If you’re searching for the best email software for business, then you’ve started your search in the right place. You see, there are a number of email programs available to help small businesses keep their customers happy and maintain their place as top dog in their market
If you’re in business, chances are, you need a system for sending and receiving emails. With the use of smart phone apps, desktops, laptops, phones and other electronic devices, communicating most effectively is becoming more and more of a challenge. That’s why you should learn about the best email software for business.
ActiveCampaign
Best Email Marketing Software ($9/month)
ActiveCampaign is #1 on my list as it is the best overall email marketing software due to its advanced automation features and deliverability.
As the smartest tool on this list, machine learning plays a key role. With Predictive Actions, ActiveCampaign answers tough questions about your customers to automatically take action for you and lead them down the sales funnel.
ActiveCampaign also integrates with 850+ other apps like Facebook, Shopify, WordPress, and a whole lot more.
Automating your list segments is intuitive, and you can build list triggers and move users based on dynamic email content, sales follow-ups, and more.
Email workflows are robust and easy to manage. All of this data syncs with their built-in CRM to provide sales teams with advanced lead scoring.
Their lead scoring system is flexible too. If you’re not familiar with lead scoring, it’s a way to award points to individual email subscribers based on the actions of your choosing. Then once they hit a point threshold, they either enter a new automation funnel or can be contacted by your sales team.
Here are the steps:
- First, you select your engagement metrics. These could be anything from an email open or click, all the way to a content download or consultation request.
- Next, you add your lead scoring rules and points based on these conditions. These should be set based on the level of effort and propensity to convert.
- Maybe an email open is worth two points, and a link click is worth five points. Or actions like non-opens or unsubscribes are worth negative points. Once a subscriber reaches a pre-determined point threshold, subscriber data flows to the Deals CRM where they enter a new stage of automation:
It’s a great system that large companies use to nurture email leads in the most personalized way possible.
Another strong selling point is email deliverability, ranking higher than all other platforms on this list. Their email sends are the least likely to be marked as spam and have the best chance of hitting primary inboxes on Gmail and Outlook.
Pricing:
Pricing is based on the account features and the size of your email list.
- Lite: $9/month
- Plus: $49/month
- Professional $149/month
- Enterprise: $258/month
All plans come with a 14-day free trial.
Overall, ActiveCampaign is the best tool if you’re looking for the best email marketing, CRM, and automation tool in one place.
Constant Contact
Best Email Marketing Service for Small Business ($20/month)
Constant Contact has been in the email marketing space since 1995, taking the name Constant Contact back in 2004. In 2015, they became a part of Endurance International Group, a powerhouse that other companies including Bluehost, HostGator, and Domain.com.
As stated on their website, the company’s ultimate goal is to help small businesses navigate the promise, power, and potential of the web.
They feature 100+ modern, mobile-optimized templates to engage and convert customers, real-time reporting and analytics, and bonus features like coupons, polls, and events.
One of their most unique features is event management and the ability to manage invitations, registrations, and tickets:
Email deliverability is above average and one of the highest among email service providers at over 90%.
Pricing:
Constant Contact pricing is tiered based on the number of email contacts in your list. Their paid plans start at $20/month for up to 500 contacts.
Their drip campaigns are easy to use and intuitive. You can create simple sequences, but can’t combine conditions or use advanced filtering.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for niche features like event management and also want top-notch email deliverability, Constant Contact is the choice for you. They are my #2 choice for email service providers this year.
You can get started today and take 10% off your first 12 months with my link below.
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 automation workflow builder. 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.
Omnisend
Omnisend is an all-in-one email marketing automation platform that also caters to eCommerce brands. It enables you to expand on your newsletters and boost sales with automated emails, segmentation, and the added potential of SMS. It includes pre-built automations for cart abandonment, welcome series, transactional emails to help deliver streamlined buyer engagements.
Key Features:
- A library of templates makes it easy to create professional, stunning emails without coding that you can easily customize to fit your brand, add products, include dynamic discount codes, and save for your next campaign.
- An Automations Library with pre-built workflows for every step of your customer journey.
