The Ultimate Guide to Email Automation Software: 10 Must Have Tools

Email campaigns are an effective way to reach out to your target audience, share valuable content, and nurture leads. However, setting up email campaigns and ensuring that your message reaches the right people at the right time can be quite overwhelming. Aside from this, it involves a lot of manual work which can hinder productivity.

This is where email automation software comes in handy.

They can help you send personalized, timely, targeted messages, increasing engagement and conversion rates. Automation ensures that your emails are sent on time, without any manual intervention. Whether it’s for monthly newsletters, promotional campaigns, or lead folow-ups.

In this article, we talk in detail about:

• Email automation software and its importance
• Key features of email automation tools, and
• 10 best email automation tools

Table of Contents

• What is An Email Automation Software?
• 10 Best Email Automation Platforms in 2024
• Features of Email Automation Tools
• Conclusion

What is An Email Automation Software?

An email automation software automates the process of sending out emails. It allows businesses and marketers to automatically send emails to their target audience based on user behavior, pre-defined conditions, and various other parameters.

These software solutions streamline tasks such as sending welcome emails, follow-up messages, newsletters, and personalized communications. 

Email automation software often includes features for list segmentation, content personalization, analytics, and reporting. This helps organizations improve engagement, nurture leads, and enhance the overall effectiveness of their email marketing efforts.

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10 Best Email Automation Platforms in 2024

Here is a detailed overview of some of the best email automation software solutions available in the market today.

1. Drip

Drip is a marketing automation software that helps you run multichannel campaigns on auto-pilot.

The platform allows you to build custom workflows to help you engage and nurture your prospects according to the funnel stage they are in.

Here are some of Drip’s email automation features.

• Segmentation: Drip allows you to segment your database according to customer engagement and behavior. This way you can send out persoanlized emails based on the segment and behavior of prospects.
• Pre-existing workflow templates: The platform offers various email workflow templates for user actions such as cart abandonment, subscription, first purchase, etc.
• Detailed dashboards: Drip offers easy to read analytics that can help you get actionable insights into your email marketing campaigns. You can track metrics like total email sends, total attributed revenue, etc.

Pricing:

Drip’s pricing model is tailored to the number of people that are there in your email list.

The pricing starts at $39 per month for 2500 people and then goes up as the count of your email list increases. The bigger the email list, the more features you are able to access.

Drip also offers a free 14 day trial.

2. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing and automation platform that helps businesses engage with their users through multichannel campaigns.

The platform offers several features such as email templates, sign-up forms, webhooks, A/B testing, and various Email AI tools to streamline email marketing and send personalized emails.

Here are some of Mailchimp’s key features.

• Behavioral targeting: Build segments based on how your audience has engaged with your website, your marketing campaigns, or their purchase behavior. This allows you to send highly relevant emails to your audience.
• Customer journey builder: Mailchimp offers a visual workflow builder using which you can automatically send personalized emails to your audience based on which stage they are in their customer journey.
• Email Content Generator: This feature is helpful since it recommends email content when marketers design campaigns. You can then customize this content and create personalized campaigns tailored to your brand and marketing intent.
• Campaign manager: This feature allows you to build campaigns based on specific business goals. This includes defining various touchpoints, tasks, and other relevant campaign requirements. With Campaign Manager, you can track the progress of all your campaigns from a single dashboard. 
• Landing page builder: Mailchimp allows you to design landing pages with ease. You can choose from hundreds of landing page templates and build a website that is suited for your product or service.

Pricing:

Mailchimp offers a three tier pricing plan. The pricing varies according to the number of people in your email list. The below pricing is for an email list with 500 contacts and increases as the email list grows.

• Essentials: $4.62 per month
• Standard: $6.90 per month
• Premium: $137.97 per month

Mailchimp offers a free plan that includes basic email marketing features. This is applicable only till 500 contacts.

3. EngageBay

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) software designed to help businesses streamline their marketing, sales, and customer support processes

Its marketing automation functionalities allow you to build landing pages, design email sequences, and send personalized messages to your target audience.

