13+ Best Email Marketing Services for small businesses
Whether you want to connect more with your potential customers or establish an engaging relationship with them, email marketing is your best bet for achieving great marketing feats in your small business.
It is very important for the success of your business that you select the best email marketing service that suits your business’ needs on the short and long run.
With each email marketing service having its own distinguished set of features, it can be somewhat hard for you to choose the right one, but there is no reason for you to feel overwhelmed as we have got you covered.
From the comparison of the top email marketing services in this article, you will be able to easily select the best email marketing service for your business.
Let’s start with defining Email Marketing
As a business that wants to attract more potential customers, email marketing is the great way to get your message straight into the inbox of your subscribers.
It is a marketing channel that gives you the capability to connect with your customers and site visitors. It is the most efficient channel for websites that generate tons of traffic.
You will need email marketing for the following reasons:
· It increases your website repeat visits:
By collecting the email addresses of your visitors and sending them important email content, you can easily build a connection with them.
· Build a list of loyal followers
You tend to get new customers from visitors who visits your site repeatedly. A recent study tells us that it takes about 3-4 visits to your site, from potential customers, for them to actually think of doing business with you.
· It increases your business sales
Email marketing is the right marketing channel for you to choose if you are looking to make huge sales in your business.
How to choose the best email marketing service?
It is always crucial when starting your small business that you select the right email marketing service that suits the needs and preferences of your enterprise.
With dozens of email marketing services available on the internet, it is easy to get dazed with the numerous choices at your disposal.
Below are a few basic things that you should focus on when selecting an email marketing service provider:
» Ease of use: Choose an email marketing service that would be easy for you to use even as a beginner.
» Automation: There are different ways each marketing service allow you to automate your business’ email campaigns.
Take a careful look at how each service provider automates your email campaigns and discover which one helped achieve your marketing goal best.
After discovering which is best for your business, you can then dwell on that service and seek to maximize your campaigns.
» Industry: With some services specially designed for specific industries, it is crucial that you find that which suits your niche if you hope to succeed.
Unfortunately, if you find a good email marketing service that wasn’t specifically built for your niche, then you will have to subscribe to other services that are of a better fit to your market.
» Pricing: Select an email marketing service that best fits your business budget.
13 BEST Email Service Providers
1) Constant Contact
This is one of the most popular email marketing service providers for small businesses.
You could easily get a head start with the numerous customizable templates that comes with this service.
On your first start, you will be asked to select the niche your business is into, and your current level of expertise in email marketing.
Then based on your selected preferences, you will be sent customized email content and concepts that would help you take your email marketing to the next stage.
Constant Contact offers support to their subscribers through live chat, emails, and discussion forums. They also provide a huge library of resources for easy research.
Unlike other email marketing services, Constant Contact gives its subscribers a full access to all of its tools for 60 days as a trial to test their service.
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Pros:
Provides a huge library of resources, has tons of easy customizable templates, and provides a user-friendly for small business owners who are new to the world of email marketing.
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Cons:
There is a limit to the options of format, font size and style, and color you can select for a more personalized email design.
Constant Contact Email Plans:
The price of the plans offered by Constant Contact is influenced on the size of your email list
- $20 per month: For 0-500 subscribers.
- $45 per month: For 501-2,500 subscribers.
- $65 per month: For 2,501-5,000 subscribers.
- $95 per month: For 5,001-10,000 subscribers.
2) Sendinblue
An email marketing service specially designed with simplicity.
Even with little or no knowledge in the use of Sendinblue, you can start creating marketing campaigns effortlessly, sending negotiable messages with reliable delivery to customers based on their contact with you.
Unlike other email marketing services, the Sendinblue price list is based on the number of emails you send, allowing you to send email messages to a limitless number of contacts.
Also, you could buy SMS credits individually with no expiry date.
Sendinblue Email Plans:
- Free: $0 for 300 mails per day.
- Lite: $25 per month to send 40,000 emails in a month, with no daily limits.
- Essential: $39 per month to send 60,000 mails in a month, with advanced reports and no daily limits.
- Premium: $66 per month to send 120,000 mails in a month, with an unlimited automation, advanced reports, landing pages, send time optimization and no daily limits.
- Enterprise: Prices vary depending on use, with unlimited automation, advanced reports, landing pages, send time optimization, a dedicated IP and no daily limits.
3) Omnisend
Omnisend is a clear contender among the best email marketing services on the market today.
With powerful and easy-to-use email marketing tools, like a drag-and-drop builder, smart segmentation, and sophisticated automation workflows, Omnisend is a fan favorite in the industry.
What sets Omnisend apart from the crowd, however, are its omnichannel features.
In Omnisend, you can add several channels to the same automation workflow: email, SMS, push notifications, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more.
