Ever wondered why so much emphasis is put on acquiring an email service?
Direct Marketing Association reported that, on average, email marketing gets a 4300% ROI (return-of-invest) for businesses in the USA.
Insane… right? But, it’s one of the most cost useful online marketing tools for online entrepreneurs, bloggers, and small businesses. Emails provide a platform to establish direct contact with your customers. They are the number one relationship building and customer engagement platform. With this in mind, you know how setting up your emails properly can result in a very lucrative growth for your business.
However, you need an active email marketing service for your marketing strategy to be successful.
So, what should be the number one promise of an email marketing service? You should have nothing short of delivering a higher return-of-invest than any other marketing strategy.
Table of Contents
What Should I Consider When Selecting an Email Service?
Price: Obviously, you can’t kill yourself or go hungry, trying to pay for an email service. Most email service providers charge you according to the number of your email list. If you can monetize your email campaign, price won’t be an issue as your contact list increases.
Ease of use: The email marketing provider should have a user-friendly interface. Ideally, a drag & drop email platform for you to easily create and manage your newsletters and contact lists.
Automation: Almost all email services have marketing automation tools. The catch is, they do it in different ways. You should, at the various automation features and see which one provides a solution for your email campaigns.
Industry: Some email marketing solutions are focused on specific industries. For instance, ConvertKit mainly focuses on bloggers.
Technical considerations: The most important thing to look for in an email marketing service is ensuring your email list gets your newsletter in their inbox, not spam folder.
Other factors to consider are GDPR compliance and website integrations.
What is the Best Email Marketing Service 2021?
Have you ever felt like you are combing through a forest when looking for an email marketing service?
There are loads of price plans, sophisticated-looking automation features, all with different deliverables, and promise to be the best email marketing strategy, which is why we have come up with a list of the best email marketing solutions to help in decision making. I’ve helped you separate the wheat from the chaff.
Here goes:
1. Constant Contact
Why not start with an industry giant with 20 years’ experience?
Constant Contact is the fastest growing email service around the globe. It has been in the business for 20 years providing email solutions for both online entrepreneurs and huge corporations.
It has a super friendly user interface fit for beginners, making it possible to effortlessly manage your email list, the marketing calendar, contacts, email templates, and more.
You can easily create an email campaign using the 100+ pre-build email templates. Further to that, the models are already mobile optimized. After choosing a template, customize your email newsletter using the drag and drop builder.
One of the most amazing features is the real-time email campaign results. You get to view the data of each subscriber from the click-through rates to open rates. Email automation is another outstanding feature with Constant Contact. From triggering welcome messages for new subscribers to set up follow up emails based on their actions is quickly done on this fantastic email platform.
Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with other platforms like Shopify, Gmail, WordPress, Salesforce, Eventbrite, among others.
When it comes to high deliverability rates and niche marketing, Constant Contact is the ish!
Pricing
They have an Email and Email plus package.
For the Email:
- 0 – 500 Subscribers — Starting at $20 per month
- 501 – 2,500 Subscribers — Starting at $45 per month
- 2,501 – 5,000 Subscribers — Starting at $65 per month
- 5,001 – 10,000 Subscribers — Starting at $95 per month
For the Email Plus:
- 0 – 500 Subscribers — Starting at $45 per month
- 501 – 2,500 Subscribers — Starting at $70 per month
- 2,501 – 5,000 Subscribers — Starting at $95 per month
- 5,001 – 10,000 Subscribers — Starting at $125 per month
2. Moosend
The powerful newcomer – a cost-efficient, user-friendly platform with cool marketing automation features.
Moosend is one of the lesser-known email marketing services on this list although in the last couple of years they have risen in popularity, mainly due to their sophisticated features at an affordable pricing point.
They offer an intuitive email newsletter editor where you can easily create your newsletter by simply dragging and dropping various newsletter components. And if you are not familiar with building newsletters from scratch they offer a great range of premade newsletter templates to get your inspiration going.
