11 Best Sales Automation Software Tools for 2023
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
This article is part of a larger series on Sales Management.
Sales automation software lets users complete sales activities, such as entering data, assigning tasks, and sending emails, through automation rather than manual completion. Automation allows sales reps and managers to maximize efficiency by putting repetitive, tedious tasks on autopilot and prioritizing building customer relationships. While many specialty marketing and workflow automation products exist, most automation solutions can be deployed using customer relationship management (CRM) software.
We evaluated dozens of sales process automation tools and CRMs with robust automation capabilities. Based on our evaluation, here are the 11 best products for automating sales tasks:
- Best for end-to-end sales process automation: HubSpot Sales Hub
- Best artificial intelligence (AI) features: Pipedrive
- Best for automating sales call tasks: Agile CRM
- Best for deal management automation: Freshsales
- Best for automating business-to-business outreach: Overloop
- Best for automated lead qualification: Keap
- Best for email automation: Mailchimp
- Best for omnichannel automation: ActiveCampaign
- Best workflow integration system: Zapier
- Best for advanced lead insights: DemandScience
- Best low-priced prospecting automation: Lusha
Best Sales Automation Platforms Compared
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|---|---|---|---|
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CRM software |
Free to $45 per month (for 2 users) |
Workflow automation for prospecting, lead generation, qualification, and nurturing |
| Visit HubSpot | |||
 |
CRM software |
$14.90 per user, per month |
Artificial intelligence (AI) sales assistant tool for suggestions to improve performance |
| Visit Pipedrive | |||
 |
CRM software |
Free to $14 per user, per month |
Voicemail drop plus post-call automation for sending follow-up messages, logging notes, and scheduling meetings |
| Visit Agile CRM | |||
 |
CRM software |
Free to $15 per user, monthly |
Automated deal assignment, sales forecasting, and rotten deal indication |
| Visit Freshsales | |||
 |
CRM software |
$82 per user, monthly |
Campaign design and automation through email or LinkedIn messaging |
| Visit Overloop | |||
 |
CRM software |
$129 per month |
Lead scoring with automated, score-based actions |
| Visit Keap | |||
 |
Marketing automation platform |
Free to $13 per month |
Email campaign automation plus A/B testing, predictive segmentation, and customer journeys |
| Visit Mailchimp | |||
 |
Marketing automation platform |
$9 per user, per month |
Marketing automation through email, text, and social media ads plus ecommerce engagement |
| Visit ActiveCampaign | |||
 |
Workflow integration system |
Free to $19.99 per month |
Zaps designer to create workflow automations between 5,000+ different applications |
| Visit Zapier | |||
 |
Data intelligence service |
Custom pricing |
Lead list generation with buyer intent analysis and technographics |
| Visit DemandScience | |||
 |
Data intelligence service |
Free to $29 per user, per month |
Free lead list generation and LinkedIn integration for enrichment |
| Visit Lusha | |||
*Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates.
Pro tip: Workflow automation is just one of many essential features in CRM systems, along with email marketing and contact, lead, and account management capabilities. To learn more about what functionality to look for in your CRM product, check out our guide on the top CRM features you should have for your small business.
CRM Sales Automation Platforms
CRMs often come with automation features that let teams centralize and automate sales workflows in one platform. They come with sales process automation, where users can update data, assign tasks, and send communications based on triggers such as updates to deals or when a new lead gets generated.
There’s also sales activity automation, where users complete repetitive tasks without manual requirements. This is common for obtaining sales analytics, creating revenue forecasts, identifying qualified sales opportunities, and inserting data into a proposal in real time.
