If you’re looking for the best marketing tech tools, look no further! This ultimate list of top digital marketing tools 2020 will definitely make you to choose the right tool for the job.
You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘digital marketing tools’ before. I know you have. It has almost become a cliché to overuse this term over the last few years, which is why I want to clarify what these digital marketing tools actually are. The best digital marketing tools should help your business foray into the world of online marketing and assist you in achieving your goals. Unfortunately, many get caught up in the jargon and don’t know where to get started.
1. HappyFox
HappyFox handles all inbound requests in one ticketing system. And your service reps can contact multiple people from the same organization about a resolution. Unlike the some other help desk companies, you receive a secure help desk with SSL integration and 24/7 support at no extra cost.
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2. Freshdesk
Freshdesk’s shared inbox lets your team collaborate and resolve issues together. You also can set requirements for resolution times.
Onboarding
Onboarding customers is vital to ensure people understand and use your product effectively. This process is a way to not only familiarize consumers with your app, but also to formally introduce them to your brand.
Kate Griggs, product owner at InterContinental Hotels Group, says, “User onboarding is one of the most crucial–and frustrating–elements of any product launch. It is the first impression, and it needs to be planned and analyzed for future adoption and growth.”
3. Appcues
Appcues enables you to build a personalized user onboarding experience. With targeting capabilities, you can show the right experience to the right user at the right time. It’s highly recommended because non-developers can run experiments and improve your activation strategy.
4. WalkMe
WalkMe gives you the control to change content, design, placement, and functionality of each step of the on-screen guidance. Its featured text option draws the user’s attention to important announcements.
4. SendGrid
SendGrid offers a full suite of email marketing services, many of which are totally friendly to novices and email veterans alike.
For example, the platform offers flexible design options via visual, drag-and-drop editing, coding or a combination of both. In-depth deliverability and performance analytics are also built into SendGrid, cluing marketers in on which messages are performing and what needs work.
We know: there are more email marketing solutions out there than we can count. That said, a big upside of SendGrid is the forever-free plan for up-and-coming businesses as well as scalable pricing that matches your needs as you grow your list.
5. lemlist
lemlist is unique among our email marketing tools because the platform is primarily focused on deliverability. Emphasizing the best times to send your messages (and how often) for the sake of more opens and clicks, lemlist is awesome for optimizing your existing campaigns.
Rather than second-guessing your marketing pushes, lemlist can be an eye-opener in terms of how to warm up your list.
Additional features include personalization tools to make your outreach emails sound less spammy and follow-up email sequences to encourage more replies from cold prospects.
6. For analytics: Google Analytics
When it comes to getting user insights, Google Analytics is your ultimate companion for a successful business. If you want to know how to make the right decisions for your customers, this tool is here for you.
Google Analytics is brilliant when you want to know:
- Where your website visitors are coming from
- How they found you
- What content they viewed
- How long they stayed on parts of your site
A master view in Google Analytics. (Source: G2)
How do you learn all of this and then some? 7 different types of reporting.
- Audience Reporting: Looking at individual behaviors and customer lifetime value.
- Advertising Reporting: Get post-click performance metrics for users who clicked on your Ads campaigns and then came through to your website or used your mobile app.
- Acquisition Reporting: Understand how search and social impact the way you get customers.
- Behavior Reporting: Understand exactly how people are using your site.
- Conversion Reporting: See the paths your users travel across multiple channels, and how advertising and organic search influence customer purchase behavior.
- Real-time Reporting: Watch everything that happens with your customers in real-time
- User-flow Reporting: Use content groupings to explore how people move through your website.
Google Analytics makes it simple to understand how your site and app users get your content, so you know what’s working and what’s not. You can even connect other systems (like CRM and point of sale) for a more complete view.
What does Google Analytics cost?
Google Analytics is free. Google also offers the premium Google Analytics 360, which costs around $150,000. But the free version is enough for most businesses.
Luckily for marketers at small and medium-sized businesses, the standard, free version of Google Analytics can provide more than enough insight to successfully guide their marketing efforts.
