Today, digital marketers have access to more channels than ever to reach new customers. The true pioneers of marketing will use a combination of social media, display ads, emails, and more, just to get their messages in front of consumers.
Our focus this time around will be on email marketing, more specifically, the platforms that businesses can use to utilise this ever-growing channel. Stay tuned if you’d like to know the best email marketing platforms for your business.
What is an email marketing platform?
In order to have a successful email marketing campaign, businesses or marketers need more than just a fresh list full of email addresses. They also need tools or software that can help them to compose, send, and analyse their emails. Some tools even will even go as far as collecting data from the emails, which can either be used in future email campaigns or across other channels.
An email marketing platform (or software) can help you manage your email lists, help you put together and send out high-quality emails to users, and lastly, track whether your emails were opened and read or not.
At its core, email marketing can come in many types and forms. For instance, a business can decide that the best email marketing tactic for them is to simply send out newsletter emails only to their subscribers.
Other businesses might want to have their marketing emails directly tied to their product and services platform, so they can send out special discounts and offers to recipients of their choosing.
Some businesses also need to properly segment their subscribers’ list based on a wide variety of factors such as their demographic backgrounds, their levels of engagement, and more.
Lastly, email marketing platforms can allow marketers to integrate their emails with other back-end systems of their (online) business, such as their inventory management system, their customer relationship management (CRM) system, and more.
The 10 best email marketing platforms
Depending on your industry, email marketing currently can net you anywhere from $32 to $45 for every $1 spent (Litmus). And in order to get the best out of your email marketing campaign, you need to choose the right platform for your needs.
However, in a market that is currently valued at more than $1.12 billion, you would expect to find a lot of choices when it comes to email marketing platforms, and indeed you do!
Here are our picks for the best email marketing platforms:
1. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms out there for good reasons. It’s extremely easy to use, which makes it the perfect pick for beginners and start-ups alike. Its features include data segmentation, templates, personalisation, email automation, A/B testing, CRMs integration, and more.
The platform has expanded from its core email-focused solutions, though. Today, you can do anything from building a free website to creating landing pages using Mailchimp. However, this expansion didn’t stop the people over at Mailchimp from staying on top of the email marketing game.
Additionally, Mailchimp offers its users the ability to get predictive insights about their contacts as well as personalise individual content blocks within their emails in accordance with the recipient.
Lastly, Mailchimp’s A/B testing tools are some of the best in the market. They can help you to easily identify messages that will definitely convert.
Mailchimp has a free plan which you can use for up to 2,000 contacts. Their paid plans start at $9.99 per month.
2. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a fan favourite amongst eCommerce businesses and content creators. This is because it has features such as opt-in forms, tagging systems, landing pages, and a lot more. It also supports many eCommerce related integrations such as PayPal, WooCommerce, Stripe, and more.
If we were to get more specific, the first key feature of ConvertKit is its ability to automate your sales funnel, which allows you to send content to subscribers automatically to urge them to make a purchase.
Additionally, ConvertKit can help business owners to create professional-looking landing pages and sign-up forms.
Similar to Mailchimp, ConvertKit has a free plan that is limited to 1000 subscribers. Their paid plans start at $29 a month.
3. EmailOctopus
EmailOctopus is one of the best email marketing platforms for users who are looking to make simple and intuitive marketing emails.
They have templates that anyone can utilise through their built-in drag and drop editor, as well as the option to create emails from scratch, of course.
Additionally, EmailOctopus has a landing page builder which allows you to add almost anything that is currently relevant in order to generate more leads and significantly grow your email list.
EmailOctopus also supports integration with popular platforms such as Gravity Forms, Shopify, and WordPress, which make it a good fit for eCommerce businesses.
Lastly, EmailOctopus allows you to use insights and data from your current email marketing campaign to better segment your subscribers for more effective targeting.
EmailOctopus comes with a free plan that supports up to 2500 subscribers. The paid plans start at £20 per month.
4. Sendinblue
Sendinblue is a marketing platform that offers everything from email marketing to Facebook, CRM, chat, and SMS marketing. As stated on their website, the company’s primary goal is to help (growing) businesses all over the world find their customers.