This way, you can use all of your best channels to reach your customers in a unique and engaging way.
While that may sound complicated, Omnisend’s email builder isn’t the only thing that uses a visual builder.
Creating automation workflows is just as simple, and templates mean you can get started in minutes.
Omnisend’s support is offered via in-app live chat and email 24/7. They also offer the opportunity to try out any paid plan for 14 days, no credit card is required.
Pros:
» Tons of email and automation workflow templates that make set up quick and easy.
» A drag and drop builder is used for each element you need to create so you don’t have to code anything or worry about not knowing how to create something.
» Also, multiple channels in your automation workflows means you can bring your best channels under one roof for a better crafted marketing strategy.
Cons:
» Omnisend doesn’t offer a mobile app at this time.
Omnisend Plans:
- Free: Omnisend offers a free plan with no subscriber limit that provides basic email marketing if you’re just starting out. You can send up to 15000 emails per month, or up to 2000 per day.
- Standard: Omnisend’s standard plan offers automation workflows (including SMS marketing), segmentation, and more advanced tools for email creation with 24/7 in-app chat support. It starts at just $16 per month and scales with your amount of subscribers.
- Pro: Omnisend’s Pro plan starts at $199 per month and offers the full suite of Omnisend features, including Facebook Custom Audiences, Google Customer Match, priority support, and much more.
- Enterprise: For larger customers with more needs, Omnisend offers a custom enterprise plan with custom pricing. This offers many unlimited features, plus free account migration, a dedicated account manager, and much more.
4) Drip
The best marketing automation service for e-commerce traders who are looking for a way to convert their visitors into subscribers quickly.
More than just an ordinary email marketing service, Drip lets you connect more with your customers by engaging in deeper and engaging conversations and sending emails at the perfect moment.
Based on the behaviors of your customers and visitors such as cart abandonment, first time-users, and returning site visitors, you can easily personalize your messages to suit them best.
With their huge collection of integrations, you can further do interesting things based on your customer workflow.
Drip Email Plans:
- Basic: With a cost of $49 per month, you are able to have up to 2,500 active subscribers on your email list.
- Pro: With a cost of $122 per month, you are able to have up to 5,000 active subscribers on your email list.
- Enterprise: With a variable cost per month, you are able to have more than 5,000 active subscribers on your email list.
5) ConvertKit
ConvertKit is the best email marketing service specially designed and built for bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers and publishers.
On ConvertKit, you can create engaging forms and send out personalized emails to individual subscribers on your email list.
With easy automation features, as a publisher, you will be able to fully understand and utilize their tools such as the visual automaton builder to produce great automated email guides for your visitors.
You could sign up for a demo plan on ConvertKit, which allows you to freely test their services and tools without any promises.
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Pros:
Comes with a simplified audience segmentation, easy to download opt-in management, and automated email sequences.
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Cons:
Limited amount of template selections, less attractive email templates when compared to other email marketing services, and there is no free trial, although you could demand for a demo before signing up.
ConvertKit Email Plans:
- $29 per month: For 0-1,000 subscribers and all features unlocked.
- $49 per month: For 1,000-3,000 subscribers and all features unlocked.
- $79 per month: For 3,000-5,000 subscribers and all features unlocked.
6) AWeber
One of the most famous email marketing service for generating leads for small businesses.
Coming with all the necessary tools a small business needs for email marketing, you can
- easily design email newsletters with their drag and drop builder tool,
- automate email sequences, and
- make responsive sign up forms that fit perfectly on any device.
Also, you can easily incorporate the AWeber into your WordPress website, or landing page builder for a better performance.
By heading over to the AWeber’s website and signing up for their 30-day free trial would get you easily started on their services.
AWeber Email Plans:
- $19 per month: For 0-500 subscribers with limitless emails and all features unlocked.
- $29 per month: For 501-2,500 subscribers with limitless emails and all features unlocked.
- $49 per month: For 2,501-5,000 subscribers with limitless emails and all features unlocked.
- $69 per month: 5,001-10,000 subscribers with limitless emails and all features unlocked.
- $149 per month: 10,001-25,000 subscribers with limitless emails and all features unlocked.
7) Mailchimp
Mailchimp comes with all the necessary features that allows you to easily convert your visitors into subscribers and customers, making it more than just an email marketing service provider.
With powerful and affordable features, marketers are able to create nice landing pages, or web forms that are able to convert their visitors into subscribers and willing customers.
Mailchimp also offers pre-built email templates and ready-made segments so that you can create professional emails in a jiffy.
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Pros:
Its plan list is budget friendly for small businesses, Simple to use, and comes with nice template styles for basic emails.
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Cons:
Has a less intuitive audience segmentation and automated email sequences, a third party integration is required for opt-ins and download deliveries, and their email templates are difficult to personalize and make use of.
