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Did you know that B2B buyers prefer to be contacted via email more than any other channel?
Or that salespeople rate email as the most reliable method of generating leads?
Chances are email already plays a crucial role in your sales process. But if you’re not taking advantage of the power of email automation, you’re likely missing out on a ton of leads, sales, and revenue.
Fortunately, it’s never been easier to automate your emails — you just need to invest in the right technology.
To help you out, we’ve rounded up the 15 best email automation tools across four key categories:
Email marketing automation
Email automation tools with CRM functionality
Email automation for list-building
Let’s get into it…
What are Email Automation Tools?
Email automation tools are platforms that let you automate email campaigns.
As we explain in our in-depth guide to email automation, this process is all about sending emails triggered by the recipient’s actions. For example, if a prospect clicks through to your pricing page, you might follow up by inviting them to book a product demo.
Without an email automation tool, you’d have to send those emails manually. That might be fine if you only generate one or two leads a day, but it’s totally unscalable.
Top Benefits of Email Automation Tools
Okay, so we know email automation tools are important. But let’s take a look at the specific benefits:
Efficiency savings: Sending emails automatically saves your sales reps time, which they can spend on higher-value tasks.
Personalized messaging: Automation allows you to personalize emails at scale. Emails with advanced personalization see average response rates of 17% (vs 7% for non-personalized emails).
Improved experience: Because automated emails are personalized to the recipient’s own actions, they make the buying experience feel intuitive and seamless.
Consistent communications: Automating your emails allows you to reach prospects at exactly the right time, so you never have to worry about missing an opportunity.
Enhanced segmentation: With automation, you can segment your list based on actions and behaviors, which makes your emails more engaging.
All of which helps you generate more email opens, click-throughs, and replies — and ultimately win more clients.
15 Best Email Automation Tools
The more email automation tools you use, the longer it’ll take for your reps to learn how they all work. Plus most tools cost money. And, presumably, you don’t have an unlimited budget to spend on email automation.
That’s why it’s important to choose the right automation tool(s) from the get-go.
To help you make the best choice for your business, we’ve rounded up and categorized the best tools:
| Tool Name | Tool Type | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Instantly | Cold email automation | $30 – $286.30+ per month |
| Lemlist | Cold email automation | $32 – $129 per user per month |
| Reply.io | Cold email automation | $49 – $89 per user, per month |
| Saleshandy | Cold email automation | $25 – $219 per month |
| Smartlead | Cold email automation | $34 – $79 per month |
| Brevo | Email marketing automation | $0 – $16.17+ per month |
| ConvertKit | Email marketing automation | $0 – $9+ per month |
| Mailchimp | Email marketing automatio | $0 – $350+ per month |
| MailerLite | Email marketing automation | $0 – $9+ per month |
| HubSpot | Email automation & CRM | $0 – $3,600+ per month |
| Pipedrive | Email automation & CRM | $14 – $99 per user, per month |
| QuickMail | Email automation & CRM | $49 – $129 per month |
| Apollo | List-building | $0 – $119 per month |
| ContactOut | List-building | $0 – $79+ per month |
| Zoominfo | List-building | Available on request |
Best Tools For Cold Email Automation
Cold email is all about getting proactive by identifying and reaching out to potential customers. Use these tools to send personalized, automated cold emails at scale:
1. Instantly
Instantly is a cold outreach tool with a built-in lead database, allowing you to find, reach, and convert prospects from a single platform.
Pricing
Instantly’s email warmup and outreach plans range from $30 – $286.30+ per month when paid annually. Access to the lead database requires a separate subscription of $37.90 – $169.30+ per month.
Key Features
Ensure your domain is ready for bulk email sending with Instantly’s one-click bulk domain tester.
Build personalized drip campaigns using variables, sequences, and smart scheduling.
Add all of your sending accounts to one campaign and automatically rotate between them.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.9/5 (2,633 reviews)
Trustpilot: 4.6/5 (302 reviews)
Learn more: Instantly vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance
2. Lemlist
Lemlist is a cold outreach platform that also offers a B2B lead database, plus tools for finding and verifying emails.
Pricing
Email outreach plans range from $32 – $129 per user per month when billed annually. Businesses with more than 10 users should contact Lemlist for a custom quote.
Key Features
Build multichannel outreach sequences combining email, LinkedIn, and cold calling.
Personalize emails at scale with custom text variables, visuals, and dynamic landing pages.
Use generative AI to instantly create custom email templates.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.4/5 (244 reviews)
Trustpilot: 2.6/5 (22 reviews)
Learn more: Instantly vs Lemlist vs QuickMail: Which Is Best?