What people love about it:
“Google Analytics is FREE, unlike other PAID analytic tools in the market that does not even come on par with Google Analytics features. The default data given by Google Analytics in front of you is already extremely informational. With the default data like, Visitor Location, Browser Used, Direct or Website Referrer Stats, Bounce Rate, and Device Used by the visitor, you are already handed extremely useful information you can implement for your campaigns…” – G2 review
“Google Analytics literally helps you out making the right decisions with its comprehensive data analytics. It is all plain simple and easy to use and with just the basic data features it presents, you can already have massive data to analyze.” – G2 review
Alternative Tool: Adobe Analytics
SEC.gov
Cost: Free
With government mandated filings for publicly traded firms, posted in plain view for all to see, the SEC stands as a veritable gold mine of information for learning more about your competitors.
Two primary items drive the usefulness of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s postings. The first one is comprehensive annual reports in a readily accessible PDF format. The second, however, is probably the most attractive for time conscious tycoons. XBRL (short for eXtensible Business Reporting Language) meta-tagging of vital financial statistics ensures that data can be cataloged and presented in quick-reference, easy-to-understand tables. The combination makes for an insightful look into competitors, risks, and market trends.
8. For email marketing + automation: ActiveCampaign
According to the Annuitas Group, businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.
ActiveCampaign is a software platform specializing in marketing automation, email marketing, and sales CRM to create the perfect customer experience. We help small and mid-sized businesses build meaningful connections with their customers.
Other ActiveCampaign features include:
- Site Tracking
- Event Tracking
- Automation Map
- Split Action
- Split Testing
- Email Segmentation
- Forms
- Easy integration with your other tools
You can add tags, time conditions, and whatever custom elements you need to create automations for every customer journey.
Plus, you can use it all alongside our automated sales CRM. We’ll get to that a bit later.
What does ActiveCampaign cost?
You decide! The number of contacts you have and the extent of the features you need determines your price. We have four plans ranging from $9-249 per month:
- Lite
- Plus
- Professional
- Enterprise
Plus, we migrate all of your info to our platform for free.
What people love about it:
“ActiveCampaign is our main email marketing automation and CRM tool – mostly because it covers both tasks so well.” — Aaron Brooks, Venture Harbor
“First of all, the ActiveCampaign program is a truly complete software and is also among the cheapest compared to the multiple functions it has.
Then the assistance, which is essential especially for people who like me had no experience, has always been present and quick to answer my questions and solve my problems.
Thank you so much everyone! Emails are sent in a very timely and dynamic manner and do not end up in spam. This is very important because it assures me that all my contacts receive them on time.
I like how the control panel was created because it’s very intuitive.” – G2 review
“ActiveCampaign is very user-friendly, making automations very visual and comprehensive. It has so many features, and that for a fraction of the price of some competitors out there. Compared to our previous marketing automation platform, ActiveCampaign definitely stands out in their customer service. The personal onboarding sessions proved to be very useful, they offer monthly 1-on-1 sessions, and there is a vast library of educational resources. Their support is fast and friendly. With ActiveCampaign you’ll quickly become a BOSS in marketing automation.” – G2 review
9. For CMS (Content Management System): WordPress.org
WordPress powers more than 34% of the web — a number that grows every day. Everything you need to do from simple websites, to blogs, to complex portals and enterprise websites, and even applications, you can do with WordPress.
The WordPress.org dashboard gives you a full view of content management. (Source: G2)
You have two options: WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
Ideally, you want to have control over what your website looks like (and what tools you can connect to it), which means WordPress.org is the one for you. This option lets you self-host, which gives you more control to customize and monetize your site. WordPress.com has more limitations, and whatever site you create might be limited by their future changes .
Some WordPress.org features include:
- Content Authoring
- Content Repository
- SEO
- Pre-built Templates
- Rich Text Editor
- Plug-ins/Widgets/Apps
- Content Queue
- Dashboard and Reports
- Mobile Optimization
WordPress.org sites also get access to over 54,000 plugins – so your website does what you need it to. Add things like an online store, galleries, mailing lists, forums, spam filters, and analytics.
What does WordPress cost?
WordPress.com’s basic package is free but the premium package is $99/year. If you use WordPress.org, you can download it for free – but you’ll need a domain and hosting which costs a few dollars per month.
