Best Marketing Automation Tools for Ecommerce & Dropshipping (2024)

Running an online business involves many monotonous day-to-day tasks. These tasks are not only boring, but they take away valuable time and resources from other significant tasks. As your business grows, these tasks become more difficult to accomplish, especially for small business owners with fewer employees. The more tasks a business has to deal with, the higher the chance of human error. Fortunately, advancements in technology have made it easier for online stores to operate using automations.

In this blog, we’ll discuss automation as it applies to marketing. By the end of this blog, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what automation is, how it can help your business, and the best marketing automation softwares to give you a head-start on your automated marketing campaigns. 

What is Marketing Automation?

Automation involves using software to handle routine or repetitive tasks. It can be used to run timely, personalised marketing campaigns at scale while your marketing team focuses on other important tasks. 

Marketing automation can help to streamline important marketing activities such as:

• Lead generation and nurturing

• Data analysis

• Market research

• Campaign optimisation

• Search engine optimisation (SEO)

• A/B testing

• Audience segmentation

• Upselling and cross-selling

• Email marketing

• Personalisation strategies

Importance of Automation in Ecommerce and Dropshipping

A business may be able to run without automation, but late adopters are missing out on a myriad of benefits. For online stores in 2024, automation can be the difference between average performance and exponential growth.

Resource management

Automation helps to reduce costs in many ways. The most obvious benefit is the reduction of manual labour for time-consuming, repetitive marketing tasks such as data entry. Employees can spend more time on high-priority, meaningful or creative tasks, which not only increases efficiency but also leads to happier employees. 65 per cent of knowledge workers report feeling less stressed thanks to automation. By taking over a bulk of mundane daily tasks, employees have more time to pursue creative projects and cultivate their work-life balance. Research has even shown that 93% of businesses using AI were more open to a 4-day work week. 

Data-driven decision making

Automation tools often include analytics features that track sales, customer behaviour, and marketing effectiveness. These programs can also help to collect real-time data on customers across multiple touchpoints. This valuable data can be used to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy. Additionally, automation platforms segment customers based on behavioural data, enabling businesses to create dynamic, personalised content for various audiences, even as they are discovered. 

Enhanced customer experience

Automation tools can improve the customer experience in a wide variety of ways. Firstly, automation allows for customer communication whenever they need assistance, including outside regular business hours. This can be achieved through dynamic chatbots and other automated emails or messaging. Reliable, 24/7 support is important for online businesses. 75 per cent of customers demand fast support from customer service agents, and 51 per cent of people say businesses should be available 24/7 to meet modern service expectations. Automation allows you to meet this demand without sacrificing profit or employee well-being.

Enable rapid growth

Automation tools allow businesses to handle a high volume of tasks across multiple channels simultaneously, and without the need for additional staff. This makes it easier (and more cost-effective) to scale operations over time. 

Criteria for Choosing Marketing Automation Tools

Ease of use

Automation exists to make marketer’s lives easier. Your automation software should be easy to understand, use and integrate with your existing infrastructure. If your software is hard to use, doesn’t integrate with your existing platforms or cannot be used effectively by staff, it will outweigh the potential time save. Thankfully, there are many automation solutions available that integrate with a variety of platforms and come with comprehensive training tools. Additionally, good marketing automation platforms and tools are backed by excellent customer support. Before committing to any automation software, ensure that you’re investing in a company with a trusted reputation and stellar customer service record.

Automation capabilities

Automation software differs greatly in terms of scope. Some tools are more powerful than others, allowing you to automate more aspects of your business and offer more dynamic, personalised and targeted marketing materials. Most platforms offer automation for email marketing at minimum, but your ideal marketing software of choice may offer automations across multiple other channels, such as social media or SMS.

Integration with ecommerce platforms

In order for automations to run smoothly, they require seamless integration with other platforms. Integration is achieved in a variety of ways:

• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

• Plugins

• Extensions

• Other bespoke solutions, such as custom code. 

