketers to provide feedback and information to consumers more conveniently. Large, medium and small businesses can use the software.
ContactPigeon
E-commerce companies can use ContactPigeon to meet specific customer needs. Marketers can deliver custom messages to different customers. Gone are the days when customers were all put together.
Despite the difference in operating systems, the software works perfectly well with all of them. Match this aspect to the ability to link content and ad campaigns to social media sites. The result is unbeatable customer reach.
Outstanding key features include search marketing, email marketing, lead management, and campaign management. Combine these features to ensure consumers can relate to company products and services. The software does not offer customizable CTAs or Google AdWords visibility.
The resource center has plenty of materials that Singapore marketers can read to understand how it functions The resources include help guides, on-site training, and blogs.
SharpSpring
Medium and small businesses will benefit from SharpSpring visitor ID Tracking. Some of its vital marketing features include ROI tracking, A/B testing, campaign management, email marketing, and sales intelligence.
It supports marketing strategies, provides helpful guidelines, case studies and on-site training for marketers.
The support resources are ideal for beginner and advanced marketers. They include on-site training, white papers, infographics, webinars, as well as video and help guides.
Important Features to look out for in Marketing Automation Software
Not every software works for all businesses. Alike, marketers have their preferences depending on their product/ service and their marketing strategies. You must be careful when making a decision.
Automated marketing software will allow you to focus on the critical objectives while at the same time uphold efficiency. The Singapore market is rapidly increasing, and everyone wants a share of the market. Automating marketing processes allows you to reach out to your target market fast.
Despite the differences, the following are key features to look out for:
Email Marketing
Email marketing has been around for a while and a majority of business in Singapore have an active emailing list. However, with additional features such as A/B testing, you will be able to customize content. Different consumers will receive content/information relevant to their needs. Employ email automation software successfully.
Visitor Tracking
Your software should indicate who is visiting your site. It should provide more information such as the time they spend on the site. This kind of additional information will help you to understand the needs and preferences of the customers.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is a popular platform for consumers. Being able to interact with them is every marketer’s dream. Identify software that can link ads and campaigns to such platforms.
It should be able to schedule posts and ads. An added advantage would be to evaluate the level of engagement between consumers and the content.
Automatic Lead Assignment
As a marketer, you should use software that can assign leads to your sales teams. The ability to communicate conveniently and fast will help capture potential clients on time.
Ease of Use
Go for a software that is easy to use. The user interface should not be confusing or complicated. Imagine having to spend several hours to find a given function.
Closing Remarks
Reduce marketing workload and increase your productivity by using the best marketing automation software. Contact us for more tips about the best marketing automation software for your business and digital marketing services in Singapore.
