Businesses of all sizes can benefit from marketing automation tools. However, even though SMBs often need this strategy the most, they often face significant budget constraints.
Marketing automation, which uses CRM data to improve email marketing, social media, segmentation, lead generation, and e-commerce workflows, allows SMBs to focus on more strategic work instead of repetitive marketing tasks. While there's no shortage of software available, SMBs may want to consider free marketing automation tools.
Most free marketing automation products include features that can streamline existing marketing functions such as lead generation and email marketing, as well as introduce new customer segmentation, CRM, and e-commerce capabilities. The right tools can help small businesses save time and money, reach more potential customers, and improve existing customer relationships.
Check out the top free marketing automation tools available.
This list was compiled based on a combination of market reports and vendor rankings from Gartner Peer Insights, Capterra, and G2, as well as additional research from TechTarget editors.
1. Brevo
Brevo, formerly known as SendinBlue, promotes itself as a CRM platform with marketing and sales capabilities. This includes features such as email marketing, chatbots, lead generation and pipelines, Facebook ads, landing pages, and email APIs. Automation capabilities enable segmentation by customer behavior, interests, and other factors. Marketers can also create automated emails that respond to situations like abandoned carts and newsletter welcome messages, among other workflow automations.
Brevo is cloud-based and offers free versions of its marketing platform, sales platform, and conversation modules, all of which are limited to one user.
The company's marketing platform starts at $25 per month and includes email support, no daily sending limits, and basic reporting and analytics. Support options consist of a free knowledge base and a community forum for free users. Paid users have access to bottom-tier email support.
2. Buffer
For SMBs who want to automate their social media marketing, Buffer offers post scheduling, automatic posting and approval workflows. Its notable features include customized landing pages, an AI assistant that helps users generate post ideas and ways to reuse existing content, and analytics to determine the best time to post and how a post is performing. Features included: Buffer can be published to Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, Pinterest, X (formerly Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and other channels).
Buffer's free version allows users to connect up to three social media channels, build landing pages, and use an AI assistant. Paid plans start at $6 per channel per month and include analytics reports. Support options for all tiers consist of email and social media support, and a self-service knowledge base.
3. Conversion kit
SMBs targeting content creators will also find many useful features in ConvertKit's free marketing automation tools. ConvertKit is a marketing automation hub that includes email marketing, automation such as email sequences and customer journey mapping, and digital product sales capabilities. Some of the more notable features include a creator network that introduces subscribers to other ConvertKit newsletters, visual automation that helps users build email sequences based on subscriber experiences, and features like Shopify and Teachable. platform integration, etc.
ConvertKit is cloud-based and offers a free version for users with up to 1,000 subscribers. Users can create unlimited forms, landing pages, and broadcasts to segment their customers. Paid versions start at $9 per month. Support options range from free community support to live chat to support for paid users.
4. Hubspot
Small businesses looking for automation software with marketing, sales, content management, and customer service capabilities should consider HubSpot. His five different products are offered: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, CMS, and Operations Hub, all of which have free versions.
Among other things, Marketing Hub offers forms, email marketing, landing pages, and ad management. The Sales/CRM Hub module provides contact management, deal pipeline, quoting, and scheduling functionality. Customer Service Hub includes ticketing, a basic live chatbot, and a shared inbox.
HubSpot is completely cloud-based. The free version includes basic features such as a library of 100 products, basic search engine optimization recommendations, and up to three reporting dashboards.
Starter packages start at $20 per month and expand on basic features. Support includes an extensive resource library including free certifications.
5. Mail Chimpanzee
Intuit MailChimp is primarily an email marketing software tool with SMS functionality. This includes generative AI tools for content creation, segmentation capabilities, and analytics and reporting to evaluate campaign performance. Metrics include open rates, industry benchmarks, and click-through rates.
The free version of MailChimp's email software includes 1,000 email sends per month, limited pre-built templates, a marketing calendar, integrations with over 250 apps, survey functionality, and 30 days of email support. I am. Users can upload up to 500 contacts, making it suitable for small businesses just getting started with marketing automation.
MailChimp is a cloud-based product that is licensed in stages. The next free tier is Essentials, which is free for one month and starts at $13 per month after that. Support options range from email support to resource libraries categorized by topics such as social media, email marketing, websites, and more.
6.Sumo
Sumo is an email capture tool that allows you to automate lead generation through forms, popups, and scroll bars for website visitors to enter their email addresses. Marketers can then send personalized emails to subscribers and set up triggers for events such as abandoned carts.
Some of Sumo's notable features include WordPress and Shopify plugins to speed up e-commerce setup, social media sharing, email integration, and e-commerce features like discount codes and connection to your online store.
The free version of Sumo offers customizable forms, visitor targeting, and unlimited subscribers. Paid versions start at $39 per month and include A/B testing, e-commerce design templates, and advanced email integrations. Support options include a searchable knowledge base.
7. Twilio Send Grid
As part of Twilio's suite of products, Sendgrid is an email marketing platform that provides automation features for SMBs. Its notable features include the ability to segment customers, conduct A/B tests, and create time-based or trigger-based email automations. It also provides sign-up forms and email test credits, allowing users to test emails against spam filters and validate links in workflows.
Sendgrid is cloud-based and includes a free version for users with up to 2,000 contacts. The free version allows you to send 6,000 emails per month and includes an HTML and drag-and-drop email editor, A/B testing, 3 email test credits, and 1 signup form.
Paid versions start at $15 per month. Support options in the free version include a knowledge base, web tickets, and product guides. Paid users receive guaranteed response times for ticket and chat support.
8. Zoho Campaign
As an email marketing platform, Zoho Campaigns helps small businesses send personalized email campaigns using automated workflows. Its main features include contacts, sign-up forms, email templates with drag-and-drop elements, SMS campaigns, personalization features like merge tags and optimized send times, newsletter sign-ups, and more. Includes automation based on trigger events, and import and management features such as analytics. report.
Zoho Campaigns is cloud-based and offers a “free forever” plan that allows users to upload up to 2,000 contacts, send up to 6,000 emails per month, and use sign-up forms and basic email templates. Offers. Paid versions start at $3 per month and offer basic segmentation and drag-and-drop workflows. Support options include online training from Zoho experts, webinars, user community, articles, guides, and emails.
Christine Campbell is a freelance writer specializing in business and B2B technology.