Here are some of EngageBay’s key features.

• Email templates: EngageBay allows you to choose from various email templates to build compelling emails. You can use the drag and drop feature to design a visually pleasing and engaging email in minutes.
• Lead scoring: You can assign scores to your leads based on their behavior. This helps you identify high quality leads and prioritize them.
• Email autoresponders: You can respond to incoming emails automatically using EnagegBay’s autoresponders. These are applicable for various situations such as – when a user signs up for a subscription or to respond to customer queries.
• Landing page builders: EngageBay offers a responsive landing page builder that you can use to create relevant webpages and forms to engage with users. You can also A/B test your landing pages on emails to see which ones engage your audience better.
• Segmentation: You can use EngageBay to create smart segments based on parameters like age, gender, location, likes or dislikes. You can also define custom filters so that you can send targeted email campaigns to the right audience at the right time.

Pricing:

EnagageBay’s pricing is divided into three segments with different pricing plans under each segment. The platform also offers a free plan that is applicable for businesses with an email list not exceeding 250 contacts under each segment.

• The platform’s ‘All-in-One’ plan starts at $14.99 per user per month and goes up till $119.99 per user per month
• The ‘Marketing’ as well as the ‘SalesBay and CRM’ plans start at $12.99 and goes up till $79.99 per user per month

EngageBay also offers a forever free help desk for support teams.

4. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an email automation software that is specifically designed for creators to build newsletters and email campaigns.

You can grow your audience, organize subscribers, and trigger email sequences to meaningfully engage with your clients at the right time.

Here are some of ConvertKit’s popular features.

• Visual automations: ConvertKit’s intuitive visual builder helps you set up automations for different touchpoints in the customer journey. This way you can send relevant emails and better engage your audience. The visual journey builder also gives you a detailed overview of the exact points where a user enters and exits the workflow you’ve built.
• Email designer: This feature enhances your email campaigns by giving you the option to create templates. You can create branded email templates and use the platform’s inbuilt styling options to add buttons, images, and videos to your emails.
• Landing page templates: Convertkit offers plenty of free landing page templates that allow you to build eye-catching webpages. You don’t need any coding experience to build these pages. 

Pricing:

Convertkit has two pricing plans for creators. 

• Creator: $15 per month for 300 subscribers
• Creator Pro: $29 per month for 300 subscribers

The pricing shown above will change as the number of subscribers grows. There is also a free plan that is applicable for creators who are building their subscriber list. The plan is applicable for up to 1000 subscribers.

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an email and marketing automation tool that allows you to deliver personalized communication to your audience at scale.

The platform offers several features that allow you to send broadcast emails, condition-triggered messages, automated email responses, and more.

Here are some of ActiveCampaign’s features.

• Goal tracking: You can define specific goal actions such as – signed up for newsletter, purchase completed, cart abandoned, etc. Once a user meets a certain goal, they are automatically moved into the appropriate funnel. For instance, when a contact signs up for a newsletter, they can be moved into the awareness stage. You can track the number of users who have completed a specific goal and get an overview of how long it takes for contacts to move into different stages of the funnel.
• Scheduled emails: Automate the process of sending out personalized emails on specific dates at specific times. This is perfect to send greetings during events like anniversaries, birthdays, or holidays.
• Targeted emails: Categorize your audience under different segments. This way you can ensure that the right email is delivered to the right segment of your target audience. This in turn improves user engagement..

Pricing:

ActiveCampaign offers three pricing segments with different tiers under each segment.

• The Marketing plan starts at $29 per month and goes up till $259 per month
• The Sales plan starts at $19 per month and goes up till $99 per month
• The Bundles plan starts at $93 per month and goes up till $734 per month

The above plans are applicable for a subscriber list of up to 1000. The pricing changes as the number of subscribers increases. ActiveCampaign also offers a free 14 day trial.

6. CampaignMonitor

CampaignMonitor is a simple and intuitive email marketing tool that allows businesses to send personalized emails to subscribers.

