Email Marketing Platforms: Overview, Common Features, Comparisons

email marketing platforms

Does email marketing rank high on your business’s priority list? And are you on the lookout for the most effective email marketing software? Picking the right email marketing provider can strongly affect the efficiency of your marketing campaign. However, we will review and compare the top email marketing services for businesses in this article. Therefore, keep reading to find out more about email marketing platforms, as well as email marketing platforms comparisons, how to compare email marketing platforms, and enterprise email marketing platforms.

Email Marketing Platforms

For small businesses, email marketing is among the most cost-effective marketing strategies. Email marketing, on average, generates a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the United States, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

The reason is that email marketing is simple to maintain, gives you complete control, and enables direct communication with your customers. Not sure about email marketing’s effectiveness? Consider the following reasons why developing an email list is essential in the modern era.

It’s helpful to understand that a large portion of your performance with email marketing is totally dependent on the email marketing software you use, as it is responsible for ensuring that your emails are forwarded.

If you’re not careful, you’ll end up paying hugely more for lesser marketing options. As well as a poor delivery rate of email. However, this makes you lose more cash.

What to Look for in a Good Email Marketing Platform?

When it comes to selecting the ideal email marketing platform, three aspects stand out: deliverability, simplicity of use, and return on investment.

Deliverability dominates! , it’s useless if your emails end up in SPAM folders. We conducted extensive testing to determine the category’s top provider.

Then there’s the issue of usability. With an additional feature, a strong email marketing platform could enable you to construct extremely engaging email automation. Users should be able to design event and time-based triggers that will send one or a series of emails to every prospective client based on the information you specify.

While your emails may be automated for you, they must be regarded as personalized by the receiver. Utilizing the recipient’s first name is just as essential as personally addressing your content and graphics to them as if you were having a live discussion. It all comes down to involvement.

>> Related Post: How to Build an Email Marketing List From Scratch in 10 Steps

Besides that, your email marketing platform should make it simple to manage your contacts, group them, and track the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Finally, but certainly not least, ROI. Return on investment (ROI) is a key requirement for any organization. When making monthly or annual investments in an email marketing platform, typically you want to maximize your return on investment.

When we compared the ten most popular email marketing platforms, ROI was calculated by combining the deliverability, simplicity of use, and cost of the emails.

Now, let’s take a look at the top ten email marketing platforms and see how they compare.

#1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign’s objective is to ‘assist developing businesses in building meaningful relationships with their customers.’ Its mission is to deliver all-in-one marketing solutions to businesses like yours. To identify the two main elements in this case: Email marketing and customer relationship management. Several other features, tools, and integrations are available.

Whether you’re trying to automate your email marketing depending on event triggers (adding contacts to a list) or time triggers (starting an email sequence on a specific day and time), ActiveCampaign gets you set.

ActiveCampaign improves your marketing processes in a variety of ways:

  • Segmenting users using lists, tags, and event/time-based triggers
  • Send tailored emails in response to client activities
  • Send follow-up emails in an automated fashion
  • Create sign-up forms for your website or landing page quickly and easily.
  • By using CRM functionality, you may integrate sales and marketing data.
  • Integrate messaging and take appropriate action in response to client behavior
  • Leads and contact scoring for the purpose of selecting contacts
  • Free or Discounted MIGRATION SERVICE
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Some may say that ActiveCampaign is more difficult to use than other email marketing systems once you first began, and I would accept. Due to the fact that ActiveCampaign’s goal is to be an all-in-one marketing platform, there are indeed a lot of tools and capabilities available, which might be confusing at times. Having said that, when comparing it to its counterparts on a feature-by-feature basis, it is not harder to work with.

Fortunately, they provide excellent training lessons on their website, and their support crew and community are second to none. As a result, there is nothing to be worried about. As ActiveCampaign delivers at the highest rate of any platform examined. 96%. Meanwhile, when you are looking at its pricing model. Having 500 active contacts on your list, you have to pay $9 when on the annual and $15 when on the monthly plan. This is absolutely cheap.

You can grow with ActiveCampaign as its pricing model will remain affordable compared to others. Also, you will get a free two weeks trial with up to 100 active contacts.

, #2. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the world’s largest and most rapidly growing email marketing services. Additionally, it is the most user-friendly and beginner-friendly email marketing service.

Control your email lists, contacts, email layouts, marketing calendar, and much more with ease. Each subscription includes limitless emails, easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing capabilities, a free image library, list segmentation, Facebook ads integration, and a strong Shopify eCommerce integration.

