Best Email Marketing Software: Do you think emails are old fashioned in internet marketing?
If you are one of those digital marketers who underestimate the power of emails, you are missing a gold mine of benefits.
Email marketing is one of the asset tools for bloggers and marketers that keep on providing reliable traffic to our website. Moreover, your email list can provide you the maximum conversion that even a paid traffic source can’t only if operated with the best email marketing software.
Why is Email Marketing Important?
Do you have an account on any e-commerce website? If you have, I am sure you noticed their promotional emails in your inbox. Why are they sending emails to you? Only because emails are the best converting channel!
1). Emails Beat other Channels in Retention
Returning visitors are the best to give you long term profits. What if you send a compelling copy to your email subscribers? Will they come back to your website? I am pretty sure that they will.
If you continue to send them valuable emails, they will definitely wait for what you have to say. On this occasion, you can promote a product to earn some bucks.
Now, I want you to think contrary to this. You are not building email lists and promoting products through your blog. In this case, about 70% of your daily visitors are new. Who will dare to buy a product recommended by a complete stranger?
So the point is you should build an email list using the best email marketing software to send worthwhile content if you want to create a profitable readership around your blog.
Giagom conducted a survey once among marketers on various content marketing methods to find out the best retentive one. Here’s what they got.
A whopping 56% of marketers favored email marketing for having the best retention rate.
2). Email Marketing has the Best ROI
We all love best ROI (Return On Investment). If you get the exact amount of money that you spend on anything as profit, we can say it as 100% ROI. But the worse situation of getting nothing in return goes to 0% category.
The investment in email marketing goes to best email marketing software. Finding the best software for email marketing is a tedious task, but you will feel lighter in doing so as the later part of this tutorial is dealing with the exact topic.
As being a trusted customer base, your subscribers will not let you down if you promote something among them.
Check the result got from another survey done by Marketingsherpa.
About 60% of marketers told them that email marketing is producing ROI. So sign into one of the best email marketing software to get started today.
3). Easy to Target
Not every visitor is the same. Someone comes to your website for the one-time purpose, but some other ones visit you regularly. Most likely, your regular visitors eventually turn out to be the email subscribers. That’s why it is the reliable marketing channel.
When we want to promote a product or an offer, the conversion rate will be very low when carelessly done. It is important to target your readers so that the time and money spend should return the benefits.
For those having an email list should not worry about targeting because the list itself is laser targeted. The only thing left to do is creating a captivating email with a compelling title and sending the same.
Some best email marketing software allow us to filter subscribers to make it even targeted.
4). No More Sweating to Track
We all believe in growth, don’t we? So, you must track the tasks as a marketer to ensure whether it return the expected benefits or not.
But tracking is not at all easy. You need to seek the help of a third party app and integrate the code they provide into the prescribed directory of your website. If you don’t so, the tracking process will remain as a dream.
Here in email marketing, you don’t have to integrate any code, seek the help of any third parties or even go outside your list building software. From delivery rate to click through rate, your email marketing software can display everything.
This list will not end if I keep this going. So, let me end this and enter into the core of this post. What do you think is the best email marketing software?
Well, I have cumulated six of the prominent email marketing software here in this post with their pros and cons. Let us find out which one tops in this contest to be the best email marketing software.
What is the Best Email Marketing Software?
I have divided this section into six sections as we have six tools to look into. Read each section carefully to find out whether it matches your need or not.
Are you ready to dive into the best email marketing software list? Here we go.
1). GetResponse
Website: https://www.getresponse.com/
Being the cheapest among the lot, GetResponse has amazed me with its awesome features. No one ever think a cheap one to be the best email marketing software.
The two features that I think make GetResponse stand out from the rest is their webinar and landing page builder that most of the email marketing software lack.
Let me explain some of its features in detail.
a). Landing Page Creator
In marketing, a landing page means any page that is intended to perform a particular activity be it the lead generation or click through. A perfect landing page should not have any navigation, sidebar or attention grabbing elements on it so that, users will do what they are meant for.
Landing page creator is one feature with which GetResponse gets an obvious edge over most of its competitors. With a set of responsive templates, you can create beautiful landing pages within no time and drive traffic to the same without exiting the email marketing software tab.
Just like the email creator, this one also works as a drag-and-drop builder.
It is the best to grab email addresses for a webinar, discount coupon, e-book or contest.
b). A/B Split Testing
Have you ever thought why only some emails give the best result? It may be because of the subject line, body part or the image inserted in it. Maybe, the time of email delivery did the magic.
