Marketing automation systems: guide for Danish businesses

Marketing automation is the difference between sending emails and building a system that works for you. This guide helps you choose the right system for your business.

The short answer: ActiveCampaign is the best pure marketing automation system. HubSpot is best for businesses that want everything in one place (but pay the price). Brevo and Mailchimp are fine for basic automation. Hermod takes a new approach with AI-powered automation.

What is marketing automation, really?

Marketing automation is software that automates marketing tasks based on rules and triggers. Instead of manually sending a welcome email, you build a flow: “When a new contact signs up, wait 1 day, send welcome email. If they click, send product overview. If not, send reminder after 3 days.”

It sounds simple, but the power lies in the complexity. A good automation system can:

• React to behavior: Website visits, email clicks, form submissions, purchases
• Score leads: Assign points based on engagement and demographics
• Segment automatically: Move contacts between segments based on actions
• Personalize content: Show different emails to different contacts in the same flow
• Integrate with CRM: Sync data between marketing and sales

For an introduction to automation, see our beginner’s guide to email automation.

The 5 systems — overview

ActiveCampaign — the automation specialist

ActiveCampaign is the system most automation experts recommend. It’s built from the ground up for automation and has the deepest functionality in the category.

Automation features

• Visual flow builder: Drag-and-drop with if/else, wait, split, goals, and conditions
• Triggers: Email opens, clicks, website visits, forms, tag changes, CRM events, dates, custom events
• Conditional logic: Unlimited nesting of conditions. “If contact is in segment X AND opened email Y BUT didn’t visit page Z”
• Lead scoring: Assign points based on engagement. Automate actions at score thresholds
• Split tests in flows: Test different paths against each other
• Goal tracking: Define goals in flows and measure conversion rates
• CRM automation: Create deals, move stages, assign owners automatically

Strengths

ActiveCampaign’s automation builder is simply the most capable on the market below enterprise level. You can build flows that would require custom development on other platforms. The CRM integration is deep — leads move automatically between marketing and sales.

Weaknesses

The learning curve is real. Without experience in marketing automation, it can take weeks to learn the system. Price increases quickly with contact count — the Plus plan ($186/mo at 10,000 contacts) is necessary for the strongest features. Data is hosted in the US unless you’re on Enterprise.

Best for

B2B companies with a sales process that requires lead nurturing. Marketing teams with at least one person who understands automation concepts. Businesses that want to replace separate CRM and email marketing tools.

HubSpot — enterprise all-in-one

HubSpot is more than marketing automation — it’s a complete CRM platform with marketing, sales, service, and CMS. Marketing Hub is the part that handles automation.

Automation features

• Workflows: Visual flows with conditions, delays, and actions
• Lead scoring: Based on engagement, fit, and custom properties
• Smart content: Dynamic content based on contact properties
• Attribution reporting: See which touchpoints convert
• Account-based marketing: Target entire companies, not just contacts
• Custom objects: Define your own data models beyond standard CRM

Strengths

HubSpot’s biggest advantage is that everything is connected. CRM, marketing, sales, and service share data without integrations. Reporting and attribution are stronger than any other tool in this comparison. If you have a large team spanning marketing and sales, the shared data model is invaluable.

Weaknesses

The price. HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800/mo — and that’s just marketing. Add Sales Hub and Service Hub, and you’re quickly over $2,000/mo. For small and medium Danish businesses, this is rarely justifiable. Additionally, the automation builder is actually less flexible than ActiveCampaign’s for pure email flows.

Best for

Companies with 20+ employees that need a shared platform for marketing, sales, and service. Companies with a budget of $1,000+/mo for marketing tech. B2B SaaS and professional services.

Brevo — practical automation at a fair price

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) offers automation that’s good enough for most SMB needs — without the complexity and price of ActiveCampaign.

Automation features

• Visual flow builder: Basic flows with triggers, conditions, and actions
• Triggers: Email events, website events, contact properties, dates
• Conditional logic: If/else based on contact data and behavior
• Transactional flows: Order confirmations, shipping notifications built-in
• SMS and WhatsApp: Multichannel automation (email + SMS in the same flow)

Strengths

Brevo is the most price-friendly platform with proper automation. Unlimited contacts means your automation investment isn’t penalized by list growth. Transactional emails are built-in — you don’t need a separate system for order confirmations. EU hosting (France) makes GDPR straightforward.

Weaknesses

The automation builder is functional but not elegant. Advanced features like lead scoring, goal tracking, and split tests in flows are missing or limited. Reporting is basic. The interface can feel clunky compared to newer platforms.

Best for

SMBs that need automation beyond the basics but aren’t ready for ActiveCampaign’s complexity and price. Businesses with large lists (Brevo’s pricing model rewards this). E-commerce businesses that need transactional emails in the same system.

