Email marketing can make up a large chunk of the marketing strategy in your business. Luckily, there are email marketing automation tools to help you streamline your email marketing operations and truly optimize your list.

With email marketing automation tools you can get just email marketing with minimal bells and whistles, such as with Mailerlite. Or you can get a full suite of digital marketing tools, as with ActiveCampaign. 

Of course, the more services you get the higher the price will be. So understand your needs before you sign up. 

What is Email Marketing Automation?

An email automation series delivers a set of emails to your subscribers on autopilot. Examples include a welcome sequence for new subscribers, a sales sequence promoting your products, or even a course delivered via email. 

Instead of sending an email blast to all your subscribers, you’ll have a fully developed email automation campaign which will send out the exact emails you select at the precise times you want.

5 Best Email Marketing Automation Tools for Your Business

1. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a popular email marketing tool. With ConvertKit you can set up email automations, create landing pages, and set up email opt-in forms. 

For email marketing automations, you’ll be able to create a customized path you want to lead your subscribers through.

With automations you can:

• Build sales funnels
• Setup custom rules to let the automations run on autopilot exactly how you want
• Customize a subscribers path based on their actions
• Send targeted content to the right people at the right time
• Segment your audience

The automations are simple to set up and they’re visual, making it easy to see the progress of your automation and look at your entire campaign at a glance.

ConvertKit Pricing

They offer monthly and annual plans. You get two months off if you choose the annual plan. The price will vary based on the number of subscribers you have. The more email subscribers you have, the more expensive your ConvertKit plan will be.

The following pricing is for up to 1,000 email subscribers:

Free ($0)

• Unlimited landing pages and forms
• Send broadcast emails
• Sell digital products and subscriptions
• Email support

Note: the free plan does not include email automation

Creator ($29/month)

You get everything on the free plan plus: 

• Free migration from another tool
• Automated funnels and sequences

Creator Pro ($59/month)

You’ll get everything on the Creator plan plus: 

• Facebook custom audiences
• Newsletter referral system
• Subscriber scoring
• Advanced reporting

So you can see, to get access to the automations, you’ll need at least a Creator-level plan. You can use ConvertKit for all your email marketing needs, not just automations. 

So, if you need to build funnels, create opt-in forms and funnels, or sell digital products online, it can be a one-stop shop for all of this.

Click here to get started with ConvertKit.

2. Mailerlite

With Mailerlite you can get creative with your email marketing campaigns. Landing pages, automation, surveys and more are all at your fingertips.

Mailerlite’s email automation lets you guide customers through the path that you set for them. 

You can welcome customers to your email list, improve relationships with subscribers, celebrate special events, and more.

Automating your email also lets you talk to your email subscribers one on one, send personalized content, and reward loyal customers through personalization. 

The automation editor is intuitive and it’s super easy to build your custom email sequence. In minutes you can design your workflow exactly the way you want it.

Check out these ideas for how to use automation in your business with Mailerlite.

Mailerlite Pricing

Mailerlite has a free 14-day trial you can take advantage of, along with various pricing plans based on the number of subscribers you have.

Free ($0/month)

The free plan can get you a lot and it’s perfect if you have less than 1,000 subscribers. 

• Up to 1,000 subscribers
• 12,000 emails per month
• Up to 5 websites
• Surveys and quizzes
• Analytics
• SSL encryption
• Integrations
• API
• Autoresponders
• Automations

Note that the free plan does include automations, which is rare among email service providers. 

Premium ($15+/month)

The premium plan is good if you have more than 1,000 subscribers. Prices start at $15month for 1,000 to 2,500 subscribers.

• Use of custom domains
• Promotion pop-ups
• 24/7 live chat support
• Custom HTML editor
• Newsletter templates
• Auto resend
• Delivery by time zone
• Click maps
• A/B testing

These are a handful of the many key features you get when you upgrade to a premium plan.

Click here get started with Mailerlite.

3. MailChimp

Get access to tools and resources to build your brand online with email marketing using Mailchimp.

Email marketing automations include visual journeys, custom triggers, scheduling tools, pre-built automations, and more.

Mailchimp offers email marketing software along with automations, advanced segmentation, reporting, and more so you can attract your customers, run automations, and send emails all in one place.

Mailchimp Pricing

Free ($0/month)

• Up to 2,000 contacts
• 1 step automations
• 1 audience
• Marketing CRM
• Basic email templates
• Website builder
• Mailchimp domain
• Forms and landing pages

Note that automations are not included in the free plan. They offer what they call “one step automation” which means that you can send one welcome email when someone signs up. But full automations are not available. 