Pricing

Automation solutions come in many packages at various price points. This is excellent for businesses looking to implement automation on a budget. However, keep in mind that a lower budget means less advanced features, such as at-scale personalisation and omnichannel capabilities. 

Scalability

Choose automation software that is compatible with not only the current size of your business, but the rate of growth you hope to achieve. Choosing a platform with sufficient scalability ensures that the platform will be able to grow with your business. As your dropshipping business expands, the volume of data, customer interactions, and marketing activities will increase. A scalable marketing automation tool can handle this growth without compromising performance or requiring a complete overhaul of your systems. This means you can continue to automate and optimise your marketing efforts efficiently, even as your customer base and product offerings expand. Additionally, a scalable tool allows you to add new features and integrations as your needs evolve, ensuring that your marketing strategy remains agile and effective over time.

Analytics

Analytics tools are essential for effective marketing because they provide critical insights into audience behaviour, campaign performance, and return on investment (ROI). By tracking key metrics and analysing data, automated analysis tools help marketers make informed decisions, optimise strategies, and personalise customer experiences without the time constraints associated with manual data entry and collection. They enable you to understand which marketing efforts are successful and where improvements are needed, ensuring continuous growth and better allocation of resources. Many tools also auto-generate reports, ensuring your team and your stakeholders are kept informed of your current strategies.

Top Marketing Automation Tools

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a Cloud-based software platform that combines email marketing, marketing automation, customer relationship management (CRM), and sales automation into a single, comprehensive solution. It’s a powerful tool that is highly rated across the industry for their deliverability, customer support and ease of use. Their marketing automation features allow you to automate almost any aspect of the business. There are over 750 automation templates available in many categories, from general to integration-specific templates for Shopify, Wordpress, and more. 

You can also find landing page templates that are sleek, modern, and can include personalisation to ensure each customer only sees relevant content. Users can build complex automation workflows using a drag-and-drop interface. These workflows can automate tasks like sending follow-up emails, tagging contacts, and moving leads through the sales funnel. You can also set SMS automation, though this is locked behind their higher-paid plans. The platform is praised for its supportive customer service, which is described as fast, friendly and helpful. However, the vast number of features may overwhelm less experienced marketers, and the platform has a steep learning curve. 

Pricing: ActiveCampaign’s pricing plans are available upon request.

Brevo

Brevo (formerly known as Sendinblue) is a comprehensive digital marketing platform designed to help businesses manage and optimise their marketing campaigns. Users can automate marketing tasks based on customer behaviour. For email marketing, it provides a drag-and-drop editor, customisable templates, and A/B testing capabilities to optimise email performance. You can use it to send targeted, time-sensitive offers or updates via SMS. Brevo even offers live chat features, allowing you to communicate with site visitors in real time and improving customer service and engagement. The platform integrates with various other tools and platforms including Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as social media platforms, CRM systems, and more. Brevo is particularly suited to small to medium-sized businesses for its ease of use, affordability and robust feature set.

Pricing: Brevo offers a free trial where you can create and send up to 300 emails a day. This is followed by their Starter plan for $12 per month, which allows you to send up to 5,000 emails per month, gives basic reporting and analytics, and removes the Brevo logo (as an add-on). Their Business plan at $25 per month has the same email limit but more features, while the Enterprise plan is tailored to your business and available upon request.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a popular online marketing platform primarily known for its email marketing services, but it also offers a range of other digital marketing tools. It's designed with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mind. The platform integrates with multiple social media channels, allowing you to schedule and publish posts, track performance, and manage your social media presence directly from the platform. You can create and send surveys and polls to gather customer feedback, which can be valuable for improving products or services. The platform integrates with various eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and WooCommerce, allowing users to create and send product recommendations, abandoned cart emails, and other ecommerce-related communications. Finally, Constant Contact provides detailed reports on email campaign performance, including open rates, click-through rates, and engagement metrics, helping businesses refine their strategies and improve outcomes.

Pricing: Constant Contact prices start at $18 for their Lite plan, followed by their Standard plan at $53 per month and their Enterprise plan at $120 per month. There are also various add-ons that start at $10 per month, such as inbox preview and SMS marketing (US only).