With Sendinblue, marketers can create professional emails in a blink of an eye. However, that’s not the best part about using the platform. That has to be the ability to integrate features such as chat, SMS marketing, and CRM with your email marketing.
Additionally, the platform has over 60 responsive email templates to choose from. There is also the ability to segment your contacts list, which helps to make your emails more relevant.
Similar to most other email marketing platforms, Sendinblue has a free plan that has unlimited contacts but is limited to 300 emails per day. Their paid plans start at $25 per month.
5. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is one of the more affordable email marketing platforms that we will discuss today. That makes it a good choice for small businesses.
Don’t worry, though. The platform has the features that you’d expect from any email marketing platform, such as automation, segmentation, autoresponders, A/B testing, and more.
Additionally, ActiveCampaign boasts more advanced features such as geo-tracking, multi-user editing, and more. The former allows you to access the different geographical locations of your subscribers, while the latter allows you to update multiple fields in an email with subscriber info.
The platform starts at just $9 per month.
6. HubSpot
A platform such as HubSpot requires little to no design skills for users to create personalised and professional-looking emails. Powered by HubSpot’s proprietary CRM, the email marketing platform allows you to access accurate customer data for better personalisation.
Additionally, HubSpot offers a lot of advanced templates in its marketplace, many of which are proven to convert through test and trial. You can also use the drop and drag editor to change the look of the email to your specific needs.
HubSpot starts at $50 per month if you go with the monthly billing and is limited to 1,000 marketing contacts.
7. MailerLite
MailerLite is one of the better performing email marketing platforms in the small to medium businesses bracket. It has the basics that any marketer might need for a successful email marketing campaign, such as automation, popups, surveys, and landing pages.
The platform also allows you to personalise your campaigns using advanced targeting features. Moreover, users of MailerLite can test and experiment with their emails through a wide variety of tests in order to improve their benchmarks.
MailerLite is free for up to 1,000 subs and 12,000 emails per month. The paid plans start at $10 per month.
8. Drip
Drip is one of the best email marketing platforms on the market right now, primarily for eCommerce businesses.
Why? Because it features seamless integration with eCommerce-based platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magneto, amongst others.
While on Drip, you can use eCommerce CRM data to create segment your email list as well as personalise the emails themselves. Moreover, Drip users have access to SMS marketing. That can be used for a wide variety of things such as promotional deals, abandoned cart reminders, and more.
Drip comes with a free trial, and its pricing starts at $19 per month.
9. GetResponse
GetResponse is yet another popular email marketing that marketers across many industries use. Its features list includes email templates, automation, segmentation, and personalisation.
The platform also has an Auto Funnel feature that provides marketers with ready-made marketing funnels for their campaigns. Additionally, GetResponse offers a well-rounded and comprehensive analytics tool that, when combined with A/B testing, makes for some magic results.
GetResponse is available with a 30-day free trial. After that, you start to get billed with pricing starting at $15 a month.
10. Keap
Technically speaking, Keap is mainly a service that is tailored towards customer relationship management. However, the platform has some quality email marketing and automation tools. That helped to earn it a spot on our list of the best email marketing platforms.
The platform features templates for marketing emails as well as quotes and proposals that you can use. It’s also capable of integrating well with most business tools and apps out there.
However, where Keap truly shines is its CRM and automation capabilities which help marketers to turn their current customers into loyal ones. What’s truly great about these two features is how easy they are to navigate and use within the platform.
Keap comes with a free trial, and its pricing starts at $79 per month.
So, what is the best email marketing platform?
Well, it depends on what you’re looking for in an email marketing platform. For example, if you consider automation to be the most important part, then you’re probably better off with ActiveCampaign.
If your business is an e-Commerce one and you want something that supports all your needs, then we recommend Drip.
Lastly, if what you want is an all-in-one marketing platform that isn’t strictly limited to email marketing but still does it well, then it goes with HubSpot.
Still, you have to keep in mind that these are our recommendations. In other words, they will not necessarily work for you and your business. So, make sure to get a clear idea of your different needs in regard to email marketing and work from there. Try out some different email marketing software until you find the right one for you.
Let us help with your email marketing campaigns
Even with the right tools, email marketing can still be hard to get right. Worry not, though, as we can help. Contact us today.
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