Campaign Monitor is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, and is often used by marketers, agencies, and organizations looking to improve their email marketing efforts. 

Here are some of CampaignMonitor’s key features.

• Email template builder: ActiveCampaign offers several email templates that you can choose from to kickstart your marketing campaigns. You can use the drag-and-drop builder to easily build and customize an email according to your requirements.
• Send time optimization: The platform uses machine learning and existing data on subscriber engagement rate to understand how to optimally deliver each email.
• AI Writer: CampaignMonitor’s generative AI tool helps you to fine tune your email copy and optimize your content for the audience

Pricing:

CampaignMonitor has three pricing plans. The pricing varies according to the number of contacts in your email ist. The below prices are applicable up to 500 contacts.

• Lite: $11 per month
• Essentials: $19 per month
• Premier: $149 per month

CampaignMonitor also offers an unlimited free trial.

7. Brevo

Brevo is a CRM suite that offers a range of capabilities to nurture leads using multichannel marketing campaigns.

It is a feature-rich software that can be used by businesses of all sizes. Brevo is popularly known for its email marketing, marketing automation, SMS marketing, and transactional email customer services.

Here are some of Brevo’s key features.

• Workflow Automation: Brevo’s drag-and-drop workflow builder allows users to create complex automation workflows based on subscriber behavior, triggers, and events. This includes actions like sending welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase customer follow-ups.
• Segmentation: Users can segment their email lists based on various criteria such as demographics, behavior, engagement level, and more. Segmentation enables highly personalized and targeted email campaigns.
• Behavioral Triggers: Brevo allows you to set up triggers based on subscriber actions, such as website visits, email opens, link clicks, and product views. This enables you to send relevant emails in response to specific behaviors.
• Event-Based Triggers: You can set up automation based on specific events, such as a subscriber’s birthday or anniversary, to send targeted messages and offers.

Pricing:

Brevo offers a three tier pricing plan. 

• Starter: $25 per month
• Business: $65 per month
• BrevoPlus: Custom pricing

The above pricing is applicable only for a monthly email volume of 20,000. The pricing can increase as your monthly email volume goes up. The platform also has a free plan with unlimited contacts. However, free plan users can only send up to 10,000 emails in a month.

8. Yesware

Yesware is a sales productivity platform designed to help sales professionals and teams streamline their communication, optimize their workflow, and close more deals.

Yesware provides email tracking capabilities that allow users to monitor email opens, link clicks, and attachment views in real-time. This helps sales professionals understand recipient engagement and prioritize follow-up actions accordingly.

Here are some of Yesware’s key features.

• Mail Merge: Yesware includes mail merge functionality that allows users to send personalized emails to multiple recipients at scale. Users can merge fields from CRM data or spreadsheet files into email templates, ensuring each message is tailored to the recipient.
• Scheduled Email Sending: Yesware enables users to schedule emails to be sent at optimal times, ensuring messages reach recipients when they are most likely to be read. This feature helps sales professionals manage their outreach cadence and maximize response rates.
• Workflow Automation: Yesware offers workflow automation features that help streamline repetitive tasks and optimize sales processes. Users can set up automated email sequences, reminders, and follow-up actions to ensure timely and consistent communication with prospects and customers.

Pricing:

Yesware offers a four tiered pricing plan with a free plan that supports up to 10 campaign recipients per month.

• Pro: $19 per user per month
• Premium: $45 per user per month
• Enterprise: $85 per user per month
• Custom Plan: Pricing based on the size of your team

9. GetResponse

GetResponse is a widely used email marketing and automation platform designed to help businesses create and manage email campaigns, automate marketing tasks, and engage with their audience effectively.

Users can set up workflows to send personalized messages based on subscriber behavior, and actions completed. This includes abandoned cart recovery, lead nurturing, and more.

Here are some of GetResponse’s key features.

