Best Email Marketing Software

Best Email Marketing Software in 2020

published on: 02.03.2018 last updated on: 21.11.2024

One of the advantages of email marketing is that it gives entrepreneurs a cost-effective platform to market their products. It gives you full control, is easy to manage, and enables the organization to establish direct contacts with its customers. An excellent email marketing strategy should allow you to create emails that are highly engaging. You can use the same approach to divide your users into several groups, manage your contracts, and even track how your email marketing campaigns are performing. An excellent email marketing service should make sure that the emails you send don’t find their way in the spam folder of your target audience. The most important thing is to identify the best email marketing software depending on your business needs. You need to compare your business needs against the available tools before you decide on the best solution.

This article looks at the best email marketing software that you can find in the market. The article will review the top ten tools by providing a brief description of each tool, prices, advantages, and disadvantages. However, let us begin by understanding the meaning of email marketing software.

What Is Email Marketing Software?

The term email marketing software refers to a service-based computerized tool that marketers utilize in email marketing. You can use this software for a broad range of services that range from growing your list of subscribers to building and designing customized email templates.

You can also use the marketing software to create a segmented list for a more targeted audience, and sent relevant emails. The software uses a wide range of tools, resources, and services to assist marketers to go beyond the simple practice of sending emails.

An ideal example of an email marketing tool is the Campaign Monitor which gives marketers a mobile-friendly template, spam testing, and build-in design, seamless integrations, and rich reporting capabilities. Below are some of the reasons that can motivate you to integrate email marketing tools in the strategic plan of your organization.

Why should you use Email Marketing Services?

The practice of sending bulk outlook emails is an outdated one. Business owners who growing a list of email recipients just need to create an account with one of the reputable email marketing services out there. You need some practice in order to develop excellent emails. There is a great difference between coding emails and web design. The available email programs such as Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, and Hot Mail all render emails in very different ways. Also, email coding tends to be a bit precise and ‘old school’. Unlike web browsers, email coding is not so forgiving to mistakes. There are several reasons that can motivate you to use email marketing services.

  • The first reason is the use of a pre-designed template. Email marketing services have a huge library of email templates that you can use to make a choice. Some of these tools are better when it comes to service delivery but your business needs should drive your decision. You may be looking for a bulk email marketing software depending on the number of emails you wish to send. It will save you the time that you would use to design an email. The services also send emails to all email programs and clients including Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail among others. The challenge you will have when you try to design an email is to make sure that it is compatible with all the above platforms. The templates that are provided have been tried and tested.

 

  • Email marketing services can give you a template editor that allows you to change the style that meets the demands of your business. Therefore, choosing a particular template does not mean that you have settles for default images, fonts, or colors. The layout may appear to be similar but you can take it a notch higher so as to match the look of your brand. Some applications can even allow you to fetch colors outside your website so as to match them in the template of your email.

 

  • The best email marketing tools can also assist you to automatically manage your email list. Therefore, any reader who wants to get out of your email list will click a link in the news later and he will get out automatically. There is nothing you have to do to sanction the removal.  These systems also have easy integrative features that allow you to put a signup form on your social media page or website so that readers can sign up for your newsletters with a lot of ease. The opt-in forms are essential in managing new users in an automatic manner.

 

  • The practice of spamming emails has been in existence since the inception of emails. Spammers have clever ways of getting through the protection and filters that internet and email service providers put in place and the reputable senders of email like you get me to get trapped in this menace and their emails end up being blocked. This is a common occurrence if you decide to send bulk emails without using one of the reputable email marketing software. Regularly sending bulk emails through Gmail and Yahoo accounts may force the service provider to shut down your email because the practices appear to be spammy. Some of the bulk email marketing software that the email community trust includes MailChimp and Constant Contact. This is because they closely monitor their account holders so that no funny business takes place. Therefore, email marketing software promotes the reputation of email marketing.

 

  • Another benefit if these services are that they encourage users to follow the rules. There are well-laid standards that you need to use while sending commercial emails. For instance, the sender should provide an option that readers can unsubscribe from receiving future emails. The address of the sender should also be at the bottom of the email. Email marketing services automatically add these items so that you can comply with the later. They also stay updated with the latest restrictions and laws so that you will not be caught off-guard.

