[Participant@aruorihwo]

If you run a business, email marketing is one of the many ways you can turn your leads to customers and since that’s the aim of starting the business in the first place, it is important to ensure you pick an email marketing service that is perfect for your business. It seems like a seemingly easy task, right? Well, it is not as easy as it seems, seeing as there are a lot of email marketing platforms out there to choose from. In this article, we would be looking at eight popular ones, hopefully, we would be able to narrow down your search and make it easier for you to pick one.

1. MailChimp

This is one of the most popular email marketing services, this can be associated with the fact that they have a free plan which is beneficial for most startups. Most startups choose MailChimp because it enables them to build their mail list without bothering about an additional thing to pay for. The free plan free forever for subscribers less than 2000, by the time you get to 2000 subscribers, your business should be able to absorb the extra cost.

MailChimp makes email marketing easy especially for beginners, it comes with features such as autoresponders, A/B testing, easy integration to social media apps, scheduled messaging. You can easily integrate MailChimp with platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, Magento, etc.

Support for MailChimp is offered via email or live chat, you can also find help in their tutorial knowledge base.

Here is a breakdown of what the pricing looks like;

Free — $0

• Up to 2,000 contacts
• 7 marketing channels
• 1 audience
• Basic templates
• Behavioral targeting

Essentials — Starting at $9.99 per month

• Up to 50,000 contacts
• 3 audiences
• Access to all MailChimp templates
• A/B testing
• Custom branding
• 24/7 support

Standard — Starting at $14.99 per month

• Up to 100,000 contacts
• 5 audiences
• Event-based automation
• Retargeting capability
• Custom templates
• Advanced insights

Premium — Starting at $299 per month

• Up to 200,000 contacts
• Unlimited audiences
• Advanced segmentation
• Multivariate tests
• Phone support
• MailChimp is a top choice for building and managing relationships with clients.

2. ConvertKit

ConvertKit has a specific target market that they call creators so it is suitable for professional bloggers, vloggers, authors, course creators, and marketers. It is rated as one of the best email marketing services for professional bloggers.

ConvertKit is best for selling products. It focuses on building integrations with landing pages, e-commerce platforms, and membership sites.

With ConvertKit, you can easily segment subscribers into those who have shown interest and those who have purchased. This helps you increase conversions by creating emails that feel more personal. This act is called targeted email marketing.

You can start email marketing without having a website with ConvertKit, you just need a source of traffic such as YouTube or a social media account.

Convertkit has a trial period of 14 days, this would enable you to test it and decide if it is suitable for you

Here is a breakdown of the pricing

• 0 – 1,000 Subscribers — $29 per month
• 1,000 – 3,000 Subscribers — $49 per month
• 3,000 – 5,000 Subscribers — $79 per month

With ConvertKit you have access to more than 70 third-party direct integrations, customizable forms, and custom reporting. Support is gotten via email and live chat, which is available for 12 hours per day, Monday-Friday, with limited support on nights and weekends.

3. GetResponse

GetResponse is not just an email marketing platform, it is more than that. GetResponse comes with other online marketing tools to help you grow your business, for instance, you can use it to host webinars, create landing pages, etc.

Email creation is done using the drag and drop email builder. It has advanced features such as A/B testing, autoresponder, list segmentation, software integration and lots more. It also has a feature called perfect timing that helps predict the best time of the day to send out emails to get the best response.

You can get support via email, live chat, and phone.  There is also a help section where you can get videos, webinars and how-to guides.

With GetResponse, you get a free 30 days trial period. Here is a breakdown of their pricing

Basic — Starting at $15 per month

• Autoresponders
• Unlimited landing pages
• 1 sale funnel
• Unlimited lead funnels
• Sell e-products

Plus — Starting at $49 per month

• Automation builder with 5 workflows
• 5 sales funnels
• Contact scoring capability
• Webinars with up to 100 attendees
• CRM software

Professional — Starting at $99 per month

• Automation builder with unlimited workflows
• Paid webinars with up to 300 attendees
• Unlimited sales funnels
• Unlimited webinar funnels

Enterprise — Starting at $1,199 per month

• Transactional emails
• Dedicated IP
• Webinars with up to 500 attendees
• Consulting services for email campaigns
• Dedicated account manager

With GetResponse, you will be getting more than just an email marketing platform, you will also be benefitting from building automated, landing pages, lead funnels, webinars, and lots of other features that are not included from other providers.

