Engaging with your audience and building meaningful relationships can be challenging. Use these top 10 email marketing platforms to simplify the process.
Email marketing, a form of direct and digital marketing, is highly effective for several reasons. Whether you use email marketing as your primary marketing tool or as a supplement to other forms of direct marketing, it is a cost-effective strategy for driving sales.
Whoever said email marketing is dead might not have been aware of these stats:
- More than 4 billion people worldwide use email, so you can meet customers with sales, marketing, and information.
- Email marketing seems to be improving over the years, and nearly 67% of email marketers reported an increase in open rates.
- The 2024 email marketing benchmarks report by GetResponse shows an average unsubscribe rate of 0.09% for America.
Crafting the best email marketing strategy depends on your needs and budget. We have curated some of the best email marketing strategies to help you choose the perfect one.
Why Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform Matters?
Among the millions of options, picking the one suitable for your business can be scary. And, we are aware that the word “free” is the only one that can attract any marketer looking to cut down on the budget that is already shrinking. However, it is necessary to look beyond price when selecting the right tool. Sure, there are many free tools too that solve your problem, the point is to look to choose value over money. Because a one-time investment can be your lifetime returns. Statistics say that email marketing is on top for the return on investment it drives – a whopping $36 for every $1 spent. So, now you know there are good returns, but sowing better seeds can help reap better results.
Criteria for Evaluating Email Marketing Platforms
Here are some of the basic but essential criteria for a good email marketing platform:
Contact Management
The base for all your email marketing platforms is your contact list. With email marketing software, you can store the names of your contacts and email addresses in a secure manner. Many tools also allow you to collect further information, like an address, a birth date, or any other custom contact information.
Most platforms should allow you to add contacts manually, import them from an existing file, or set up a form that you can embed on your website that collects information and automatically adds the contact information to your list.
Basic List Segmentation
The majority of email marketing platforms available in the market have basic systems for segmenting your contact list. For example, you can create specific lists for different groups or apply tags to contacts to label them.
Segmenting your list allows you to send targeted emails to specific segments of your list, increasing conversion.
Email Templates
Most email marketing platforms make it simple to send emails by offering pre-made templates for simple emails, newsletters, and promotional emails. You can use these and edit them to fit your needs, saving time and frustration.
Drag-and-Drop Email Builder
A common email marketing software feature is the drag-and-drop builder. It allows you to custom-create your emails by choosing various elements and dragging them where you want them to appear in the email. You can customize some of the existing templates by adding your favorite elements through drag and drop.
Email Scheduling
A scheduling feature allows you to set up your emails in advance and schedule them to go out on the day and time of your choice.
Simple Automation
Thanks to the automation hype, even the free versions of email marketing software offer basic automation features, allowing you to set up emails activated by ‘triggers.’
The welcome messages you get after signing up on various platforms are all automated emails. You have to set up your email list, and voila! You can save time and effort by not having to send an email manually every time you acquire new subscribers.
Top 10 Email Marketing Platforms
1.ActiveCampaign
Email marketing, automation, and even CRM are all in one place in ActiveCampaign. It is really user-friendly and cheap, with plans that depend on the features you need and the size of your contact list. Moreover, it has the latest innovations, such as website visitor tracking, emails targeting the user, and a chatbot. ActiveCampaign is also a good match for e-commerce platforms and is an advantage if you own an online store.
2. Mailchimp
If you are a freelancer, a startup, or a small business on a shoestring budget, Mailchimp is a good choice for you. It is simple to use, and everything you need for email marketing and automation is there. Moreover, it has many recommendations to help you enrich your campaigns, such as the subject line helper and the content optimizer.
3. Aweber
The Aweber is another excellent first step for businesses not ready to invest more money. They possess numerous features to simplify things – for instance, the pre-designed templates, the AI design assistant, the drag-and-drop builder for emails and landing pages, and even the marketplace where you can find pre-built campaigns. They also have some automation features to assist you in the smooth transition to the automatic mode.
4. Hubspot
HubSpot is a well-known software in the CRM and email marketing domains. They offer a free version of their email marketing platform that enables you to design and automatically manage campaigns and automation for no cost. Though, the main reason for using HubSpot is how it can be integrated with their other software, specifically, the CRM. It enables you to get more information from your subscribers and to personalize your emails even more. Moreover, they have characteristics like calculating the best time to send emails for a higher open rate and the high percentage of email deliverability, A/B testing to see which emails work better, and printing out the reports to monitor your progress.
5. Sendinblue
Sendinblue is the perfect choice if you want something at a lower price with all the services you want. They offer a robust CRM included there, along with the possibility of customizing your automation, segmentation, and integrations. It may take longer to be familiar with it than some of the other choices, but it has some pros like SMS marketing, pre-designed email templates, and email triggers that you can set up based on the behavior of the people on your website.
6.GetResponse
GetResponse is another solid option for beginners. They offer a wide range of essential features:
- email marketing
- basic automation tools,
- landing pages, and
- list management.
The nice thing about GetResponse is that you can easily add more features as your business grows and your marketing needs change.
7. Drip
Drip is an email and SMS marketing platform for businesses that run independently on e-commerce. It is compatible with most of the major online shopping platforms and provides you with automated campaigns that will boost your sales. Although there is no free version, Drip limits the trial to 14 days and the pricing is quite simple and depends on the number of contacts.
8. Zoho Campaigns
The Zoho Campaigns features a drag-and-drop email editor with automation tools and CRM integration. Zoho, the cloud software company, provides a free version that can accommodate up to 2,000 contacts and charges its customers reasonably for the paid plans. Some marketers might feel that the interface looks less advanced in comparison to some of the competitors.
9. MailerLite
MailerLite is an email marketing platform for different businesses like e-commerce stores and bloggers. It has a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers with unlimited emails and a drag-and-drop editor. The only problem is that it does not include templates in the free version. MailerLite is a tool you can use with website and landing page builders.
10. Campaigner
Campaigner is a marketing automation platform intended for teams with a high level of marketing experience. It has the latest and most useful functions like segmentation, automation, reporting, and landing page creation. The Campaigner plan is not free and can be expensive, but a 30-day free trial is a good option for businesses to gauge whether or not the tool is suitable for them.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, choosing the best email marketing platform results from an in-depth analysis of your needs and budget. If you want to interact and communicate with your audience through email, you should think about using one of these email service providers. All these providers are the best and will help you to do the work proficiently. You can send email newsletters, offers, updates, and so on to your email clients and people globally through a single platform. Using the free trials will let you know if it will be perfect for your current marketing workflow. By spending time picking the best email marketing tool, you can use email marketing for success.
