Sales automation software uses preconfigured processes and/or artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks specific to the sales pipeline. While there are many standalone sales automation tools, it’s also common to find tools built into customer relationship management (CRM) software for streamlining workflows. We reviewed dozens of various standalone solutions and sales automation CRMs and identified our top 11 options for small businesses.
Sales Automation Tools | Best For |
|---|---|
1. Calendly | Businesses looking for simple, automated appointment scheduling tools |
Sales teams that want a free, automated email solution | |
3. Zapier | Companies that want to combine workflows with external applications automatically |
4. Pipedrive | Organizations looking for a CRM that can provide artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sales advice |
5. Mailchimp | Sales teams that want advanced, automated email marketing features |
6. Prospect.io | Sales professionals who want tools to automate deal management tasks |
7. Agile CRM | Businesses that want built-in, automated telephonic features |
Companies looking for automated solutions for both direct sales and mass marketing activities | |
9. Keap | Sales organizations that want to automate invoicing within their CRM |
10. Leadiro | Business-to-business (B2B) organizations that want to automate lead generation tasks |
11. Freshsales | Sales teams looking for automatic AI tools for advanced sales insights |
How We Evaluated the Best Sales Automation Software
We specifically evaluated sales automation functionality within each platform, including automation to enhance the sales process for pipeline stages such as lead generation and lead nurturing, appointment scheduling, sales enablement, and marketing campaign deployment. We also looked at automation capabilities for sales management that monitor and delegate sales activities.
In addition to sales automation features, we considered pricing, overall usability, integration capabilities, and customer support for each of these sales automation software platforms.
1. Calendly
Pricing: Plans range from $0 to $12 per month
Automation capabilities: Automates the appointment scheduling process and synchronizes with calendars
Calendly is a low-cost, easy-to-use sales management tool that allows businesses to schedule appointments and meetings easily without the constant back and forth deliberation via email. The scheduling portal is self-explanatory for recipients, and detailed preferences can be set according to the user’s appointment times and setting preferences.
Key Features
- Synchronizes appointment schedule with connected calendars automatically
- Allows users to preset availability rules for scheduling appointments
- Users determine which appointment channels to utilize, such as phone call, video conference, in-person appointment
- Scheduling portal can be accessed by the recipient easily via an email link or a button on a webpage
Calendly scheduling portal (Source: Arrivy.com)
2. HubSpot Sales Hub
Pricing: Plans range from $0 to $1,200 per month
Automation capabilities: Automates notifications to reps with pipeline changes, task creations, and email follow-ups with prospects
HubSpot Sales assists teams in automating certain tasks in the sales pipeline such as assigning leads to reps, task generation, and email follow-ups with prospects. The email automation tools can even be accessed through HubSpot’s free plan, along with other useful CRM features.
HubSpot Sales Automated Email setup (Source: HubSpot)
Key Features
- Automated email follow-ups can be configured for prospects
- Tasks can be generated automatically for sales reps based on workflow changes
- Leads can be assigned automatically based on contact triggers
Do you want to learn more? Check out our HubSpot CRM review and discover how it can help your sales team manage and close deals more effectively.
3. Zapier
Pricing: Plans start from $0 to $599 per month
Automation capabilities: Automates and synchronizes the creation of task workflows through integrations with third-party applications
Zapier automates workflows by creating tasks based on certain triggers, such as automatically adding an email address to a Mailchimp audience list when someone submits an inquiry form on Facebook. Most of these workflows can be created without any coding knowledge, and the platform integrates with thousands of software applications commonly used by small businesses.
Key Features
- Can create workflow tasks from form submissions from one application to another
- Syncs contact lead information automatically with spreadsheet software
- Integration with more than 3,000 commonly used small business applications like Slack, Google Workspace, Trello, Mailchimp, and Facebook
- Point-and-click interface makes it easy to create task workflow rules
Zapier “Zaps” creation page (Source: Asana.com)
4. Pipedrive
Pricing: Ranges from $12.50 to $99 per user, per month
Automation capabilities: Automates pipeline and lead management and offers AI tools for automatic performance-enhancing sales tips
Many of the sales automation features offered by Pipedrive come from its AI-powered sales assistant. The sales assistant acts as a coach and informs the user automatically on items like which leads to focus on next, action steps for better sales performance, and tips for improving their experience while using the Pipedrive platform.
Key Features
- AI-powered sales assistant automatically generates productivity tips, such as integration recommendations, and advice on other tasks that can be automated
- Automated email scheduling to follow up with certain leads
- Workflow task automation can be set based on triggers and desired actions
- Notifications and progress updates can be shared with teams automatically using the AI sales assistant
Pipedrive sales assistant coach (Source: Pipedrive)
Check out our Pipedrive CRM review to see if it’s a good fit for your business.
5. Mailchimp
Pricing: Plans range from $0 to $299 per month
Automation capabilities: Automates prospect and customer emails by creating email marketing workflows and sending emails based on time or behavioral optimization triggers
Mailchimp assists with sales automation specifically on the email marketing process. Some of the advanced tools in the platform allow businesses to send emails based automatically on time of day, customer purchase history, page navigation, and customer interest in a specific product. There are also drip campaign marketing capabilities that nurture leads by sending them a series of emails over a set period.