- Segmented targeting that can be used both for campaigns and automations across all the channels Omnisend caters for.
- Pop-ups and forms aid lead generations.
- Reports and analytics track sales and identify winning campaigns.
Pricing:
Omnisend is free for up to 15,000 emails per month / 2,000 per day. Pricing starts at $16 per month when paid annually. There are additional costs for SMS, although higher plans offer SMS credits.
EmailOctopus
EmailOctopus is a popular email marketing software platform that has a mission to provide email marketing that’s simpler, more intuitive, and better value than the competition. It offers templates you can customize in a drag and drop editor, or you can begin your emails from scratch. The app also includes a landing page builder with everything you need to generate leads and grow your email list. Integrations are a drawcard for agile brands. Many of your existing tools, including Shopify, Gravity Forms, and WordPress easily pair with EmailOctopus and make it an attractive tool, especially for brands with ambitious goals.
Key Features:
- Import existing subscribers and keep growing with customizable forms for your website, or create stunning landing pages to capture more subscribers.
- Start with a pre-designed template and customize it or build your own designs from scratch.
- Leverage email automation to deliver campaigns.
- Use insights and data to segment your subscribers into target audiences.
Pricing:
EmailOctopus offers a free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month. Paid plans start at $20 per month.
GetResponse
Payment Plans: Based on the Number of Contacts
Pricing: Starting From $10.50
Ease of Use: 5/5 – Very Easy
Free Version: No
Drag & Drop Editor: Available
Mobile-Friendly Editor: Yes and no
Ease of Use
A brief summary of what our testers thought of GetResponse: “The whole process from start to finish feels smooth, is user-friendly, and you have a ton of options along the way. However, the experience would be even better with a built-in image editor.”
You can add your contacts easily through the quick-action buttons from the dashboard. You can choose to upload your contacts individually or import them from a file. Depending on your contact list’s size, the importing may take a couple of seconds up to a few hours.
Building your email is relatively straightforward, and you can pick a pre-designed template, start from a blank template, or insert your HTML code in the editor. Working with a template gives you access to drag and drop tools and the building blocks toolbar. We especially enjoyed the block’s name display when hovering over an inserted building block. You can also preview your created emails in the desktop or mobile view making sure the content looks great on all devices.
GetResponse also gives you access to thousands of free stock photos and an integrated Shutterstock gallery. However, the latter doesn’t come free, but you can purchase the desired image after previewing it in the editor. Unfortunately, they lack an internal image editor, so when you upload your image, make sure you’ve already edited it.
Once you create your email, you are directed to the summary page. Here you can name your campaign, write the subject line, and add your email recipients. Most of these options open a popup window and don’t redirect you to a different page, except when you want to redo the editing phase.
Mobile Editor
GetResponse has a mobile application that you can use to access data, create emails, and manage your contacts. However, the email editor in the app is disappointing. The customization options are minimal, and you can only create text-based messages (minus some emotions).
Features
GetResponse focuses heavily on webinars and eCommerce sites. In fact, you get tools for both with even the starter plan. Of course, that doesn’t mean that this service isn’t working with other businesses – quite the opposite.
Since the pricing model is based on the subscriber count, you can send out an unlimited number of emails to your list. The other main features are a drag and drop email design tool, mobile-friendly emails, dynamic content based on customer segmentation, and automated email options with blog digests.
GetResponse’s customer support is available 24/7 over the live chat and email, which is reassuring, especially if you’re new to email marketing. Once you opt for a custom plan, you also get the additional phone support, Slack channel option, and a dedicated support person.
Pricing & Plans
GetResponse’s pricing model is based on the number of contacts you have on your list. You can get the best prices with a 2-year commitment.
The cheapest plan starts at $10.50/month with 1,000 contacts ($0.0105/contact).
GetResponse doesn’t have a refund policy with their paid plans, but you can try out their service for 30-days. The trial version doesn’t require your credit card details, either.
Conclusion:
Emails are still a very effective way to advertise and reach out to your customers. But you should use the products and services which will simplify this process and improve your work. Here I want to talk about the best email software for business, which will help you manage your messages easily and smoothly.