Top 6 marketing automation certifications and courses

1. HubSpot Academy's Email Marketing Certification

HubSpot sells marketing automation software and offers various courses and certifications through HubSpot Academy. It geared its Email Marketing Certification toward SMB owners who want to make the most of email campaigns.

The certification consists of nine lessons broken down into 31 videos, for a total of slightly under four hours. Participants learn about email segmentation and personalization, personalization and automation, email design and copywriting for email marketing. The certification also covers A/B testing.

In addition to the certification, HubSpot offers an online study group for the course, where students can ask questions and exchange ideas. Upon completion of the one-hour exam, students receive the certification. The certification is free, but is best suited to organizations that use HubSpot products.

2. LinkedIn Learning's Marketing Automation: How to Build a Successful Campaign

LinkedIn Learning offers a host of marketing courses, all created by industry experts. Marketing Automation: How to Build a Successful Campaign is a 43-minute course covering the basics of automation, including terminology, uses, workflow setups and implementation. Students in the comments said the course is very basic, but offers good examples and a framework for future learning.

Students receive a certificate upon completion of the course they can add to their LinkedIn profiles. Pricing for LinkedIn Learning starts at $19.99 per month, with a one-month free trial.

3. Cornell's Marketing Automation and AI

For marketers looking for an instructor-led course that covers how machine learning and AI can improve marketing processes, Cornell University offers Marketing Automation and AI. This two-week course takes approximately three to five hours per week. Participants can stack it with other Cornell online courses to earn a certificate in Marketing AI, Growth Marketing or Digital Marketing 360.

Before enrolling, students must either have experience or have taken one of these courses: Digital Transformation in Marketing, Assessing Opportunities in Paid Digital Media or Assessing Opportunities in Owned Digital Media. Pricing for a certificate program starts at $3,699. A single course is $1,199.

4. Coursera's Think Outside the Inbox: Email Marketing

This beginner-level course hosted on Coursera is part of the Google Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Professional Certificate. It introduces email marketing principles, the different types of emails sent to customers, and email marketing tools and how to choose the best one.

The course by itself takes an estimated 25 hours, broken into five modules with videos, reading assignments, quizzes and discussion prompts. The last module helps students build their own email campaigns. Enrollment in the course is free for seven days. After that, pricing starts at $59 per month for unlimited courses and certifications.

5. Skillshare's Marketing Automation & Email Marketing for Beginners

Skillshare's course is another that was designed for beginners. This course consists of eight lessons, totaling a little over an hour of video content. These bite-sized videos cover the basics of marketing automation and email marketing, including tools that companies use.

Marketing Automation & Email Marketing for Beginners leans heavily on MailChimp, as the hands-on project is a pre-defined email trigger on the platform. This course might not be as helpful for small business owners and small marketing teams who do not use MailChimp. Skillshare also offers a class discussion forum, and the instructor jumps in to answer questions.

Upon completion, students receive a "completed" badge for their Skillshare profiles. A monthly Skillshare membership starts at $8.25 per month, billed annually. Membership allows students to take unlimited courses, including more advanced marketing automation courses.

6. Northwestern Kellogg School of Management's Digital Marketing Strategies: Data, Automation, AI & Analytics

While this certificate program isn't solely focused on marketing automation, it covers a plethora of digital marketing topics. Students learn how to glean insights from customer data, customer journey mapping, brand storytelling, marketing attribution, designing digital campaigns, and marketing automation and AI skills.

Students spend about two months, at four to six hours per week, on lessons. Upon completion, they receive a digital certificate of completion from Kellogg. The program is pass or fail. It costs $2,750, with discounts available for companies that enroll their entire teams.

How to choose a marketing automation certification

Before selecting a certification, marketers should consider the following:

• Skills the course should provide. Identify the type of knowledge the program covers. Some certifications focus on getting the most out of a product. In contrast, others generally take a broader view of software and processes.
• Program contents and format. Examine the course material to determine whether it will teach the necessary skills. Ideally, a course combines industry knowledge and practical assignments.
• Additional resources. Some certifications end after the marketer passes the final exam, while others can include access to a community of professionals who offer support post-certification.
• Pricing and length. Determine how much time to invest in the lessons and the learning budget.
• Requirements. Some marketing automation certifications require previous CX knowledge, such as CRM systems or customer journey mapping, while others will provide background as part of the lessons.

Christine Campbell is a freelance writer specializing in business and B2B technology.