Key Features
- Email marketing campaigns can be automated to send time-optimized emails
- Emails can be sent in response to behavior triggers like purchasing a product or clicking specific website pages
- Automatic product retargeting emails can be sent based on website pages viewed
- Drip email campaigns can be automated for lead nurturing
Mailchimp email template page (Source Mailchimp)
6. Prospect.io
Pricing: Starts at $19 per user, per month, and offers professional add-ons for an additional $39 to $99 per month
Automation capabilities: Automates sales tasks along the prospecting stages of the sales pipeline including deal assignments that need to be created, completed, and monitored
Prospect.io is an excellent sales automation tool for generating new sales prospects and staying in touch with them using email. Its automation capabilities also extend to creating deals on the correct stage of the sales pipeline based on preconfigured conditions or triggers.
Key Features
- Automatic prospect enrollment based on preconfigured triggers or events
- Deals can be generated automatically based on prospect triggers
- Emails can be deployed automatically using personalized attributes of the prospect
- Building blocks feature allows sales reps to use conditions to create workflows based on prospect behavior and preset filters
Prospect.io prospect monitoring page (Source: CompareCamp)
7. Agile CRM
Pricing: Ranges from $0 to $47.99 per user, per month
Automation capabilities: Automates post-call administrative tasks, such as follow-up messaging, and automates marketing tasks, such as social media posting, autoresponders, and distribution of email newsletters, with premade templates
Some of the notable sales automation capabilities Agile CRM offers are within the calling functions of the CRM. Users can preconfigure a list of contacts based on tags and attributes to auto-dial as part of high-volume phone campaigns, and complete post-call tasks like follow-up messaging, call note logging, and calendar scheduling automatically.
Key Features
- Automated telephony tools log phone call appointments and handle post-call administrative tasks
- Social media posts can be deployed automatically
- Autoresponder feature sends emails automatically based on triggers or actions of a contact
- Auto dialer tool to set up and sequence contacts for outbound call campaigns
Agile CRM auto dialing campaign configuration (Source: Agile CRM)
Do you want more information? Check out our CRM review on Agile CRM to see if it’s right for your business.
8. ActiveCampaign
Pricing: Starts at $9 per month to $405 per month
Automation capabilities: Automated email follow-ups, market segmentation, task workflow creation, sales routing, and lead scoring
ActiveCampaign provides sales automation for both direct sales prospecting and mass marketing. Users can receive automated updates showing lead scores and deal information to optimize their sales tasks, send automated follow-up emails, and segment customer lists for various marketing campaigns.
Key Features
- Automated lead scoring to see which leads are the most optimal to pursue
- Market segmentation tools to personalize the marketing process automatically based on behavioral and demographic attributes
- Automated follow-up emails sent based on triggers
- Automated deal updates notify reps about changes in the deal owner, pipeline stage, and potential deal value
ActiveCampaign lead scoring configuration page (Source: The Motley Fool)
9. Keap
Pricing: Ranges from $79 to $199 per month.
Automation capabilities: Automated text messaging, emailing, payment processing, and task reminders as well as workflow task creation automation.
While Keap provides similar sales automation tools to other software products on this list, such as automated workflows and follow-up emails, its most distinctive automation features are the payment processing and invoicing tools. Through integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and WePay, users can automate recurring invoices and reminders throughout the CRM system.
Key Features
- Automated workflow creates follow-up text messaging or email based on lead triggers
- Automatic payment processing invoice reminders through integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and WePay
- Xero and QuickBooks sync received payments to bookkeeping transactions automatically
Keap recurring payment configuration page (Source: Keap)
10. Leadiro
Pricing: Pricing varies based on business needs and must be quoted through their sales team
Automation capabilities: Automates lead list generation and data entry processes
Leadiro is a unique software platform that assists businesses in one of the most tedious tasks in sales: lead generation. The platform is designed for B2B organizations and acts as a large-scale database prepopulated with contact information and email lists based on the desired target business industry, size, geographic location, and job title of the contact.
Key Features
- Offers prebuilt, targeted lead contact lists based on industry, titles, and business size
- Can target customers automatically based on buying intent and signals which can translate into lead scores
- Lead data is updated automatically based on the most recent information acquired
Leadiro contact filtering page (Source: GetApp)
11. Freshsales
Pricing: From $15 to $69 per user, per month
Automation capabilities: Automates sales assignments, contact profile updates, and insights on the sales pipeline, sales forecasting, and calendar event suggestions
The Freddy AI tool is the biggest catalyst for sales automation within Freshsales. It offers advanced insights automatically on things like the best next steps to take with a prospect, the likelihood of deal success, out-of-office detection, predictive lead scoring, sales forecasting, and duplication of contacts within the CRM database.
Key Features
- Automated profile enrichment updates contact profiles automatically based on public information
- Automatic assignment of accounts, deals, and contacts to sales reps based on preset rules and contact triggers
- Freddy AI offers advanced insights on leads and deals and can detect duplicated data automatically to ensure a clean database
- Built-in answer bot answers common live-chat questions for customers automatically
Freshsales contact page with Freddy AI insights. (Source: Freshsales)
Read our full Freshsales review to discover how this software helps teams reach their business goals.
Bottom Line
Sales automation tools can take many forms within the sales process, from initial lead generation to finalizing payments. For businesses looking for effective sales automation tools, it’s essential to first consider which sales tasks you want to automate―and use that determination to choose software that offers the most value to your business.