What people love about it:
“Wordpress is the most popular CMS in the market, compared to runner ups Joomla and Drupal. It has so many features compared to other CMS, and there are a lot of plugins and themes that makes it even more easy to use even for beginners”. – G2 review
“I love that Word Press is set up in an easy way, with templates that my mind finds easy to navigate. I have no web designing experience, but I’ve been able to make web posts look great, thanks to the fact that Word Press is set up in an easy, user-friendly way.” – G2 review
Alternative Tool: SquareSpace, Ghost
10. For CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Salesforce and ActiveCampaign
Do you have difficulty keeping your sales organized? There’s a lot of client info to keep track of, and you also have to remember who has already been called or emailed and when. Without a system to keep everything organized in one place, the volume of leads can get overwhelming.
You need a CRM – or customer relationship management – to make sure no leads slip through the cracks.
Lucky for you, we have two great CRM options for you.
CRM Option 1: Salesforce Sales Cloud
CRM Option 2: ActiveCampaign sales CRM with automation
Salesforce Sales Cloud
The Salesforce CRM integrates all of your marketing, sales, and commerce with a single, shared view of every customer’s information. It helps you:
- Get more leads
- Close more deals
- Boost productivity
- Make insightful decisions
Salesforce CRM is easy to navigate for everyone from small businesses to large enterprises. Its many features help you grow your business faster with the help of features like:
- Lead & Contact Management
- Sales Opportunity Management
- Workflow Rules & Automation
- Customizable Reports & Dashboards
- Mobile Application
The deals pipeline view in Salesforce Sales Cloud. (Source: Salesforce)
Salesforce CRM lets you track all sales activity—every lead, opportunity, and customer—and take action from anywhere. This means you get more time to sell to the people who are interested, armed with their personal marketing data and social insights.
This CRM Cloud can connect with the other 7 clouds that Salesforce offers and it’s easy to customize and make changes – it grows with your business.
What does Salesforce cost?
In addition to a 30-day free trial, Salesforce CRM has a pay-as-you-go model with 4 plans.
- Sales Essentials for $25 per user/month: Out-of-the-box CRM for up to 5 users
- Professional for $75 per user/month: Complete CRM for any size team
- Enterprise for $150 per user/month: Deeply customizable CRM for your business
- Unlimited for $300 per user/month: Unlimited CRM power and support
Bonus: You can integrate Salesforce Essentials with ActiveCampaign (all plans) to align your sales and marketing. Learn more here.
What people love about it:
“Thanks to this software we can manage our productivity in internet marketing until the end of the sales process, process contacts, provide a better customer service among other benefits very useful for our company. We mainly like to do internet marketing with Salesforce CRM since we can send very powerful and attractive messages to keep our audience happy and create new subscribers and more potential customers. ” – G2 review
“Packs a punch in features that can be turned on and turned off as needed when business trends and sales need change. Worth the price as a stand-alone sales CRM and sales tool for a small business with just a handful of reps while at the same time being equally effective as a platform for a company with 1000+ salespeople that want integration between multiple departments. Excellent security against both outside and inside threats and manipulation. User definition fields so numerously that it allows for unique user roles for every employee on the system if desired.” – G2 review
“The best thing about Salesforce is the raw power; the platform can do anything. The possibilities for customization, integration, and handling of data are limitless. Further, between online training (trailhead), documentation, and support forums and communities, Salesforce provides a vast volume of support to help users fully use the powers of the platform.” – G2 review
ActiveCampaign sales CRM with automation
The ActiveCampaign sales CRM with automation lets you:
- Manage your contacts in a central platform
- Automatically update contact details
- View an entire lead’s history with a contact record
Know exactly where each lead is in the sales process with detailed records in order to send targeted messages.
The ActiveCampaign sales CRM with automation keeps leads organized in the sales pipeline.
What does ActiveCampaign cost?
The sales CRM is available on our Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans starting at $49 per month.
What people love about it:
“There are SO many CRM options available, and after trying literally dozens of them over the course of my career… ActiveCampaign has blown everyone else out of the water.”
The best part? This program is both user friendly & SMART! The ability to smart target your audience for certain email campaigns/ automations is amazing. We can send out specific emails to contacts based on their history with us. The system allows you to really keep a detailed record of how your database is interacting with your marketing efforts.
On top of that, the customer service is comparable to none. Our on-boarding specialist, went above and beyond for us and by the end of our sessions, we really felt we were fully embracing the system for all it could do.
ActiveCampaign was exactly what we needed in a tech-driven industry. All other CRM’s feel like as good as excel spreadsheets in comparison.” – G2 review
Conclusion
Marketing is the only way you can reach out to target audience effectively in digital business. So you need to choose digital marketing tools for better results!