Most Affordable Email Marketing Automation Solutions

GetResponse Email Campaign Automation
Photo: GetResponse Email Automation

Best Value Entry-Level Email Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is becoming big. The ability to build out automated marketing workflows allows for elaborate and well thought out campaigns to run on autopilot. When done correctly, these type of campaigns are highly effective.

Marketing automation suites used to come with an insanely high sticker price. We’re talking hundreds to thousands per month, depending on the package. Although usually well justified by the ROI, this high sticker price can be daunting to startups or SMBs.

Now, email marketing automation has become insanely affordable. In fact, you can get a platform with automated email marketing workflows for less monthly than some of the big name brands. Here’s some of the best value email marketing automation suites available.

 

Autoresponders Posing As Marketing Automation

Before I go on, I just want to stop and warn you not to be fooled by autoresponders posing as marketing automation. There’s a couple plans that don’t allow for campaign workflows, if/then statements and all that fun stuff, but still like to throw around the buzzwords like “Drip Campaigns” and “Marketing Automation”.

Sure, these autoresponders are being sent out automatically, so I guess that’s technically “Marketing Automation”. But when the subscription date is the only trigger available, to call that “Marketing Automation” is a joke.

Don’t get sucked in by the buzzwords. Make sure you’re getting the most robust automation possible.

 

GetResponse – Email Workflows, Autoresponders and Webinars

GetResponse Email Campaign Automation

GetResponse has built a truly impressive platform. All their automated email workflows are available in their most basic plan that starts at $15 per month for the first 1,000 contacts. $15 per month is nothing and you won’t be disappointed by what you get.

And just look at the sample campaign workflow above. For $15 per month, you’re getting your money’s worth. The drag and drop interface is incredibly easy to use, and you can see how you’re able to drag and drop the paths from the “Yes” and “No” from the if/then statements.

 

GetResponse Also Has Awesome Autoresponders

GetResponse Autoresponders

The GetResponse autoresponders are also incredibly impressive. While most autoresponders use limited actions to trigger the email, usually date-based, the GetResponse autoresponders give you a wide range of triggers to choose from. These includes interactions with past campaigns, conversion goals being met, data changes and other criteria.

 

Hosted Webinars and Email Automation

One very innovative feature of of GetResponse is their webinar functionality. Although not every company does webinars, those that do will find the email automation that ties into the GetResponse webinar feature very handy. GetResponse will automatically send out reminder emails to attendees and follow-up emails after the webinar.

It’s also possible to put webinar attendees into workflow automations of their own.

Learn More: GetResponse Email Marketing Features and Overview

 

ActiveCampaign – Affordable Email Marketing Automation

ActiveCampaign Drip Campaign Automations

ActiveCampagin is a very robust email marketing platform that features some amazing email automation. And ActiveCampaign starts at only $9 for the first 500 contacts! Their most basic plan includes all the automated workflows. From the photo above, you can see how many triggers they have just for creating the automation. Once the start of the automation is selected, ActiveCampaign brings up the campaign workflow.

ActiveCampaign Email Automation

The automated campaign workflow is incredibly easy to use. Simply drag and drop actions from the pane on the right, over to the workflow. ActiveCampaign allows marketers to use if/then statements to parse the automations. The email automation also can use web-based actions as triggers or criteria. The marketing automation also supports lead scoring and syncs with most CRMs.

Learn More: ActiveCampaign Email Marketing Features and Overview

 

iContact Pro Automation – Build Automated Email Workflows

iContact Automated Drip Campaigns

iContact has a sleek and beautifully designed email campaign automation feature. Unfortunately, it’s not available for their most basic plan. The automated workflow requires the Pro Automation plan, which starts at $99 for the first 2,500 subscribers. This is a chunk of change more expensive than the other solutions mentioned above.

It’s still way cheaper than what the enterprise-level marketing automations suites start at though.

Learn More: iContact Email Marketing Features and Overview