Sales automation tools build one piece of your whole automation suite within your business. It seems more and more that businesses are placing a greater emphasis on automation and why shouldn’t they? Automation brings with it a number of benefits that can accelerate a business’s growth and also free up valuable time.
The tools that we’ve pulled together in this article were born out of necessity. Sales teams around the world were feeling, and still do feel, the burden of an endless grind for sale after sale. For a long time, it was just seen as a necessary evil. The grind was, simply, the job. Thankfully, technology, and the sales world, have developed into a brighter future. There’s no hiding from the fact that sales are (to an extent) an endless grind, but the process is slicker, more manageable, and more efficient thanks to these tools.
Better yet, it’s not as if these tools have been created and have stayed put ever since. Far from it! These tools are constantly evolving, constantly innovating, and striving for the next step in automation and development. This is all good news for the end-user, but especially great news for businesses.
Each tool, even when all aiming at the same target, approaches the issue in slightly different ways. It’s important that you spend time researching each one and picking the right one for your and your sales team’s needs. What works for a competitor might not necessarily work for your team, after all.
What Is Sales Automation Software?
Before we dive into the actual list, we must define exactly what sales automation software actually is.
Sales automation software looks to automate the sales process so that it runs efficiently, smoothly, and with as little downtime as possible. It will automate processes such as lead sourcing, lead nurturing, and even assist with the closing process. Many tools will help the sales team build and develop their pipeline by automating the monotonous, simple tasks so they can focus on human-driven tasks.
Some of these tools encompass a wide variety of sales tasks and become something of an all-in-one software tool that manages everything the sales team is required to do. Others focus on one particular process or task. Sales automation software can typically be categorized into these sectors:
- Email finders
- Email content
- Sales productivity
- Prospecting
- CRM software
- Sales engagement
- Sales calls
- Lead nurturing
- Sales intelligence
- Data enrichment & verification
- Social selling
Benefits of a Sales Automation Software
Speak to any sales rep, manager, or team member and they’ll explain to you that the majority of their job (that’s right: the majority), is made up of administrative tasks, data entry, and other manual tasks that are necessary but could easily be automated. That would mean more time for the core of their job, sales.t
Sales automation software looks to resolve this issue and deliver three main benefits:
Lead Generation
A sales team needs leads, and they need a lot of them. Consider that a conversion rate of 2-5% is seen as average and completely normal. That means you need a whole lot of leads to hit sales targets. 100 sales a month would require thousands of leads. Manually prospecting all of these leads is an unachievable task for most human teams. Prospecting leads manually can also lead to duplication, errors, and most importantly: burnout.
Having the process automated, where leads are pulled from a data source, qualified, and delivered ready for contact is a huge time saver. Some tools take it a step further and will even send the initial cold outreach emails for you, meaning all your sales team has to do is wait for a reply or follow-up.
Reporting
Sales teams are built on targets, goals, and outcomes. Pulling together reports on progress and conversions can rapidly become a daunting task, especially when working with larger and international teams. Software that compiles, analyzes, and delivers reports removes this task. It also makes reports far more accessible across larger companies.
Beyond simple targets, many tools will also give you reports on the status and success rates of various campaigns. Let’s say that you’ve launched a new cold email campaign, it only makes sense that you want to know deliverability rates, open rates, replies, link clicks, and more. A comprehensive analytics suite is what you’re after. Many tools supply these natively.
Efficiency
Arguably the biggest benefit of sales automation software is the increase in efficiency for your sales team. Winning back time is no small feat in a busy business and an effective sales automation software does exactly that. It gives back time. From creating email templates to finding prospects. From automating outreach, to report creation. Many steps that would previously have taken hours, if not days, of work, can now be completed with a few clicks of a button.
Top 15 Sales Automation Software of 2022
Instantly
Automation Software Type: Email Campaign Management
Pricing: Starting at $37 a month on the growth plan which is the most basic level to $97 a month on the hyper-growth plan which unlocks all of Instantly’s features.
Features:
- Prospect search
- Deliverability improvement through AI-powered account warmup
- Multiple account management
- In-depth analytics suite
- Automated outreach via personalized lists
When it comes to email automation, Instantly is a superb choice for any sales team that regularly sends out cold email campaigns. Not only does Instantly help with prospecting for potential clients but it automates so much more, all in one handy and easily accessible dashboard.
Arguably the most impressive feature that Instantly has in its arsenal is the unparalleled AI-powered account warmup. Many automated tools struggle because accounts get flagged as spam accounts after sending hundreds of emails. The warmup feature overcomes this issue and increases the deliverability of cold emails. More emails delivered means more eyes on your content, meaning a higher response rate. Warming up an account manually would take hours and hours of work. Instantly completely automates the process.
Once the account is warmed up, you can use Instantly to automate the personalization within your emails. Simply set fields, upload data, and Instantly will merge the fields easily, then you’re sending highly readable, personalized emails.
Alongside these automations, Instantly has a whole host of other useful features. The option of adding multiple account types is welcome when you’re managing multiple email platforms. Rather than having to log in to various providers, Instantly will pull everything into one cohesive dashboard.
The sales team and management will want reports and Instantly can deliver. The dashboard of analytics offers insight and details on all of the statistics that you could want. This makes reporting, analysis, and future adaptability a simple process.
Hubspot
Automation Software Type: CRM
Pricing: There is a free version of HubSpot with some limited features, the paid version starts from $50 a month for the starter pack, then $500 a month for the professional option.
Features:
- Live chat
- Meeting scheduling
- 1-1 emailing
- Conversation routing
- Task management
- Stripe integration
Many people consider Hubspot the king of CRM tools and that’s not surprising. It’s a vast suite of tools encompassing all aspects of business. The sales tools have a good array of automations that naturally sync with the built-in marketing tools as well.