 

  • There is no need to send emails if you are not sure of the number of people who opened them. Email marketing services have marketing automation tools that they use to provide you with these statistics. You will be able to tell the emails that users read, the subject lines that work well, and the number of clicked links in your mail. It’s wise to find out this information because it will help you to tweak and adjust your emails so that you increase your efficiency in email marketing. The most important thing is to send emails that add value to the interests of the reader. The best email marketing services have integrated these statistics in their systems. On the contrary, you cannot find these statistics in your Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail or even Yahoo Mails.

 

  • The beauty of everything is that you can get access to free email marketing software. Most email marketing service providers will give you a free trial period and the cost of a subscription is so low. A service like MailChimp can give you a lifetime free account as long as you have less than 2000 email addresses and send not more than 12,000 emails per month. Any person whose email list is larger than this must be in an excellent business and will not find it hard to pay close to 30 dollars per month. Constant contact is another cheap tool but we will analyze it in the next section of this article.

These reasons should be enough to set up a free account with one of the leading email marketing services. However, you cannot achieve this objective without having a clear understanding of these tools. Here are some of the best email marketing software you can find on the market. Go through each of them carefully to determine the one that meets your business needs with a high level of precision.

Here are Best Email Marketing Software in 2020:

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact

This is one of the best email marketing software you can find on the market. In fact, this platform is categorized among the fastest and largest growing email marketing services in the global market. It is also a beginner-friendly and most easy to use email marketing solution.

The platform can help you to manage your email templates, contacts, and email lists with a lot of ease. Each account will give you an exclusive opportunity of tracking your performance and reporting progress. It has in-built tools for social media sharing, 1 GB storage capacity for your personal files, and an excellent image library. The support that Constant Contact offer to a broad range of library resources, community support, email, and live chat is unmatched. The platform also offers live seminars and online training in the neighborhoods.

It allows beginners to learn the practice of email marketing with a lot of ease and begin using this tool like pros. The solution has a trial free period of 60 days and you don’t need any credit card.

Pricing

Afterward, you will only be charged $20 for a monthly period for the use of this software.

Pros

  • Free trial period
  • Great template library
  • An excellent option for beginners
  • Exports and imports lists
  • Has anti-spam policies
  • Security

Cons

  • Doesn’t support autoresponders
  • Highly Priced
  • Hard to cancel services
  • Complains regarding customer service
  • List management limitations

Constant contact is among the leading email marketing tools in the market. This online email list management service has over 400 free templates that you can use for email list mailings or in creating newsletters. It also gives users access to online survey development tools and this allows it to stand out from the other email marketing tools.

2. GetResponse

GetResponse

This is another popular email marketing tool in the market. It simplifies email marketing for absolute beginners and small businesses as it is easy to use.

The platform has incredible marketing automation tools that enable users to generate smart automation campaigns. You will be able to create the desired campaigns, send content that is designed for particular groups, and segment contacts with the aid of the drag and drop builder.

The tools can assist you in creating effective campaigns that will boost your profits. It has beautiful landing pages, responsive forms, tracking, A/B testing, and autoresponders. The solution also integrates with lead generation third party software such as Optin Monster, Google Docs, SalesForce, and ZenDesk just to name a few.

You can get support by email, live chat, and phone. The help section has several learning materials that comprise of guides, how-tos, webinars, and videos.

Pricing

You will get a 30-day free trial period from webinars and the pricing begins from $15 each month.

Pros

  • Affordable and remains affordable as your list of subscribers continues to grow
  • Easy to use and you can import your email lists in seconds
  • Has over 500 email templates that have a beautiful design
  • High levels of customer services when it comes to resolving any issues
  • Has an excellent API
  • Several off the shelf integrations with services such as Zendesk, PayPal, Salesforce, WordPress, and

Cons

  • This platform an average form builder hence wasting a lot of time in customizing forms
  • The tool has some user experience issues

Despite these few issues with GetResponse, it has incredible autoresponders that make it a fantastic automation tool that you can use to automatically move or remove contacts in between lists after meeting specific conditions. However, these automation rules come with several limitations.