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media marketing and management tool that helps businesses and individuals manage their social media presence across multiple platforms from a single dashboard. Within that, the platform has many automation features to help run social media marketing campaigns automatically and dynamically. Hootsuite’s scheduling features automate the posting process, allowing you to plan and queue content in advance. This ensures content is consistently published at optimal times, even outside regular working hours. Even reporting is automated, as Hootsuite can automatically generate and send performance reports that provide insights into social media metrics. The platform also offers social listening automations, meaning you can set up streams to monitor specific keywords, hashtags, or brand mentions. This automates the process of tracking important conversations and trends, enabling quicker and more informed responses.

Pricing: Hootsuite has three plans available. The Professional plan starts at $149 per month and allows for 1 user, 10 social accounts, and several useful tools. The Team plan at $399 per month allows for 3 users, 20 social accounts, and additional specialised tools including automatic link tracking. Enterprise plans are custom tailored to your business and available upon request.

HubSpot

HubSpot is an all-in-one customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides powerful tools for marketing, sales, customer service, and content management. HubSpot allows users to create, send, and track personalised email campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor and customisable templates. It automates tasks like follow-up emails, meeting scheduling, and lead assignment, allowing sales teams to focus on closing deals. The platform offers tools for capturing, tracking, and nurturing leads through forms, landing pages, and pop-ups. It also offers robust analytics tools that provide insights into marketing, sales, and service performance. Users can generate custom reports to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and strategies.

Pricing: The HubSpot marketing hub offers plenty of free tools for all businesses, no credit card required. Paid plans start at $22 per month, per seat, and come with simple marketing automation. More complex and personalised automation requires their Marketing Professional Plan, which jumps to $1,151 per month for three users (with additional seats adding $68 per month, per seat).

Adobe Marketo Engage

The brainchild of creative giant Adobe, Marketo Engage is a marketing automation platform designed to help businesses attract, segment and nurture customers. The platform is marketed as a solution built for “scale, speed and personalisation”, and its features speak to those qualities. Using AI, Marketo can help build and segment audiences based on demographics and cross-channel behaviour. You can build personalisation into your web pages, emails and social media ad campaigns, as well as responsive and adaptable landing pages with integrated forms for lead generation. Automatically launch campaigns and respond in real-time as soon as a customer fulfils the desired action, whether it's visiting your website or subscribing to a newsletter. The platform provides extensive analytics when it comes to revenue, ROI, and how many prospects are generated. Finally, the platform has integrations available with other popular CRMs such as Salesforce and Microsoft. Adobe backs up their claims with plenty of educational resources such as case studies, ebooks and infographics, showing both the platform’s efficacy and how to make the most of it. Its higher price point makes it suitable for mid-sized to enterprise businesses.

Pricing: Adobe Marketo Engage’s pricing plans are available upon request.

Moosend

Moosend is a marketing automation platform focused on email marketing solutions. You can use Moosend to build newsletters and emails using their drag-and-drop editor, use AI to optimise your email content and conduct title and content A/B testing with ease. They offer a wide scope of bot-protected email forms for lead generation, including gamification forms. You can build custom workflows and see your processes with the Visual Workflow Builder, using pre-made templates featuring over 100 unique triggers. Moosend can also help you create stunning landing pages with fast loading times, pixel tracking codes and easy importation to Wordpress stores. Other integrations include Salesforce, Magento, Zapier and WooCommerce, all of which can be achieved without HTML knowledge. With such an easy-to-use platform, you can create email solutions in under 5 minutes. If you run into any issues, you can simply contact the live customer support 

Pricing: Moosend comes with a free 30-day trial, no credit card required. Their Pro plans are priced depending on the number of subscribers you have, starting at $7 for up to 500 subscribers (paid annually). Moosend+ allows you to create a custom plan based on the add-ons of your choice, and the Enterprise plan (pricing available upon request) provides all the Pro features, plus additional support and campaign optimisation. 