The best thing to know what thing in an email worked is to setup an A/B split testing. Using this, you can create a bunch of variations of the same email and send it to your subscribers to know which one performs better.
In GetResponse, you can create about five variations of the same email where as their competitors like Aweber and Mailchimp provide four and three respectively.
c). Webinars
According to me, Webinar feature makes GetResponse the best email marketing software.
Hosting webinars is the best way to grow your email list rapidly. If you manage to host one with an industry expert and promote the same, you will see an outrageous increase in your list overnight.
It was never so easier to use webinars as a method to grow your mail list because we needed two tools in the past; one for webinar hosting and the second for list building. It is a tedious task to extract all the email addresses from the webinar software and add the same into the email tool.
But you don’t have to worry anymore as GetResponse has integrated a webinar feature into their dashboard.
The PRO account allows you to host an unlimited number of webinars up to hundred participants.
It allows you to send webinar invitations and reminder emails using the easily customizable templates found on their dashboard.
d). Auto Responders
Email marketing needs automation in one form or the other. It is impossible to send every new subscriber a welcome email manually. So, we need automation here. And, to send all your posts directly to your subscribers all at once, you need automation.
According to me, the auto responder is an inevitable feature all the best email marketing software should have.
GetResponse has taken auto responders to next level by allowing you to stop automatically sending promotional emails to a subscriber who already bought a particular product from you.
e). Cheap Pricing
At the end of the day, it’s the money that matters the most. We don’t buy a $1000 tool even if it is the best email marketing software power-packed with a lot of specs.
Starting from $15 (for 1000 subscribers), GetResponse is the cheapest among all the premium list building software.
Pros
GetResponse provides you a 30-days trial to test their features. No payment information is needed. So, you will not be charged when the trial period finishes.
Offers spellbinding templates for both landing page creator and email builder on different categories to make it go hand-in-hand with your website niche.
The split testing is the best with five variations per email.
All the emails are responsive to perform better on small screen devices.
No other paid email marketing software is available for $15.
The tracking and reporting options are so brilliant that you seldom miss any changes.
A comprehensive support panel.
Cons
The user interface could have been a bit better compared with MailChimp and Aweber. And, some features are limited in lower plans.
2). MailChimp
Website: https://mailchimp.com/
Are you a beginner in internet marketing with no money to invest? Then, MailChimp should be your choice. I couldn’t find free best email marketing software that beats MailChimp till date.
All of the internet marketers started list building using MailChimp. But you can’t get everything for free.
It’s true that Mailchimp is the best email marketing software available for free to join, still it lacks a lot of features and compels you to purchase the premium plan to use certain specs.
Mailchimp’s double optin is an issue for most of the marketers. They don’t allow you to turn it off. But in my opinion, double optin helps you filter your list to have only engaging addresses.
Pros
It is available for free up to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails per month. The free subscriber count is superior to the paid plans of some other best email marketing software.
MailChimp supports most of the list building WordPress plugin. So, you can integrate it with the plugin with their API.
The interface is minimalistic yet, feature-rich. The ease of access makes it simple to use.
Mailchimp being the free best email marketing software, offers unlimited image hosting, so uploading images to be inserted in your emails will no longer a worry.
Cons
The readymade templates available for email creation are too basic that it may not entice the user to read the whole email and click.
A greater chance to label your emails as spam. Even if the emails don’t go to the spam folder, you will see it under the promotional tab that (most probably) makes the user ignore your mail.
The automation feature is not available in free version, which makes MailChimp not the ideal choice for internet marketing.
To get A/B split testing feature on MailChimp, you need to purchase the premium version. (So, the free flag is not applicable for everything).
The free package does not allow you to send affiliate links and promotional emails through their platform. Oops! That really hurts!
3). Aweber
Website: http://www.aweber.com/
There was a time when paid email marketing equaled Aweber. Even though the time had changed significantly, Aweber’s solid user base faced no changes.
I know many big players in this industry using Aweber. So, here I am going to walk you through some of the pros and cons of Aweber.
Pros
Aweber has got the stunning readymade templates compared with any other best email marketing software. You can use them with the cost of only a click, and no extra cost should be spent.
Deliverability is very high with Aweber. It offers above 99% deliverability rate. That means you won’t find any of your emails not getting delivered.
The stunning templates available for free to use is customizable. You can edit the templates to fit your needs and purpose of the email campaign.
The RSS feed integration is the best here, which helps you send your blog posts automatically.
Mobile responsiveness is the best in Aweber. None of your emails will behave weirdly in mobile phone and tablets.