3. Drip

Drip

This is one of the most powerful email marketing solutions for marketers, bloggers, and eCommerce. The service provides a broad range of solutions using its email marketing platform. IIt’samong the start friendly platforms you can find in the market. It comes with available add-ons for all the famous website builders including WordPress and Woo-commerce. Therefore, you can signup and add forms on your website with a lot of ease and get to capture additional leads. One thing that singles out Drip from the competition is the intelligent marketing automation tools that come with it. The other cool features are list groups and starter email segmentation among others. This can allow the marketer to get to a specific target audience on their email list.

Some of the support options that Drip offers include detailed course, automation training, Webinars, excellent documentation, free guides, and live chat support.

Pricing

Users who have up to 100 subscribers can get a free trial to the account. Thereafter, the plans of Drip begin from $41 on a monthly basis.

Pros

  • Has automation capabilities
  • The user can track sales conversion and goals with a lot of ease
  • Capability to track the number of subscribers
  • Easy to use visual designer
  • Offer a knowledge base and basic support

Cons

  • Complex for starter marketers and bloggers
  • Relatively costly

Some of the top features of the Drip automation marketing tool include a visual workflow builder, automation of everything, tagging subscribers on the basis of the actions they take, identification of the best leads, sending targeted emails, tracking performance, connecting favorite Apps, capturing email addresses in an effortless manner, keeping the list healthy and pulling data out and sending it in. the platform has a few cons but the benefits are so much. You can use Drip to increase your contact list without necessarily increasing the time investment. Emails from Drip are opened regularly and have the ability to keep up with your buying cycle. Drip is the best email marketing software out there.

4. ConvertKit

ConvertKit

This email marketing profile is ideal for marketers, authors, and professional bloggers. It is incredibly powerful and extremely easy to use the platform. The software allows users to offer incentives and content updates with email signing up forms with a lot of ease. It has auto-responders that are easy to manage and you can use them to send drip emails. ConverKit can allow you to segment your contacts into the ones who already purchased and those who have interests in your product. It is an excellent tool for marketing automation and has an excellent knowledge base and offers email-based support with excellent learning materials.

Pricing

The pricing packages for ConverKit begin from $29 per month and have a 30-day refund policy.

Pros

  • The tool has an excellent design with so much attention given to smaller details
  • Has set aside a section for developing email campaign over web courses
  • It has simple automation features hence easy to use
  • Has a broad range of non-standard integrations with services such as bloggers, publishers, and authors.

Cons

  • The service can be seen to be so pricey on the higher end

ConvertKit is among the modern introduction in the email marketing industry that have been receiving incredible reviews from the email community.  It has a broad range of unique tools that are specially designed to meet the marketing needs of bloggers. They can use it to create their personal lists and market their content. The benefits that come with this tool are the major driving forces of these positive reviews.

5. AWeber

This is the most famous email marketing solutions in the global market. The platform offers a broad range of instruments to both medium-sized and small enterprises for managing their email marketing campaigns. It is very easy to get started with Aweber. This tool can connect to most of the platforms such as WordPress in a seamless manner. It gives you access to ready use list management, email templates, email tracking that have detailed insights and autoresponders. Some of the support options comprise of how-tos library and tutorials, a vast library, live webinars, email support, phone support, and live chat.

Pricing

Aweber will give you a free trial period of 30 days. The pricing plan for this platform begins from $19 per month after the trial period.

Pros

  • Cost-effective and easy to use tool
  • Comes with several useful features including split testing, WordPress plugin, third party integrations, auto-responders, and RSS-to-email
  • The tool has an incredible reporting system
  • Great email campaign creator

Cons

  • A bit costly than other email marketing services

One thing you will love about Aweber is that it has everything you need despite that fact that it is a simple tool. In fact, it has a better functionality and reporting system. It may be a bit costly in comparison with other email marketing tools like GetResponse but this price is justifiable.

