Best Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing is one of the most profitable kinds of marketing that exists out there. With email marketing services and tools, you have the possibility of getting the highest rate of interest possible by automating your work flow, tracking clicks, replies and gaining more mailing list subscribers.

Now that the basics of email marketing is covered, the discussion should steer to email marketing software.

With email marketing software your company will be able to resell, upsell to, recruit, and communicate with a considerable section of customers in an automated fashion. Email marketing software is prolific in the market and most of them work at relatively low prices. There are also packages which are affordable for every business size and imaginable need. Starting from basic text-based email editors to fully designed HTML or JavaScript templates are just some of the features these packages are able to provide. Managing your contacts has never been so easy before- you can either choose to keep a list of names and email addresses or you can also create a complex database full of subscribers differentiated by demographic slices and levels of engagement. The method you will ultimately choose is decoded by your budget considerations.

The best email marketing tools are selected based on the following parameters:

• How easy it is to create emails
• Build subscriber lists
• Set auto-responders
• Social media management

“For these Campaigner and MailChimp are the best email marketing services that you can get on the market. If you require some more complex tools that have the ability to build comprehensive workflows designed to automate the process of email marketing then HubSpot and Pardot are two others. These better serve as marketing automation tools.”

The difference between the two is very simple and relatively easy to understand. Email marketing tools serve the best purpose for one-off communications. You can use these tools for times when you want to send someone an automated email response when they join a subscriber list, or when you are promoting a new product or a new launch, or on their birthdays.

With marketing automation tools, they are better used for prolonged, email-based interactions. These tools can be used when you want to guide someone from a subscriber list to a product purchase. Or these can also be used to send ‘thank you’ emails or for announcing new product promotions.

Here are the top 5 best email marketing tools.

MailChimp

This one is the most popular since they offer a free plan for small businesses and also integrate with a plethora of third-party providers. Though some of the most robust features of some of the following platforms are absent in this one, overall it is very well suited to the needs of smaller startups, teams, and solo workers. It provides a completely no-fuss option and the paid option is very reasonable at $10 per month.

This is the best email marketing tool for bloggers. The company was founded in 2001 and is based out of Atlanta, GA. The Rocket Science Group is the owner of the company. The company claims that their users send over one billion emails every day through their platform. The free plan that they offer lest you send as many as 12,000 emails every month as long as you keep the list of subscribers on your list less than 2,000.  Your list size will decide the cost of your plan.

MailChimp has a large list of resources and guides. If you are in beginning stages of creating email marketing, then this tool is very affordable and simple to use no matter the industry you are in. There are a lot of email templates that you can try out and you also have the option of comparing different emails with A/B tests. This will let you determine which emails are performing the best. You can also link your MailChimp account to Google Analytics to track clicked links and orders. They do not have the phone support option available yet, but the live chat and email support are always there.

There are some drawbacks to this though- the free plan does not include auto-responses and if you want to set up a paid plan then it will take some time. You will also be required to reload your browser whenever you need to see an updated report. This wouldn’t matter much unless you are eagerly waiting to see the results of your latest campaign.

VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse is a good option for those who want an easy-to-use solution, a generous free option and also live support. Their free plan will enable you to access a lot of their features. This includes 4,000 emails per month and you can keep upgrading as your list grows or you are in the need for more advanced capabilities.

The most useful features that you will come across are- Advanced Reporting and Autoresponders. The Autoresponder feature of VerticalResponse automatically resends an email to customers who failed to open it for the first time. This is said to improve open rates on an average by about 30%. The Advanced Reporting tools like- geographic location, heat maps and device indicators provide valuable insights about your subscribers, enabling you to know how their emails are read so that you can improve on future campaigns. The only drawback to it is that you need to go up and get a paid plan to be able to access these features.

SendGrid

For those of you with an e-commerce platform, this might just be the perfect platform for you. They have their roots in transactional email delivery devices. Though over the years they have successfully transitioned to offer a full complement of email marketing tools.