• Landing Page Builder: GetResponse offers a drag-and-drop landing page builder to create high-converting landing pages and web forms for lead generation.
• Autoresponders: Users can set up autoresponder emails to send automated follow-ups at predefined intervals.
• Email Marketing: GetResponse provides a user-friendly email editor and a variety of customizable templates to create appealing email campaigns. Users can also segment their email lists for targeted messaging.
• Mobile App: Users can manage their email marketing campaigns and automation on the go with the GetResponse mobile app.

Pricing:

GetResponse has a four tier pricing plan based on the requirements of your business.

• Email Marketing: $19 per month
• Marketing Automation: $59 per month
• Ecommerce Marketing: $119 per month
• GetResponse Max: $1099 per month

The platform also offers a 30-day free trial.

10. Bonus Tool: Hiver

Hiver is a powerful and easy-to-use email management software that works on top of email clients such as Gmail and Outlook.

The platform allows teams to manage group emails such as info@ and support@ with ease. Teams can assign, track, and collaborate on all incoming emails, and get full visibility into everyone’s workload.

Hiver is known for its user friendly interface and minimal setup time (less than one hour)

One of Hiver’s standout features is automations – it helps you automate repetitive tasks such as assigning or tagging emails. Let’s take a closer look at the kind of automations you can implement with Hiver.

• Assign incoming emails with ease: With Hiver’s automation, you can assign incoming emails to specific users when certain conditions are met. For instance, all emails containing the word ‘Billing’ in the body or subject can be assigned to Peter from the finance team.
• Automatically close unimportant emails: You can automatically change the status of junk and auto-generated emails to ‘closed’ if they meet specific conditions. For instance, emails with the phrase ‘do not reply’ in the subject line can be auto-closed.
• Auto-responders: Hiver allows you to set up auto-responses to new emails. This is useful to let your customers know if an agent is unavailable and when they can expec an answer to their query.
• Categorize email by tags: Hiver’s Tags help you organize incoming emails by category. All you need to do is define the conditions under which a tag needs to be assigned to an email. For instance, all emails from ‘[email protected]’ will be tagged as priority.
• Tag Reports: You can analyze key metrics such as first response time and resolution time for emails assigned with a specific tag. 
• Email templates: Hiver allows you to create, save, and share templatized responses for common email queries. This way you can respond to repetitive queries faster.

Pricing:

Hiver offers a four tiered pricing model –

If you buy the plans on an annual basis:

• Free forever plan
• Lite plan: $19/per user/per month
• Pro plan: $49/per user/per month
• Elite plan: $79/per user/per month

If you buy the plans on a monthly basis:

• Free forever plan
• Lite plan: $24/per user/per month
• Pro plan: $59/per user/per month
• Elite plan: $99/per user/per month

Hiver offers a free 7 day trial.

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Features of Email Automation Tools

Email automation software typically includes a wide range of features designed to streamline and enhance email marketing campaigns. Here are some common features of email automation software:

• Email Campaign Creation: User-friendly email editors and customizable templates for creating visually appealing and responsive emails.
• Automated Workflows: The ability to create automation workflows that trigger emails based on specific actions or events, such as welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and follow-ups.
• Personalization: Options to personalize email content, subject lines, and sender information to make messages more relevant to recipients.
• A/B Testing: The ability to conduct split tests on elements like subject lines, content, and send times to optimize email performance.
• Behavioral Triggers: The capability to send emails based on recipient behavior, such as email opens, link clicks, or website visits.
• Segmentation: Tools for segmenting email lists into specific groups based on criteria like demographics, location, and engagement level.
• Dynamic Content: The inclusion of dynamic content that adapts to individual recipient characteristics or behaviors.
• Lead Scoring: The ability to assign scores to leads based on their interactions with emails and website activities.
• Multi-Channel Support: Some email automation software also includes support for additional communication channels, such as SMS and social media.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a small startup, a growing enterprise, or an established brand, there’s an email automation solution tailored to meet your unique needs.

As you consider the right email automation software for your business, keep in mind the following:

• Specific business goals
• Target audience
• Size of your contact list
• Budget

It is important to choose a tool that aligns with your objectives, provides the necessary analytics and reporting, and offers room for scalability as your business grows.