All subscription business owners are looking for ways to scale personalization. It requires a great deal of time, effort and personalization to stand out in an age where consumers are hit with thousands of marketing messages a day. Enter marketing automation, one of the fastest-growing areas in the SaaS niche. By integrating your workflows in a software that automatically sends lead nurturing messages at a pace appropriate for your prospects, you can save time and money.

But how successful are the marketing automation companies and what lessons can we learn from them? We’ve curated a list of top 5:

1. HubSpot

Cambridge-based HubSpot Marketing Automation software is virtually synonymous with really fast growth. Currently ranked #314 in the Inc. 5,000, the organization has achieved 1,193% growth over the past 3-years and recently earned $35 million in venture capital funds in Mezzanine-round financing. One of the secrets to their success might be the fact that co-founders Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan built the company with clear plans to expand and go public. It wasn’t about big dreams, but rather establishing processes and structure that were ready to scale, not to mention their strong inbound marketing process.

2. Marketo

Virtually any list of the leading marketing automation software companies will include Marketo, who was recently named the top provider in the categories of user experience and functionality by independent survey firm Sirius Decisions. In a 2010 presentation on the companies “secret sauce” for success, Jon Miller and Bill Binch revealed that much of their lead-qualification efforts focused on user engagement and behavioral segmentation, instead of traditional qualifiers like demographics.

3. Eloqua

Not only is Eloqua considered to be the world’s leading SaaS marketing automation provider, they boast more than 70,000 active users and are considered a pioneer in the niche. The company was acquired by Oracle for $871 million December 20, 2012. Forbes Contributor Lisa Arthur recently reflected on the fact that 2013 has been named the year of the marketer, and praised Eloqua for their ability to change and improve in an incredibly dynamic and saturated specialization.

4. Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft currently holds the title of the world’s second-largest SaaS marketing automation provider, and hold a reputation as a nimble solution for sophisticated users. Leading marketing blogger Jay Baer believes the fact that Infusionsoft doesn’t try to be everything for everyone has set them apart. The companies specializes in providing solutions for small retailers, professional service firms and information marketers. It’s not about a one-size-fits-all solution, it’s about providing one size of solution that’s simply better than competitors.

5. Aprimo

One of the earliest high-profile acquisitions in the marketing automation SaaS space, Aprimo’s 2010 acquisition by Teradata corporation after 12 years in business has only improved the quality of the product. The strength behind Aprimo undoubtedly lies in the size and scope of their network: they offer 28 technology and implementation partners that include Microsoft and Salesforce, in order to provide an optimal array of solutions to clientele.

What marketing automation software is your company using? Are you using it well? Please share you thoughts in the comments box below.