With B2B marketing automation software, generating quality leads and increasing revenue becomes easier and faster. These tools help you make smarter decisions and carry out strategies smoothly by using unified customer data, powerful marketing features, and reliable AI.

The best marketing automation platforms bring together sales, marketing, and customer service teams. Without the right tools, B2B marketing can be complicated and costly. Marketing automation software automates time-consuming tasks, reduces errors, and frees up time for your marketing team.

But with so many options available, how do you choose the right B2B marketing automation tool for your business? We’ve compared some top choices like Zoho Marketing Plus, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Zapier to help you find the right platform for your needs.

Table of Content

• What are B2B Marketing Automation Platforms?
• Do you need a B2B marketing automation tool?  
• Examples of B2B marketing automation in action    
• What are the best B2B marketing automation platforms?  
• Features to Consider When Choosing a B2B Marketing Automation Platform  
• How to use B2B email automation to align sales and marketing  
• Choose the Right B2B Marketing Automation Platform for Your Business    

What are B2B Marketing Automation Platforms?

Marketing automation is like having a smart assistant for your business. They automatically handle tasks like sending emails, tracking leads, and managing campaigns, saving time and effort.

These platforms use data and technology to monitor customer actions online, such as visiting a website or clicking an email. When something happens, they can automatically respond, like sending a follow-up email or scoring a lead based on their interest. This helps businesses stay connected with potential customers without manual effort.

When choosing a B2B marketing automation platform, look for features like lead management, email automation, and performance tracking.

Do you need a B2B marketing automation tool?  

Are you struggling to manage your marketing tasks and leads? Are you finding it hard to keep up with potential customers and nurture them through the sales funnel? If so, a B2B marketing automation tool might be just what you need.

Here are some signs that you could benefit from a marketing automation tool:

• You’re spending too much time on repetitive tasks: Sending emails, updating spreadsheets, and manually following up with leads can eat up valuable time.

• You’re struggling to manage a growing number of leads: Keeping track of potential customers and nurturing them effectively becomes difficult without automation.

• You want to improve lead conversion rates: Automation helps you identify and prioritise hot leads, increasing your chances of closing deals.

• You need better insights into your marketing performance: Automation provides data and analytics to help you measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.

• Your sales and marketing teams aren’t aligned: Automation can bridge the gap between the two teams by providing shared access to customer information.

If any of these sound familiar, a B2B marketing automation tool could be a game-changer for your business.

Examples of B2B marketing automation in action  

B2B marketing automation is not just a concept – it’s a reality that many businesses are already leveraging to boost their marketing efforts. Here are some examples of marketing automation in action:

1. Welcome Emails: A software company uses marketing automation to send a welcome email to new subscribers, providing them with valuable resources and setting the tone for a nurturing relationship.

2. Lead Nurturing: A manufacturing firm automates a series of emails to educate potential customers about their products, helping to build trust and move them closer to a purchase decision.

3. Abandoned Cart Reminders: An e-commerce company uses marketing automation to send reminders to customers who left items in their cart, encouraging them to complete the purchase.

4. Personalised Recommendations: A services company uses data and marketing automation to send personalised recommendations to customers based on their past interactions and preferences.

5. Lead Scoring: A consulting firm uses marketing automation to assign scores to leads based on their engagement and behavior, helping the sales team focus on the most promising prospects.

6. Social Media Monitoring: A marketing agency uses marketing automation to track social media conversations about their brand and respond promptly to customer inquiries and concerns.

7. Customer Onboarding: A SaaS company automates a series of emails and tasks to ensure new customers get the most out of their product, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates.

What are the best B2B marketing automation platforms?  

When choosing the best marketing automation platform for your business, there are plenty of options. Here’s a comparison of some of the most popular tools across different categories.

