Email campaigns are one of the best ways to reach your audience and generate leads. Choosing the right software for email marketing can be challenging. A lot of software are too complex, others have limited features, etc. Today I would like to present a few email marketing programs you should consider for your next email campaign.
Software for email campaigns is a complex topic, as it’s about software for creating, sending and tracking your marketing emails. Thousands of email marketing software are available online, but most can’t be used
by anyone without appropriate technical skills. We have presented here the best platforms for implementing successful email marketing campaigns with paying attention to easy-to-use interface and powerful analytics reporting tools.
The best email marketing software can have a number of different benefits. For example, some of the best software for email marketing can help to manage your mailing lists, it may have advanced contact segmentation capabilities, and it could feature real-time tracking and reporting.
Email marketing software can be a great help to small businesses and marketers. What are email marketing tools? The best email marketing tools help automate this whole process of sending emails, tracking friend sign-ups, and checking out which subscribers viewed or clicked your emails.
What is email marketing software?
Email marketing software is a type of online platform marketers use to not only conduct their email marketing campaigns, but monitor how successful they are.
The best email marketing software does more than simply send emails. Marketers use email marketing software to generate and segment contact lists, design email content, and analyze campaign results.
When you’re choosing email marketing software, you need to take into account both what the software offers and your specific needs. Consider these factors:
- Features—Look for features such as customizable email templates, easy-to-use email design, and mailing list management. Most software also includes a variety of post-campaign reports.
- Analytics—What kind of analysis and reporting is offered? How much can you track, how much is tracked automatically, and how easy is it to view the data?
- Integration—Can you easily connect the email marketing software with your existing CRM, retail store, or accounting platforms?
- Ease of use—How long will it take you to learn? It shouldn’t take you long to complete a campaign, and you definitely shouldn’t feel a sense of dread at logging in.
- Support—If you need help, what kind of customer support is available?
BEST OVERALL- Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the best overall email marketing software because it has the features that most businesses need, without being overly complicated or confusing. Businesses can schedule campaigns, A/B test copy, and get reports that include open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, and more. Plus, it has the most generous free-forever plans of the software we tested.Pros
- Free-forever plan (up to 2,000 contacts)
- Easy to build and customize campaigns
- Clear reporting that helps optimize future sends
- Integrates with hundreds of software platforms
Cons
- Pricey for larger contact lists (more than 15k subscribers)
- Very limited phone support
- Not designed for advanced marketing teams
Mailchimp’s free plan includes up to 2,000 contacts and up to 10,000 monthly email sends. Its platform is one of the easiest to get used to with drag-and-drop features that allow you to stylize your emails.
Aside from its free plan, there are also three paid plans, which vary in cost based on how many subscribers you have (nonprofits receive a 15% discount):
- Essentials: $9.99 to $270 per month
- Standard: $14.99 to $540 per month
- Premium: $299 to $1,190 per month
Mailchimp is the perfect tool for any business looking for a simple way to send emails to their customers. It has an easy-to-use email editor, and once you upgrade to the first paid plan you get access to more advanced tools such as A/B testing and multi-step journeys. Users will enjoy the easy-to-understand reporting that helps them determine what is working and what isn’t. Things like open rates and click-throughs are easily identified so business owners know if readers are responding to the content.
BEST FOR AUTOMATION- ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the best email marketing software for automation because it has hundreds of pre-built automations that help you personalize campaigns for each subscriber. There are help guides throughout the platform as you’re getting things set up, plus ActiveCampaign’s customer support is fast and friendly.Pros
- Great automation features that simplify customer interactions
- Helpful, friendly, and fast customer support
- All plan levels include data migration and implementation services
- CRM with sales automation included for free (For a limited time)
- Has 850+ integrations with the most popular software
Cons
- Learning curve can be a challenge
- Lite plan is very limited (and includes ActiveCampaign branding)
- Plans quickly jump in price with the number of contacts
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation (CXA) software with email capabilities. Because it is designed to manage contacts and the sales process, it offers more than 850 integrations.
There’s a 14-day free trial to test the software. After that, you will need to subscribe to one of the four paid plans, which you can pay monthly or annually. The discount for paying annually ranges from 15% to 40% depending on the plan. The cost of each plan also depends on how many contacts you have (nonprofits get 20% off).
- Lite: $15+ per month
- Plus: $70+ per month
- Professional: $159+ per month
- Enterprise: $279+ per month
You can get a plan and adjust it for the number of contacts you have while still getting the basic features of the plan. For example, you can get the Lite plan with 500 contacts but can incrementally increase it to 100,000 contacts for $405 annually. The Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans increase the customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities of your platform.