Omnisend

Omnisend is an email and SMS marketing automation platform. The company started in 2014 as an email-only marketing platform and has since expanded its reach to omnichannel marketing. In 2019, they were among the top 5 apps on Shopify for email marketing and marketing automation. The platform allows you to create not only landing pages and pop-ups, but also unobtrusive signup boxes and Wheel of Fortune-style advertisements that grant a prize to users in exchange for their email address. Another signature feature includes their Product Picker, which lets you add products and their details to emails without leaving the editor. Pre-built automations will help you recover abandoned carts, re-activate previous customers and follow up on orders, or you can make custom workflows for your specific business needs. As well as regular reporting, you can also use live view website tracking to see what pages are being visited in real-time, then use that data to reach out to potential customers.  Finally, Omnisend offers outstanding customer support 24/7/365, and even free users get unlimited access to live chat and email support.

Pricing: Omnisend offers flexible pricing depending on the number of contacts in your marketing list, starting at $16 per month for up to 500 contacts. They also offer a free plan for up to 250 contacts, perfect for smaller businesses or marketers looking to trial automation software. 

Salesforce

Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that is widely used across various industries, from small businesses to large enterprises, due to its scalability and extensive features. Among its features are several automation tools. A unique and useful feature is their AI Scoring, which leverages consumer behaviour to score and identify leads most likely to convert. Your team can use past interaction data to understand how leads engage with your marketing, and see live updates of key marketing interactions. You can connect automations and engagement data across multiple marketing channels, for better insights, segmentation and accuracy. You can even generate content with their generative AI Einstein, reducing the time it takes to create ad copy. A downside of this product is that it can be difficult to learn and integrate, which is why Salesforce offers many add-ons or tools with additional functionality, increasing your end price tag. This tool may not be the most user friendly, but it is a popular choice amongst larger B2B companies.

Pricing: Salesforce offers a wide range of pricing options depending on the tools required. They offer a Starter Suite package for $25 USD per month for small businesses, however this plan is quite limited. For the full marketing and automation package, businesses will be looking at $1,250 per month or more. For more precise pricing, contact Salesforce directly.

Zapier

Zapier is a comprehensive automation tool that allows you to build custom workflows across multiple platforms in minutes. Zapier can integrate with over 6,000 apps, so you can make automated workflows for any sales and marketing activity with zero coding knowledge. Even with its extensive library of automations, the platform is incredibly easy to use, making it ideal for both beginners and experts. There are plenty of pre-built integrations and workflows for repetitive tasks, so you can put together complex workflows quickly. You can instigate unlimited multi-step workflows from a single trigger. The platform also boasts enterprise-grade security, keeping your company data safe.

Pricing: Zapier’s free plan allows you to automate 100 tasks per month using their core features, while their paid plans start at $47.45 for 750 tasks as well as additional features.

Comparing the best tools

Now that we’ve looked at some of the best marketing automation platforms on the market, it’s time to decide which is the right tool for you. Here are some factors to consider. 

Features overview

There are several key features that the top marketing automation software brands have in common, and that you should consider when researching the perfect fit for your business. 

Ease of use

Many of these top tools use drag-and-drop interfaces, making it easy to build and visualise your workflows. This is an excellent feature for users without coding knowledge, and makes it simpler to share and demonstrate automations between team members.

Extensive integrations

At minimum, your automation software should be able to integrate with your existing software. The best automation platforms have multiple integration options, giving you flexibility with your workflows. Common integrations include Mailchimp, WooCommerce and Shopify, and some tools even integrate with other automation platforms, such as Zapier. 

Audience segmentation

A key feature in marketing automation software is audience segmentation, which allows users to group audiences based on common characteristics. This helps to keep your content relevant to every customer, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion. Automation software can help to automatically segment audiences based on behaviour, demographic data, or personal information.

Behavioural triggers

Behavioural triggers will start an automation process based on specific customer behaviours, such as visiting your website, clicking on a link or making a purchase. They allow you to respond to a customer’s needs quickly and efficiently, regardless of when the behaviour occurs. 