6. MailChimp

MailChimp

This is a popular email marketing solution that comes with an easy to use interface with awesome support and great tools. It seamlessly integrates with Shopify, Magento, and WordPress among other platforms. MailChimp also has an easy to use email creator, simple analytics, and tracking, segmenting your contacts into groups, autoresponders, and merge tags. You can use the solution to set up the required delivery time depending on the time zone of the users and use their geolocation to set up the right segmentation. You will get support on live chat, email, and a vast base of knowledge with tutorials, videos, and how-tos.

Pricing

The free plan of this platform allows each user to send up to 12000 emails to a maximum of 2000 subscribers. The paid plan of MailChimp begins from $10 per month. You can consider MailChimp to be among the best free email marketing software because of its free plan described above. The platform does not make any profits from you unless you have hit a high number of subscribers.

Pros

  • It’s among the easiest email marketing tool on the market with easy importing and exporting of lists
  • The tool offers 100 percent free discount
  • Comes with a broad range of integrations

Cons

  • The discounted service does not allow you to access several features but you can always upgrade which can be very expensive
  • Users must double-opt-in for them to join your list
  • Homogenization of email templates as email templates appear to be similar

Most users will tell you that MailChimp is a basic email tool that is quite costly. However, the tool is ideal for creating auto-responders and newsletters. The challenge with forcing clients to double-opt-in is that it can significantly reduce your email list. MailChimp has a well-designed user interface and comes with very powerful functionality. MailChimp keeps on making changes that are geared towards enhancing the levels of service delivery.

7. Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft

It may not be in order to compare Infusionsoft with other tools because it offers more than email marketing services. It is a complete sales and marketing automation software. Therefore, email marketing is just one of the services that this tool provides making this platform a complete game-changer for most businesses. It is a complete CRM system with e-commerce and marketing automation tools. You may be asking yourself which services do infusion offer that the other tools in this review don’t offer?

You can use customer behavior as a basis for automating the sales and marketing campaigns. I have even seen brands that create a virtual sales representative on Infusionsoft. The virtual person remains in contact with thousands of clients on behalf of the brand. He will check in after a few days with varying messages depending on what each customer has or has not done. For instance, a customer who adds a product to his cart but fails to check out will be reminded to complete the order through an email. The system can also automatically send discount coupons to clients on their birthdays.

It can also create funnels that transform those non-paying subscribers into clients. Infusionsoft is a completely addictive tool that is so powerful. You can spend several days creating sequences on Infusionsoft.

The tool is more applicable to those businesses that sell their products online. It is not the right fit for people who are in the initial stages of email marketing campaigns.

Pricing

The pricing of this software begins at $199 per month but you can purchase a kick-starter package at $1,999. Most business owners and marketers find this to be the best way to cut their budget. It is just a small proportion of the returns you will receive from Infusionsoft. It is an excellent tool for entrepreneurs who are making an annual return of over $150K per annum.

Pros

  • An excellent user interfaces
  • Incredible integration and API
  • High level of support and training
  • Scalability
  • In-built shopping cart or e-commerce

Cons

  • Has a kick-starting fee
  • Lacks native integrations
  • Deliverability rates

Infusionsoft has more than 250,000 clients allowing it to rank among the most popular marketing automation tools. It has more than 300 integrations and apps and hence you can connect it with a broad range of tools. One of the most favorite elements of Infusionsoft is its campaign builder. It is an almost addictive and intuitive building sequence that is not available in other email marketing software. It is an ideal choice for small enterprises that have already established a strong clientele base. Its scalability in the payment plan allows your business to grow with this software.

8. Campaigner

Campaigner

Campaigner is a customer relationship management system that is cloud-based that caters to small and medium-sized businesses across all industries. It assists users in managing the interactions they have with potential and existing clients through the decentralization of sales and customer data in a single place. The platform gives marketers a sales checklist that gives them a step-by-step plan to use in the closing of deals. The CRM capabilities of this solution integrate the updates and information of the customer on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Sales representatives can use this system to access customer information that is available on their respective social media profiles.

The platform also has an integrated email marketing solution for managing email campaigns. As a user, you can schedule your marketing reports on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis that are automatically emailed to users. These reports provide useful data on the current marketing efforts, pipeline, and sales process.