Email Marketing Automation Tools  

Email marketing software makes it easy to stay connected with your customers by automating tasks like replies, promotions, welcome messages, and more. The right tool saves time and keeps your emails relevant. Here are some popular options:

• Zoho Marketing Plus: Offers everything you need to automate your email marketing at an affordable price. From email marketing to marketing automation to unified analytics and down to team collaboration. It also has a dedicated email marketing tool called Zoho Campaigns.
• Constant Contact: An all-in-one platform with customizable and user-friendly email automation tools.
• Mailchimp: Popular among beginners, though less scalable than other options.
• HubSpot: A CRM platform with basic email automation features.
• ActiveCampaign: An affordable, beginner-friendly CRM and email automation tool.
• ConvertKit: A favourite among creators, designed specifically for them.
• GetResponse: An easy-to-use email marketing tool with limited features.

Social Media Automation Tools  

If you market your business on multiple social media platforms, social media automation tools can save you time and keep your brand consistent. These tools let you post across various platforms simultaneously, schedule content, and automate posts to maintain your online presence without extra effort. The best tools also integrate with your lead generation and CRM platforms, helping you track social media engagement as your business grows. Here are some top social media automation tools for 2024:

• Zoho Marketing Plus: This marketing software suite has a social media automation tool called Zoho Social. With this you can schedule posts in advance, do social listening and monitoring, track performance, use AI to create content, and collaborate with teams across multiple social media platforms.
• Hootsuite: A social media calendar and scheduler for planning, syncing, and tracking posts.
• Buffer: A toolkit designed for small businesses to manage social media.
• Sprout Social: A comprehensive tool for managing and analysing social media accounts, though it can be pricey.
• SocialBee: An AI-powered, user-friendly social media management platform.
• Constant Contact: offers automation, analytics, and strategy tools for social media marketing.
• Sprinklr: A unified customer experience management (CXM) platform that includes social media automation features.

E-commerce Marketing Automation Tools  

Managing an e-commerce business requires more than traditional marketing. E-commerce marketing automation tools integrate with platforms like Etsy, Shopify, and Stripe, allowing you to automate emails, messages, and ads to attract more customers. While general automation software can work, tools specifically designed for e-commerce offer features that boost sales, especially for small or solo businesses. Here are some popular e-commerce automation tools:

• Zoho Marketing Plus: The Zoho software suite has a dedicated marketing automation software called Zoho Marketing Automation that can be used for ecommerce. With this you can create sequences along the buyer’s journey, you can build follow up campaigns. You can build landing pages, you can set up sms marketing automation, and more.
• Klaviyo: Offers multiple e-commerce integrations for effective marketing automation.
• Shopify Plus: A subscription service for Shopify users that includes hosting, automation, and third-party integrations.
• Constant Contact: Integrates with major e-commerce platforms and targets interested customers to increase sales.
• Omnisend: An email and SMS marketing platform tailored for e-commerce businesses.
• Dotdigital: A customer engagement platform with e-commerce integrations and email automation features.

Lead Generation and Nurturing Tools  

Lead generation is a key focus of marketing automation tools, but some platforms are specifically designed to generate, manage, and nurture leads over time. These tools handle repetitive tasks like analytics, data recording, and outreach, saving time for your sales team. Here are some popular lead generation platforms for 2024:

• Zoho Marketing Plus: With Zoho Marketing Automation, you can build landing pages and nurture leads. You can also pair this with Zoho sites and Zoho CRM to have a seamless transition from marketing to sales and customer service.
• Leadpages: Creates attractive landing pages to attract more customers, best when paired with email marketing and CRM tools.
• Unbounce: An affordable landing page builder with AI-powered automation.
• Constant Contact: Helps sales teams create targeted content, convert leads, and retain customers.
• Marketo Engage: A lead nurturing tool by Adobe, designed for ongoing engagement.
• OptinMonster: Boosts website engagement with pop-ups and other features.
• Intercom: An AI-driven customer service platform that generates leads within your website.