Dynamic content

With the right automation software, marketers can adjust content to suit not only a variety of users, but also a variety of circumstances, with minimal effort. Examples include personalised product recommendations, email CTAs that change according to user behaviour, and landing pages that change according to the user’s location.

Reporting and analytics

Your software’s ability to generate reports and analytics is crucial for successful campaigns. While there are many ways to measure your marketing performance, native analytics can be more precise and reveal unique insights.  

Free trials

Some platforms offer free trials for potential buyers. These trials may offer limited use of a platform's key features, unlimited use for a specified period, or a set number of uses or credits. While most trials are temporary, some platforms even offer free plans, though these often have minimal functionality. It’s highly recommended to try your preferred automation software before buying, whether through a free trial or demo.

Pros and Cons

Pros of marketing automation:

Improved sales

Marketing automation has been shown to improve sales and boost return on investment for the right businesses. By giving marketing teams more time to focus on genuine prospects, you’ll have much tighter marketing campaigns with a higher success rate and larger returns. According to research, 44 per cent of marketers who implement marketing automation see positive ROI within six months, and 76 per cent of marketers will see positive ROI within a year. 

Drive engagement

By using automation to drive targeted marketing and personalisation at scale, you’ll be able to foster stronger customer relationships, driving engagement and brand loyalty. 

Automate repetitive workflows

Digital marketing requires many small, repetitive tasks to keep a campaign running. Workloads just keep getting bigger, with 68 per cent of employees suffering from work overload. Automation can take over these tasks, freeing up your schedule for more important tasks such as research and planning. 

Fewer mistakes

As well as increasing productivity, automation and AI can help improve accuracy within an organisation. These programs allow you to cross-check data across many sources instantaneously, reducing human errors and improving overall efficiency. They also aren’t affected by external factors unique to human labour such as fatigue, burnout or concentration lapses. 

Cons of marketing automation:

High initial investment

Automation can be costly to implement. High-quality automation tools can be expensive, particularly for omni-channel marketing. In addition to the monetary cost, you’ll also need to include time to train employees in the software, time and cost of installation, and the cost of any downtime during installation, troubleshooting and maintenance. 

Limited flexibility

Depending on the type of software you’re using, automations can be limited in their flexibility. While they are efficient for streamlining repetitive tasks and processes, their rigid structure can become an issue. For instance, if customer behaviour or market trends shift, the automated workflows may not adjust quickly enough without manual intervention. Additionally, pre-set automation triggers and workflows might not account for unique, one-off scenarios that require a more personal touch. With regular planning, monitoring and optimisation, your workflows can be fine-tuned for greater flexibility and responsiveness.

Customer experience impact

A common critique of AI and automation is that it produces content and processes that lack a necessary human touch. Though consumers are still largely sceptical about AI, particularly when it comes to content, sentiment has changed when it comes to the customer service experience. When implementing automation into your business, it’s important to ensure your automation does not negatively impact the “human” customer service experience.

Dependency

By outsourcing repetitive tasks to software, businesses run the risk of workers losing the knowledge or technical expertise to perform these tasks. This may present problems if the automation software fails or the needs of the business change. Automation also relies heavily on customer data. If your data collection is unreliable, you won’t be able to effectively track your campaign success. You may need to regularly audit your data and data collection processes to ensure good data hygiene. 

Best use cases

Lead nurturing and follow-up

Automate lead nurturing workflows to guide prospects through the sales funnel. This helps you to keep leads engaged and move them closer to a purchasing decision without manual intervention.

Example: A customer downloads an ebook from your blog. They are automatically enrolled in a series of follow-up emails that provide relevant, valuable content, leading to a sales pitch. 

Abandoned cart recovery

Send follow-up emails to customers who add items to their cart but don’t complete the purchase. This allows you to recover potentially lost revenue from customers who may have otherwise abandoned their purchase.

Example: A customer adds items to their shopping cart, and then leaves your website. 24 hours later, they receive a reminder email with a discount code to incentivise the purchase.