3. Reply.io
Reply.io offers tools to discover, engage, and convert prospects — including B2B data lists, outreach campaigns, and built-in meeting scheduling.
Pricing
Reply.io’s entry-level and mid-tier plans cost from $49 – $89 per user, per month respectively when billed annually, while the top-tier agency-grade plan starts at $166 per month. The platform’s AI SDR ($259+ per month) and AI Chat ($0 – $50+ per month) features require an additional subscription.
Key Features
Reach and engage prospects via email, LinkedIn, cold calling, SMS, and WhatsApp.
Personalize your outreach with dynamic, conditional, and custom variables.
Schedule LinkedIn connection requests, messages, profile views, InMails, and post likes.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.6/5 (1,305 reviews)
Trustpilot: 3.2/5 (117 reviews)
Learn more: Reply.io vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance
4. Saleshandy
Saleshandy is a cold outreach platform designed for lead generation agencies, SaaS brands, and IT services companies.
Pricing
The platform’s cold emailing tools cost from $25 – $219 per month when billed annually. There’s an extra cost for Saleshandy’s B2B Lead Finder tools, ranging from $39 – $249 per month.
Key Features
Understand which email templates resonate with your audience using Saleshandy’s A-Z testing functionality.
Use mail merge to personalize email templates with custom fields.
Send follow-up emails based on action and behavior-based triggers.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (125 reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (592 reviews)
Learn more: Saleshandy vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance
5. Smartlead
Smartlead is a cold email tool built for lead gen agencies, marketing agencies, sales leaders, and recruiters.
Pricing
Smartlead standard plans range from $34 – $79 per month when billed annually. Or upgrade to a custom plan (designed for lead generation agencies and scale-up businesses), starting at $174 per month.
Key Features
Scale outreach campaigns by rotating between multiple email inboxes in one click.
Reach prospects via email, SMS, X/Twitter, WhatsApp, and more.
Automate multiple actions, including connection requests, follow-up messages, and social media interactions.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.8/5 (178 reviews)
Learn more: Smartlead vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance
Best Email Marketing Automation Tools
With email marketing, you’re exclusively speaking to people who’ve willingly joined your marketing list — offering greater scope for segmentation and personalization. Use these tools to nurture leads until they’re ready to buy:
6. Brevo
Brevo (FKA Sendinblue) is an email marketing and CRM platform used by big brands like eBay, Michelin, and Louis Vuitton.
Pricing
Brevo offers a generous free plan including up to 300 email sends per day. Paid email marketing plans start from $8.08 – $16.17 per month when billed annually, including 5,000 emails and 500 contacts.
Key Features
Get started fast with pre-built sequences, including welcome series and abandoned cart emails.
Design your own multichannel sequences comprising email, SMS, and WhatsApp steps using Brevo’s drag-and-drop builder.
Segment contacts based on past activity, such as how they interacted with previous emails.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.5/5 (716 reviews)
Trustpilot: 4.2/5 (4,704 reviews)
7. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email marketing platform for content creators (authors, coaches, musicians, and podcasters).
Pricing
ConvertKit offers a superb free plan, including up to 10,000 contacts and unlimited emails. Paid plans start at $9 per month when billed annually for up to 300 contacts.
Key Features
Send attractive, branded email newsletters based on ConvertKit’s library of templates.
Easily create complex email sequences based on conditional logic using the visual automation builder.
Monetize your content with digital product sales, paid newsletter promotions, subscriptions, sponsorships, and more.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (209 reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (204 reviews)
8. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the world’s most popular email marketing platform, with over 11 million users. It’s owned by Intuit, the company behind Credit Karma and Quickbooks.
Pricing
Mailchimp offers a free plan including up to 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly email sends. Paid email marketing plans start from $13 – $350 per month.
Key Features
Automate email campaigns with pre-built triggers, including “contact views specific pages” and “contact views any product”.
Create hyper-specific customer segments using filters like location, campaign activity, and signup date.
Use Intuit Assist AI to write email copy or even design templates from scratch.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (17,145 reviews)
G2: 4.3/5 (12,448 reviews)
Learn more: Can You Use Mailchimp for Cold Emails?
9. MailerLite
MailerLite is a low-cost email marketing tool that also includes advanced functionality like campaign automation, lead forms, and e-commerce integrations.
Pricing
MailerLite is free for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails. Paid plans start at $9 per month when billed annually. Enterprise-level customers with 100,000+ subscribers should contact MailerLite for a custom quote.
Key Features
Send automated emails based on triggers like completions, link clicks, and anniversary dates.
Create up to three triggers per automation, allowing multiple entry points to a single email workflow.