Workflow Automation Tools  

Workflow automation tools simplify in-house processes by integrating your marketing software, data storage, and communication tools to reduce errors and save time. Here are a few well-reviewed workflow automation tools for 2024:

• Zoho flow: Similar to Zapier. Zoho flow helps you to connect multiple apps together to create a workflow.
• Zapier: A widely used platform that integrates various workplace apps.
• Make: Formerly Integromat, a platform designed for creators to automate workflows.
• Microsoft Power Automate: An automation platform tailored for Microsoft tools.
• Workato: Provides automation solutions for different business teams, including sales and HR.
• Tray.io: An AI-powered automation tool with multiple integrations.

Loyalty and Referral Marketing Automation Tools  

Loyalty and referral tools are perfect for businesses focused on keeping customers coming back. These tools help you create and automate loyalty campaigns, collect customer data, send special offers, and distribute rewards like discount coupons. Here are some popular loyalty automation tools for 2024:

• Zoho Thrive: This is a platform for organising, managing and tracking your affiliate marketing efforts.
• Smile.io: A loyalty app that lets shoppers earn points as they shop.
• Yotpo: A marketing automation tool focused on customer retention, with built-in loyalty and referral features.
• ReferralCandy: An automated referral program with flexible pricing options.
• LoyaltyLion: A tool for creating custom loyalty and referral programs.
• Annex Cloud: A comprehensive platform for managing loyalty programs for businesses of all sizes.

Advertising Automation Tools  

Advertising automation tools help bring customers back to your business by generating targeted ads. For instance, if someone visits your site and leaves without making a purchase, these tools can track their data and display your ads on their social media platforms. Here are some advertising automation tools popular among B2B businesses in 2024:

• AdRoll: Specialises in automated ad retargeting with various pricing options.
• Metadata.io: Generates paid ad campaigns across platforms like Google Ads.
• Zalster: An automation platform tailored for e-commerce advertising.
• Revealbot: Manages campaigns for Facebook, Instagram, and Google.
• Trapica: A full-service platform for ad retargeting, campaign management, and analysis.
• Shoelace: Provides hands-on creation and management of paid ad campaigns.

Pricing Automation Tools  

Pricing can be time-consuming for retail businesses, requiring extensive research and market comparison. Pricing automation tools use algorithms to analyse the market and set prices automatically, saving time and ensuring competitive pricing. Here are some popular pricing automation tools:

• Prisync: Continuously monitors competitor prices to keep your pricing competitive.
• Wiser: A tool for mid-to-large-sized retail businesses that tracks competitor prices.
• Informed: A cloud-based platform that compares your prices with major retailers like Amazon and Walmart.
• Skuuudle: Focuses on accurate, real-time price monitoring and tracking.

All-in-One Marketing Automation Platforms  

Using multiple automation tools can be expensive and create workflow and data-sharing issues. For a more integrated approach, consider an all-in-one B2B marketing automation platform. These platforms combine various tools, such as CRM, email automation, and social media marketing, into a single solution, reducing errors and improving coordination. Here are some top all-in-one marketing automation platforms for 2024:

• Zoho Marketing Plus: An All in one marketing automation platform for businesses of all sizes.
• Constant Contact: Offers a comprehensive platform for lead generation and CRM with multiple automated features. Try it with a free personalised demo.
• Marketo Engage: A full-service marketing platform from Adobe.
• Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly Pardot): Designed for Salesforce customers, focusing on B2B marketing automation.
• HubSpot Marketing Hub: A popular all-in-one platform suitable for retail and e-commerce.
• ActiveCampaign: Includes marketing automation features with a focus on e-commerce.
• SharpSpring: Combines marketing automation with CRM and ad retargeting capabilities.

Features to Consider When Choosing a B2B Marketing Automation Platform  

When selecting a B2B marketing automation platform, look for these essential features:

Lead Management  

Lead management features in B2B marketing automation software helps you focus on the most interested leads, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales. For Lead management, there are some major features you may want to consider.

• Lead scoring: helps you identify the most promising leads by assigning points based on their actions, like opening emails or visiting your website. Higher scores indicate stronger interest, allowing you to focus on those most likely to convert.

