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MenuWhat is the best marketing automation software for a small company that sells software license (not SaaS) and hardware?
We are a small-sized company (20 employees) with a budget and cash flow problem (too much money invested in a new technology that is finally selling). I'm thinking on Infusionsoft because it offers a lot of solutions for different legacy systems that we built/modified in-house such as online store, payment gateway, CRM, spreadsheets, and off course it will have the marketing automation feature. We are just using Sugar CRM with mailchimp and 1 sales person. The idea is that it will serve us to grow until we can afford better solution such as marketo or hubspot.
Answers
I have been working with HubSpot for almost 5 years. I've consulted with *hundreds* of companies in a very similar position to you.
In my experience, the man-hours it takes to manage multiple systems cobbled together far outweigh the dollars a system like HubSpot cost.
Further, there are countless inefficiencies that become factors when trying to synchronize databases, lead tracking, scoring, and effective lead nurturing.
I'd like to talk with you more about this before a poor decision is made. Shoot me a message and I'll waive my consultation rate for a quick call. I think we can find ways to make this work for your best interest long term.
-Shaun
Regarding cash, here's a price per/subscriber comparison of the major marketing automation platforms: https://dripsherpa.com/how-much-does-drip-cost-compared-to-mailchimp-aweber-active-campaign-infusionsoft-ontraport-marketo-hubspot-and-mad-mimi/
I'm a fan of Drip for your use case because it's easy to use and hits a great price point.
But the larger question I'd urge you to consider is this: What one place in your sales funnel would implementing marketing automation reduce friction or increase conversions?
I think it's easy to think of marketing automation as a magic bullet, while in reality it is a powerful toolkit that requires an investment of expertise and effort to get the most out of it.
If you start *small* with marketing automation you're more likely to have a successful first project that provides the monetary and emotional ROI necessary to move onto a bigger project.
Agree with Shaun,
Another Hubspot partner agency owner here. On-boarded more than 12 clients to Hubspot and it worked for all of them.
Infusionsoft is doing good as well and they are in similar price range, however the Hubspot UX is much intuitive, it saves lots of time and also Hubspot CRM is one of the greatest CRM system I have ever used.
For lots of specific ecommerce integration Infusionsoft may work smoother, however when it comes to all in one marketing solution + sales and marketing alignment Hubspot is your best choice here and they get currently the 95% of the market share
Let me know what kind of integration you are planning, how your sales and marketing teams work together and I will be able to give much detailed guidance
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