Mailchimp Email Plans:
The plans are based on the number of subscribers you have in your email list.
- Free: $0 for 7 marketing channels, numerous basic templates, marketing CRM, and 1-click automations.
- Essential: $9.99 per month for an access to all email templates, A/B testing, custom branding, and 24/7 support.
- Standard: $14.99 per month for an access to retargeting ads, automation series, custom templates, and enhanced audience insights.
- Premium: $299 per month for an access to advanced segmentation, limitless seats, phone support, multivariate testing, and among others.
8) GetResponse
Grow and build your business with nice emails, converting your visitors into subscribers through the sign up forms at a high rate on GetResponse.
Getting your email campaign up and running is easy and simplified with the modern and nice user interface made available.
GetResponse also comes with numerous online marketing features that help you establish your business.
For instance, you can build and host webinars on your website, create nice landing pages, and more.
You can also get to walk through different features of email marketing through the numerous beneficial marketing resources provided by GetResponse such as whitepapers, and videos.
GetResponse is then the right email marketing service you need if you are looking for one that comes with a nice and fast user interface.
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Pros:
Beneficial for in-app marketing education and suggestion, and provides optimal delivery times for the best click-through rates.
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Cons:
It can be dreary to make use of the drag and drop tool, and some users report issues with their images and graphics failing to load on the service.
GetResponse Email Plan:
- Basic: With a cost of $15 per month, you will be given a full access to email marketing, auto-responders, limitless landing pages, automated email templates, and many more.
- Plus: With a cost of $49 per month, you will be given a full access to every feature in the basic plans along with list building and sales funnels, e-products, webinars (maximum of 100 attendees), and many more.
- Professional: With a cost of $99 per month, you will be given a full access to webinars (maximum of 300 attendees), paid webinars, automation builder, and more.
- Enterprise: With a cost of $1199 per month, you will be given a full access to a dedicated IP address, deliverability consulting, webinars (maximum of 500 attendees), and many more.
9) MailerLite
MailerLite is the right email marketing service for you to consider if you are hoping to establish an email list on a low budget.
You are able to grow your email list for free until it reaches 1,000 subscribers.
With various technologies provided by MailerLite such as landing page, and popups, you will be able to easily attract visitors to your site and easily convert them into your subscribers.
Additionally, the drag and drop tool of this service also allows you to make your mails look professional.
MailerLite Email Plans:
The prices of the plans on MailerLite increases with an increase in the amount of subscribers on your email list.
- Free: $0 for 1-1,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails per month, and an access to limited features.
- $10 per month: For 1-1,000 subscribers, limitless emails per month, and a full access to all the features.
- $15 per month: For 1,001-2,500 subscribers, limitless emails per month, and all features unlocked.
- $30 per month: For 2,501-5,000 subscribers, limitless emails per month, and all features unlocked.
- $50 per month: For 5,001-10,000 subscribers, limitless emails per month, and all features unlocked.
10) Keap
Keap is a simpler version of Infusionsoft. It is a sale, marketing automation and CRM service all-in-one.
Keap allows you to easily organize all of your client information into one place, syncing with your Gmail and Outlook so that you can easily manage your emails from one place.
You can even set up an automate process for sending texts and emails to new subscribers on Keap, creating repeatable sales process that will automatically send emails whenever a subscriber moves from one phase to another.
Other features offered on Keap include proposal, quote templates, estimates, invoices and payments, reports and insights, and more.
Keap Email Plans:
- Grow: $79 per month starting at 500 contacts for 1 user, you can set appointments, CRM, text messaging, and other features that does not include marketing automation.
- Pro: $149 per month starting at 500 contact for 1 user. On this plan, you can make use of automated marketing, recurring payments, landing page builder, and more.
- Infusionsoft: $199 per month starting at 500 contacts for 1 user. This plan offers features such as innovative sales, pipeline automation, lead scoring, reporting, company records, and more.
11) Moosend
Moosend is a cost effective email marketing service that businesses of any size can make use of without passing their budget.
Moosend is a great selection for any business because of its limitless email campaigns, a library of colorful templates, and many other breaking edge features.
Automations offered by Moosend include:
- cart abandonment emails,
- welcome email sequences,
- product recommendations, and many more
What makes this email marketing platform desirable by businesses new in the world of email marketing is its consistent service, and live support that is made available on phones, emails, and live chats.
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Pros:
You can make use of the newsletter editor with its drag-and-drop features and intuitive user interface easily, and provides a full integrated marketing automation suite.
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Cons:
Native integrations with third party apps are limited in number.
Moosend Email Plans:
With a free three months’ trial, you could enjoy limitless email campaigns for subscribers under 5,000. Getting a taste of the services Moosend has to offer.