Post-purchase follow-up and cross-selling

Use post-purchase emails to thank customers, request reviews, or suggest complementary products. This can help increase your average order value, enhance customer satisfaction, and encourage repeat purchases, which also helps to increase customer lifetime value (CLV).

Example: After customers purchase a phone, they receive an email with matching accessory suggestions, such as a phone case or charger. At the bottom of the email is a link to a customer survey. 

Re-engagement campaigns for inactive customers

Automate re-engagement campaigns to win back customers or subscribers who have become inactive. Re-engagement campaigns can help reduce churn by reactivating dormant customers using tailored offers or content.

Example: A customer who hasn’t purchased in 6 months receives an email featuring a personalised product recommendation with a special limited-time discount. 

Behavioural triggered emails

Send emails based on specific customer behaviours such as browsing certain products, viewing specific pages, or clicking on certain links. This automation allows you to send timely and relevant messages based on real-time customer behaviour, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Example: A customer views a product page multiple times, but doesn’t move forward with a purchase. They receive an email highlighting key features and benefits of the product alongside a limited-time offer. 

Survey and feedback requests

After key interactions like a purchase or customer service interaction, automatically send a message to customers with a survey or request for feedback. This can help you gather customer insights, improve your services and build social proof through reviews, all without the time and hassle of manual follow-up.

Example: Once a customer has purchased a product, a pop-up appears asking for a rating or review. 

Seasonal and special offers

Offer not only seasonal promotions, but offers based on key ecommerce dates or customer anniversaries. This strategy drives conversions by offering timely and relevant promotions, often leading to higher engagement during holidays or special events.

Example: A customer receives an automated message on their birthday with a special discount code, personalised just for them. 

How to implement marketing automation in your dropshipping business

1. Determine your goals

Identify the specific objectives for your marketing automation. Do you want to increase sales, recover abandoned carts, grow your email list, or improve customer retention? Determine which key metrics will help measure your goals the most effectively. 

2. Find the right tool to suit your business

If you’ve followed this blog so far, you’ll have an idea of what tool will best suit your individual business needs. If you’re still unsure, start by identifying the specific needs of your dropshipping business. Think about the current size of your business, your budget constraints, and how you want the business to look in the future. 

3. Segment your audience

A key benefit of automation software is the ability to segment your audience. Group your customers into segments based on their behaviour, demographics, or purchase history. Some automation programs may do this automatically using available customer data. This step will allow you to send personalised messages to each group of customers. 

4. Map the customer journey

Mapping the customer journey involves identifying each touchpoint where a customer interacts with your store, from discovery to post-purchase. Start by understanding how customers first find your store, whether through ads, social media posts or organic search, and then follow their path as they browse your products. Track key actions like viewing product pages, adding items to their cart, or signing up for your email list.

5. Develop your automation strategy

Create a roadmap for your marketing automation integration. This will include not only setting up your automated workflows, but also integrating the software into your existing infrastructure and completing any necessary training within your team. Consider which of your marketing efforts are the most time-consuming, the most important, and the easiest to automate. If you’re not sure where to start, email marketing is a great starting point, as many platforms make it simple to create and test emails with templates, pre-fabricated automation and more. 

6. Design triggers

Now it’s time to design triggers for your automations. These are actions that will respond to customer behaviour in real time. Using your customer journey map, identify key actions your customers take and assign triggers, such as sending an email as soon as a customer signs up to your mailing list. Each trigger should be aligned with specific customer actions, creating a seamless and personalised experience that keeps customers engaged and drives conversions. 

7. Monitor and optimise 

Using analytics and reporting, continuously monitor the success of your automated campaigns. Some platforms will automatically generate reports, making it simple to organise your data for team members and stakeholders. Optimisation based on this data allows you to tweak content, timing, and segmentation for better performance. 

Summary

Marketing automation can help most businesses to scale their marketing operations while saving precious time, money and other resources. Start small by automating a few key processes, and gradually expand as you become more comfortable with the tools. By integrating these automation strategies into your dropshipping business, you can significantly enhance efficiency, improve customer experience, and ultimately drive more sales.