You want to grow your business – and need email marketing software that’s easy to use, affordable, and has features to turn your leads into customers – right?
It sounds simple enough, but with an overwhelming 450+ email marketing tools to choose from, in a rapidly-changing market, and with every email marketing company’s website saying the same thing, it’s anything but.
Email marketing software is service-based software that marketers use for email marketing. This software can be used for a variety of different purposes, from growing a list of email subscribers, to designing and building customized email templates, to creating segmented lists for more targeted, relevant emails to be sent.
With a variety of services, resources, and tools, the software allows marketers to do much more than simply send emails.
Email marketing is designed to help a company maintain communications with customers. This builds loyalty, increases brand recognition, and drives sales.
Which is why we created this guide; the only comparison of email marketing software that’s objective, regularly updated, and based on a comprehensive amount of surveys, experience and data – lots of data.
The challenge with email marketing is to strike a balance between efficiency and personalization so that you can:
Create a one-to-one sense of connection with individual customers.
Reach out to hundreds or thousands of customers at once, at minimum cost.
Email marketing software helps marketers create, send, and track subscriber emails while complying with the regulations that govern email outreach. Most email marketing tools do this on a bulk level, which increases efficiency. These bulk emails are commonly referred to as ‘email blasts’.
Tools range from batch-and-blast products to products that allow users to configure personalized, triggered messages. The messages are based on the behavior or demographics of subscribers.
For example, if a subscriber clicks a link to download a whitepaper or buying guide within an email, or if they are part of your target audience. The simplest email marketing services are designed for sending newsletters or advertisements.
All email marketing tools facilitate ‘big’ sends. However, the definition of a ‘big’ email send can vary. For some vendors, a large batch of emails consists of a few hundred, while for others it could mean thousands or even millions.
Therefore, make sure the email marketing platform you choose will work for your list size without causing performance issues or breaking the bank.
Most email marketing software offers the ability to design engaging emails without writing code. This is possible by using a drag and drop tool or a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) email editor.
Advanced email marketing platforms include a landing page editor as well, and allow for retargeting, triggered drip sequences, and segmented subscriber lists. Many of them integrate with third-party CRM, CMS, and ecommerce platforms to make running email marketing campaigns even more efficient.
Email Marketing Software Features
Subscriber and list management
Contact segmentation
Email marketing templates
Visual editor or WYSIWYG interface
Content/image library
Dynamic content/personalization
A/B testing
Mobile optimization
Autoresponders
Triggered drip sequences
Campaign tracking/reporting
CRM integration
CAN-SPAM compliance
SPAM testing
Email client testing
Deliverability support
How much does email marketing software cost?
Some vendors offer free versions of their email marketing platform, but with limited functionality. Paid email marketing software can start as low as $10/mo for smaller list sizes (around 500 contacts) for basic plans.
This can range up to multiple hundreds of dollars per month, depending on the number of contacts and level of functionality required. ‘Professional’ and ‘Enterprise’ tier plans will cost more but include advanced features like A/B or multivariate testing, retargeting ads, advanced contact segmentation, and premium customer support.
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