- Free: Allows you to send email contents and automation to about 0-1,000 subscribers
- $10 per month: Allows you to send limitless email contents, campaigns and automation to about 1,001-2,000.
- $20 per month: Allows you to send limitless email contents, campaigns and automation about 2,001-3,000.
12) SendPulse
This is an email marketing platform that is filled with numerous channels such as email, SMS, and push.
Pooled with triggered email tools, SendPulse provides the necessary tools you need to improve the results of your email campaign.
With the drag-and-drop editor, and over 130 pre-designed templates, you can easily get creative and make the perfect email for your subscribers.
You can also perform an A/B testing to help you select the best performing version of your email marketing campaign.
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Pros:
Comes with an in-built automation feature that is designed to be easily used by beginners, and a 24/7 quick friendly support.
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Cons:
Automation 360 is not available on a free plan.
SendPulse Email Plans:
On SendPulse, you can find up to three different pricing plans. But here, we will be concentrating on the monthly subscription.
- Free: With $0 you are allowed to send email contents to 2,500 of your subscribers, although limited to 150,000 emails.
- $7.88 per month: You are allowed to send email contents and messages to 2,500 subscribers without limitation to the number of emails that you can send, and other professional features.
- $23.2 per month: Here, you are allowed to send email contents and messages to up to 3,000 subscribers without limitation to the number of emails that you can send, and other professional features.
- $25.6 per month: Here, you are allowed to send email contents and messages to up to 4,000 subscribers without limitation to the number of emails that you can send, and other professional features.
- $28 per month: Here, you are allowed to send email contents and messages to up to 5,000 subscribers without limitation to the number of emails that you can send, and other professional features.
13) iContact
iContact is a strong choice for email marketing automation.
Its back-end functionality is pretty reliable and extensive with email templates that are of high quality, and user experience that are very typical to other email marketing platforms.
Also, you could schedule social media posts on iContact, especially if you are a newbie to social media scheduling and would like to learn a piece of tool at a time.
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Pros:
Has all the tools you need for both email marketing and social media scheduling, and provides a simple high quality integration for Salesforce users.
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Cons:
Some users report issues with spam filters and inbox deliverability, especially in Gmail accounts.
iContact Email Plans:
Even though you don’t want to purchase any of their plans yet, you can try their 30-day free trial that gives you access to their features and send email contents to about 100 email addresses.
- $14 per month: Allows you to send email contents to about 500 subscribers on your email list.
- $32 per month: Allows you to send email contents to about 2,000 subscribers on your email list.
- $52 per month: Allows you to send email contents to about 3,000 subscribers on your email list.
14) ActiveCampaign
As an all-in-one email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign is an email marketing service with the primary goal of helping you to send few emails, and yet achieve good results.
Since ActiveCampaign functions is like an all-in-one email marketing service, there are numerous tools and features available for you to use, and it might be a little bit prodigious to gain a high level of expertise on them.
Fortunately, there are various guides and tips that will show you how to get the most out of each tools and features on the service.
You can also get connected to support through the email or live chat.
ActiveCampaign Email Plans:
Lite plan:
- Up to 500 subscribers for a fee of $15 per month.
- Up to 1,000 subscribers for a fee of $29 per month.
- Up to 2,500 subscribers for a fee of $49 per month.
- Up to 5,000 subscribers for a fee of $89 per month.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers for a fee of $139 per month.
Plus plan:
- Up to 1,000 subscribers for a fee of $70 per month.
- Up to 2,500 subscribers for a fee of $125 per month.
- Up to 5,000 subscribers for a fee of $169 per month.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers for a fee of $249 per month.
- Up to 25,000 subscribers for a fee of $399 per month.
- Up to 50,000+ subscribers and get a custom quote.
Professional plan:
- Up to 2,500 subscribers for a fee of $159 per month.
- Up to 5,000 subscribers for a fee of $239 per month.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers for a fee of $349 per month.
Enterprise plan:
- Up to 2,500 subscribers for a fee of $279 per month.
- Up to 5,000 subscribers for a fee of $449 per month.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers for a fee of $499 per month.
Choosing the Right Email Marketing Service
If you manage an e-commerce site where you want to create customized emails based on the needs and preferences of its users, then it is recommended that you make use of Drip.
They have an easy to use campaign funnel builder that allows you to activate action-driven campaigns.
If you manage a blog site and would want to send automated emails to your subscribers while increasing their engagement, then it is recommended that you make use ConvertKit.
It is an email marketing service that is specifically designed and built for bloggers and publishers.
If you are a small business owner who is new to the world of email marketing, then ConstantContact is the best email marketing service for you at the moment.
It is well-packaged with all the necessary features and tools you will need to grow your business.
After reading this article, we hope that you have been able to find the right email marketing service that best suits the needs of your business.