No matter what sphere of life you are in, an email marketing software is necessary. If you are running a company or any business, this is something must-have. But choosing the right email marketing software can prove to be tricky at times. There are many things to consider before buying an email marketing software. In fact, there is a lot of difference between the essential and the best email marketing software for your business.
There are several email marketing software for WordPress specially designed for WordPress environment. However, these email marketing software may vary in terms of features and usability. So you need to compare these email marketing software based on your exact requirement. I am listing here the best email marketing software for WordPress that helps you to easily collect email addresses from your WordPress website.
If you have a WordPress website, emails are considered an important tool to build and strengthen your relationships with new leads, subscribers and customers. Email marketing has been a major part of the Internet marketing strategy for more than two decades. It continues to be a very reliable and effective way for businesses of all sizes to expand their reach and generate more sales.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with customers and let them know about new updates and offers. But reaching out to people on a one-on-one basis can be difficult if you don’t have access to the right tools. Here are our picks for the best email marketing software for WordPress.
What are WordPress email marketing plugins?
Before we dive into the discussion, it’s wise to give you an idea of what we’re talking about.
So, what are email marketing plugins?
Plugins help you extend the default functionality you get with your default WordPress installation. While plugins are primarily useful for customizing your website’s functionality, they also let you integrate your website with various platforms.
Many WordPress email marketing plugins were created for integrating your WordPress site with email marketing software or platforms. However, modern email marketing plugins can turn your WordPress dashboard into an email marketing platform.
In fact, some email marketing plugins are so advanced that you can actually automate many of your day-to-day email marketing tasks – allowing you to save time and money while the emails keep generating revenue on autopilot!
Email Subscribers & Newsletters
Email Subscribers & Newsletters – Simple and Effective Email Marketing WordPress Plugin
Author(s): Icegram
Current Version: 5.3.8
Last Updated: March 24, 2022
email-subscribers.5.3.8.zip92%Ratings100,000+InstallsWP 3.9+Requires
If you’re looking for a full-featured solution, Email Subscribers & Newsletters is one of the best WordPress email marketing plugins to start with. It provides everything you need to create and manage a list and send newsletters, without requiring a third-party connection.
Key features:
- Add a subscription box to your site for collecting email addresses
- Send out email newsletters manually, or automatically based on specific triggers
- Receive notifications when new subscribers sign up and send out automated welcome emails
- View email data, such as when each was sent and viewed
What you’ll need to use it:
Email Subscribers & Newsletters makes use of your own server to send emails, so it doesn’t require any third-party subscriptions or additional tools.
Pricing:
Along with the free version, there’s a premium tier starting at $9 per month. This provides extra features such as email templates, built-in spam filtering, and the option to test newsletters.
Who should use it:
This plugin is an excellent option if you want a no-frills solution that you can manage straight from your website. It includes all the basics, is easy to pick up, and offers a decent amount of automation potential.
Newsletter
Author(s): Stefano Lissa & The Newsletter Team
Current Version: 7.4.1
Last Updated: March 11, 2022
newsletter.7.4.1.zip92%Ratings400,000+InstallsWP 4.6+Requires
Newsletter is another self-contained email marketing solution. Once it’s installed on your WordPress site, you’ll immediately be able to start collecting emails and sending newsletters – no complex setup required.
Key features:
- Collect email addresses via a customizable widget, page, or form
- Create newsletters using a responsive drag-and-drop system
- Segment your list to target different audiences with specific messaging
- Use a central status panel to configure the plugin and keep an eye on your campaigns
What you’ll need to use it:
You do not need any other tools or services to use this plugin, though it does give you the option of connecting to other SMTP plugins to help deliver your emails.
Pricing:
The base plugin is free, and there are a number of premium extensions to provide additional functionally. You can purchase these separately, or get them all for $76.59 for up to 3 websites or for $298.60 for unlimited number of websites.
Who should use it:
Newsletter is one of the best WordPress email marketing plugins if you want to carry out targeted campaigns. While it offers fewer automation options than some tools, it provides a lot of segmentation potential.
HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one growth platform that helps businesses grow better. The platform enables businesses to better attract, engage, and delight customers. It has an abundance of free tools that include CRM, email marketing, live chat and chatbots, ad management, reporting, forms, and more.
The free email marketing tool has a beautiful drag-and-drop builder and is natively integrated with WordPress. You can send up to 2,000 emails per month for free.
There is also a native WordPress plugin that makes it as easy as possible to manage contacts and email marketing inside of your WordPress admin dashboard.
Pros: HubSpot is easy to use and has integrations with over 300 tools. Having all the data of your contact database in one tool makes your email marketing personalized and actionable.
Cons: If you need advanced reporting or marketing automation, it’s not included in the free plan.
HubSpot is most suitable for:
- Businesses trying to grow.
- Agencies
- Services companies.
MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms, and so is the plugin. There are a number of pre-built mobile-friendly and customizable sign-up forms, an extensive knowledge base, and a useful selection of add-on plugins available.
Price: The basic ‘New Business’ plugin is completely free. However, a more advanced ‘Growing Business’ with additional features is available starting at $10 per month. The highest tier MailChimp plan is ‘Pro Marketer’ is available at an additional $199 per month.
Pros: MailChimp is trusted, streamlined, impeccably supported and makes email design super easy.
Cons: If you are an advanced user looking to adjust any of MailChimp’s default settings, the buried data can complicate the process extensively. Also, adding native subscription forms to pages requires some CSS knowledge to master.
