What is the best email marketing software for startups? Email marketing can be a powerful way to drive traffic, sales, and conversions from your customers. But, how do you know which email marketing software is right for your business? The best email marketing software for you will depend on things like: your budget, how much it costs to use the features you need, and how long it takes to set up.
Email marketing is a highly unsatisfactory platform for delivering the marketing messages that many people prefer – like text and display ads. Still, email remains an important channel for direct marketers, especially for those with small budgets. With limited resources for development, startups are likely to face great challenges when choosing a good email marketing software or tool that can really help them achieve their marketing goals. In this article we will list the best email platforms for startups based on many real user experiences and our years of experience in this field.
You’re a startup. You need to grow your subscriber list, but you don’t know how to start an email marketing campaign. But what if I told you that there are plenty of tools that can help you succeed in your email marketing campaign? What if I said that choosing the right one won’t just help you grow your businesses (and mind you, it will), it will also reduce costs and allow you to market more effectively than ever before? And what if I told you that there are tools out there tailor made for startups? That’s right – there’s already a tool out there, ready to enhance and improve your email marketing strategy today.
There are tons of email marketing software in the market. But not all of them can help you to attract more customers. Don’t worry. I am here to compare the best email marketing software for you and suggest some options based on your needs. In this article, I am writing about why do you need an email service provider for your startup business, which email marketing software is great for startups and small businesses and which one is affordable for you as a startup or small businesses.
Tips to Choose the Best Email Marketing Tools for Agencies
The easiest and cheapest method to market your business is through emails. It is a great way to promote content related to your brand, share ideas, and build brand awareness. With a comprehensive email marketing campaign, you can increase engagement with consumers and improve sales.
If you want to get promising results from your email campaign, you need the support of the right email marketing solutions. The benefits of the platform offer vary depending upon your needs. That’s why there are numerous solutions but if you are more into custom solutions, it is better to search for email marketing tools for startups or email marketing software for non-profit organizations.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact is one of the largest and fastest growing email marketing service in the world. It is also the most easy to use and beginner friendly email marketing service.
You can easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, marketing calendar, and more.
Each account gives you access to unlimited emails, easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing tools, free image library, list segmentation, Facebook ads integration, and a powerful eCommerce integration for Shopify stores.
Their Email Plus accounts also come with powerful features like email automation, drip campaigns, surveys & polls, coupons, online donations, and subject line A/B testing which helps you send targeted emails to maximize your open rate.
Constant Contact offers unmatched customer support with live chat, phone calls, email, community support, and a vast library of helpful resources.
Aside from online training, they also offer in-person live seminars across the United States. This allow small business owners to quickly learn the basics of email marketing and start using it to grow their business like a pro.
For all the reasons above, we rate Constant Contact the best email marketing service for small businesses and startups.
Constant Contact has a 60-day free trial (no credit-card required). After that their pricing starts as low as $ 9.99 /month.
SendinBlue
SendinBlue is a complete SMS and email marketing software for businesses. They are one of the fastest growing email marketing platforms in Europe.
It is an extremely easy to use platform with excellent tools to create beautiful and highly engaging emails. Their simple drag and drop email editor is perfect for beginners with no experience in email marketing.
SendinBlue includes beginner-friendly marketing automation tools that allow you to send transactional emails, create workflows for automatic follow-up emails, and segment users. It can also select the best time to send bulk emails using their AI algorithms to ensure the best email deliverability.
SendinBlue offer a completely free email marketing plan unlimited contacts. Their free plan lets you send up to 300 emails per day, but all your emails will have their branding.
Their paid plans start from $25 per month for Lite. You can also include SMS to your account, but the pricing will vary based on your sending requirements.
They have improved their premium plan recently to include more advanced features like landing page builder, live chat, sales CRM, and Facebook ads integration. This means users now get more value for the same price.
SendinBlue also offers a separate SMTP bulk email marketing service which you can use to power automated or transactional emails from your WordPress site. You do not need this for email marketing campaigns, but it’s a nice functionality to have if you have a large website, and you want automatic real-time content based emails.
Drip
Drip is a powerful enterprise email marketing platform for eCommerce, bloggers, and digital marketers. They offer a wide range of tools to make marketing automation, sales funnels, and personalization easy.
Their email software offer seamless integration for all popular website builders including WordPress and WooCommerce. This allows you to easily add pop-ups / opt-in sign up forms to your website and capture more leads.
What sets Drip apart from the competition like Campaign Monitor is their intelligent marketing automation tools, smarter email segmenting, split testing features, list groups, and a visual drag and drop builder for automation workflows. These features allow you to reach targeted customers in your email list to get more sales.
Support options at Drip include live chat support, webinars, automation training, detailed courses, free guides and excellent documentation.
We use Drip for several of our businesses because it allows us to send bulk emails while connecting and engaging with every customer on a personal level using their smart eCommerce marketing automation.
Their eCommerce revenue attribution feature shows us exactly how much revenue we generate from each email marketing campaign.
Even though it’s a bit pricey, we believe Drip is the best email marketing software for eCommerce websites and business owners who want more advanced features to maximize their marketing efforts.
Drip offers a free trial, and their plans starts from $49 / month which includes all their features.