Whilst we are discussing email newsletter services it’s worth mentioning that Moosend also offers additional lead generation tools like Landing Pages and Subscription form under the same pricing as their email marketing features. This alone will potentially shave off some of your marketing costs!
Additionally, their analytics and reporting dashboard will allow you to have a birds-eye view of your email marketing campaigns and assist you in making data-driven decisions on your future campaigns.
Finally, Moosend gives you the option to signup for a Free Forever account for up to 1,000 subscribers, where you can test almost all of their features completely for free and at your own pace!
Pricing
They have a Free Forever Plan, a Pro Plan, and an Enterprise plan.
Free Plan:
- 0 – 1,000 Subscribers — Starting at $0 per month with unlimited email sends
Pro Plan:
- 1,001 – 2,000 Subscribers — Starting at $8 per month
- 2,001 – 3,000 Subscribers — Starting at $16 per month
- 3,001 – 5,000 Subscribers — Starting at $24 per month
- 5,001 – 8,000 Subscribers — Starting at $32 per month
- 8,001 – 10,000 Subscribers — Starting at $44 per month
Enterprise Plan:
- 200,001+ — Custom Pricing Plan
3. Get Response
Have you just begun your journey as an online marketer, and you are looking for an essential email marketing tool?
Get Response is an all-in-one email automation tool. It is set up on a straightforward user interface, allowing you to create engaging automated email campaigns easily.
Furthermore, Get Response has a drag and drop landing pages builder to help with lead generation from high converting landing pages. With the drag and drop builder, you can segment your contacts and send more targeted newsletters to your diverse customers.
The coolest feature of this email platform is the Autofunnel. You can easily create sales funnels for building traffic, lead generation, and sales. The funnels might contain landing pages, webinars, email newsletters, exit popups, Facebook ads, depending on your marketing goals.
Get Response provides phone support, live chat, and email support.
Pricing
Their prices are based on 1000 email subscribers per month.
Basic plan: starting at $15
Plus: starting at $49
Pro: starting at $99
Enterprise: starting at $1199
4. MailerLite
Looking for a no-frills yet functional email marketing platform?
Well, the name tells it all, Mailer Lite. You can’t get any more basic than this. Besides, it offers a free plan for the first 1000 email subscribers, so making it the perfect platform for beginners.
The user interface is easy to use so that anyone can create emails. In spite of the basic platform, MailerLite has numerous automation features to create landing pages, surveys, and popups.
It’s drag and drop builder has amazingly advanced segmentation tools for personalized emails. It also has features like A/B testing for email campaign optimization.
Pricing
- Up to 1,000 subscribers — Free for 12,000 emails monthly
- 1,001 – 2,500 subscribers — $15 per month
- 2,501 – 5,000 subscribers — $30 per month
- 5,001 – 10,000 subscribers — $50 per month
- 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers — $75 per month
- 15,001 – 20,000 subscribers — $100 per month
- 20,001 – 25,000 subscribers — $120 per month
- 25,001 – 30,000 subscribers — $140 per month
5. ConvertKit
Are you a pro blogger, digital marketer, or an author?
ConvertKit is an incredibly powerful email marketing service developed just for you. However, don’t expect it to have tons of premade email templates and or drag & drop email builders.
But, for freelance creators selling digital products, those focused on building landing page integrations and eCommerce platforms. It has advanced segmentation tools that will help you increase conversion rates through targeted marketing.
Also, ConvertKit has signup forms that enable you to offer content upgrades to your subscribers. Further to that, some autoresponders send drip emails to them. There is a visual flow chart that guides you in setting up automated emails.
Honestly, ConvertKit isn’t for everyone, but if you are a professional blogger or digital marketer, it’s the email builder for you.