Additionally, their Email Plus accounts include robust tools such as email automation, drip campaigns, surveys & polls, coupons, or online donations, as well as subject line A/B testing, which enables you effectively send targeted emails with a high open rate.

Constant Contact’s customer service is unrivaled, with live chat sessions, phone calls, email, community engagement, and an extensive collection of helpful materials.

Apart from online education, they also provide live seminars throughout the United States. This enables small businesses to quickly understand the fundamentals of email marketing and begin using it effectively to build their businesses.

Constant Contact is the perfect email marketing service for startups for all of the reasons listed above. It offers a free 60-day trial with no credit card needed. Following that, their pricing begins at just $20 each month.

>> Learn More: Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Important

#3. SendinBlue

SendinBlue is a comprehensive SMS and email marketing solution designed specifically for businesses. They are one of Europe’s most rapidly developing email marketing platforms.

It’s a really simple-to-use platform with great features for creating visually appealing and highly interactive emails. Their easy drag-and-drop email editor is ideal for newcomers with no past knowledge in email marketing.

SendinBlue features user-friendly marketing automation capabilities that enable you to deliver transactional emails, automate follow-up emails, and segment consumers. Furthermore, it can use AI algorithms to determine the optimal period to send bulk emails, ensuring the highest possible email deliverability.

SendinBlue provides an entirely free email marketing service with a limitless contact count. Their free subscription allows users to send up to 300 emails every day, but they will label all of your emails.

Their paid plans begin at $25 per month for the Lite plan. You can also add SMS to your account. However, the cost will vary depending on the volume of messages you send.

They have enhanced their premium plan to fit advanced features such as landing page creation, live chat, sales CRM, and Facebook ad integration. This means that users now receive more value for their money.

Additionally, SendinBlue offers a single SMTP bulk email marketing service that you may apply to send automated or transactional emails directly from your WordPress site. While it is not required for email marketing campaigns. It is a useful feature to have if you have a huge website. As well as want to send automated real-time content-based emails.

#4. Drip

Drip is a robust enterprise email marketing platform designed specifically for e-commerce, bloggers, and digital marketers. They provide a comprehensive set of technologies that simplify marketing automation, sales funnels, and customization.

Their email platform integrates seamlessly with all major website builders, including WordPress and WooCommerce. This enables you to effortlessly include pop-ups / opt-in sign-up forms into your website and increase lead acquisition.

What differentiates Drip from competitors such as Campaign Monitor are their smart marketing automation tools, smarter email segmentation, split testing capabilities, list groupings, and visual workflow builder. These tools enable you to reach out to specific clients on your email list in order to increase sales.

Drip offers a wide range of support services, including live chat, webinars, automation training, in-depth courses, free guides, and good documentation.

>> Read Also: Content Marketing Strategy: Complete Guide (+ Examples)

Many use Drip for a number of their businesses because it enables them to send mass emails while also interacting and engaging with each consumer on a personal level with their intelligent eCommerce marketing automation.

Their eCommerce income tracking function enables users to track the revenue generated by each email marketing campaign in real-time.

While Drip is a touch on the expensive side, we believe it is the ideal email marketing software for eCommerce websites and entrepreneurs looking for new systems to improve their marketing efforts. They offer a 14-day free trial and options starting at $49 per month that include all of their services.

They just added SMS notifications to all plans, allowing you to communicate with your users via both email and SMS marketing channels. As a result, they are a genuine all-in-one email marketing platform for businesses.

#5. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a feature-rich email marketing platform designed specifically for experienced bloggers, authors, and marketers. It is super simple to use and quite powerful.

The unique aspect of ConvertKit is that it enables you to simply offer content upgrades and incentives using email signup forms. Additionally, it includes simple-to-manage autoresponders that enable you to send drip emails directly from their emailing service.

ConvertKit enables you to quickly separate subscribers into those who are considering purchasing and those who have already done so. This enables you to enhance conversions through much more personalized automated emails. This is referred to as targeted email marketing in the marketing world.

They have all of the robust tools you’d expect from a top-tier email marketing service, like A/B testing, stunning email templates, a landing page builder, and intelligent workflows.

>> Read More: Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples (+ Detailed Guide)

ConvertKit provides email assistance and has a huge knowledge base with excellent educational materials. Meanwhile, several features of ConvertKit, such as premium newsletters, are tailored exclusively for creative and professional bloggers, which is why we rank them as the top email marketing solution for professional bloggers.