Recently, they’ve added SMS notification as a feature to all plans which allows you to connect with your users on both email and SMS marketing channel. This makes them a true all-in-one email marketing platform for store owners.
MAILCHIMP (FREE FOR 2000 USERS)
Mailchimp is one of the popular app for email marketing and is developed by The Rocket Science Group LLC. The main features include predesigned and user defined email templates, drag and drop editor for designing templates,email beamer, integration with around 100 other apps and services like Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, Google, WordPress etc, multi user accounts with different levels of access, designing custom signup forms, classify different segmentation and groups,autoresponders,delivery by time zone,spam filter diagnostics,API for syncing with existing customer databases etc.
SENDGRID ($9.95/MONTH)
SendGrid app is developed by the company SendGrid and it is more than app for sending marketing emails as it completely handles all the tasks related to email marketing. The main features of the app include creating and managing marketing emails, recipients, sender addresses, email tags etc, templates for sending emails, bypass list management,return path seedlist, spam checker, address whitelisting,tracking the status of the email campaign etc. It helps the companies save money.
BENCHMARK EMAIL (FREE FOR 2,000 USERS)
Benchmark Email app is developed by the company Benchmark Internet Group. The main features of the app include dedicated email server for volume senders, more than 400 customizable email templates, creating and sending professional newsletters, managing and organizing contact list, analyzing and creating reports for the email campaigns, autoresponders, great looking signup forms, gathering data with surveys, email delivery management etc.
CAMPAIGN MONITOR ($9/MONTH)
Campaign Monitor app is a popular app for email marketing. The main features include designing attractive emails using template builder, advanced editor for adding text, links and images easily,importing any content from the web to the newsletter, inline CSS,templates optimized for both desktop and mobile clients, tracking the results of the campaign, integrating with social networks like Facebook and Twitter, emails are optimized for mobile etc.
MailerLite – Best For the Essentials at an Affordable Price
- PRICE STARTS AT $0
- PREMIUM PLANS START AT $10/MO
- ALL BASIC EMAIL FEATURES
- A/B TESTING TOOLS
MailerLite offers all of the essentials with none of the frills.
It’s a great option for anyone who wants a straightforward email marketing service. You’re a creator who doesn’t need a ton of bells and whistles. You just need the tools to start your newsletter or manage a simple campaign.
It’s also nice for teams. Nobody is going to be intimidated by this platform, which means everyone is going to use the core features at their disposal.
The platform still offers tools for automation, landing pages, pop-ups, and surveys, so it’s not like you’re extremely limited. But even the UI for each one is fairly spartan and straightforward.
MailerLite has a drag-and-drop editor, which makes it easy for anyone to design a high-quality message. Segment your subscribers to enhance personalization and optimize your campaigns with features like A/B testing.
I’d recommend MailerLite for those of you who want simple email software at an affordable rate.
Here’s a look at the price points for MailerLite:
- Up to 1,000 subscribers — $10 per month
- 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
The pricing tiers continue to rise at about $20-$40 per 10,000 subscribers. MailerLite offers a 30% discount if you sign up for annual billing, making it one of the most affordable options on our list.
There is a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers, but you’re limited to just 12,000 emails per month, and you don’t get every feature. You can use this option as an extended free trial when you’re just starting out. Learn more and try Mailerlite for free.
Key Criteria to Evaluate Email Marketing Tools
Pricing Policy
Some email marketing tools base their pricing policies on how many emails you send while others base it on the number of subscribers. However, you should also look into free and paid services. Be careful to choose the platform and package that works best for you as well as your company.
Features
An effective email marketing campaign relies on segmenting the target audience. This allows you to create and deliver targeted emails, depending on where a consumer is in the buying journey. Moreover, it helps to guide them deeper into the sales funnel. So segmentation should be an essential feature of the tool. Make sure to look into other features as well.
Accountability
Your email campaign needs to improve results. Therefore, the tool must perform smoothly at all times. Talk to support staff and consultants about how often the software is updated and what options are included in maintenance. Ask other companies who are using the tool about issues such as downtime, security concerns, etc.
Customer Service
At some point, someone will have a question or need assistance. Consider investing in an email marketing tool that provides live chat options, preferably 24/7. Also, look into other channels that representatives actively engage on. To get a better picture of the level of customer support, we suggest you communicate with them before making a purchase.
Integration
Email marketing tools need to work well with other tools that you are currently using. Selecting an email marketing tool that integrates seamlessly with your CRM can be an excellent choice. Decide on a platform that allows you to manage valuable content, update customer data, and provide you with an overview of important metrics.
Scope of the Email Marketing Tools
Your primary goals are to improve audience engagement, enhance lead generation, reduce customer acquisition costs, and boost sales. But what additional features does the email marketing tool provide to help your business? Some important ones to consider include assistance in creating email landing pages, designing subscription forms, and analyzing critical KPIs such as open rates, click-through rates, etc.
Conclusion
Email marketing is one of the most potent tools for startups, as it remains one of the most effective ways to communicate with potential customers and create awareness about your brand’s products and services. Email marketing provides a measurable way to track ROI and can be used to acquire sign-ups, collect leads as well as promote your business.
Communication is an important part of any business, and this is especially true of startups. The entrepreneur has to keep customers up-to-date, employees are at the heart of daily operations, investors and shareholders need to be kept informed about every detail — a busy agenda for sure.