• Lead nurturing: involves sending targeted messages to keep potential customers engaged until they’re ready to buy. This process builds relationships over time, guiding leads toward making a purchase.

• Lead tracking: allows you to monitor the progress of each lead, helping you identify which ones need more attention and which are ready to convert.

Email Marketing  

Email marketing is a crucial part of B2B marketing automation. It’s all about sending targeted messages to multiple people at once. A good email marketing feature should help you with:

• Easy Email Creation: Platforms offer pre-designed templates to make email creation easy. This will help you to create engaging emails that people want to read.

• A/B Testing: This feature allows you to test different email versions to see which one performs better, like trying two subject lines to boost open rates. With this, you get to understand how your emails are performing, and what you need to change or focus on.

• Performance Tracking: Through these features, you get insights into email opens, clicks, and conversions to understand what works and what doesn’t. This guides you to make data-driven changes to improve results.

Integration Capabilities  

Integration capabilities refer to how well your marketing platform works with other tools you use. For example, if you use a CRM system to manage customer data, you want your marketing platform to connect seamlessly with it. This makes sharing information between systems easier.

If your business relies on social media, look for a platform that integrates well with sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, allowing you to post content directly from your marketing tool.

Strong integration capabilities streamline your work by connecting your marketing platform with your CRM, social media, and other tools. This saves time and lets you focus on growing your business. When choosing a B2B marketing automation platform, prioritise one with solid integration capabilities.

Reporting and Analytics  

Reporting and analytics help businesses see how well their marketing efforts are performing. For example, in an email campaign, reports show how many people opened the email, clicked links, or made a purchase. Analytics highlight which parts of the campaign are successful and which need improvement.

A good marketing automation platform provides clear reports with graphs and charts, showing key metrics like lead generation and email performance. This allows you to identify what’s working and adjust your strategy as needed, helping you improve your marketing efforts.

Scalability and Flexibility  

Scalability means the platform can grow with your business. As you gain more customers, a scalable platform can handle the increased load without issues, like a car that can go faster no matter how many passengers it has.

Flexibility means the platform can adapt to your changing needs. Just like a toy that can transform into different shapes, a flexible platform can easily add new tools or features as your business evolves. Whether you need to send more emails, track more leads, or connect with new apps, a flexible platform adjusts to fit your needs.

How to use B2B email automation to align sales and marketing  

B2B email automation can help align sales and marketing teams by streamlining communication, lead nurturing, and follow-up processes. Here’s how:

1. Define Shared Goals: Establish common objectives, such as lead conversion rates, sales quotas, and customer engagement metrics.

2. Segment and Target: Collaborate on segmenting the email list based on demographics, behavior, and preferences. Then, create targeted campaigns for each segment.

3. Develop a Lead Nurturing Strategy: Design a series of automated emails to educate and engage leads throughout the sales funnel. Ensure consistent messaging and branding across both teams.

4. Set Up Automated Workflows: Use email automation tools to create workflows for lead nurturing, follow-up emails, and triggered responses. Ensure sales and marketing teams are notified of lead interactions and conversions.

5. Monitor and Analyze Performance: Track key metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Regularly review and optimize email campaigns based on data insights.

6. Foster Collaboration and Feedback: Schedule regular meetings between sales and marketing teams to discuss campaign performance and lead quality. Encourage feedback and suggestions for improving email automation strategies.

Choose the Right B2B Marketing Automation Platform for Your Business  

B2B marketing automation software combines customer data, advanced marketing features, and AI to make decision-making easier and strategies more effective. It streamlines sales, marketing, and customer service functions, reduces errors, and enhances team coordination, saving time by automating manual tasks.

To get started, consider platforms like Zoho Marketing Plus, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Zapier, and evaluate your current challenges and goals to select the best fit.

We can help you pick the best marketing automation software, and implement it for you from start to finish. Ready to get started? Book a discovery call with us today to explore how marketing automation can transform your business!