This platform is totally ideal for the organization that has a staff or an engineer who can utilize their powerful and robust API, though much of its usability is completely out of reach for organizations that lack any tech leads who can perform this type of work. This tech-based solution also removes the necessity of maintaining an SMTP email server.

Constant Contact

For first-time users, this email marketing tool is completely suitable. It guarantees a smooth user experience and comes preloaded with built-in templates for email blasts. It easily and seamlessly imports contacts from major email providers like Outlook and Gmail.  The platform also creates signup forms and integrates easily with Google Analytics. They are also available for on-the-go work.

The editor is relatively very easy to use which makes it simple enough to start sending out customized campaigns within some days of loading the software. Constant Contact also offers you the opportunity to avail their free –day trial. It costs about $15 a month. There is one drawback to it though- at times it tends to become prone to glitches and gets delayed while loading the dashboard. It should also be kept in mind that the default storage is limited to just five files.

The company was founded in 1995 in Brooklyn, MA. EIG (Endurance International Group) a large parent company acquired Constant Connect in 2016. The gained around 6 lakh customers in 2015, and the number has been steadily increasing ever since. After the initial pricing, the later pricing is determined by the number of email contact that you have.

The templates they offer are suitable for a wide range of options starting from-restaurants to blogs to real estate as well as e-commerce and retail. You have the option to track your open and click-through rates for every campaign right from your dashboard itself. Hence you will know exactly how each campaign is performing.

The EventSpot tool that they have is really great for scheduling any upcoming events you may be attending or hosting and then spreading information about the vent through social media posts and through emails.

The Social Campaign tool also allows you to create downloads or coupons to share across social networks. With these features, you can keep your current followers and also help you to attract new ones.

Constant Connect also offers the options of email support, phone support, live chat, hence you will always be able to get the help you require.

com

Founded in 1998, they have been around for quite some time now. AWeber Systems, Inc, also known as AWeber Communications, is the owner of the service. Over 100,000 small businesses are using them to send their emails and expand their audience base. Their service is fairly easy to use. The drag-and-drop editor enables you to customize pre-made templates or you also have the option to create them from scratch.

A Weber allows for a free 30-day trial so that you can try it before buying it. Apart from that, the pricing starts from $19 a month for as many as 500subscribers. The cost will increase as your list of subscribers will grow. If you have an emailing list of more than 25,000 subscribers then you will need to get a customized pricing quote directly from AWeber based on your requirements.

With AWeber, you will get loads of pre-designed templates, A/B testing, tons of integrations, message builders and much more.

You will also have the opportunity to add tags to trigger automated email campaigns and set up autoresponder follow-up emails, track analytics like open rates and also keep a tab of your deliverability rates.

The company is also known to host live webinars so that you can use A Weber and your email list to the best of their abilities.

Phone support is available from Monday-Friday 8 AM-8 PM, ET. On weekends, phone support is available from 9 AM-5 PM, ET. They also offer the option for email support and live chat.

However, there are a couple of things that you need to consider before you start investing in email marketing services.

• Ease of use: What is the learning curve of the software?
• Support: Is the support team available and helpful?
• Cost: How much are you really willing to invest in your email marketing service?
• Functionality and features: Can the service do what you need from it?

Getting started should not be too tough, You will be able to figure out right away the user interface that you like and that would be compatible with your requirements or not. Most of these services are blessed with uncluttered layouts and modern-looking graphics. These are very different from the complex business software interfaces from days past. Look at the tech support offered by each of them carefully before you choose anyone. While some offer the unparalleled option of 24/7 live chat, phone support, and email help, some will leave you to tot your own mercy with as little as limited live support hours or online documentation hours. The best email marketing services offer a combination of self-service help resources- the FAQs and articles which will list out common problems and their solutions as well as live support via phone or chat when you are unable to solve an issue by yourself.

Each of the email marketing services mentioned on this short list offers a free trial or a free version of their services. If you cannot decide which one to go for then you can try out a couple of them yourself to understand which will be the perfect for you. There is hardly any risk involved here.

The rate of interest of email is high. Get started with email marketing today to enjoy the return benefits and grow your business.