Your sales team sends an email to a prospect and then... waits. Days go by. No response. Eventually, someone remembers to follow up manually, if they remember at all. This is where most teams break down—not because they lack intent, but because manual follow-ups don't scale.
Follow up email automation solves this. It's the difference between hoping someone replies and knowing your team has sent the right message at the right time, every single time. When set up correctly, it turns scattered one-off emails into orchestrated sequences that nurture leads, qualify prospects, and keep your pipeline moving without anyone lifting a finger after the first send.
The problem is choosing the right tool. Some platforms bolt email sequences onto a bloated CRM. Others focus purely on cold email and ignore your existing contacts. Many charge enterprise prices for features you'll never use. What you actually need is something that handles follow up email automation without complexity—that ties every email back to your contact data, tracks opens and clicks in real time, and lets you build branching sequences that respond to how prospects actually behave.
This guide covers tools worth considering for email sequences, drip campaign automation, and the broader outreach stack. We'll walk through what separates the best options, and help you pick the one that fits how your team actually works.
# Clkly
Clkly is the simplest way to handle follow up email automation. It ties every email, click, and conversation back to your contact—no separate tools required. You can be up and running in 30 seconds with no card needed.
- Email sequences with branching and conditional logic—replies route differently depending on prospect behaviour
- Real-time open, click, and bounce tracking tied directly to each contact's record
- Send from Gmail or Outlook directly, or via Resend for a fresh sending domain
- Inbox warmup gradually ramps a new mailbox from low to full sending volume
- AI-drafted replies grounded in the contact's history with you, so follow-ups feel personal not robotic
# HubSpot
HubSpot is a full-stack CRM and marketing automation platform used by mid-market and enterprise sales teams. It includes email sequences, contact management, deal tracking, and workflow automation all in one interface. HubSpot's drip campaign tool supports branching workflows, and every email action feeds back into contact records and triggers automated next steps. Pricing starts free for basic features, though email sequences require a paid tier. The platform is feature-rich but can feel heavyweight for teams that only need outreach and CRM basics.
# Mailchimp
Mailchimp started as an email newsletter tool and has evolved into a broader marketing automation platform. It's used primarily by e-commerce and small business teams for email sequences, list management, and customer journeys. Mailchimp's drip campaign functionality is solid for marketing-focused workflows—abandoned cart sequences, welcome series, re-engagement campaigns. It's less suited to sales teams doing 1:1 cold outreach, and contact data lives somewhat separately from automation logic. Pricing is free up to a contact limit, then scales with list size.
# Lemlist
Lemlist is a dedicated cold email tool built specifically for outreach sequences and lead generation. It includes email sequences with reply detection, LinkedIn automation, and built-in deliverability features like inbox warmup and domain setup. Lemlist tracks opens and clicks and lets you branch sequences based on prospect replies. The platform is laser-focused on cold email—it's not a general CRM, so your contacts live in Lemlist's database or imported from a spreadsheet. Pricing is per-seat, typically mid-range for cold email tools.
# Apollo
Apollo is a sales engagement platform that bundles prospecting, email sequences, phone dialling, and basic CRM functionality. It includes built-in lists of B2B contacts you can directly mail to, email sequences with reply detection and conditional branching, and real-time engagement tracking. Apollo works well for teams that need both lead discovery and outreach automation in one tool. The contact database is large, making it popular for high-volume prospecting. Pricing is per-seat and includes some contact credits per user.
# Close
Close is a sales-focused CRM with deep email automation and calling features. It includes email sequences with reply-based branching, real-time tracking, and native dialling integrated into contact records. Close positions itself as a CRM first, outreach platform second—deal tracking and pipeline management are equally weighted with email automation. The interface is heavily sales-oriented and works well for teams doing a mix of email and phone outreach. Pricing is per-seat, typically mid-range.
# Salesloft
Salesloft is an enterprise-grade sales engagement platform used by larger sales organisations. It includes email sequences, cadences (multi-channel workflows combining email, calls, and tasks), real-time tracking, and detailed analytics. Salesloft emphasises coaching and team performance metrics—it tracks which sequences perform best and flags underperforming reps. It integrates deeply with Salesforce and other CRMs. Pricing is per-seat and skews toward enterprise budgets.
# Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform focused on e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands. It specialises in email sequences tied to customer behaviour—purchases, site activity, segment membership. Klaviyo's drip campaign tool is sophisticated for marketing workflows but requires segmentation-first thinking. It's not designed for sales teams doing 1:1 cold outreach. Pricing is based on contact count and features, with no free tier but reasonable entry costs.
# ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a mid-market marketing automation and CRM platform. It includes email sequences, customer journey mapping, contact management, and workflow automation with conditional branching. The platform is known for flexibility—you can build complex multi-step automations tied to contact behaviour, email engagement, and custom fields. ActiveCampaign sits between lightweight tools and enterprise platforms. Pricing is per-contact-count, typically mid-range for its feature set.
# Outreach
Outreach is an enterprise sales engagement platform designed for large, process-heavy sales organisations. It includes email sequences, multi-touch cadences, real-time coaching, and detailed analytics. Outreach integrates heavily with Salesforce, providing Salesforce users with native sequencing and call recording in their CRM. The platform emphasises team metrics and sales process standardisation. Pricing is per-seat and enterprise-focused.
# Instantly
Instantly is a cold email tool focused on high-volume outreach with deliverability features like SMTP connections, domain rotation, and reply automation. It includes email sequences with branching, built-in AI for writing and reply handling, and detailed tracking. Instantly targets teams doing large-scale prospecting. Unlike general CRM tools, it doesn't include deal tracking or pipeline management. Pricing is monthly and scales with sending volume.
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# Choosing the Right Follow Up Email Automation Tool
The decision comes down to three questions: How many emails are you sending per month? Do you need a CRM alongside your email sequences, or will you plug email automation into an existing CRM? And are you doing 1:1 sales outreach, marketing to customers, or both?
If you're sending thousands of cold emails per month and only care about replies and engagement, a dedicated cold email tool like Lemlist or Instantly will be faster to set up and cheaper per email. If you're a sales team running smaller outreach campaigns tied to deals and pipeline, you want follow up email automation tethered to your contacts and deals—which means a CRM-first approach or a lightweight platform that doubles as both.
That's where Clkly's outreach features stand apart. Every email ties back to the contact, every click and open shows in real time, and you can build branching sequences that respond to how prospects behave. Your contact data, deals, and email activity all live in the same place. Setup takes minutes, not weeks of integration work.
For teams already deep in HubSpot or Salesforce, those platforms' native email sequences often make sense. For everyone else—especially small to mid-market teams—a lightweight CRM with email automation baked in removes the need to glue three tools together.
Check Clkly's pricing to see if the free plan covers your team, or explore the full feature set across link tracking, CRM, and workflows. Either way, start with your volume and your existing tools—the best email automation tool is the one your team will actually use.
Clkly keeps follow up email automation simple. Every email is tied to the contact, every send and click is tracked in real time, and sequences branch based on actual behaviour. No configuration hell, no missing integrations, no oversized pricing.
- Run full email sequences with delays, branching, and conditional logic—no separate automation tool needed
- See every open, click, and bounce the moment it happens, live in the contact's record
- Send from your Gmail, Outlook, or a fresh domain via Resend
- Inbox warmup gradually scales sending so new mailboxes don't trigger spam filters
- AI-drafted replies save time and stay grounded in your actual conversation history