Pricing

The services that are provided by the campaigner are charges on a monthly subscription basis online, over the phone, or through email. The monthly billing begins from $19.95 per month depending on the number of subscribers that are on your list making is highly flexible.

Pros

  • Easy to use features and interface after account setup and cost-effective
  • Flexible monthly billing cycle
  • Comes with excellent templates that you can easily use out of the box

Cons

  • You can only make subscribers inactive but can’t delete them from the list
  • The free version must have credit card information and the free trial does not have the features that this platform offers.

Campaigner offers feature-rich, industry-leading email marketing solutions for internet retailers, agencies, and email marketers. The pricing plan is highly affordable so as to accommodate the email marketing needs of any firm. It is one of the leading bulk email marketing software you can find in the market.

10. HubSpot

HubSpot

Hubstop provides automation and marketing tools including email marketing and CRM. The platform consolidates all these features in one cloud-based application. The system allows enterprises to perform several tasks in a comprehensive and integrated manner. Therefore, HubSpot is an attractive option for any brand that is looking for an all-in-one solution for their inbound marketing. It has several tools that seamlessly integrate with each other and hence giving users a clear picture regarding the performance of their marketing plans. Given the lighting- quick hosting in the cloud, it enhances the efficiency of working in this application.

The tool is very efficient when it comes to supplying you with the much-needed information.

Pricing

You can get a free trial period of HubSpot for 7 days but it has limited functions. However, the starter version will cost you $50 per month while the basic, pro, and enterprise cost $200, $800, and $2400 monthly. You can go through each of them to find out the one that meets your business needs with a high level of precision.

Pros

  • Easy to use platform
  • Offers so many solutions in a single package like opens, tracking emails, and clicks
  • Seven-day free trial
  • Scalability as it has the ability to grow with your business needs
  • Keeps on educating their users
  • You will find all your tools in a single place

Cons

  • Relatively expensive in comparison to other services
  • Must sign a 12-months contract
  • Paid technical support

Some of the features that come with HubSpot include CRM, built-in marketing automation, email marketing tools, social media marketing abilities, inside lead management, metrics and reporting, and side keyword tool. It is the best email marketing software for any enterprise that is looking for a one-stop automation solution for the brand.

10. Mad Mimi

Mad Mimi

One of the top features that appeals to most Mad Mimi users is its simplicity. The email marketing software does not offer advanced features of templates like the basic contract management functions. It has a simple to use platform that generates professional emails depending on your target audience. The basic plan does not have an extensive feature list but you can add more functions. For instance, you could include social links, drip campaigns, web forms, as additional users by simply switching them on via the application’s dashboard. Some of the additions come at a small monthly charge while the others are absolutely free

Pricing

The pricing of Mad Mimi is quite low. It can support a 10,000-contact list with only $42 per month. The platform also has large plans that can support up to 350,000 contacts. Smaller enterprises can send 5000 emails to their subscribers for only $27 each month.

Pros

  • Simple to use
  • High level of scalability hence can grow with your business
  • low pricing
  • Able to customize with other platforms like Facebook,
  • Extremely user friendly

Cons

  • The software has limited capabilities in comparison to the others in the market
  • Lacks the automatic saving option
  • Limited email templates

The only challenge with Mad Mimi is that it has limited capabilities even though the tool is quite simple to use. Even though the tool does not provide templates, you can create your own with a lot of ease. It has basic contact management features but it is an excellent option for growing businesses.

Conclusion

In summary, you cannot find a single email marketing tool that meets the needs of all businesses. You can always change the tool you are using as your business grows over time. Most tools have a free trial period and thereafter an affordable monthly charge. The right tool depends on the specific requirements of your company. Therefore, you need to assess your business needs and choose a tool that meets them with a high level of precision.

The best email marketing software will give you a free trial period before you can get a monthly plan for their services. Go through the reviews of each service just to make sure that what you are choosing will meet your business needs with a high level of precision. It is hard to get completely free email marketing tools. However, the best payment plans should support scalability so that you pay for what you are accessing and grow with your business needs.

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Mashum Mollah is an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at Viacon, a digital marketing agency that drive visibility, engagement, and proven results. He blogs at BloggerOutreach.io.

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