1. HubSpot Sales Hub: Best End-to-End Sales Automation Software
HubSpot Sales Hub
Pros
- Offers end-to-end automation solutions for the sales process
- Free plan for unlimited users includes automation for email scheduling, managing contact data, and segmenting lead lists
- Intuitive system for setting up automated workflows
Cons
- Paid plans get expensive
- Sales sequences and workflow extension to trigger actions and pass data through external apps isn’t available until Professional plan
- Expensive contact scoring and automated lead rotation features
HubSpot offers a popular CRM system that runs simple automated workflows, such as notifying a user or creating a new task when a deal stage changes. It also handles complex processes, like auto-assigning new leads to a sales rep based on customer attributes such as deal size or industry. HubSpot lets teams put the entire sales process on auto-pilot as it allows for data capture from web forms to auto-generate leads in the CRM. It also has lead scoring to qualify the best opportunities and nurturing through automated sales follow-ups via email or LinkedIn.
HubSpot Sales Hub Monthly Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Unlimited users
- Starter: $45 for two users
- Professional: $450 (up to five users)
- Enterprise: $1,200 (up to 10 users)
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing based on annual billing, monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
HubSpot automated sales sequence designer (Source: HubSpot)
Like what you see? Learn more about HubSpot’s features and other product modules in our HubSpot review.
2. Pipedrive: Best Automated Insights Features
Pipedrive
Pros
- Can analyze CRM data to generate automated suggestions using artificial intelligence (AI)
- Workflow automation capabilities include automated task management and sending emails
- Offers automated contact enrichment suggestions by finding up-to-date information online and by using LinkedIn profiles
Cons
- No free plan
- Expensive SmartDocs features for auto-filling quote and proposal document fields with contact information
- Workflow automation capabilities not available until Advanced plan
Pipedrive is a sales-focused platform that lets reps set up CRM automations to assign or generate sales tasks, send emails to prospects, and update data records. Users can do one-click data enrichment from the Smart Contact tool, which automatically compiles recent contact data and insights found online or on LinkedIn profiles. There’s also the sophisticated Sales Assistant tool. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze CRM data, where it can provide automated suggestions for how to improve performance and which deals to prioritize.
Pipedrive Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Essential: $14.90
- Advanced: $24.90
- Professional: $49.90
- Enterprise: $99
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Pipedrive lead profile with sales assistant recommendation (Source: Pipedrive)
Learn how Pipedrive can help your small business grow by checking out our Pipedrive review. You’ll get insights on pricing, usability, and best-for circumstances based on its features and integrations.
3. Agile CRM: Best for Call Automation Features
Agile CRM
Pros
- Free and low-cost plans available for managing sales, marketing, and customer service activities
- Sales automation for data management, lead scoring, post-call tasks, and sending automated voicemails
- System includes automation for marketing and customer service workflows like email campaign deployment, contact analytics, and customer engagement through chatbots
Cons
- Marketing automation features are not available on the Free plan
- Only one integration or plugin allowed on Free plan
- Automated voicemail features get expensive
Agile CRM lets businesses automate lead scoring, marketing campaign deployment, data management, and customer support communications through chatbot tools. Despite these excellent capabilities, the most notable workflow automation enabled by Agile CRM is for telephone calls. Sales reps who do a lot of cold outreach and nurturing through the phone can use Agile CRM to automatically mass drop voicemails to CRM leads, Users can also log call notes, create tasks, schedule meetings, and send follow-up emails after a prospect call.
Agile CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Free: Up to 10 users
- Starter: $8.99
- Regular: $29.99
- Enterprise: $47.99
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Agile CRM automated voicemail drop (Source: Agile CRM)
Agile CRM gives small businesses an all-in-one tool for overseeing sales, marketing, and customer service operations. Find out if it’s right for your small business by checking out our full Agile CRM review.
4. Freshsales: Best Deal Management Automation
Freshsales
Pros
- Free plan for unlimited users, which includes the deal management module
- Low-cost features for automated sales email sequences, rotten deal tracking, and lead scoring
- Users can auto-assign contacts, accounts, deals, and website chat communications to reps based on attributes or availability
Cons
- Auto-profile enrichment features get expensive
- Free sales automation limited to using chatbots to engage website visitors and detect buyer intent
- Time-based automated workflows that trigger tasks or perform actions based on time passed is not offered until Pro plan
Freshsales is equipped with tons of sales automation, including customer profile enrichment, lead scoring, sales email sequences, and invoice updating capabilities. Each module even lets teams auto-assign new opportunities, such as contacts, accounts, and deals based on location or product line. The main focus for Freshsales automation, however, is overseeing deals in the sales pipeline. Users can receive automatic insights on how to move a deal forward, and whether it is trending, rotten, or solid enough to commit to the next sales forecast.
Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Free Plan: Unlimited users
- Growth: $15
- Pro: $39
- Enterprise: $69
- Free trial: 21 days
Add-ons
- Configure, Price, Quote: $19 for quote document templates, invoicing, and document activity tracking
- Additional bot sessions: $75 for 1,000 bot sessions per month for automated customer or lead support
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Freshsales rotten deal indicator (Source: Freshsales)
Explore the features of this CRM tool to determine if it’s the right solution for your business in our comprehensive Freshsales review.
5. Overloop: Best for Automating Business-to-Business Sales Campaigns
Overloop
Pros
- Users can create automated campaigns for email and LinkedIn communications
- Integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce, Zoho CRM, HubSpot, and Pipedrive
- Can be used to automate all parts of the campaign process, including while assembling audiences, designing templates, deploying messages, and following up
Cons
- No free plan and only offers one subscription option
- Users must purchase additional credits separately to find email addresses
- Does not have telephone capabilities
Overloop is both a CRM and sales automation platform. Built for business-to-business (B2B) sales, Overloop offers sales management features and connects with LinkedIn. The LinkedIn integration lets users create CRM records from profiles, deploy mass message and connection request campaigns, and use Sales Navigator from the CRM. In addition to LinkedIn automation, revenue teams can manage automated email campaigns. The contact lists are formed using email finder credits the provider accepts for email address data.
Overloop Pricing at a Glance**
- No Brainer (Base Price)*: $82 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days
Email Finder Credits
- $39 per month for 250 credits
- $59 per month for 500 credits
- $99 per month for 1,000 credits
- $299 per month for 5,000 credits
- $499 per month for 10,000 credits
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
**Base plan automatically includes 250 email credits per user on a monthly basis.
Overloop adding contacts to a LinkedIn campaign (Source: Overloop)
6. Keap: Best for Automating Lead Qualification
Keap
Pros
- Lead scoring features let users automate communications and other actions based on high scores
- Email campaign features offer built-in A/B testing tools
- Robust payment processing and invoicing capabilities that sync with accounting tools
Cons
- Expensive paid plans with no free option
- Automated lead assignment not available until Max Classic plan
- Features for tracking lead source information get expensive
Keap is an elaborate CRM excellent for B2B teams. It has features for contact management, appointment scheduling, quoting, invoicing, and the ability to track contacts related to company records. For automation, users can capture leads through web forms, assign them to reps, send recurring invoices, and deliver email and text campaigns automatically. Lastly, while other CRMs can automate lead qualification with lead scoring, Keap extends the capability with email and task automation based on those lead scores.
Keap Monthly Pricing at a Glance*
- Pro: $129
- Max: $199
- Max Classic: Contact for pricing
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Keap lead score workflow configuration (Source: Monkeypod Marketing)
Keap is an excellent CRM option for businesses seeking robust sales automation and email marketing capabilities. Find out other great use cases for this platform in our Keap CRM review to see if it’s right for your business.
Marketing Automation Platforms
Marketing automation platforms focus on the communication aspect of generating business. These systems allow users to design marketing campaigns through email, text, online ads, or social media channels, then distribute them to a contact list or preset audience. The automation component becomes useful for drip and redeployment. Users don’t need to keep sending or posting content because the automation platform will do it for them based on conditions, such as time intervals or audience behaviors like clicking a link or making a purchase.
7. Mailchimp: Best Email Marketing Automation Features
MailChimp
Pros
- Offers a free plan
- Easy to operate the features, especially for new users
- Comes with premade email templates, A/B testing, automated journeys, predictive list segmentation, and content optimizer tools
Cons
- Dynamic features for sending personalized content based on audience segment isn’t available until Standard plan
- Expensive features for comparative reporting to see how campaigns and segments perform against one another
- Free plan only allows one user
Mailchimp is one of the best email marketing software tools to put brand development and lead generation on autopilot. Users can access prebuilt emails and automated journey templates to design mass emails and automate lead nurturing. Teams can also create landing pages and web forms as destination points, and automate contact segmentation based on built-in, predictive analytics tools. Finally, the platform offers A/B testing to optimize campaigns and a creative assistant to import brand pallets into your campaigns.
