Written by Ria du Plessis - Digital Marketing Expert Updated 9/1/2021 |
Our email marketing experts tested and assessed over 50 email marketing software services. They reviewed and analyzed them by pricing plans, features and user experience. On this page you'll find our verdict for the best tools we've tested.
Written by Ria du Plessis - Digital Marketing Expert Updated 9/1/2021 |
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies for any business and could have a significant impact on the success of your marketing campaign.
Email marketing software is easy to manage, gives you full control, and allows you to establish a direct contact with your customers. It’s the best tool to drive engagement, build relationships and deliver a higher ROI than any other type of marketing platform.
In this review we audited most of popular email marketing software providers. Whether you’re starting a new email list from scratch or looking to switch to a new provider we are here to help you base your decision based on expert verdicts and verified facts.
You will find advanced statistical reporting and high deliverability rates on Constant Contact. The best bit that attracts beginners and small businesses is its versatility and uncluttered design.
If you’re looking for automating emails and A/B Testing, Constant Contact is missing this feature. The absence of ROI tracking might be a drawback for performance-oriented users. Moreover, customization and pricing of premium services could use a bit of improvement.
There are two standard pricing plans on Constant contact. The prices of both the plans increase based on the total number of subscribers. You can opt up to 50,000 contacts on Constant Contact.
If you have limited technology experience, Constant Contact will help you get acquainted with email advertising swiftly. For a small business owner, Constant Contact can be used for integrating Ecommerce tools. Event organizers can integrate Constant Contact for managing event marketing tools effortlessly.
Read Constant Contact Full Review
Notable advantages of SendInBlue are instinctual A/B testing, flawless automation, graphical campaign comparison and plugins for tracking social media ads. The software stops emailing subscribers with high bounce rates leading to better deliverability rates.
Shortcomings of SendInBlue includes a limited landing page with basic functionalities and high costs for dedicated IP. Additionally, none of the pricing plans on SendInBlue offer unlimited emails.
Primarily aimed at startups, SendInBlue is tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. This tool offers a complete set of tools you need for launching successful email marketing campaigns. It works best for agencies, enterprises, NGOs, marketing companies and Ecommerce.
The upside of investing in ActiveCampaign is its logically triggered automation. With a deliverability rate of 96% and advanced split testing and A/B testing, ActiveCampaign can help you set triggers based on customer behavior. It is excellent for creating automated workflows with flowchart automation. Another pro for ActiveCampaign is the hundreds of integrations and apps you get to use without a hitch.
For those who prefer heat maps, ActiveCampaign might not be the solution due to the absence of this feature. However, you can use the alternative link maps available. In addition, the product is priced a little higher than peers and doesn’t include any free trials if you prefer to try before you buy.
Ideal for beginners in advertising, media or Ecommerce, ActiveCampaign provides a setup wizard that assists you every step of the way. It is designed for small businesses and Ecommerce websites.
Read ActiveCampaign Full Review
Since 2004, California-based Benchmark has been providing innovative and easy-to-understand email marketing services. With its drag-and-drop email creation and availability in 9 different languages, there’s no surprise it’s the software of choice for many.
The three plans on offer at Benchmark are designed to suit the needs of businesses of varying sizes. They include:
Benchmark is ideal for all small businesses, especially those that are just starting out, given that it’s so simple to use. It offers a flexible range of plans meaning that anyone can get started and scale up to meet the changing needs of their business when they need it most.
Benchmark is equipped to cater to businesses of all sizes, and what makes it stand out is its stylish UI and flexibility on plans. The only part we’d like to see an improvement is on analytics. Tracking the data of your email marketing is essential to curating the perfect strategy, and since it’s competing against the likes of Google Analytics, a few adjustments could go a long way.
Perks of signing up with GetResponse is the 99% high-deliverability-rate and advanced campaign customization. Time Travel is the best highlight of GetResponse where you can schedule emails to send in the local time of the customer. You can also use scoring models on GetResponse to assess your best leads from past campaigns.
You lose a bit of the email edge with GetResponse due to the lack of functions for landing pages. Moreover, optimization functions for the landing page are a bit messy.
The prices of all the plans increase based on the total number of subscribers. You can opt for up to 100,000 contacts on GetResponse.
Made for large companies and brands, GetResponse also offers 500 templates for email and sign-up forms so that you can work on a large-scale while saving time. It is recommended for growing small and medium-sized businesses.
If you work in the automotive, Ecommerce, IT or Finance industry, GetResponse will serve you well.
