Did you know that email marketing is considered the top marketing channel and delivers approximately $44 ROI for every dollar spent? That makes it more effective than social media marketing, with a reported 174 percent more conversions generated, according to Campaign Monitor.
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to using email marketing effectively, and a good email service provider can make a difference. Start by taking a look at our top picks for the best email marketing services for freelancers and small business owners.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact features a wide range of email templates so that even beginners can create beautiful email layouts. But their services aren’t all about the looks. According to Constant Contact data, 98 percent of their emails get through to customer inboxes—compared to only 77 percent of other emails—so you can rest assured you’re working with a reliable service.
Their data tracking and reporting tools make it easy to evaluate your list and campaigns, and automated campaigns are simple to set up. Their only downfall lies in their opt-in forms, where customization options are limited. Give them a try risk-free for 60 days.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a top player in the email marketing industry, and that’s because they’re affordable and easy to use. Mailchimp comes equipped with tons of beautiful, modern email templates to make designing your messages a breeze.
The entire interface is user-friendly, and it’s simple to define segments, which can be incredibly helpful for targeting specific messages. Not only that, but their automation features are some of the best, and the service works hand-in-hand with numerous software programs, from eCommerce platforms to opt-in form plugins, to easily integrate new subscribers with your list. Best of all, if you’re just starting out, Mailchimp is free up to your first 2,000 subscribers.
Their only downfall? They’re a bit more strict than other providers, such as by requiring double opt-in and restricting certain content and industries. This may be good news for some since it helps keep emails out of spam folders, but it may not be the best choice for everyone.
Campaign Monitor
If you’re all about the look of your emails, then you’ll want to check out Campaign Monitor. They have a large library of modern templates that look great and are easy to use with the drag-and-drop builder. Segmentation is easy, which helps boost the effectiveness of your campaigns. Plus, their app store is vast, which means connecting your list to various programs like Shopify and WordPress is easy.
Campaign Monitor is a close comparison to Mailchimp, but unlike Mailchimp, they don’t offer a forever free plan. That said, they’re still affordable and definitely worth trying out.
Active Campaign
Active Campaign is one of the more costly options on the list, but it includes a range of advanced features that makes it more suitable for some businesses. Among these features, it comes with advanced automation and segmentation tools that can vastly improve your email marketing efforts.
They also offer a great customer relationship management (CRM) tool that will track your marketing and sales information. Not to mention that they have a contact discover feature that pulls information about subscribers automatically to make targeting messages even easier. If you’re a data nerd and are looking for more advanced features, Active Campaign is a good choice.
GetResponse
GetResponse is one of the more popular email marketing services for bloggers, and for good reason. With over 500 templates and 1,000 stock images, it’s easy to set up beautiful emails. You can even personalize content blocks for each user through GetResponse’s dynamic content feature.
Like others on the list, they deliver the important tools like automation and segmentation, but they go beyond that to offer webinar support. GetResponse is a little pricey, but they can be well worth it for many B2B companies.
It can take a bit to get settled in with the right email marketing service, but these five providers should give you a solid place to start on your email marketing journey.
Unless a client specifically asks we use Mail Chimp: Email marketing services
Credit to the author
We’re pleased to publish this guest blog post from our friends at Websitesetup.org – this is a summarised version of a more comprehensive “10 Best Email Marketing Services” by web developer and blogger Robert Mening.