4. Drip

This email marketing tool is great for e-commerce. If you sell physical or digital goods online then you would be interested in this.

You can easily integrate with popular e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento. It provides you with e-commerce CRM that you can use to automate your e-commerce marketing. With drip, you can easily add signup forms to your website to get more leads.

Drip also has a revenue attribution feature, which enables you to have a clearer view of which campaigns are making you money. With drip, you can create segments for new and returning users and you can also target users who abandoned their carts.

You can get support via email, and live chats available 24/7.

Drip has a 14 days free trial period. Here is a breakdown of their pricing

• 2,500 subscribers — $49 per month
• 5,000 subscribers — $122 per month
• 10,000 subscribers — $184 per month
• 15,000 subscribers — $246 per month
• 20,000 subscribers — $308 per month
• 25,000 subscribers — $370 per month
• 35,000 subscribers — $494 per month
• 50,000 subscribers — $680 per month
• 130,000 subscribers — $1,630 per month

All plans come with the same features and benefits.

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a sales CRM that can be used for email marketing. It has a goal to help you send fewer emails but achieve better results. This tool is best for users who require complex automation tools and advance CRM features.

It is easy to create campaigns on ActiveCampaign using the template editor, you can also create mobile-friendly signup forms for your websites. ActiveCampaign has features that enable you to send dynamic content, run split test and segment your subscribers.

You can integrate ActiveCampaign with over 250 platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, Facebook, etc.

ActiveCampaign sends a report to enable you to know which content is generating the most revenue.

ActiveCampaign gives you 14 days free trial to enable you to get a feel of the tool. Here is a breakdown of their pricing

Lite

• 500 contacts — $15 per month
• 1,000 contacts — $29 per month
• 2,500 contacts — $49 per month
• 5,000 contacts — $89 per month
• 10,000 contacts — $139 per month
• 25,000 contacts — $225 per month

Plus

• 1,000 contacts — $70 per month
• 2,500 contacts — $125 per month
• 5,000 contacts — $169 per month
• 10,000 contacts — $249 per month
• 25,000 contacts — $339 per month

Professional

• 2,500 contacts — $159 per month
• 5,000 contacts — $239 per month
• 10,000 contacts — $349 per month
• 25,000 contacts — $599 per month

Signing up to pay annually saves you up to 20% per month.

6. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the biggest names in the email marketing sphere. It is very easy to use and is beginner-friendly. With Constant Contact, you can easily create and manage your email list, contact, templates, calendar, etc.

With each account, you get access to tracking and reporting (tracking results of campaigns can be done in real-time with Constant Contact), social media sharing tools, free image library, contact list segmentation, Facebook ads integration, and eCommerce stores integration on Shopify.

There are over 100 mobile-optimized templates for you to choose from when building your email campaign, and you can use the drag and drop builder to customize your message.

Constant Contact has two payment plans, email, and email plus. The email plus plan has all the features of the email plan, it also has powerful tools such as survey and polls, online donations, email automation and subject line A/B testing which enables you to send targeted emails to increase your open rate.

Support on Constant Contact is top-notch, you get support via email, live chat, phone, community support and loads of helpful resources.

Constant Contact offers a 60 days free trial for prospective users. Heres a breakdown of their pricing.

Email Plan:

• 0-500 subscribers: $20 per month
• 501-2,500 subscribers: $45 per month
• 2,501-5,000 subscribers: $65 per month
• 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $95 per month

Email Plus Plan:

• 0-500 subscribers: $45 per month
• 501-2,500 subscribers: $70 per month
• 2,501-5,000 subscribers: $95 per month

You get a 10% discount if you pay for 6 months and a 15% discount if you pay for 12months. You also get a 30 days money-back guarantee, 100% of the money paid would be refunded if you decide to discontinue use, as long as you uploaded contacts and sent at least one email.