If you’re considering Hubspot, it is best to know its advantages in advance. Best suited for clients eager to access its high deliverability rate of 98%, Hubspot features a unique WYSIWYG editor with thousands of templates to reference. Combined with multi-faceted ROI analysis, it’s a hit. Top features also include frequency caps, and intuitive heat maps called Clickmap Visualization.
The lack of workflow customization is the biggest disadvantage of Hubspot for email marketing tool. The other item to consider when evaluating Hubspot service is its high price to use the top-quality features.
Hubspot is customized for small to medium-sized businesses. If you manage Ecommerce sites, Hubspot can help you streamline broader campaigns for advertising and media.
The best features of AWeber are the 99% deliverability rate and the advanced email automation feature. You can also create scheduled email blasts and custom drip campaigns using 700+ email templates. Easy navigation and intuitive design add to its merits.
One area to be conscientious of is that AWeber is a tad on the pricier side of the industry. There are several competitors which offer more for less. Moreover, some of the templates are outdated and they could also improve the customization for including/excluding segments in newsletter campaigns.
A perfect choice for Amazon sellers who want to build their subscribers from the ground up, Aweber is good for small and medium-sized businesses owing it its powerful automation techniques. Entrepreneurs and Ecommerce websites will find the software fun to experiment with when it comes to advertising.
The strongest reason to use SendX is it’s personalized design for growing businesses. With 1,500 email templates and integrations, SendX is ideally suited for beginners too. The WYSIWYG editor on this software works well for email marketing automation via rules.
Some limitations of SendX include the absence of email tracking and social media tracking which might be a significant drawback for certain businesses. Moreover, while it’s aimed at small businesses, SendX does not translate to affordable pricing for upcoming Ecommerce sites.
Ideal for SaaS companies, SendX works well for rising Ecommerce websites and small businesses too. It is best used in niches of marketing and real estate. Blockchain businesses also pair up well with SendX.
By using Omnisend, you will be able to enjoy seamless integration with the most popular e-commerce platforms, among other things.
As for cons, there is no RSS available. Also, client support could use some speed improvement.
There are three pricing plans that you can pick from on Omnisend. It’s worth noting that the Free Plan offers a decent amount of features too.
Omnisend is best suited for e-commerce websites and customers searching for good funnel reporting and easy-to-use automation tools. Better engagement with the audience is this tool’s main focus.
Among the most well-known email service providers, Mailchimp is best for beginners. Merits include multi-step custom workflows, deep segmentation, pre-made automation workflows, paid split testing and A/B testing.
The biggest drawback for Mailchimp is the lack of advanced automation tools. Additionally, it offers no email support for free members. The low deliverability rate of 84% is also lower relative to competing service providers. Moreover, you need to buy the Premium plan to access call support.
Perfectly suited for small businesses and individual websites or Ecommerce stores, Mailchimp is the right software for beginners. If you are a large business, the major advantage of using Mailchimp is the high number of contacts in the plan.
Easy navigation is not the best attraction of Drip, but the in-depth guide you get before signing up is assuredly a great feature. Drip has an upper hand on comprehensive ROI analysis that assesses multiple revenue streams at once. More importantly, Drip advanced automation works in two ways- via rule and workflow.
The main drawbacks of selecting Drip for marketing are the limited integration options and lower deliverability rate of 89.8%. Moreover, the lack of heat maps work detrimentally to assess subscriber behavior well.
Recommended email marketing software for nurturing leads, Drip is tailor-made for beginners. If you’re a growing small business or Ecommerce site, Drip will help you increase the checkouts and engagement of your subscribers.
Before spending big money on email marketing software, it’s important to choose one that works for you and meets your organizational needs. Here are some factors to consider:
More than anything else, your email marketing software needs to be accessible and useful for every member of your team. This goes beyond being able to open it, and includes the following:
Your budget is also an important consideration. Sometimes having more features isn’t necessarily the biggest benefit, if you’re not using them. Accordingly, you should always consider an email marketing tool’s potential ROI.
You should be able to justify it in both cost-benefit and ROI terms. Moreover, you may even be better off with a free email marketing suite at first if you’re still in the early phases of your email marketing strategy.
It’s vital to choose software that meets both your email needs and your team’s skill level. Design is crucial because it defines usability and ensures smooth operations. Find the email marketing software that matches the tools you have, or that lets you tailor a design that suits you.
Your marketing campaigns don’t happen in a vacuum—they take data and share resources with your other business tools. Your email marketing software should have the ability to connect with a variety of third-party tools such as analytics, CRM, social media, and more to have the most impact on your overall campaigns.