Mailchimp Monthly Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: One user
- Essentials: Starts at $13 (up to three users)
- Standard: Starts at $20 (up to five users)
- Premium: Starts at $350 (unlimited users)
*Pricing based on monthly billing and 500 contact records. Additional contact records will be more expensive.
Mailchimp customer journey designer (Source: MarTech)
Did you know Mailchimp integrates with many popular CRM systems like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM? See where else you can connect your Mailchimp system when you read our guide on the best Mailchimp CRM solutions.
8. ActiveCampaign: Best for Automating Multiple Communication Channels
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- Multi-channel engagement options through email, text, and social media ads
- Integrates with WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, and Square for marketing automation
- Platform includes lead scoring features
Cons
- Only one user allowed on the Lite plan, which strictly has email features
- Higher-tiered plans get expensive
- Sending messages to website visitors on web pages requires Professional plan
ActiveCampaign offers a marketing platform, a CRM, and the option to bundle both into one. This software is a powerful solution for engaging customers and leads on numerous channels. Users can manage email, short message service (SMS), and Facebook ad campaigns from the system. Additionally, ecommerce businesses can integrate to oversee marketing outreach on WooCommerce, Shopify, Square, and BigCommerce. In addition to the omnichannel channel capabilities, ActiveCampaign has drip options to automate customer journeys.
ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance**
- Lite: $9 (up to one user)*
- Plus: $49 (up to three users)*
- Professional: $149 (up to five users)*
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing (up to 10 users)
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
**Pricing is strictly for the ActiveCampaign email and marketing automation product. The CRM and sales product can be purchased separately or bundled for an added cost.
ActiveCampaign text journey configuration (Source: ActiveCampaign)
Workflow Automation Integration Tools
Workflow automation integrators refer to a system that connects two or more applications and runs automations between them. For example, you can add a contact record in Zoho CRM and notify a sales rep through Slack if a new lead submitted their information on a Facebook ads form.
With three apps in this ecosystem, you could easily use an integration to create this workflow. Because of the platform’s unique capabilities, only Zapier made the list for this type of sales process automation software.
9. Zapier: Best for Creating Workflows Between Apps
Zapier
Pros
- Easy-to-use platform with low-code Zap designer
- Integrates with over 5,000 applications to use in automated workflows
- Free plan available plus scalable paid plans
Cons
- Only one user allowed on the Free, Starter, and Professional plans
- Multi-trigger Zaps not available for free
- Accessibility to unlimited apps not available until Professional plan
Zapier is the ultimate do-it-yourself automation creator. It lets small businesses connect their favorite applications, including DocuSign, Slack, and QuickBooks, so they can deploy automations between apps. This allows users to get other functionality out of their software, such as notifications or data syncs through connectivity. Zapier uses the trigger-action system to create “Zaps” workflows. So if something happens in one app, like a deal stage changes in HubSpot, then an action occurs in another app, such as DocuSign sending a proposal to a lead.
Zapier Monthly Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Up to one user
- Starter: $19.99 (up to one user)
- Professional: $49 (up to one user)
- Team: $399 (unlimited users)
- Company: $799 (unlimited users)
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Zapier creating a multi-step Zap (Source: Zapier)
Pro tip: Integrations are an excellent way to keep data synchronized across systems and centralize tasks. Because there are tons of data stored on CRM systems, businesses should integrate them with other productivity, communication, and sales management software to stay organized. Check out our CRM integration guide to learn more about how they work, popular integrations you can use, and the advantages of integrations.