Additionally, they added the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions directly from the platform. Also, offers a 14-day free trial, and prices begin at $29 per month. Additionally, they offer a 30-day refund policy.

Additionally, their Creator Pro subscription includes advanced capabilities such as a newsletter referral system, subscriber scoring, extensive reporting, and the ability to create specialized audiences on Facebook.

If you are strongly considering ConvertKit, you should explore some very similar options like TinyEmail, Moosend, Mailerlite. Here’s one of the reviews that might help you: ConvertKit vs TinyEmail.

#6. AWeber

AWeber is among the world’s oldest and most commonly used email marketing service providers. They provide a powerful set of tools to help small and medium-sized organizations manage their email marketing campaigns.

AWeber is simple to use. It integrates perfectly with the majority of platforms, including WordPress. Meanwhile, you have access to pre-built HTML email templates, list management, autoresponders, a/b testing, and complete email tracking.

AWeber also includes other strong email marketing services, such as AMP emails, seamless RSS-to-email conversion for blogs, and subscriber processes independently on the tag. Also, Live chat, phone help, email assistance, live webinars, and an extensive collection of how-tos and tutorials are all available for support.

AWeber provides a limited-time free plan with a limit of 500 members. Following then, their cost begins at $19/month. Additionally, you can enroll in quarterly or yearly plans to save more money.

#7. GetResponse

GetResponse is an additional well-known email marketing provider. It’s really simple to use and greatly improves email marketing for smaller firms. It includes some incredible marketing automation features that enable you to construct intelligent automated campaigns.

You may create campaigns, segment contacts, and send any number of emails targeted at specified groups using their drag-and-drop builder. These tools assist you in developing effective email campaigns that increase your profitability.

GetResponse’s responsive forms, landing pages, A/B testing, unsubscribe tracking, and autoresponders are all included. Additionally, it connects with third-party lead-generating applications such as OptinMonster, SalesForce, Google Docs, and ZenDesk. Meanwhile, telephone, live chat, as well as email support are all available. Their support section is brimming with free educational resources, including videos, webinars, how-tos, and manuals.

GetResponse provides a free 30-day trial. Their payment model begins at $15 per month.

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#8. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is among the most effective email marketing service providers in the world, owing to the fact that they offer an ad-free email marketing plan that is endlessly free. It has a simple drag-and-drop email builder, autoresponders, contact segmentation, and simple analytics tracking. Additionally, you could even configure delivery schedules based on user timezones and segment users based on their geolocation.

MailChimp integrates seamlessly with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and a variety of other platforms. However, its platform is quite limited in terms of marketing automation features when compared to other providers on our list, such as Drip or ConvertKit.

Mailchimp has tried to add a number of “advanced” features in recent years, but these are not truly advanced.

>> Read Also: What is Outbound Marketing Strategy? Examples & Tools

Mailchimp help is available via email, live chat, and a rich knowledge library of training. However, their help is frequently delayed and falls short of the level of service provided by Constant Contact.

Mailchimp offers a completely free plan that entitles you to send 12,000 emails per month with up to 2,000 subscribers. This plan is rather limited due to the absence of features such as send-time optimization, advanced segmentation, and multi-variate testing. Furthermore, you must include their brand identity in your email. Finally, support is limited to email only, which is fine if you’re a hobbyist, but as a serious business, you require dependable support.

However, their paid plans begin at $10/month for up to 500 subscribers and increase by 500 subscribers. If, on the other hand, you want limitless audiences, advanced audience segmentation, multivariate testing, and comparative reporting, you’ll need to upgrade to their $ 299-per-month plan. See how to build email marketing lists from scratch.

Which of the Following Is a Common Feature of Email Marketing Platforms?

100% Perfect  Answers For Google Digital Garage ( Basics of Digital Marketing) The Question is “Which of the following is a common feature of email marketing platforms?“. The answer is given below for MCQ.

  • Personalized, custom templates
  • A free list of email addresses you can target
  • A feature allowing users to unsubscribe from your emails
  • Automation of your search ad campaigns

The answer is A feature allowing users to unsubscribe from your emails.

Email Marketing Platforms Comparisons

Even though many believe email to be an outdated marketing tool, it is still the most effective choice for communicating with your audience and keeping them up to date with your material on a regular basis.

But it is not only me talking! There are original data that shows email’s superiority:

According to a study done by Gigaom and Extole, email is regarded as the best method for many companies to sell their products. The report focuses on survey results from 300 marketers in the U.S. The finding demonstrates that email is accessed frequently by 86 percent of people.

