Marketing Automation Software Options

Email marketing, blogging, landing pages, lead nurturing, and closed loop reporting are all features of marketing automation software. For many businesses, a marketing automation package is becoming a necessary, strategic component for new customer acquisition. These systems allow companies to generate most (if not all) of their lead volume and to advance new leads through the sales process.

Marketers can assess the ROI of their activities at any time with reporting and analytics. With A/B testing, marketers can fine tune their approaches in order to determine the most effective ways to attract site visitors, convert visitors to leads, nurture leads and increase the percentage of leads that the sales team ultimately converts to customers. Here are a few of the popular marketing automation systems that organizations use to supplement their chosen CRM solutions.

Marketing Automation Software by Pardot

Pardot is a B2B marketing automation software that features email marketing, ROI reporting, and landing page-building capability. A landing page is single web page that appears in response to a user clicking an advertisement or call-to-action button. Landing pages are often used to capture information about the user who has clicked on the page; marketers can build these pages and analyze results with Pardot. Pardot also offers lead nurturing and lead scoring tools. Lead nurturing is a process by which leads are tracked and developed into sales-qualified leads. Pardot helps salespeople nurture their leads through automated, targeted e-mail campaigns and continuous e-mail recipient tracking. Lead scoring refers to the process by which salespeople grade leads according to how likely the leads are to be ideal customers. Pardot can automatically score leads based on scoring systems that salespeople can customize to fit their needs.

Pardot also integrates with Salesforce, Sugar, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Netsuite. There are three different Pardot package levels. All three levels allow for features such as list segmentation and SEO (search engine optimization). List segmentation allows Pardot users to organize their email contact lists so that different prospects receive different emails. SEO (search engine optimization) tools help Pardot users compare their website’s popularity with that of their competitors, as well as suggest ways to improve their website ranking in search results.

Marketo and Hubspot (below) also have a similar set of features to Pardot. One offering that sets Pardot apart from these other marketing automation applications is that all of Pardot’s package levels offer an unlimited number of users. However, Pardot does not offer unlimited file hosting as Marketo and Hubspot do. File hosting enables users to upload image files, PDFs, data sheets, and other files that marketers may need to insert into emails, landing pages, or other forms. People who use Marketo or Hubspot can upload as many files as they desire.

Pardot Pro is the most basic package and costs $1,000 per month with an annual contract. Pro includes 50 landing pages, 50 customizable e-mail template forms, 50 lead nurturing campaigns, and 100 custom fields. Marketers can send up to 30,000 emails per month and host files up to 100 MB.

Pardot Enterprise is a level up and costs $2,000 per month with an annual contract. Enterprise includes an unlimited number of landing pages, unlimited customizable e-mail template forms, unlimited lead nurturing campaigns, unlimited custom fields, and social media monitoring and analytics. Marketers can send up to 100,000 emails per month and host files up to 500 MB.

Pardot Ultimate is Pardot’s solution for large organizations and costs $3,000 per month with an annual contract. Ultimate includes an unlimited number of landing pages, unlimited customizable e-mail template forms, unlimited lead nurturing campaigns, unlimited custom fields, and social media monitoring and analytics. Marketers can send up to 500,000 emails per month and host files up to 5 GB.

Marketo Marketing Automation Software

Marketo also provides a suite of marketing automation software products that integrate with popular CRM systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sugar, Zoho, Highrise, Netsuite, Sage SalesLogix, and Sage CRM. Marketers can choose a solution below based on their database size. All three packages have the features listed under Pardot, although some functionality is only available with Marketo Sales Insight. Marketo is known for its strong revenue performance management tools, event marketing tools, and easy-to-use interface.

Spark by Marketo is a solution for small businesses that costs $750 per month and includes functionality for up to 5 users. It allows marketers to send 30,000 emails per month. Spark users can also purchase licenses for Marketo Sales Insight and Social Boost for Spark.

Marketo Professional is Marketo’s most popular package; its cost varies according to the customer’s number of records. Professional includes access for up to 10 users, but customers can add up to 50 users for $79 per user. Professional also allows marketers to send an unlimited number of emails.

Marketo Enterprise is for large organizations and its cost also varies according to the customer’s number of records. Enterprise includes access for up to 25 users, but marketers can purchase an unlimited number of users for $49 per user. Enterprise also allows marketers to send unlimited emails.

Marketing Automation Software by Hubspot

Hubspot is an “all-in-one” marketing automation software that integrates with many CRM systems, including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sugar, Zoho, Highrise, Netsuite, Sage SalesLogix, and Sage CRM. There are three different package levels that include the functionality listed under Pardot and Marketo. Each version supports up to 50 users. For information on additional users, please contact a Hubspot representative.

What differentiates Hubspot from the other two systems is its greater emphasis on content marketing tools. Hubspot has a built-in Content Management System (CMS) and blogging platform. With these tools, Hubspot users can easily create, edit, and publish blog posts to help generate leads. They can then examine how well the blog is performing by looking at blog analytics.

Hubspot Basic starts at $200 per month but pricing varies according to organization’s number of contacts and the number of visits it gets. Marketers can send an unlimited number of emails, and Group Training costs $300.

Hubspot Professional includes more functionality, starts at $400 per month, and pricing also varies according to organization’s number of contacts and the number of visits it gets. Individual Training (8 hours) plus semi-annual check-ins are $2,000. Number of emails may be limited; contact your CRM consultant for more information.

Hubspot Enterprise includes the most functionality, starts at $700 per month, and again, pricing varies according to organization’s number of contacts and the number of visits it gets. Individual Training (8 hours) plus semi-annual check-ins are still $2,000. Number of emails may be limited; contact a HubSpot representative for more information.

Here are some additional marketing automation software solutions to consider:

Eloqua is a marketing automation system that can integrate with salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Oracle/Siebel CRM On Demand.

LeadFormix is a marketing automation system that can integrate with popular CRMs; contact them for more details.

Silverpop is a marketing automation system that can integrate with salesforce.com and other CRMs; contact them for more details.

Infusionsoft is both a CRM and marketing automation system that does not integrate with other CRM systems.

If your company already has a CRM system in place, take a look at the options above and narrow them down to the solutions that can integrate with your system. To learn more about how marketing automation software can integrate with your CRM, and to get assistance with choosing the software that is optimal for your organization, please contact the respective vendors.