Data Intelligence Tools
Data intelligence software and services take the manual labor out of online research. Instead of spending hours on prospecting, sales teams can use intelligence platforms to purchase lead data or contact lists for cold outreach campaigns. Investing in these services lets you automate the prospecting stage, early parts of the lead generation process, and even intelligence activities like data enrichment.
10. DemandScience: Best for Advanced Prospect Insights
DemandScience
Pros
- Users can create B2B lead lists based on industry, company size, job title, technology stacks, and tons of other variables
- Intent features that indicate buying signals and reveal when decision-makers are interested or ready to purchase
- Provider offers supplemental sales development services that will do cold call outreach for you
Cons
- No transparent pricing
- Some customers report platform usability issues when generating lead lists
- Limited integration options to import data into a CRM system
DemandScience is a prospecting service that offers lead intelligence and outreach solutions. Users can create their own B2B lead list using desired criteria like industry, revenue, title, and the technology the business uses. There are sophisticated features for identifying buyer intent where you can see which leads are most interested based on signals like email engagement, keyword searches, and ad clicks. Finally, DemandScience offers outreach services where sales reps will place calls on your behalf to generate leads.
DemandScience buyer intent contact search (Source: DemandScience)
11. Lusha: Best Cost-friendly Lead Database
Lusha
Pros
- Free plan available plus cost-friendly paid plans
- Free plan includes email address, phone number, and company data
- LinkedIn integration for data enrichment is available for free
Cons
- Job title change and technographic insights require the Scale plan
- Expensive to integrate with CRM systems
- No list management features or option to export data to a spreadsheet until the paid plans
Lusha is a B2B database businesses can use to automate prospect research and lead list generation. The free plan is a great starting place for sales teams to construct their contact list and begin outreach campaigns. They can also keep the data automatically up to date with the free LinkedIn enrichment features. Users can upgrade as they need more contacts and users to a paid plan, which starts at $29 per user every month for 480 annual credits for up to five users.
Lusha Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance
- Free: Up to one user for five credits per month
- Pro: $29 (one to five users for up to 480 credits per user, per year)
- Premium: $51 (one to five users for up to 960 credits per user, per year)
- Scale: Custom plan, must contact for pricing
*Pricing based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Lusha company data searching (Source: Lusha)
Did you know Lusha is one of the top providers of cost-friendly email lists? Check out our picks for the best free and low-priced email providers to find other options and kick-start your next marketing campaign.
How We Evaluated the Top Sales Automation Software
To evaluate the best sales automation tools, we limited our product list strictly to software products that can complete workflow automations for the sales process, during marketing campaigns, or while managing projects. Once established, we narrowed it down to the top automation tools using these attributes:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is sales automation software?
Sales automation software is a function, often found in CRMs or specialty tools, used to complete repetitive workflows for a user, such as sending communications or updating a data record. It often uses a trigger, condition, and system, where if an event takes place that meets certain criteria, then the action happens. For instance, users could create a workflow that IF a deal stage changes to “closed-won,” THEN that lead record is updated to “client” status and assigned to an account manager who receives an email notification.
What is the best sales automation software?
There is no “best overall” sales automation software. Instead, there is sales automation software that’s “best” for the user, because products have their own use cases. CRMs, for example, combine data storage, lead management, communication tools, and workflow automation for an all-in-one automation platform. However, if you need something specific, like email automation, look to a specialized product like Mailchimp. Additionally, product attributes like price and usability will also dictate which sales automation tool is best for you.
What are the benefits of adopting a sales automation software tool?
Employing sales automation helps businesses scale their operation. Because workflows, specifically repetitive ones like data entry or lead nurturing, are put on autopilot, it’s like having another employee at your disposal. This lets you do more in less time so you can focus on the interpersonal parts of sales and close more deals. Automation, in general, also reduces human error since a computer is completing the work for you.
Bottom Line
Sales automation software helps businesses maximize efficiency during the sales process by putting tedious data, communications, and task management activity on autopilot. As a result, they can focus on building customer relationships and closing more deals. While often found in CRM systems, sales automation can also have narrower use cases. Users, for instance, can access automation in specialty tools like email marketing platforms, app connectors, and database services.