Essentials ($9.99/month for up to 500 contacts)

With this plan you get everything in the free plan plus:

• Multi-step journeys
• 3 audiences
• All email templates
• A/B testing
• Custom branding
• 24/7 email and chat support

Standard ($14.99/month for up to 500 contacts)

With this plan you get everything in the free plan plus:

• Customer journey builder + branching points
• Prebuilt journeys
• 5 audiences
• Send time optimization
• Behavioral targeting
• Dynamic content
• Custom templates

Premium ($299.99+/month for up to 10,000 contacts)

• Advanced segmentation
• Unlimited audiences
• Comparative reporting
• Multivariate testing
• Unlimited seats and role-based access
• Phone support

Click here to get started with Mailchimp.

4. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign provides a lot more than just email marketing. They also incorporate a full CRM and sales tools as well.  

For email automation, they offer a visual setup similar to ConvertKit so you can view your automation campaign at a glance to see your email sequences, actions, and the entire flow of the campaign.

In a few clicks you can set up your automation and let it run on autopilot for you.

ActiveCampaign Pricing

You’ll get access to their 14-day free trial to test drive the software with no credit card required. Sign up and you can start using it right away.

There is monthly and annual pricing available at ActiveCampaign. If you choose an annual plan you’ll get a discount.

The amount you pay will be driven by the number of email subscribers you have, starting at up to 500 subscribers. 

Every plan includes ActiveCampaign’s standard features like:

• Marketing automation
• Email marketing
• Unlimited email sends
• Access to 125+ templates
• Drag and drop email builder
• Send newsletters
• Subscription forms
• Site and event tracking
• Campaign and automation reporting
• Sales emails
• Import leads
• Segmented outreach

Here are the four billing plans available and a look at some of their best features included:

Lite ($15/month)

The lite plan is ActiveCampaign’s entry level email marketing plan. The below pricing is for up to 500 subscribers.

• Up to 3 users
• Import contacts
• 500+ automation recipes
• Chat and email support

Plus ($70/month)

In the Plus plan you get everything in Lite, plus:

• Up to 25 users
• Advanced mobile reporting
• Custom user permissions
• Database sync

Professional ($159/month)

In the Professional plan you get everything in Plus, including:

• Up to 50 users
• 1:1 onboarding support
• Three 1:1 trainings per month
• CXA strategy consultation

Enterprise ($279/month)

In the Enterprise plan you get everything in Professional, plus:

• Unlimited users
• Dedicated account rep
• Phone support
• Single Sign on

Click here to start ActiveCampaign’s 14-day free trial.

5. GetResponse

GetResponse can help you grow your audience, engage with customers, sell your knowledge plus, a lot more. Like ActiveCampaign, if you want more than just an email automation service GetResponse is worth looking into. 

You can generate leads through webinars, landing pages, and sign up forms, then send automatic and personalized emails through their automation features. You can set up what they call “customer journeys” so each email subscriber gets just what they need when they need it. 

GetResponse Pricing

There are four billing plans with the cheapest covering you up to 1,000 email subscribers. You can pay monthly, annually (save 18%), or for two years (save 30%). 

A 14-day free trial is included on all plans excluding the Max plan.

Basic ($15/month)

• Email marketing
• Website builder
• Autoresponders
• Unlimited landing pages
• 1 sales funnel
• Unlimited lead funnels
• Facebook and Google Ads
• Chats (free through June 2021)

Plus ($49/month)

Everything in the Basic plan plus:

• Marketing automation
• Webinars
• 5 sales funnels
• 3 users
• Contact scoring and tagging
• 5 webinar funnels

Professional ($99/month)

Everything in Plus plan including:

• Unlimited marketing automation
• Paid webinars
• Web push notifications
• Webinars (up to 300 attendees)
• Unlimited sales funnels
• Unlimited webinar funnels
• 5 users
• On-demand webinars

Max (Custom pricing)

Everything in Pro including:

• Transactional emails (paid add-on)
• Multiple account (up to 10) and users (up to 500)
• Account migration support
• Team and role management
• Single sign on
• Webinars (500-1,000 attendees)
• Assisted IP warmup

Start your 14-day free trial with GetResponse.

Final Word on Email Marketing Automation Tools

Email marketing automation is a must for businesses at any size. It’s practically impossible to do by hand what a good email marketing automation tool can do. 

Good email marketing can be the lifeblood of a business. Personalized communication to each subscriber can make a connection with your customer like few other forms of marketing can. 

When shopping for an email service provider consider the tools you’ll need so you don’t spend more than you have to. If you don’t need a CRM or advanced marketing then GetResponse and ActiveCampaign might be overkill.  

There is more than one way to automate your business. Check out our 5 best automated webinar tools to grow your business.