The tools that encourage lead nurturing are particularly appealing, especially the built-in 1-1 video calling option that is available at the professional level of subscription. Every email can be tracked, tagged, and measured meaning you’re able to see exactly which campaigns are delivering and which need work.
The other most helpful feature of Hubspot is the huge number of integrations that it has with other third-party applications. That said, if you’re already investing $500 a month into Hubspot you might not have too many other pieces of software.
SalesBlink
Automation Software Type: Cold Outreach
Pricing: Starting at $15 a month per user for the simple email warm-up plan, for the full sales suite pricing is at $99 per month per user.
Features:
- Prospect by domain and email
- Search for companies
- Verify email addresses
- Launch cold email, LinkedIn, and call campaigns
- Track sales pipelines
- Schedule meetings
- Keep track of contacts within a CRM
SalesBlink has a solid selection of tools built into it, and the full sales suite is appealing even at the highest tier of pricing. The warmup alone is useful but to make the best use of it you need to be sending a large number of emails so should be using an email automation tool alongside it.
Marketed in a similar way to Hubspot, SalesBlink looks to deliver everything that your sales team would require in one single dashboard. The ability to create cold email sequencing is particularly useful, where multiple follow-up emails can be sent automatically without manual intervention.
Sales Navigator
Automation Software Type: Lead Prospector
Pricing: Starting from $99.99 a month
Features:
- The power of LinkedIn within the system
- Engage with prospects using LinkedIn’s InMail
- External CRM integration
LinkedIn’s own answer to sales prospecting. If you’re a heavy LinkedIn user then you’ve probably already heard of Sales Navigator (or have been targeted by their ads!). Sales Navigator turns your account into a full sales tool allowing you to filter LinkedIn by function, seniority level, company size, industry, and more.
Lists of prospects can be created, exported to your CRM of choice, and then are automatically updated as the prospect updates their info on LinkedIn. If you get most of your leads from LinkedIn manually it could be a strong way to power up your sales process.
Mailshake
Automation Software Type: Sales Engagement
Pricing: Starting from $59 a month for email outreach. Sales engagement begins at $99 per user per month.
Features:
- Task management
- Email tracking
- Workflow management
- Personalization
- Follow up emails
Mailshake focuses on cold email outreach but includes a plethora of other tools in its stack. The actual cold email outreach is incredibly useful with automations for content, personalization, and follow-up sending. Beyond the cold email campaigns, you can also use Mailshake to reach out through other platforms such as social media and phone.
Zapier
Automation Software Type: Web App Integration
Pricing: Starts at $19.99 a month but there is a free plan with limitations.
Features:
- Seamless integrations between hundreds of various apps and websites
- Many major brands already have Zaps ready and waiting
Zapier is a less traditional sales tool and instead delivers automation on a huge scale. If you can think about a process being automated, Zapier can help you get it running. These could be automations within a single piece of software, or through account linking, you can create automations across various pieces of software.
Let’s say, for instance, that you find a new prospect on LinkedIn and add them to a list. You can create a Zap that automatically creates a task in Asana for you to follow up with them. Or it could fire off a cold email through your inbox. The options are unlimited with the ability to write your own Zaps if you’re technically minded.
Bombora
Automation Software Type: Lead Prospecting and Data Enrichment
Pricing: $25,000 a year.
Features:
- Uses vast amounts of data to understand when prospects are searching for solutions.
One of the most expensive sales tools to grace our list, Bombora uses deep data to find out information that other tools might not be able to. It sources and allows you to know exactly when prospects are actively searching for your services. This gives your team the edge and allows them to prioritize accordingly.
ZoomInfo
Automation Software Type: Prospect Information
Pricing: Prices are customized on a per-account basis, but there is a free trial
Features:
- Professional and company profiles
- Direct-dial numbers, email, and addresses for prospects
- Tailored prospects based on your preferences
ZoomInfo claims to have access to the largest database of direct dial numbers and email addresses in existence, and it’s fair to say that the information that they can provide is typically more detailed than many competitors.
The greatest time-saving part of ZoomInfo is the ability to direct-dial from within the account without the need to ring a company line and request individual information.
Lemlist
Automation Software Type: Cold Outreach
Pricing: The email warmup plan costs $29 a month, the outreach plan $59 per month per user and the sales engagement platform costs $99 per user per month.
Features:
- Email warm-up increases the deliverability of your account
- Automated follow-ups
- Lead engagement across multiple channels
Lemlist covers the main 3 areas that your business will want to participate in when conducting an email outreach campaign; inbox warmup, the outreach itself, and follow-up emails. The day-to-day admin is minimized through the automation process. Plus there are great personalization options with each campaign.
Copper
Automation Software Type: CRM
Pricing: Starting from $29 a month
Features:
- Simple and accessible CRM
- Integrates with GSuite
- Straightforward pipeline
Sales teams find Copper extremely simple to use, it allows them to see where prospects are in their sales process with ease using Trello-like boards and drag and droppable cards. Alongside the pipeline tool, it’ll also collate contact information, call data, and any notes you have in one easy-to-access place. The filtering system is a great touch so that clients are straightforward to find.
Key Takeaways
There are lots of options when it comes to sales automation software, the trick is finding the one that works best for your sales team and your company at large. Consider the outcomes you’re hoping to achieve by using the software and see which has the best fit. It might even be worth trialing a few different options. Remember that it has to be a tool that increases efficiency, not become a cumbersome burden.
- Take your time considering which tool is right for you.
- Automation should increase efficiency, generate leads and allow detailed reporting.
- Always remember to keep an eye on the tools out there, they’re evolving all the time.