Pricing
- 0 – 1,000 Subscribers — $29 per month
- 1,000 – 3,000 Subscribers — $49 per month
- 3,000 – 5,000 Subscribers — $79 per month
6. Aweber
We definitely can’t have an email marketing list and forget about this long-serving solution. It is one of the best email marketing software with over one million digital entrepreneurs.
Aweber provides all its features for every price plan on a simple and straightforward user interface. So whether you have 10 or 20,000 email subscribers, both got the same features. Aweber seamlessly integrates with different platforms, including WordPress, WooCommerce, and Gmail. Additionally, you are guaranteed a high deliverability rate.
There are many prebuild email templates, auto-responders, email tracking, and auto-responders. Aweber has one of the best customer services offering phone support, email support, and live chats. Besides, there are many user guides and tutorials to help you with email marketing automation.
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
7. ActiveCampaign
The name alone clues you in on how good the email builder is with email marketing campaigns.
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ActiveCampaign empowers you to send vibrant content, run split tests, and perform email segmentation of your contact list. You can run multiple campaigns from targeted emails, scheduled emails, triggered emails, auto-responders, and email funnels.
The email builder eradicates the complexities of personalized messages. Also, it integrates with 250+ eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, WordPress, PayPal, Zapier, and almost all social media platforms.
You can easily monitor and track your online marketing efforts showing you real-time conversions rates.
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
Pro
- 2,500 contacts — $159 per month
- 5,000 contacts — $239 per month
- 10,000 contacts — $349 per month
- 25,000 contacts — $599 per month
8. SendInBlue
If you are an eCommerce marketer or online entrepreneur looking for a transactional email service, SendInBlue is one of the best email marketing automation tools. They have an exceptional API that makes it possible to integrate with eCommerce platforms seamlessly.
With their high deliverability rate, your transactional emails are guaranteed to have high click-through and open rates.
Pricing
Free: for 300 daily emails
Lite: $25/month for 40,000 emails
Essential: $39/month for 60,000 emails
Premium: $66/month for 120,000
9. MailChimp
Do you want an email marketing tool that will grow as your online freelance business grows? MailChimp does exactly this.
MailChimp sends out over 1 billion emails daily, and it has over 14 billion customers as of 2017. This makes it the most used email marketing platform on the planet. It is the most affordable email automation tool for digital marketers of all sizes.
With MailChimp, you can create stunning landing pages and exit popups that convert your visitors into subscribers, increasing your email list. Bloggers who want to create an email list can take advantage of MailChimp features.
Besides, it’s an all-in-one platform numerous email templates, advanced segmentation, email automation series, A/B testing, retargeting ads, and custom branding. You can easily integrate MailChimp with WordPress, WooCommerce, Gmail, among other social media platforms.
It is the most popular email marketing service thanks to its forever free plan for under 2000 subscribers. But, the plan is limited as you can only send up to 12,000 emails without advanced segmentation, multi-variate testing, and send-time optimization.
Pricing
Free: Up to 2,000 contacts
Essentials: U to 50,000 contacts starting at $9.99/month
Standard: Up to 100,000 contacts starting at $14.99/month
Premium: Up to 200,000 contacts starting at $299/month
10. Omnisend
Are you looking for an email builder that unifies all marketing efforts across all social media channels?
Omnisend allows you to send your email messages on all social media channels and devices. You can monitor visitor’s actions on your website, through welcome emails, abandoned charts, and post-purchase email automation series. All this for email segmentation and personalization of emails.
It is very good with eCommerce sites like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and you can connect Omnisend to increase sales conversions. Perfect for digital marketers and influencers.
Pricing
Free: 15000 emails/month
Standard: $16 for 15000 emails/month
Pro: $199 for unlimited emails/month
Enterprise: $2000 for unlimited emails/month
11. HubSpot
Talking of an all-in-one integrated marketing package, HubSpot must have crossed your mind.
It has one of the easiest email marketing platforms with prebuilt email templates to add whatever you need. Their email editor has a user-friendly interface and is faster than most email services. You can preview and edit your subject lines, texts, images, etc. within a few minutes.