75 percent of companies feel that email delivers them “brilliant” to “great” ROI. Need more data? ExactTarget reports that 95 percent of internet consumers use email. Yet 91 percent of them use email at a minimum of regularly.

What this means is direct. If you want to communicate with your contacts securely and on your conditions, email enables you to do so. And in order to use email effectively, you’ll need some high-quality email marketing services or solutions (at the very least one – preferably the best).

Without further ado, here are the 3 common comparisons of email marketing platforms.

  • Pricing
  • Features
  • Email design and templates
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Compare Email Marketing Platforms

There are indeed a number of available email marketing providers to pick from. The most infamous is Mailchimp, which enables up to 10,000 emails to up to 2,000 subscribers. The only problem is that once you go over these boundaries and switch to a premium plan, you’ll see quite a rise.

The greatest free email newsletter service is MailerLite. The free plan provides 12,000 emails and up to 1,000 subscribers, automation, and an outstanding landing page editor. What’s more, you won’t receive a shock once you move onto the premium plan, as pricing begins at just $10/month, and users pay $30/month for up to 5000 members.

Sendinblue also provides a free subscription, that includes limitless subscribers and 9,000 emails a month, just be mindful of the daily cap of 300 emails. With regards to paid plans, even though you’ve got a little email traffic, they are fairly reasonable. 40,000 emails every month go for only $25/mo.

Enterprise Email Marketing Platforms

MailChimp and Constant Contact are excellent email service providers for both mid-market and small businesses. Global organizations and other enterprises, on either hand, require more highly specialized enterprise email marketing platforms capable of managing the massive amounts of data and subscribers that enterprise marketers manage.

The distinction between SMB and enterprise email marketing platforms comes down to the features available. As you might expect, enterprise email platforms include a broader range of features than SMB email platforms. Then again, these features are frequently more powerful, such as their ability to handle a greater volume of data. These features are frequently more expensive, as an enterprise can manage the big machine they provide.

The amount of lead stored is a frequent point of differentiation. Due to the fact that enterprises sell to a much larger audience than SMBs, they require more storage capacity. Similarly, this increased volume of leads necessitates segmentation in order to send the right information to the right people at the right stage of the sales funnel. While some SMB email marketing solutions include segmentation capabilities, those found in enterprise platforms are frequently superior due to resource constraints.

>> Discover: Attraction Marketing: Detailed Guide to Gain More Leads

Additionally, A/B testing, dynamic content, and automatic lead scoring are all capabilities that are frequently found in enterprise email marketing packages. These capabilities enable users to more precisely identify and meet the demands of their distinct followers. Additionally, enterprise email software typically includes a broader and more comprehensive reporting capability, including the option to produce bespoke reports.

What Are the 5 Ts of Email Marketing?

We all know that content marketing can help you build your brand, get customers more involved, and make more money. Follow the “5 Ts” to be truly effective: Tease, Target, Teach, Test, and Track.

What Are the 4 Types of Marketing Emails?

Here are the four most common types of email marketing campaigns

  • Email Newsletters
  • Acquisition Emails
  • Retention Emails
  • Promotional Emails

What Are the 5 Email Essentials?

Make it easier for your business email recipients by making sure they have these five things.
A short, clear subject line. A proper greeting. Correct grammar and spelling.
Only the most important details… A clear ending.

What Do Professionals Use for Email?

When creating an email address, it is best to use only your first and last name, without any digits. [email protected] is an example of such an email address. Email addresses don’t need to include full names, either; [email protected] or [email protected] is perfectly acceptable.

What Email Domain Looks Most Professional?

[email protected] is the most common and recommended format for a business email address. However, there are other options for obtaining a credible electronic address, such as [email protected].

What Is a Unique Email Address?

A unique email address is one that only you can use to get to your email (i.e. is not shared with other people). You can use either your personal email address or an email address you use for work.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for business email marketing systems, this article is a good place to start, but you should conduct additional research before installing one. Consider your requirements carefully, distinguishing the “must-haves” from the “nice-to-haves.” Assemble your criteria to ensure the items you shortlist suit your requirements and avoid getting carried away with flashy new features you’ll never use.

Once you’ve determined what you’re looking for, you may compare top vendors on the basis of their features or by price. Whether you choose one of these six providers or not, maintain a singular focus on choosing the perfect enterprise email marketing platform for your company.

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