Marketing automation is a term that refers to marketing campaigns, efforts, and tasks that can be managed, executed, measured, and reported with software rather than manually. These campaigns and efforts are often triggered by customers or leads.
There are many benefits to marketing automation. Marketing automation can save you time, nurture leads, and increase revenue. Amazing, right? Marketing automation should not replace human touch. This is especially true in B2C, where the sales cycle is shorter and customer journeys are more personal than B2B.
What is B2C marketing automation?
B2C marketing automation refers to automated marketing messages or campaigns that are targeted at specific consumers rather than business audiences. This type of marketing automation should be more personal and data-driven in order to appeal to each individual’s customer journey.
B2C and B2C marketing automaton work together to deliver relevant messages, increase efficiency and drive revenue. But let’s explore their differences.
B2C Marketing Automation: Benefits
Marketing automation has many benefits for both marketers as well as their audience as suggested by software development companies. These benefits of marketing automation include:
- Keep your brand front-of-mind when speaking with potential customers
- Your team can send targeted, personalized messages to their users without the need to track them or write content repeatedly.
- Marketing team efficiency can be improved
- Eliminating human error from your marketing analysis can close the gaps.
- To better serve personalized product and service suggestions, it is possible to track user data
- Customized content can delight site visitors, leads and customers.
Let’s now discuss B2C marketing automation software tools that can help reach, engage, convert, and retain your customers and shoppers.
5 B2C Marketing Automation Software Tools
There are many marketing automation tools available. Our research shows that the following five tools are great for B2C marketing automation.
When comparing which tool might meet your B2C marketing automation requirements, you should consider 1) the complexity of each tool and what on boarding resources they offer, 2) what integrations each tools offers and how they fit into your existing tech stack, and 3) what each tool’s price is and how much it may cost to fulfill your marketing automation needs.
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot Marketing Hub is built on the HubSpot CRM and offers a wide range of B2C marketing automation tools. You can use the lead’s behavior to customize emails, content, outreach, and other communications at scale. HubSpot can be used for everything from email to SMS to internal automations such as lead scoring and CRM updates. It is simple to use and will quickly become your marketing automation friend.
HubSpot’s award winning customer service is available 24 hours a day via chat and email, as well over the phone for Professional and Enterprise subscribers. Access to the HubSpot Academy knowledge base is also available.
Integrations: HubSpot Marketing Hub can integrate with more than 500 third-party apps.
Pricing: HubSpot Marketing Hub offers both a free plan and multiple subscription options. The marketing automation features of HubSpot Marketing Hub are only available to paid subscribers.
2. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a leader in email marketing automation. it allows you to send transactional emails such as order confirmation emails or personalized messages. You can also create visual customer journeys with the tool so that you can give each customer the best experience.
It offers on-boarding support. There is a lot of information available, including tutorials and case studies, as well as guides. For free, users have access to email support for 30 days. Paid subscribers have unlimited chat and email support.
Integrations: It can integrate with more than 200 third-party apps.
Pricing: it offers a free subscription but you can’t access the advanced marketing automation tools unless your subscription is Essentials or higher.
3. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign, a well-known marketing automation software company, was the first to create the visual automation workflow builder. You know the one with all the lines and boxes going everywhere? That one you see above. It offers email tracking, lead scoring and attribution.
ActiveCampaign provides on-boarding support. They offer a free demo, as well as developer documentation and a library with pre-written automations. All subscriptions include data migration, implementation services, while more expensive subscriptions offer limited one-on-1 training.
Integrations: ActiveCampaign integrates to over 300 third-party apps.
Pricing: ActiveCampaign provides a free trial. You can then pay $9 per month for a Lite subscription.
4. AutoPilot
AutoPilot is a visual automation workflow creator, just like the others on this list. But, it’s different. You can use emojis and stickers to help your team collaborate on your marketing automation projects. The tool does not have a built-in CRM but it is intuitive and easy to use. It also offers great reporting features.
Autopilot subscriptions include unlimited email access and support for onboarding. For $1699, you can buy an Expert Setup and Training Add-on.
Integrations: AutoPilot can integrate with many third-party apps.
Pricing: AutoPilot gives you a free trial and then you can sign up for as low as $49 per monthly.
5. Omnisend
Omnisend, a marketing automation tool that is specifically designed for e-commerce companies, is the best. It offers a variety of pre-written templates that can be used in all types of e-com automation scenarios. Additionally, it integrates with almost every e-commerce tool possible, including email and SMS automation software.
Omnisend provides on-boarding support. This includes a library of resources and an onboarding course. Live support is not available to subscribers who pay for it.
Integrations: Omnisend can integrate with hundreds of third party applications, but many aren’t included in the free plan.
Pricing: Omnisend offers a free subscription, but most automation features won’t be available unless you pay.
These five tools are powerful in B2C marketing automation efforts. These B2C marketing automation software programs can be used to engage and convert customers, whether you send time-triggered birthday messages or follow up with potential customers via automated SMS messages.