Did you know that 70% of Europeans are more likely to buy if they get a personalised experience. And, 76% of companies use a marketing automation platform to achieve this goal.
There are tonnes of marketing automation platforms out there, and some shine above the rest. After extensive knowledge and testing here are our top 5.
Automate your customer journeys
The Best 5 Marketing Automation Software
We’ve boiled it down to the top 5 most popular automation platforms:
- Deployteq
- Salesforce Pardot
- Klaviyo
- Ometria
- Braze
Our Criteria for Choosing The Best Marketing Automation Tool
When finding the perfect platform for your organisation, there are several key factors to consider.
Price
The crucial first step. Analyse your budget. What are you willing to spend? Marketing Automation Platforms range from €30 per month to more than €10,000 per month. That’s a big difference, and some businesses may simply not have the budget to go for all singing, all dancing platform.
Our recommendation is to think about your end goal with this software. What do you want to achieve, and where will you be in the next 3 years? Does the platform allow for growth along with your business without becoming absurdly expensive? Keep a lookout for platforms which charge only for what you send, not the amount of contacts within your database.
Channels and product development
As a marketer, you know, that marketing best practices and trends are forever changing with the wind. The biggest viral topic of today could be forgotten by tomorrow.
It’s essential to look for software that keeps up to date with current movements and trends and has the flexibility to move with it. What channels do they have available? Is this software future-proof?
For example, mobile apps have rapidly become a pillar of the omnichannel mix. A report from Forbes suggests that 40% of Gen Z shoppers look to mobile apps for inspiration on new products. Is your company prepared for a mobile-first world?
Customer service
It doesn’t matter if you’re new to marketing automation or not. Navigating a new system can be tricky. Terminology can differ from product to product, and let’s be honest – when was technology 100% reliable 100% of the time.
It’s important to look at consumer reviews on a platform such as G2. Get a feel for other’s experience of your desired platforms and ensure you know you’ll have someone to rely on if everything doesn’t go exactly to plan.
Integrations
Everyone’s tech ecosystem looks different. Integrating your current landscape into a new platform is existential to its success and something often overlooked.
Many platforms have their own technical ecosystem, meaning you’re coerced into buying all the extras that come with it. This can prove costly. With a platform such as Deployteq, you can switch on and off modules and integrations as you need them.
Data capabilities
Data and privacy laws are on the move. You want to ensure the platform you take on is built to deal with these rapid changes, has them in hand and provides a solution.
Managing the maze of your data can be tricky. 56% of marketing influencers found data management to be the most challenging technology to implement, says a report from FindStack. Data is the gold of our generation, and if handled correctly, it can accelerate your ROI and marketing efforts.
Ensure your investment in Marketing Automation is also one that comes with a data management solution.
The Best Marketing Automation Platforms: Explained
Deployteq
Deployteq is the most extensive personalisation tool with a one-of-a-kind journey builder for the most advanced automation capabilities without the need for technical knowledge or training. Deployteq offers the perfect tools for Retail and Travel industries. It’s complete messaging capabilities for website and mobile apps, as well as for channels like email, SMS, push notifications, and WhatsApp make it a unique piece of technology on the market.
- Price: Custom pricing for each business. It’s typically considered a middle of the road price point when in comparison with tools such as Salesforce being the higher tier, and Mailchimp being lower tier.
- Channels: Omnichannel marketing automation focus, automating communications via email, mobile app marketing, SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp Business, RCS and more
- Data capabilities: Native data management and relational data model, giving you the 360-degree customer profile you’ve always wanted. Collect various data points from multiple locations, store and use them to fuel your communications.
- Customer service: Excellent multi-lingual customer support, with a dedicated team to help you every step of the way
- Privacy, security & deliverability: Deployteq, built under strict regulations within the EU and data storage in Europe’s AWS makes it the most secure choice for organisations in industries such as Finance and Insurance.
Salesforce Pardot
- Price: $$$$
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud combines various products for:
- Customer data aggregation (i.e., a CDP).
- Cross-channel campaign orchestration.
- Data visualisation, and reporting.
- Marketing and sales automation.
- Content management.
- Loyalty management.
- Account engagement (powered by Pardot).
- Customer service: A large community of users and a wide range of resources available. English only customer support via email and chat only. Typically support is through a third-party partner, direct contact with the Salesforce team requires a more complex route.
- Data capabilities: Robust data management capabilities, with advanced analytics and reporting available at extra cost.
- Privacy, security & deliverability: Salesforce’s data centers sit within the USA. Their platform does include features which allow tracking on an individual level, Two-Factor Authentication and other methods of keeping your platform safe and secure.
Klaviyo
The platform is focused on email and SMS and it helps companies expand their subscriber lists, create segments based on behaviours, interests, LTV, and more. It also comes with email and SMS templates, as well as pre-built automations for various use cases.
- Price: $$$
- Channels: Focus on email and SMS marketing automation, with good segmentation and personalisation capabilities.
- Data capabilities: Native data management capabilities, with a focus on customer profiling and segmentation. Klaviyo’s recommendations are limited to popular / trending products.
- Customer service: English only customer support via email and chat only. Typically suppport is through a third-party partner, direct contact with the Salesforce team requires a more complex route.
- Privacy, security & deliverability: Klaviyo’s data centers are in the USA. Their platform does include features which allow tracking on an individual level and variations of consent levels. Comparably to Deployteq, Klaviyo also has a dedicated team of deliverability experts.
Ometria
Ometria is retail-specific and focuses its functionality on consumer behaviour and purchase activity.
- Price: $$
- Channels: Focus on email marketing automation, with advanced segmentation and personalisation capabilities
- Data capabilities: Advanced data management capabilities with a data platform that brings together data from various touchpoints to build a unified profile of each shopper.
- Customer service: Excellent customer support, with a dedicated team however development is slow in terms of new features and there’s little movement with their roadmap.
- Privacy, security & deliverability: Ometria hosts it’s data in Ireland. Like Deployteq, they also follow rigorous security procedures in-house to ensure all customer data is protected.
Braze
Braze is a comprehensive customer engagement platform. It supports a range of channels, including email, SMS, WhatsApp, and push notifications.
- Price: $$$$
- Channels: Braze only supports a limited number of channels such as SMS, WhatsApp, Mobile App and email. Braze current lacks advanced web personalisation.
- Data capabilities: Native data platform, giving a 360-degree customer profile.
- Customer service: Substantial English customer support, however slightly limited in some regions due to the lack of multi-lingual support.
- Privacy, security & deliverability: Braze’s data centers sit within the USA. Their platform does include features which allow tracking on an individual level, Two-Factor Authentication and other methods of keeping your platform safe and secure. The Deliverability Center in Braze allows you to discover and troubleshoot any potential issues with email deliverability.
Choosing the Right Marketing Automation Tool
There are most definitely plenty of fish in the sea when searching for a marketing automation provider. Our critical takeaway is not to make knee-jerk decisions. Research each company, read reviews and decide on the key KPI’s and goals of your specific business.
Think about the end-user, will the platform you choose become a blessing or a curse? Remember, marketing automation is built to free marketers to do what they do best, creative thinking.
Still not sure which solution is right for you? We have an army of around 1,000 marketing experts all over the globe; we’d be happy to have a chat with you and impart some of our wisdom. Get in touch here.
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