ActiveCampaign helps businesses build automations that are customized to increase engagement with subscribers, giving it the edge in this category. The interface is easy to use, intuitive, and includes resources for any questions that come up during the process. It also includes sales automations so your marketing and sales processes can work together to earn more revenue.
With over 130,000 customers, ActiveCampaign was the most commonly mentioned tool that survey respondents were planning to choose for email marketing software in 2022.
ActiveCampaign have earned their reputation as a leading email marketing automation tool by focusing on building a world-class product.
ActiveCampaign’s automation builder makes building automations easy, similar to using a flowchart
It’s by far the most advanced email marketing platform in our list, with machine learning and predictive tools enabling marketers to work smarter and deliver higher ROI.
Often credited for pioneering visual marketing automation, ActiveCampaign is impressively intuitive and easy-to-use compared to some of the tools on our list.
ActiveCampaign’s intuitive drag-and-drop email marketing designer
And while the tip of the iceberg that you see with ActiveCampaign is category-leading, so is what’s below the surface. Their deliverability rates are exceptional (>99%), they integrate with 870+ third-party tools, and go far above and beyond with their security and compliance measures.
ActiveCampaign offers 870+ integrations including native integrations with Salesforce, Shopify, Google Sheets, Slack & more.
As an all-in-one sales and marketing tool, ActiveCampaign comes with an in-built CRM system to manage yours sales, live chat, and of course email marketing automation in one place.
A built-in sales CRM makes it easier to manage deals, but also connects to ActiveCampaign’s powerful automation engine
You’d be forgiven for thinking all of this might come at a hefty cost. Yet, starting at $9/mo, ActiveCampaign is reasonably priced and more affordable than many of the tools in this list.
ActiveCampaign recently published their Customer Success Commitment, which outlines 22 guarantees from their support team including free implementation and migration.
ActiveCampaign’s notable features:
- 125+ Email templates
- 500+ Automation recipes
- 870+ Integrations
- Send SMS, site messages & email
- Landing pages
- CRM
- Split actions and A/B Testing
- Goal tracking, attribution & sales analytics
- Predictive content, sending & deal win probability
ActiveCampaign offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required.
EASIEST TO USE- MailerLite
MailerLite is the easiest email marketing software to use because it has a drag-and-drop interface that makes it fun and intuitive to create the design you want. Simplicity is at the heart of the company’s mission, which is why the software has a clean and streamlined look.Pros
- Drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to design emails
- Free plan for up to 1,000 contacts
- Email support
- Lots of email templates to choose from
Cons
- Doesn’t include CRM functionalities (Though it allows for integration)
- Limited integrations
- Need to provide a lot of company information to get an account set up
MailerLite has designed a superior user-friendly platform, making it the best choice for ease of use. Should users experience any problems, there is email support to answer any questions and troubleshoot.
It offers a free-forever plan that includes 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 email sends. If you need more bandwidth or want more advanced features (like the ability to remove MailerLite branding), there is a paid plan. Cost depends on how many subscribers you have. You can pay monthly or annually, but with an annual plan, you get a 30% discount. Nonprofits also receive a 30% discount. Here’s a breakdown of the cost:
- Up to 1,000 contacts: $10 per month
- 1,001 to 2,500 contacts: $15 per month
- 2,501 to 5,000 contacts: $30 per month
- 5,001 to 10,000 contacts: $50 per month
MailerLite includes all of the essentials for email marketing, without cluttering their system with advanced features. This makes it the perfect fit for businesses looking for a straightforward approach to email marketing that they can master in days, not months.
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.
Does it really matter?
There’s a reason why more than half of all companies use email marketing software: It makes it easier to generate successful results.
Choosing the best email marketing software makes a huge difference in your email marketing. The right email marketing software will make your life easier by automating many processes. It’ll help you better target your contact list and produce more effective emails and campaigns.
The wrong software leaves more work in your own hands and produces less-than-optimal results. In addition, you can pay too much for software that offers features you don’t need or pay too little and not get the features you want. The best email marketing software offers the right features for your email marketing needs.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why you’d use email marketing software to send out your campaigns these days. Either you can’t find a good email list, or you’re tired of manual sending. Things like cross-platform support, high deliverability, onboarding and customer support, are also important. It’s hard to find software which has all the above on board. But it’s still possible to pull this off.
E-mail is the most effective and widely used marketing channel. It’s cost-effective, fast and easy to create, monitor and manage campaigns. There are a lot of different tools that can help you with email marketing. All the tools are easy and versatile but choosing the right one is crucial. You need to find a tool that will fit your business needs perfectly and ensure you generate more leads or sales from your email campaigns.