The Best Email Marketing Tools for Small Business 2023
An Email Marketing Software Comparison: Which One is Best for You?
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If you’re a small business looking to improve your email marketing efforts, there are a variety of options available to you, from MailerLite to Active Campaign, and everything in between. Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s up to you to determine which one is the best fit for your specific needs.
If you need help signing up or setting up any of these services, the team at Tech Guys is here to assist you. Our experienced techs can guide you through the process and help you make the most of your email marketing efforts. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you succeed online.
Email marketing is an effective way to reach and engage with your audience, but with so many email marketing software options available, it can be challenging to know which one to choose. In this blog post, we’ll provide a comparison of what we feel are the nine best email marketing providers to help you determine which one is best for you.
Price
When deciding on an email marketing software tool, the first thing to consider is price. Most email marketing providers charge a monthly or yearly fee based on the number of contacts you have on your email list. However, Sendinblue offers a different pricing model based on the number of emails you send out per month. Additionally, five of the nine providers offer a free plan that allows you to use their software up to a certain number of contacts. MailerLite and Mailchimp are two providers that offer the most attractive free plans, with the ability to create signup forms, build landing pages, and send out email broadcasts.
Features
The next thing to consider is what email marketing tools you’ll need in your business. Do you plan to send out simple email newsletters or build complex email automation sequences and customer journeys? Some providers, like ActiveCampaign, offer a powerful email automation builder but not a landing page builder, while other providers, like GetResponse, include a landing page builder but not an automation builder. Before deciding on a provider, make sure you choose one that offers the features you need.
Ease of Use
Most email marketing providers offer a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to design and send emails. However, some editors are more user-friendly than others. Providers like Constant Contact and AWeber have a simpler interface that may be more appealing to beginners, while providers like ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign have more advanced features that may require more technical know-how.
Customer Support
When it comes to customer support, some email marketing providers offer better options than others. For instance, ConvertKit offers live chat and email support, while ActiveCampaign and GetResponse offer phone support in addition to email and chat support. MailerLite, on the other hand, provides 24/7 email support and a community forum.
Integrations
Finally, it’s important to consider how well the email marketing software integrates with other tools you’re using in your business. For example, if you’re using a CRM like HubSpot, you’ll want to choose an email marketing provider that integrates with HubSpot. Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign both offer extensive integrations with other popular tools, while ConvertKit and MailerLite have a more limited selection.
Runner Up! Square Marketing’s Email Service
Square Marketing‘s email service appears to be a great option for small businesses looking to send targeted, effective email campaigns to their customers. It’s great for busy small business owners who don’t have tons of time to learn a new tool. Square Marketing email is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use. It’s a great option for small businesses looking to send targeted, effective email campaigns. Its user-friendly interface, affordable pricing, and integration with other Square services make it a standout option in the crowded email marketing space.
The services ranked according to our preference first to last:
BEST TOOLS FOR BASIC EMAIL MARKETING:
Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations.
Wikipedia
Easiest to start. Great for business owners with little time.
Starting at $15/mo.
Square Marketing is a good option for small businesses that already use Square for payment processing. It integrates with Square’s other tools, making it easy to create email campaigns and track their success. However, it’s not as feature-rich as some of the other email marketing services on this list, and its pricing can be more expensive than some of the other options. But it’s a great way to get started quickly. You can always move to more sophisticated tools as needed. No free plan. Poor List Management
Lowest cost to start. Easiest to use.
Starting at $15/mo.
MailerLite is an email marketing service with a simple and user-friendly interface, making it easy to design and send emails to subscribers. The service offers a variety of features, including automation workflows, landing pages, and pop-ups. It also integrates with a number of third-party services, making it easy to connect with other tools you may use. With a focus on affordability, MailerLite is a great choice for small businesses looking to get started with email marketing. Free plan up to 1000 subscribers.
Cons:
- Many features such as RSS campaigns and landing pages not available in the free plan.
Starting at $25/mo.
Sendinblue is a newer email marketing service that has gained popularity for its affordable pricing and advanced automation features. It offers a free plan for up to 300 emails per day and paid plans for larger volumes. Sendinblue also has a built-in CRM, making it easy to manage your contacts and segment your email list based on various criteria. Free plan up to 300 emails per day.
Starting at $31/mo.
Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing service and is known for its user-friendly interface, easy-to-use drag-and-drop email builder, and advanced automation features. It offers a free plan for small businesses with up to 500 subscribers and up to 10,000 emails per month. Mailchimp also has a range of integrations with other business tools, making it a great all-around email marketing solution. But after their acquisition by Intuit, they have gone corporate. They have raised their prices and are not the deal they used to be. Free plan up to 500 subscribers.
Starting at $45/mo.
Constant Contact is another popular email marketing service that’s great for small businesses. It offers a wide range of templates, as well as a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to create professional-looking emails. It also has some advanced features, like list segmentation, social media integrations, and event management. Constant Contact offers a free trial and various pricing plans depending on the number of subscribers you have. No free plan. 60 day Free Trial.
BEST TOOLS FOR AUTOMATION MARKETING
Email automation is a way to create emails that reach the right people with the right message at the right moment—without doing the work every time, sending automated messages leveraging a marketing automation tool.
~MailChimp
Best for email marketing automation. Best for sophisticated users.
Starting at $55/mo.