In our opinion, while MailChimp is versatile, it’s more suited to:
- Businesses.
- Consulting practices.
- Creative services.
- Marketing and advertising.
- Non-profit organizations.
With MailChimp, you can also enjoy peace of mind knowing you can easily scale your email requirements as your site grows.
SendInBlue
SendInBlue is an all-in-one email marketing plugin that includes various features to make email list building and management simple. It includes email statistics, automation, and a drag-and-drop email campaign builder. However, the featureset may be a bit complex for less advanced users.
Price: The standard version of SendInBlue is free. More advanced, feature-heavy plans range from Lite ($25 per month) to Premium ($66 per month). You also have the option of tailoring an ‘Enterprise’ plan to meet the needs of your business, with prices varying accordingly.
Pros: Comes with responsive email design templates, and outstanding real time tracking capabilities.
Cons: Not as beginner friendly as other options, and lacks certain third-party integrations.
As with many options on our list, SendInBlue can be used on almost any website, such as:
- Blogs.
- Service-based businesses.
- eCommerce websites.
- Non-profit organizations.
Best of all, the plugin is absolutely free up to 9,000 emails per month (great for small-to-medium sized businesses and blogs).
Everest Forms
To make it to the top of our list is Everest Forms by WPEverest. It’s one of the best WordPress form builder plugins. This plugin has over 100000 happy customers as of today.
With its drag and drop feature, creating a form is a piece of cake. You can create any type of forms such as contact forms, survey forms, and much more. Along with that, it offers pre-designed templates to save your precious time.
Moreover, Everest Forms provides various premium add-ons such as Mailchimp, Mailerlite, Email Templates, and so on.
Key Features of Everest Forms:
- Unlimited form fields
- Easy payment gateways
- Drag and drop builder
- Pre-designed templates
- Email marketing tools are avilable
Price: Free or $69 for a Single Site License
OptinMonster
Marketing as a whole, OptinMonster is another name that is renowned for its great services. With their plans ranging from basic to professional, you can get the one that suits best with you and our subscribers. Integrated with the best of website platforms and contact form plugins, all of your needs will be answered once you try it out!
The lead generation software is sure to double the number of your subscribers and email lists. Best for starters to even professionals, OptinMonster is yet another platform we know that you won’t regret investing in!
Key Features of OptinMonster:
- Over 65 pre-made templates to choose from
- Powerful targeting and segmentation engine
- User-friendly drag and drop builder
- Advanced and actionable analytics option
- Easily integrate with other website & eCommerce platforms
Price: Free or $49/mo.
Things to consider before choosing a WordPress email marketing plugin
There are two types of WordPress email marketing plugins. Some allow you to connect your website with external email marketing platforms, and some plugins add email marketing functionalities inside your WordPress dashboard.
However, it doesn’t matter which platform you use or how you send emails when it comes to growing your business online. All you need is a functional, cost-effective tool that offers the features and integrations you need.
So what are the things you need to consider before choosing an email marketing plugin?
Email marketing features
This one’s a no-brainer. When choosing an email marketing plugin or platform, you’d look for the crucial email marketing features. These include:
- Ability to create segmented contact lists
- Sending email marketing campaigns, newsletters, etc., to a mass audience
- Ability to create and save email templates
- Email personalization options
- Ability to A/B test email campaigns
- Email Deliverability
- Ability to prepare email marketing reports
Apart from those, you may also want a plugin or platform that automates emails or email sequences based on audience behavior, known as behavioral/triggered emails.
CRM Integration
In today’s email marketing, keeping track of your audience’s lifecycle is often essential. In order to engage your audience in a personalized manner, you need to know where they are in the customer journey.
Most email marketing tools either offer CRM functionality or integrate with CRM tools. You should look for that too!
Integration with other platforms
If your business is somehow connected to any other platforms such as eCommerce, LMS membership, etc., it’s best to choose a plugin that integrates with these platforms.
This kind of integration can be with external platforms like Zapier that connect with thousands of other apps and platforms, or it can be with WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, Learndash, Memberpress, etc.
Some plugins also offer integration with social media, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, allowing you to centralize your social media leads into the email marketing platform.
Pricing
Since there are two types of email marketing plugins, this one is a bit tricky.
External email marketing platforms and some WordPress email marketing plugins charge based on the number of contacts or email sends. On the other hand, self-hosted email marketing plugins charge a monthly or annual fee.
To elaborate, tools that charge based on the number of contacts or emails sent let you get started for free or at a low price. However, this increases significantly as your business grows.
On the other hand, self-hosted email marketing plugins come at an affordable price, but they often require an external email sending service. External email sending services generally offer some free email sending, and they are pretty cheap.
So price-wise, self-hosted solutions usually cost less when you have a bigger contact list.
We will compare the pricing of the plugins somewhere in this article. But depending on your needs, it’s still wise to compare the pricing yourself.
Ease of use
Most email marketing plugins need to be set up before you can use them for business purposes. From connecting various platforms to setting up email marketing automation funnels, you need to do many things on your own.
Conclusion
Nowadays, the most popular and effective way of communication to acquire or retain customers is the email marketing. It’s understandable. With all the information bombarding people on a daily basis, it’s important to grab their attention.
Email marketing is an extremely effective way to market your WordPress business. Email marketing has the highest conversion rate than any other form of online marketing such as social media, pay-per-click or search engine marketing and are a direct channel to your customers.