7. SendinBlue

SendinBlue offers SMS and email marketing solutions for businesses, they are one of the fastest-growing platforms in Europe. It was designed with simplicity in mind and is ideal for beginners because it has an easy to use drag and drop builder, it is also ideal for low budget users since it comes with a free plan which is very limited in its features though.

It includes beginner-friendly automation tools that you can use to send emails, segment users and create a workflow. It also has a feature that allows you to know the best time to send bulk emails to enhance open rates.

Their pricing is a bit different from other platforms because they charge based on the number of emails sent as opposed to the number of subscribers. They have a forever free plan which can be used to send up to 300 emails per day. Their platinum plan has advanced features such as live chats, landing page builder, CRM, and Facebook ad integration.

Here is a breakdown of their pricing

Limited free plan:

• Send up to 300 emails per day
• Monthly limit of 9,000 emails per month
• Unlimited number of contacts

Lite plan: $25 per month

• Send up to 40,000 emails a month
• No limit on the number of daily emails
• Unlimited number of contacts

Essential plan: $39 per month

• Send up to 60,000 emails per month
• No daily email sending limit
• No logo on emails
• Unlimited number of contacts

Premium plan: $66 per month

• Send up to 120,000 per month
• No daily email sending limit
• Access to advanced automation features
• Unlimited number of contacts

You can also include SMS to your account but pricing varies based on the sending requirements.

8. AWeber

Aweber has been around for a very long time and has proven itself over time. It comes with all the essential tools small businesses need to grow their email list.

It is easy to use and straight forward, you can easily connect it with most platforms such as WordPress. With Aweber, you will have access to an easy to use drag and drop builder, pre-designed templates and tons of integrations.

You can create automated email sequences that are based on triggers and create email-follow up sequences. This way, you’ll have access to open rate data, deliverability rates, and have the ability to A/B test your emails.

You can get support via emails, live chat, phone calls, live webinars, and how-to tutorials.

Aweber offers a 30 days free trial period. Here is a breakdown of their pricing

• 0-500 subscribers: $19 per month
• 501-2,500 subscribers: $29 per month
• 2,501-5,000 subscribers: $49 per month
• 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $69 per month
• 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $149 per month
• 25,001+ subscribers: Get a custom quote

You save 14% if you pay quarterly and 14.9% if you pay early. All plans have access to all the features offered.

How to determine which is best for you

Every business varies in one way or the other, therefore, what one business owner would consider being the best email marketing tool might not be what is best for another business owner. There are certain factors to consider when answering the question “ which email marketing tool is best for my business”.

Let us take a look at some of these factors

Price

Most email marketing software bases their pricing on the number of subscribers you have registered, although there are a few that charge based on the number of emails sent, even though that is still tied to the number of subscribers you have.

So when choosing an email marketing software, consider your budget and decide what you can work with, also factor in the fact that your subscribers would increase therefore your bill will increase also. You might also decide to consider a software that offers a free option, although in most cases, you would be limited in your capabilities.

Functionality

You have to decide what you plan to do with the software and what you desire to get out of it.

Most email marketing tools would allow you to send out bulk emails, segment subscribers, and get reports on how your campaigns are doing. If you want to create custom designs, then find tools with drag and drop email editors, if not, then go for the ones with a wide range of templates to choose from.

You can look through their features and eliminate those that have features you would probably never use.

Support

Since you don’t know everything and you are most likely new to the platform, you are going to need all the help you can get. So choosing a tool that offers great customer support is an important factor.

The best platforms offer 24/7 support via email, live chat and some also via phone call

Tips to improve your email deliverability

1. Use a professional email address: As a business, you must have a professional email address such as yourname@yourcompany.com. Platforms like Gmail and Outlook have an algorithm to check for spams and funny email address is one of the red flags.
2. Send targeted emails based on subscribers’ interest: Most email marketing tools enable you to group your subscribers into segments such as active, interested in travel, interested in sports, etc. utilizing this functionality will enable your campaigns to get more open rates and clicks.

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