Personalization, list segmentation, A/B testing, help you better target your customers and build a lasting relationship with them.
And the coolest feature, the HubSpot analytics dashboard. HubSpot gives you everything to measure and track your metrics. You get real-time data on opened and clicked emails, and time spends on viewing your emails. This way, you can follow up on your email subscribers with more relevant information.
Well, it’s one of the best email reporting tools in the market and, most importantly, has a freemium option.
Plus, who doesn’t want a tool that aligns both inbound and outbound marketing?
Pricing
FREE email +FREE CRM
12. Campaign Monitor
Do you want to grow your online business while giving back to the community?
Campaign Monitor is an easy to use tool that helps online entrepreneurs maintain brand consistency. It’s a reliable tool for promoting loyal readership using the stunning email templates and drag & drop page builders.
Some of its key features include drip campaigns, subscriber management, auto-responders, customer surveys, A/B testing, and mailing list management.
We can’t forget their reporting and analytics features. The faster you know if your marketing campaign is working or not, the better. Campaign Monitor has succeeded where others have failed. It has a real-time reporting dashboard that allows you to see every clicked, opened, and ignored emails.
Pricing
Starting at $9 a month (2500 emails), Unlimited Plan with unlimited emails for $29/month and Premier Plan with additional features (engagement segments, send-time optimization, link tracking,..) for $149/month.
5 Quick and Easy Tips for Your Email Marketing 2021
Are you getting ready to launch your first email marketing campaign? Here are five tips to make it truly awesome.
1. Leverage personalization
Personalization is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaign. It’s your opportunity to build a rapport with a subscriber by making an offer that caters to their needs. Email personalization starts from an email subject line and ends with a CTA. In other words, personalization should be throughout your email copy, from start to finish. Advanced email personalization strategies like segmenting ad hyper-personalization can help you to increase open and click rates significantly.
2. Verify email addresses
Marketers always cheer when they get more and more subscribers to their email list. Unfortunately, there might be some bots among those subscribers who won’t convert to your real customers. And that’s why you need to verify email addresses – this is the only way to prevent fraud.
Another solid reason to do email validation is better email deliverability and open rates. It’s a no-brainer: if the email address belongs to a real person, the chances are higher that they will open it. Apart from that, if all your subscriber emails are validated, it helps your sender reputation, too.
3. Do an A/B testing
A/B testing is a research methodology often used in marketing. Basically, you show two versions of your email copy to different segments of your audience simultaneously. Then, you collect their responses and see what changes should be made to your email copy.
Here are a few things you should test in your email:
- Subject lines
- Length
- Visual content
- Copy (word choice, word order)
- Style
- CTA buttons
- Personalization
A/B testing helps you single out even the smallest changes that could be life-changing for your email marketing campaign. So, try not to skip this step when creating your email copy.
4. Keep your email copy simple
Good emails serve to inform the addressee. But when they are crowded with too much text or visuals, it’s hard for an addressee to decipher what they should pay attention to in an email.
Thus, a good email copy unites a simplistic design, visuals, and just enough text for an addressee to get the idea. It only uses visuals that are relevant to the subject of an email. At the same time, it loads fast on any device.
5. Make your CTA context-based
Lastly, don’t forget about creating an engaging CTA. After all, it’s the path that will lead the customer to buy your product. And an engaging CTA should always be content-based. If you have several CTA ideas, do A/B testing on them to see which one brings you the most results. But don’t overcrowd your email with CTAs. Remember – keep your copy simple.
Wrapping up!
When it comes to email marketing software, expensive doesn’t always mean better. Most of these email service providers give the same services.
You need to put your budget and needs in mind when picking an email marketing service. Which email builder will you choose now to have a good primer for decision-making?
Go ahead and pick the email marketing provider already! And when you start, make sure that your email marketing is truly awesome.