Mailchimp — automation light

Mailchimp has automation, but it’s not the platform’s core strength. It’s an email marketing tool with automation as an add-on.

Automation features

• Customer journeys: Visual builder with triggers and conditions
• Pre-built automations: Welcome, abandoned cart, birthday, re-engagement
• Conditional logic: Basic if/else based on tags and segments
• E-commerce automation: Product recommendations, retargeting
• Integrations: 300+ apps can trigger automations

Strengths

Mailchimp’s automation is easy to set up. Pre-built journeys cover the most common use cases, and you can be running within an hour. For businesses that primarily send newsletters and need a welcome flow and an abandoned cart email, it’s sufficient.

Weaknesses

Automation is limited in depth. You can’t build complex, multi-step flows with advanced conditional logic. Lead scoring doesn’t exist. Split tests in flows are limited. Advanced automation features require the Standard or Premium plan — and even then, they’re weaker than ActiveCampaign’s basic plan.

Best for

Businesses that primarily do email marketing and need basic automation. E-commerce businesses that want simple product recommendations and abandoned cart flows. Teams that prioritize ease of use over flexibility.

Hermod — AI-powered automation

Hermod takes a fundamentally different approach to automation. Instead of you designing flows manually, AI agents use contact data and behavioral patterns to suggest and optimize automations.

Automation features

• AI-generated flows: Agents suggest automation based on your data
• Behavior-driven timing: AI determines optimal send time per contact
• Content optimization: AI writes and A/B tests subject lines and content
• Natural language rules: Define automation with plain text, not if/else blocks
• Multi-org flows: Automation spanning multiple brands
• Consent-aware: Flows automatically respect consent level per contact

Strengths

Hermod’s approach solves a real problem: most businesses never set up complex automation because it requires expertise they don’t have. By letting AI suggest and build flows, automation becomes accessible to teams without an automation specialist. EU hosting and GDPR compliance are baked in — not an afterthought add-on.

Weaknesses

New product with fewer integrations than established platforms. AI suggestions require data — with a new, small list, the AI component is less useful. Smaller community and fewer resources for troubleshooting. You have less granular control over flows than in ActiveCampaign.

Best for

Danish businesses that want automation but don’t have resources to build complex flows manually. Teams that prioritize GDPR and EU hosting. Businesses managing multiple brands that want one system.

Feature matrix

How to choose the right system

Step 1: Assess your automation needs

Basic automation (welcome, abandoned cart, birthday): Mailchimp or Brevo is sufficient. You’re not paying for features you don’t use.

Medium automation (multi-step flows, basic segmentation, transactional emails): Brevo is the best choice. Fair price, EU-hosted, sufficient functionality.

Advanced automation (lead scoring, CRM flows, split tests, attribution): ActiveCampaign. Invest in the learning curve.

Enterprise automation (multi-team, attribution, custom objects): HubSpot. But prepare your budget.

AI-powered automation (AI builds and optimizes flows for you): Hermod. New but promising.

Step 2: Assess your team

Do you have a dedicated marketing automation specialist? ActiveCampaign or HubSpot. Do you have a marketing manager who also does 10 other things? Brevo, Mailchimp, or Hermod.

Step 3: Assess your budget

Under $50/mo: Brevo or Mailchimp. $50-200/mo: ActiveCampaign. Over $500/mo: HubSpot.

Step 4: Assess GDPR requirements

If EU hosting is a requirement, your choices are Brevo (France), Hermod (EU), or HubSpot/ActiveCampaign Enterprise (with add-ons). See our comparison of GDPR-friendly email platforms.

The most common automation flows

Regardless of which platform you choose, these are the most important flows to start with:

1. Welcome flow

Trigger: New signup. 3-5 emails over 2 weeks introducing your business, your products, and building trust. All platforms in this guide can do this.

2. Abandoned cart (e-commerce)

Trigger: Cart abandoned. 2-3 emails over 48 hours. Typically 5-15% conversion rate. Requires integration with your webshop.

3. Lead nurturing (B2B)

Trigger: Content download, webinar signup. 5-7 emails over 4-6 weeks that qualify and warm leads. Requires lead scoring to work optimally — ActiveCampaign or HubSpot.

4. Re-engagement

Trigger: No activity in 90 days. 2-3 emails attempting to reactivate the contact. Remove those who don’t respond — it improves your deliverability.

5. Post-purchase (e-commerce)

Trigger: Purchase completed. Review request, cross-sell, loyalty program. Timed after delivery date.

Conclusion

Marketing automation is an investment — in software, time, and competencies. Choose based on your team’s capacity, not the platform’s capacity. The best system is the one you actually use and maintain.

Start with the basic flows (welcome, abandoned cart) and build from there. You can always migrate to a more advanced platform when the need arises. Most importantly: automation that runs is better than advanced flows that never get set up.

Read more about email automation for beginners or see marketing automation for small businesses.