# Category Compare: Account-Based Marketing vs Marketing Automation Software | Capterra > Confused between account-based marketing and marketing automation software? We define and compare the two software categories to help you determine the right tool for your business. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/account-based-marketing-vs-marketing-automation --- Marketing 101Marketing # Category Compare: Account-Based Marketing vs. Marketing Automation Software By Barkha Bali Barkha Bali Senior Writer Experience I’ve been writing for Capterra since August 2021, providing expert insights to help small and midsize businesses (SMBs) find the rig... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/bbali/) Published November 7, 2022 10 min read ## In this report, we define and compare account-based marketing and marketing automation software to help you decide which one aligns with your business goals. Marketing managers are constantly on the lookout for a solution to identify ideal leads and create a personalized marketing strategy. While technology such as account-based marketing and marketing automation software can solve these challenges, selecting the appropriate tool for your business can be difficult. Despite having many overlapping features, [account-based marketing (ABM) software](https://www.capterra.com/account-based-marketing-software/) and [marketing automation software](https://www.capterra.com/marketing-automation-software/) are two distinct categories. ABM software helps marketers focus on high-value accounts and increase revenue by personalizing their journey and tailoring marketing campaigns. Marketing automation software, on the other hand, enables businesses to automate their marketing functions, including campaign creation and market segmentation. Understanding these differences will help you make the right choice for your business. In this article, we'll talk about the similarities and differences between the account-based marketing and marketing automation software categories. We have also alphabetically listed the top five products for each category, based on verified software reviews. [Read more](#methodology). ## What is account-based marketing (ABM) software? [Account-based marketing (ABM) software](https://www.capterra.com/account-based-marketing-software/) enables marketers to identify ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and high-value accounts that have a significant probability of converting into customers. ABM software streamlines lead qualification and lead nurturing processes, allowing businesses to dedicate their marketing efforts to high-value leads and promote revenue growth. With the help of an ABM tool, marketers can create a tailored marketing strategy, personalize campaigns, nurture existing accounts and build further opportunities for accounts in the pipeline. Some account-based marketing solutions integrate with third-party applications, such as a marketing automation tool or customer relationship management (CRM) solution, to support prioritized communication with key accounts. ## Key features of account-based marketing software The primary features of account-based marketing software include: - **Target account identification:** Support marketing and research teams in identifying and establishing an ideal customer profile (ICP) for the accounts they want their business to target. - **Campaign personalization:** Plan and create personalized marketing campaigns based on target accounts’ interests, demographics, and buying behavior. - **Campaign management:** Execute, track, and analyze targeted marketing campaigns across various channels, including email, social media, surveys, and print media. You can create a sequence of marketing actions to achieve specific goals and monitor the real-time performance of a campaign at various stages. - **Campaign analytics:** Monitor the performance of each campaign to identify the most profitable campaigns for comparative analysis. Get insights on total clicks and views, click-through rate (CTR), return on investment (ROI), and media value. - **Lead management:** Capture and store relevant information about leads and contacts to guide them through the sales process—right from acquisition to conversion. You can segment the leads on various attributes, such as gender, age, and location, to create and send targeted communication. - **Lead scoring:** Score a lead on its quality or likelihood to convert based on their interests and places in the buying cycle. Lead scoring helps sales teams separate a customer’s interest in products from their intent to buy. For example, customers visiting a webpage may indicate that they are interested in the product or service, but that doesn’t always mean they want to make a purchase. - **Pipeline management:** Oversee sales pipeline to track the effectiveness of campaigns, find opportunities, and monitor leads’ journey. Pipeline management allows sales teams to identify bottlenecks in their sales cycle, eliminate them, and forecast future slumps or growth. ## Top 5 account-based marketing software These five products are listed in alphabetical order. (The full methodology for how these products were chosen can be found at the end of this article.) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 ## What is marketing automation software? [Marketing automation software](https://www.capterra.com/marketing-automation-software/#shortlist) automates marketing functions, workflows, and multifunctional and omnichannel campaigns that can be automatically triggered on the basis of leads’ behavior and interactions. The solution helps marketers design and track campaigns and automate processes such as repetitive campaign creation and distribution, lead scoring, content publishing, customer segmentation, reporting, and marketing analytics. A marketing automation software solution can help you reduce human errors in data analysis, automate repetitive tasks such as email and social media management, and make informed business decisions. It also assists businesses in improving customer engagement, converting prospects into paying customers, and retaining existing customers for repeat business. ## Key features of marketing automation software The primary features of a marketing automation platform include: - **Campaign management:** Plan, create, execute, track, and analyze marketing campaigns across channels, including email, social media, surveys, and print media. You can create a sequence of marketing actions to accomplish specific goals and monitor the real-time performance of a campaign at various stages. - **Drip campaigns:** Send automated emails and messages to existing and prospective customers on a schedule or based on user actions. For example, an automated email can be sent when someone signs up, makes a purchase, or abandons a shopping cart. - **Landing pages/web forms:** Use custom or pre-built templates to create landing pages or web forms that help capture customer information. You can also add customer engagement elements, such as call-to-action (CTA) buttons, to increase the conversion rate. - **Lead management:** Identify and capture potential customers, track their activities and behavior, qualify prospects, and guide them through the sales process. You can categorize leads based on their gender, age, location, etc., to create and send targeted communication. - **Lead segmentation:** Group leads and contacts based on specific attributes such as gender, age, and location. Some products also provide statistics on the likelihood of converting, which can be used to prioritize leads. - **ROI tracking:** Monitor conversion rates and track the effectiveness and profitability of marketing efforts. Some products also provide reports on customer behavior trends. - **Website visitor tracking:** Track your website visitors in real time to understand their behavior and capture their preferences—where they are coming from, what they are interacting with, and where you are losing them. This improves your website user journey and helps leads move further in the sales funnel. ## Top 5 marketing automation software These five products are listed in alphabetical order. (The full methodology for how these products were chosen can be found at the end of this article.) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of October 2022 ## What do they have in common? Both account-based marketing and marketing automation software streamline marketing strategies to increase customer engagement and improve customer experience. In order to achieve that, an ABM platform: - implements a focused approach to identify best-fit accounts and turn them into customers. - integrates with marketing automation software to organize and support marketing operations. Marketing automation solutions allow businesses to auto-generate leads and nurture them and also automate several marketing tasks such as email marketing and social media marketing. Common features of account-based marketing and marketing automation software include campaign management, lead management, lead scoring, reporting/analytics, and data segmentation. ## Which marketing tool is right for your business? Before investing in any software, assess your business’s marketing requirements and objectives. - Marketing automation software is suitable for any business that wants to streamline tasks and automate marketing workflows while delivering more productive campaigns that generate higher ROI. This tool helps businesses segment prospect data, personalize campaigns for targeted businesses, foster relationships with prospects, score and nurture leads, and automate the sales process. - Account-based marketing software is suitable for businesses that have adopted a focused approach to marketing in which they identify ideal customer profiles and dedicate their marketing efforts to quality target accounts having high chances of turning into customers. This software helps marketing teams create tailored strategies, personalize campaigns, and nurture existing accounts. ABM software integrates with marketing automation tools to automate marketing processes and the management of marketing campaigns, including campaign design, tracking, content publishing, customer segmentation, and marketing analytics. Once you’ve decided which software to use, head to our [account-based marketing](https://www.capterra.com/account-based-marketing-software/)and [marketing automation software](https://www.capterra.com/marketing-automation-software/)category pages, where you can find a sortable list of products and software reviews from verified users. ## How to choose the right marketing software system for your business The software you choose has to align with your marketing team’s requirements. Here are some considerations to keep in mind while evaluating potential solutions: - **Identify your marketing challenges:** Do you have a large number of prospects and multiple channels for marketing? Are you looking for a software solution to streamline and automate your marketing workflow? Before you start looking for marketing software, identify the challenges you want to address and determine the prime metrics to be optimized in order for you to be able to meet your business goals and objectives. - **Look at the analytics and reporting capabilities:** Marketing software helps evaluate marketing campaigns by analyzing and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), such as lead quality score, current conversion rate, and success rate. These metrics assist businesses in identifying the best-performing campaigns. Look for these analytics and reporting capabilities before you pick a tool for your business. - **Consider the total software cost:** Different tools have varied pricing models that make direct comparison a bit tough. Some vendors may apply extra charges for integration, customer support, and customization options. Before you select a tool, calculate the total cost of ownership based on your business needs. - **Check integration options:** Your marketing software should integrate with existing marketing and sales applications, such as CRM software. A solution that supports integration will help you seamlessly transfer client and sales data across applications, eliminate data duplication, and save you from repeated data entry. - **Assess the scalability of your software choice:** The tool you choose should be able to handle an increasing number of leads and customers as your business grows. Scalability of a tool ensures flexibility while adjusting with seasonal demand changes, without hampering daily business operations. ## Common questions to ask while selecting a tool for your business Here are some questions to ask software vendors before making a final purchase: - **How does the tool support target account identification?** If you are planning to dedicate your marketing efforts to particular accounts or a specific audience, your selected tool should support target account identification to qualify high-value leads.Before making a choice, ask your vendor how the tool would help you identify best-fit accounts. - **Does the software offer A/B testing functionality?** A/B testing or split testing allows you to compare two or more versions of a marketing campaign and determine what works best for your audience. An ideal marketing tool should allow you to predict and analyze the results of different marketing campaigns and automatically share the better-performing version with the customers. - **What are the support options available?** Marketing software solution providers offer multiple resources to address customer queries, including phone calls, live chat, emails, social media support, and a knowledge base with solution articles and how-to guides. This information can help you save time in the future. - **Does the tool offer real-time campaign analysis?** The software you choose should help you track your campaigns using key metrics, such as visits, clicks, and purchases, and measure ROI. It should also enable businesses to monitor individual campaign performance in real time. ## Capterra's 2026 Software Buying Trends Report ### Download our 2026 Software Buying Trends Report to see how successful software adopters avoid disappointment and how your business can, too. * * * **Methodology** We highlight the top five example products from each category—those with the highest average user ratings. In addition, to be included in this list, the products must: - Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Capterra, with an average rating of 3.0 or higher (as of October 17, 2022). - Meet our software market definition for account-based marketing and marketing automation software: - Account-based marketing: “Account-based marketing software promotes revenue growth by helping businesses focus its marketing efforts on the key target audience.” - Marketing automation: “Marketing automation software enables organizations to automate their marketing functions, including campaign creation, market segmentation, and response analysis.” Note: Reviews and ratings data in the product cards is as of October 17, 2022. New reviews may have been added since the publication of this article, so the reviews data in this piece may not reflect current conditions. _Disclaimer: The products in the category comparison images are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations by Capterra. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication._ * * * Looking for Marketing Automation software?Check out Capterra's list of the [best Marketing Automation software](https://www.capterra.com/marketing-automation-software/) solutions. ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Author [### Barkha Bali](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/bbali/) Barkha Bali is a writer at Capterra. 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