ActiveCampaign is a popular email marketing tool for small businesses, offering a wide range of features including automation, contact management, and split testing. While it may be more expensive than some other options, its powerful automation features make it a great choice for businesses that want to scale their email marketing efforts. No free plan. 14 day Free Trial.
A good all-in-one marketing platform. Best Support.
Starting at $25/mo.
GetResponse is an email marketing service that’s great for small businesses, especially those with e-commerce websites. It offers a range of features, including email automation, landing page creation, and marketing automation. GetResponse offers a free trial and paid plans based on the number of subscribers you have. No free plan. 30 day Free Trial.
Aimed at Creators and Online Businesses
Starting at $49/mo.
ConvertKit Geared towards Creators, ConvertKit is a newer email marketing service that focuses on providing powerful automation features that are easy to use for small businesses. It’s a great choice for businesses that want to focus on nurturing leads and building relationships with their subscribers. It’s also a good choice for bloggers and content creators, as it offers integrations with popular blogging platforms like WordPress. Free plan up to 1000 subscribers.
Cons:
- No access to your list or account if for some reason you didn’t pay the bill. So make sure you have a backup of your lists.
- Pricier than the others. Starts at $49/mo for over 1000 subs.
Starting at $29/mo.
AWeber is an email marketing service that has been around for over 20 years, making it one of the most established options on the market. While it may not have all the features of some of the newer services, it offers reliable email delivery and good customer support. It’s a good choice for businesses that want a simple and straightforward email marketing solution. Free plan up to 500 subscribers.
In conclusion
Choosing the right email marketing software for your business depends on several factors, including price, features, ease of use, customer support, and integrations. When comparing providers, make sure to consider your specific needs and choose a provider that offers the features and support you require. While there are many excellent email marketing providers to choose from, MailerLite and SendInBlue’s free plans and active customer support make them an attractive starting option for many businesses.
OUR ACTUAL EXPERIENCE:
In this section, we share with you what it was like when we or our clients actually used these tools.
Square Marketing
Well, Square Marketing was just working fine but I ran into a snag with a client when she tried to create different email groups. This is a really easy task in most programs but for some reason, Square hides a lot of activity behind the scenes. For example, we would import a list for a certain group but when we looked in that group none of the emails were there or very few were. For some reason, Square put them in the All Customers Group. Then when we added another group the same thing happened and very soon it was very confusing as to what emails were in what group. Do you think we had time for that? No! So we ended up switching to MailerLite. The reason we had chosen Square was that my client wanted a one-stop shop to manage everything. It was looking promising until this snag with the list management. Another negative was that Square has no built-in integration with MailerLite. So we ended up using AppyPie to integrate the two together. It works but it’s just one more app and level of complexity that I would have liked to have avoided. I feel Square tries to control how you manage your group or customer list too much. But so far MailerLite has been great! It is what we use at Tech Guys as of now and my client has switched as well.
MailerLite
So far so good with MailerLite. I Was able to send this blog post as an RSS campaign really easily. I really like their newsletter builder, it is the best so far in regards to looks vs power vs ease of use. A client of mine started using it and seems to be doing well with it. What makes MailerLite stand out is its simplicity and ease of use. I feel MailChimp and many other tools are just getting overly complex over time to the point that it’s a pain just to do a simple email campaign. One negative with MailerLite is that you have to wait for approval once you sign up before you can send your first campaign. Also, I then discovered that Customer Support is limited to a support form. There is no way to call or email them. That’s a bummer. But as of right now, MailerLite is my top recommendation for small businesses.
ConvertBox
We started using ConvertBox for a Youtube channel we are managing and so far it looks like the ideal solution for Creators. It’s a little on the pricy side and there is no free option but it sells itself as more than just email and a total marking solution for Creators. We will see.
MailChimp
We used to love MailChimp. We switched to it about ten years ago from Contant Contact. But they got bought by Intuit and have gone corporate as in “We don’t really care about our smaller customers” and “We want to make this thing as complicated as possible.” and “We don’t use it so we have no ideas what it’s like for our customers.” and “We are going to raise prices and lower the number of free emails since we mainly want to cater to larger companies who don’t need that free stuff.” You get the picture. We don’t know why companies do this. They raise billions and then raise the rates on their customers. Why not increase value and lower rates? If MailChimp could offer 2000 free email subscribers when they were a scrappy startup why can’t they now that they are fully funded? Go figure. Anyway, there are a lot more “MailChimps” on the block now. What triggered us to look elsewhere was that we had set up an automatic email campaign where our blog post would automatically get emailed out once a week. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of craigslist temp emails in our list (We were too busy to notice or get rid of them) We set it on autopilot and forgot about it. Well, guess what happened? When we went back about six months later to update our list we were told that our account was suspended and we had to delete all of our emails to continue and then to continue using the service we would have to ask EVERYBODY to opt-in again. Ummm no, I don’t think so! This was because most of the craigslist emails bounced and they said our bounce rate was too high. Of course no recourse, no one to talk to nada. Just email judgment. So we looked elsewhere and discovered many better tools like MailerLite. Looks like MailChimp got sold just in time lol!
Need Tech Help? Call Tech Guys!
If you’re a small business looking to improve your email marketing efforts, there are a variety of options available to you, from MailerLite to Active Campaign, and everything in between. Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s up to you to determine which one is the best fit for your specific needs.
If you need help signing up or setting up any of these services, the team at Tech Guys is here to assist you. Our experienced technicians can guide you through the process and help you make the most of your email marketing efforts. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you succeed online.
Call/Txt 310.407.0582
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