Cons
With $19 per month, you get only 500 subscribers. The platform can hold more than 500 subscribers for the basic plan that makes GetResponse the cheap best email marketing software.
The extra features take a dip in Aweber. You can’t get the webinar feature as we saw in GetResponse.
The list segmentation is a tedious task here. The addition of a user in two different email list is almost impossible unless he/ she optins again.
You can’t upload images to be displayed in your email. Let alone images; it won’t allow you to upload any file.
The social sharing is limited to only FaceBook and Twitter. And, the social media tracking option is not available as well.
The email importing option is not the perfect that it doesn’t let you import from Gmail, LinkedIn, Outlook, etc.
4). iContact
Website: https://www.icontact.com/
Being started back in 2003, iContact another best email marketing software that helps marketers pull off money from their list. As it becomes cheap and easy-to-use just like GetResponse, it is recommended for those having small websites.
Pros
iContact’s pricing starts from $14 per month for 500 subscribers. But the price goes higher for more subscribers and higher packages.
The huge template library makes it one of the best email marketing software today. You will get access to more than 300 email templates that are designed in such a way to attract clicks.
You can integrate Google analytics with email campaigns so that, tracking will be easier. Google Analytics helps you finding how many views or clicks your email gets. Moreover, the social media integration lets you embed your social profiles in the email and enables users to share your list.
A/B split testing is available that makes you aware of which combinations and timing work the best for you. The autoresponders keep your subscribers engaged even if you are offline.
The customer support team is impeccable and responsive. You can approach them without a second though whenever you face an issue. They will solve your problem right away within no time.
Cons
The API integration is not robust like other best email marketing software (GetResponse, Aweber) in this list. So, you may feel it difficult to integrate iContact with WordPress lead generation plugins.
You can’t manage an email list with a huge subscriber count as iContact is intended for small companies and websites. This is where GetResponse takes an edge as the best email marketing software because it is suitable for both small and big ventures.
For accurate statistics, you will have to use Salesforce application, which will create inconvenience.
5). ActiveCampaign
Website: http://www.activecampaign.com/
ActiveCampaign has been loyally serving their customers all through the 13 years of its journey. Just like iContact, this best email marketing software was also started back in 2003.
The best thing you will find about this one is the price itself. It starts from $9 per month for 500 subscribers.
Pros
ActiveCampagin has their own CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system using which you can get to know the deliverability, CTR and other details for all your subscribers individually.
As I said earlier, it is the best email marketing software regarding the pricing. You can send unlimited emails to five hundred subscribers per month for the cost of only nine bucks. They won’t break your bank account even if goes higher.
You can make integrations to more than 200 services including WordPress, FaceBook, LeadPages, Zoho, etc.
ActiveCampaign is one of the best email marketing software when it comes to supporting as well. Their customer support team will solve any of your issues right away. It also offers A/B split testing.
Cons
You may find it hard to get used to the A/B split testing interface. It is not the same as in most of the other email marketing software. And, it is impossible to setup a split test for an automated email as well.
The email builder is not up to the mark here. While offering the core functions that all the best email marketing software provides, the drag-and-drop builder remained as a tough nut to me.
As far as the reporting is concerned, you will find it too basic that segmenting and advanced reporting is hard.
6). ConstantContact
Website: https://www.constantcontact.com/
There was a time when bloggers hated ConstantContact for their subpar service and poor user interface. But time has flown so far that it has become one of the best email marketing software.
They have nearly all the features of an ideal email marketing platform.
Pros
ConstantContact gives you a personal coach to clear all your doubts on how their platform works. For beginners, it is a bang for the buck because no extra money is needed for this service.
You can use their premium service for 60 days without providing payment details. It’s enough for anyone to test an email marketing software’s features.
A stock photo gallery is available for every CC user. Hence, you don’t have to search for a suitable image for hours.
Cons
The pricing is a bit high comparing with GetResponse and Aweber. For a 501- 2500 subscribers’ list, CC charges $40 while it’s only $15- 25 for GetResponse.
There is no unique selling proposition to point out (like webinar and landing page generator in GetResponse).
Have You Chosen the Best Email Marketing Software?
I hope you have got an intensive guide to choosing an email marketing platform from the six options I have mentioned here.
Always try to compare the price to features ratio before purchasing anything. Here, you have got six choices; each of them offers some unique features for different price tags.
But considering the USPs, price and easy to use criteria, I found GetResponse to be the best email marketing software. For a price of only $15, you get webinar hosting feature, landing page creator, ability to build a list of 1000 subscribers (most of the others allow 500 subscribers in this price).
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section down below.
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