Buying a new home or remodeling your current home can be very stressful. So it’s no wonder homeowners are surfing the web to research what to expect before they start. They find your website and shoot off a quick email for more information, and unless you’re able to respond promptly, you’ll lose the potential lead. With marketing automation, you know every lead is followed-up on and provided relevant content in preparation for your sales team making contact.

Here are the five best marketing automation tools for homebuilders like you!

InfusionSoft

One of the first hybrids on the scene is still one of the best. Part marketing automation platform, part client relationship management (CRM) system, InfusionSoft provides the best of both worlds – for half the cost of each. The CRM component allows you to easily organize contacts into various lists and groupings, such as potential and current customers, as well as the ability to track your sales. The tool also provides the benefit of automated email sequences that drip on leads over a defined timeline.

GreenRope

For approximately half the price of InfusionSoft, the email marketing platform GreenRope is stable and very user-friendly with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.  GreenRope offers integrated tools such as automatic lead scoring, as well as CRM, e-commerce and email marketing with every account. This system allows users to easily create segmented lists, auto-responders and track quality leads. Another benefit: free customer support and the ability to add users at no extra charge.

HubSpot

HubSpot focuses on attracting new visitors to your website and ultimately converting those visitors into revenue via an “attract, convert and analyze” approach. HubSpot offers an advanced CRM, referred by the company as a “Content Optimization System.” HubSpot’s backing of their marketing automation software with a CRM simplifies the process for non-techie business owners. With HubSpot you also get:

• A robust keyword analysis and tracking tool
• On-page SEO
• Inbound link tracking
• An optional blogging module that provides SEO analytical tools, showing how successful your blogging attempts are at generating leads

AgileCRM

Although billed as a CRM, Agile CRM offers marketing automation comparable to InfusionSoft with zero upfront costs. Agile provides the ability to build sophisticated marketing campaigns with:

• Auto-responders
• Multistep features
• Automated lead scoring
• Drag-and-drop campaign workflow
• Life cycle marketing
• Drip marketing
• Automatic campaign triggering
• Email templates, themes and personalization
• Individualized, form and timed pop-ups

Marketo

Perhaps the best-known tool in the business, Marketo offers a full suite of features that enable you to handle robust email campaigns, along with dynamic tools for sales staff. You can design emails with a drag-and-drop interface; HTML not required. Emails can be sent based on timing, actions or predefined steps. Marketo also offers the ability to score leads based on dimensions such as demographics, including:

• Lead behavior (for example, prospects who participated in a webinar)
• Product-specific scoring

Marketo also offers analytics, including reports on landing page traffic, email performance and web activity.

At the end of the day, the “top” marketing automation tool is the one you actually use. By finding one that best suits your needs, you’re setting yourself up for success.