Simultaneously test up to three workflow variations, including subject lines, email copy, and send times.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,045 reviews)
G2: 4.7/5 (918 reviews)
Best Email Automation & CRM Tools
Why pay for separate email automation and CRM tools when you can combine them in a single platform? Check out our picks for the top email and CRM solutions:
10. QuickMail
QuickMail is a dedicated outreach automation solution that also works as a cold outreach CRM, saving you the hassle (and cost) of running two separate platforms.
Pricing
QuickMail prices range from $49 – $129 per month. All plans include multiple email addresses and unlimited users.
Key Features
Integrate directly and leverage two-way synchronization with HubSpot and Pipedrive CRMs.
Build automated, multichannel outreach campaigns including email, LinkedIn, cold calling, and SMS steps.
Warm-up new email addresses using the MailFlow integration, included as standard with all QuickMail plans.
Automatically send emails from top-performing accounts to boost deliverability and replies with our Deliverability AI feature.
Use QuickMail as your cold outreach CRM and store up to 100,000 active contacts.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (26 reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (87 reviews)
Learn more: QuickMail Pricing
11. HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one platform combining sales, marketing, customer support, content marketing, operations, and commerce functionality.
Pricing
HubSpot offers a free CRM including unlimited data and up to one million contacts. Its free Marketing Hub plan offers 2,000 monthly emails. Paid marketing plans start at $15 per seat per month when billed annually.
Key Features
Automatically track interactions across email, social media, and calls via the built-in CRM.
Speed up email design using HubSpot’s template library.
Use the platform’s generative AI to create email copy based on simple text prompts.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (5,957 reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (11,006 reviews)
Learn more: 12 Best HubSpot Sales Integrations in 2024 | QuickMail
12. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a CRM software tool with built-in email outreach, automation, segmentation, and analytics features.
Pricing
Pipedrive pricing ranges from $14 – $99 per user, per month when billed annually. Pay an additional monthly subscription for extra features like live chat and prospecting.
Key Features
Automate repetitive CRM tasks like lead qualification and scoring.
Trigger email sends based on changes to Pipedrive data.
Create and edit email templates using Pipedrive’s drag-and-drop builder.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (2,791 reviews)
G2: 4.3/5 (1,881 reviews)
Email Automation Tools For List Building
Every successful email outreach campaign starts with effective prospecting. Don’t want to spend hours trawling LinkedIn for prospects? Speed up the process with these list-building tools:
13. Apollo
Apollo is a sales engagement and intelligence platform offering data on 275 million contacts and 73 million companies.
Pricing
Apollo’s free plan includes 10,000 email credits per month. Paid plans range from $49 – $119 per month when billed annually.
Key Features
Find the right prospects based on 65+ filters, including contact title, job function, account industry, employee headcount, and more.
Use the free Apollo Chrome extension to get instant contact and account insights on LinkedIn, Salesforce, and corporate websites.
Reach prospects with pre-built templates including emails, calls, and automated LinkedIn tasks.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.6/5 (344 reviews)
G2: 4.8/5 (7,002 reviews)
Learn more: Apollo vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance
14. ContactOut
ContactOut is a platform for finding contact details, helping users track down email addresses and phone numbers for 300 million professionals.
Pricing
Users can find up to four email addresses and two phone numbers per day for free. Get higher usage levels by upgrading to a paid plan from $79 per month when billed annually.
Key Features
Narrow down prospect searches with 20+ data attributes like seniority, departments, and technologies used.
Add prospects to your outreach platform, CRM, or applicant tracking system in a single click.
Prospect faster on LinkedIn and company websites using ContactOut’s Chrome extension.
Product Ratings
G2: 4.5/5 (100 reviews)
Learn more: 18 Best Email Finders For Sales (Paid and Free Email Search)
15. Zoominfo
Zoominfo is a B2B lead database with built-in sales and marketing functionality, including email outreach, website chat, and form optimization.
Pricing
Zoominfo pricing is only available on request.
Key Features
Target the right accounts and buyers using 300+ company attributes.
Identity sales-ready prospects with real-time buyer intent signals.
Build automated outreach campaigns including emails, calls, and social connections triggered by market signals.
Product Ratings
Capterra: 4.1/5 (286 reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (8,451 reviews)
Learn more: 8 Account-Based Marketing Tools to Get More Leads
Level Up Your Email Outreach With QuickMail
There’s no shortage of tools for automating your email workflow.
We happily recommend all the platforms in this article. But if you’re specifically looking for a cold email outreach solution, look no further than QuickMail.
At QuickMail, everything we do is designed to help you avoid the spam folder and hit more main inboxes.
But don’t take our word for it.
See for yourself by signing up for your free QuickMail trial!