Campaigns have little value if you can’t measure and adapt them. Sometimes an initial approach needs tweaking, but it’s hard to know without proper analytics and monitoring tools. Having robust reporting can help you get the most out of every dollar you invest in email marketing.
Not every email marketing tool is built for every industry. Find the ones that are industry-specific for you, or email marketing software that is customizable enough to match your unique needs.
Accidents, errors, and unexpected surprises happen all the time, even with the most reliable software. You should have access to resources, experts, and support whenever you need it. Look for companies that supply multiple support channels, extensive knowledge bases, and educational tools.
The software you use should meet the highest industry standards for security and privacy, all while granting you full control over your settings and data.
Each email marketing platform offers its own benefits and drawbacks. Before settling on your preferred email marketing software, you should compare the features it offers to the factors you need to check off on your list of requirements.
Email marketing is still the backbone of a solid marketing strategy. According to statistics, 80% of business professionals say that email marketing manages to help them gain and retain customers. For this reason, choosing one of the best email marketing software for your business is essential for your success.
An email marketing platform can help you constantly nurture your relationship with customers through automated email campaigns. It can allow you to facilitate online purchases through transactional emails or gain valuable customer insights through its sign-up forms or landing pages.
Here are a few key features that a great email marketing platform should have:
Though it may seem that email is the purview of old-school businesses out of touch with modern trends, the reality is that nearly every company, in every industry, uses email marketing software in one way or another. There isn’t really a single profile of the email user, but it will instead vary widely based on your organization’s needs.
Social media apps may use email to inform users about activity by their friends, while B2B companies may use it to reach out to old leads, keep up with new ones, or simply inform existing customers about major events or updates that may impact them.
There are several important advantages to using tools from some of the top email marketing companies.
Here are a few key benefits of using email marketing tools in your campaigns:
Email marketing software centralizes all of the tasks related to planning, preparing, deploying, and monitoring an email campaign for your organization. This includes organizing and maintaining a dynamic mailing list, offering email marketing automation tools to cut down on tasks such as layouts, scheduled sending, new email creation, and in some cases even responses.
Overall, bulk email marketing software optimizes your email campaigns without affecting your costs.
This is great for spurring engagement and rekindling old leads with value-added deals and new hooks for consumers. Promotional emails include offers, information about new incentives, and can go out to both new leads and existing or lapsed customers.
Loyalty email marketing lets you create programs that reward those customers that keep coming back by incentivizing engagement.
When a customer first interacts with you (via purchases, registration, etc.) it’s always vital to let them know there’s a human on the other side. Welcome emails are excellent for building a stronger foundation for return customers.
Invitation email marketing focuses on letting existing customers know about new services and drawing in new users to try products that may interest them more.
Engagement emails are included even in free email marketing software, and they let you keep customers abreast of new developments, products, and even new blog posts that can help you re-engage with them organically.
Artificial intelligence delivers significant improvements to email marketing, including the ability to better understand campaigns through analytics, more adaptability, and faster responses to customers with automation.
The ability to target emails is being improved thanks to better analytics. Software today can create highly specific and multi-faceted conditions to send the right email at the right time with surprising accuracy.
On-premise tools are expensive and hard to scale. Cloud-based software based on a subscription model offers bandwidth on demand all while reducing overheads significantly.
Having the ability to fully customize software is still a valuable feature. Many companies are choosing packed software as well for its security and privacy.
Most people access the web from their phones. Email is also migrating to mobile, so tools that can optimize existing campaigns and web designs for mobile formats automatically are highly prized across industries.
Even with the right email marketing tools, it can be daunting to build a new strategy.
A bulk email marketing campaign requires some thought, but you can easily get started with a few simple steps:
Most modern email marketing services help you by removing the need to perform tedious and repetitive tasks that are still necessary. Things like laying out individual newsletters and collating the content, sending out emails, tracking results, and more can be automated by today’s best platforms.
Email marketing automation is no longer a luxury, but a necessity that can save you time, money, and effort.
Before diving into email strategies, it’s worth understanding the broader ecosystem.
Today, most companies invest in a strategy that covers multiple channels, including:
When it comes to email marketing, you’re getting a lot more than simply letting your clients know what’s going on at your company today. It helps you accomplish that, but it also empowers you to generate new leads by contacting them once you have their information, and it helps you reactivate old leads by building fresh awareness.
Regardless of your industry or business, email marketing can help you expand your brand’s reach and engage with your customers. Find the right tool for you with our expert reviews, and see what others are saying about the top brands.
