Is email marketing a priority for your business in 2018? Are you looking for the email marketing software? Choosing the best email marketing service can have a significant impact on the success of your marketing campaign. In this article, we will review the 7 best email marketing services for small businesses.
Why Choosing The Best Email Marketing Service is Important?
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tool. It is easy to manage, gives you full control and allows you to establish direct contact with your customers. For more on this topic, see our guide on why you should start building your email list right away.
While you can use OptinMonster to easily get more email subscribers, the actual email delivery part comes down to your email marketing service provider.
If you aren’t careful, then you might end up paying a lot more money for fewer features and terrible deliverability (which causes you to lose even more money).
A good email marketing service enables you to create highly engaging emails. It also allows you to manage your contacts, segment users into groups, and track the performance of your email campaigns.
Most importantly, a good email marketing service ensures that your emails do not end up in the spam folder.
Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the best email marketing service providers and how they stack up against each other.
1. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is one of the largest and fastest growing email marketing service in the world. It is also the most easy to use and beginner friendly email marketing service.
You can easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, and more.
Each account gives you access to easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing tools, an image library and 1GB of storage for your own files.
Constant Contact offers unmatched support with live chat, email, community support, and a vast library of resources.
They also offer online training as well as live seminars in your neighborhood. This allows small business to quickly learn the basics of email marketing and start using it like a pro.
For all the reasons above, we rate Constant Contact the best email marketing service for small businesses.
Constant Contact has a 60 day free trial (no credit-card required). After that their pricing starts as low as $20/month.
2. Drip
Drip is a powerful email marketing platform for eCommerce, bloggers, and marketers. They offer a wide range of tools with their smart email marketing platform.
It is also one of the most beginner friendly email marketing service. They have integration addons available for all popular website builders including WooCommerce and WordPress. This allows you to easily add sign up forms to your website and capture more leads.
What sets Drip apart from the competition is their intelligent marketing automation tools, smarter email segmenting, list groups, and tons of cool features that allow you to reach specific audiences in your email list.
Support options at Drip include live chat support, Webinars, automation training, detailed course, free guides and excellent documentation.
They offer a free trial account for up to 100 subscribers. After that their plans start from $41 / month.
3. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a robust email marketing platform for professional bloggers, authors, and marketers. It is extremely easy to use and incredibly powerful.
ConvertKit allows you to easily offer content upgrades and incentives with email signup forms. It also comes with easy to manage auto-responders allowing you to send drip emails.
With ConvertKit, you can easily segment contacts into those who are interested and those who have already purchased. This is great for marketing automation.
ConvertKit offers email based support and have extensive knowledge base with great learning material.
Pricing for ConvertKit plans start from $29/month with a 30-day refund policy.
4. AWeber
AWeber is one of the most popular email marketing service providers in the world. They offer a wide-range of tools for small and medium sized businesses to manage their email marketing.
Getting started with AWeber is easy. It connects seemlessly to most platforms including WordPress. For detailed instructions, see our ultimate guide on how to connect AWeber to WordPress.
You get access to ready to use email templates, list management, autoresponders, and email tracking with detailed insights.
Support options include live chat, phone support, email support, live webinars, and a vast library of how-tos and tutorials.
AWeber offers a 30 day free trial. After that, their pricing starts from $19/month.
5. GetResponse
GetResponse is a hugely popular email marketing solution. It is extremely easy to use and simplifies email marketing for small businesses and absolute beginners.
It comes with some amazing marketing automation tools which allow you to create smart automated campaigns. With a drag and drop builder, you can create campaigns, segment contacts, and send content designed for specific groups. These tools help you create effective campaigns to boost your profits.
GetResponse comes with beautiful responsive forms, landing pages, A/B testing, tracking, and autoresponders. It also integrates with third party lead generation software like OptinMonster, SalesForce, Google Docs, ZenDesk, etc.
Support is provided by phone, live chat, and email. Their help section is full of free learning material including videos, webinars, how-tos, guides, etc.
GetResponse offers a 30 day free trial. Their pricing starts from $15/month.
6. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing service providers. They offer a very easy to use interface with great tools and awesome support.
It integrates beautifully with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and many other platforms. If you are using WordPress, then see our ultimate guide to using MailChimp and WordPress for detailed instructions.
MailChimp also comes with easy email creator, merge tags, autoresponders, segmenting contacts into groups, and simple tracking and analytics. It also allows you to set up delivery times based on user’s timezones and setup segmenting based on geolocation.
Support is offered by email, live chat, and a huge knowledge base with how-tos, videos, and tutorials.
MailChimp offers a forever free plan which allows you to send 12,000 emails for upto 2,000 subscribers. Their paid plans start from $10/month.
Because of their free plan, we rate MailChimp the best email marketing software for nonprofits.
7. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign combines your email marketing, automation, with CRM and sales. It comes with all the tools you will need to create smarter email marketing campaigns.
ActiveCampaign comes with a beautiful email template editor and mobile friendly signup forms. It allows you to segment contacts based on their actions, location, behavior, and social data. It can also fetch additional data about your contacts using only their email address.
It integrates beautifully with many third party software including WordPress. You can also send SMS messages to your contacts for follow up on campaigns.
ActiveCampaign’s plans start from $9/month. You can also request a demo with limited features for a test run.
Although the pricing on ActiveCampaign gets quite high, it’s totally worth the money if marketing automation is what you’re looking for.
We hope this article gave you a good overview of the best email marketing services for your business. You may also want to see our list of 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites
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Great article here. Pls. I’m a little bit confused. All I just need is a vendor that has a Landing page feature, allows for autoresponder, allows for promotion of genuine mlm and affiliate business, and cost effective for beginner. I tried Mailchimp but got suspended just within two weeks with them, and the customer care pretty bad and arrogant. Please advice
Thank you for giving good infromation
Really good information, thanks for the comparison
These days we are using AWeber and MailChimp for our campaign process but your list make us thought again.
I’m not happy at all with MailChimp. Has anyone found the same problems with MailChimp as I have? I find that many of my list members unsubscribe from my list daily. I know these people ands contact them and they say they have not unsubscribed. twice I even found my own email taken off the list. When I look into the MailChimp list Spam is the reason for the person’s unsubscription. Over the years I’ve been on MailChimp I’ve contacted support and I’ve done everything I can but nothing has changed. I’m now looking to move to another company.
Hi. thank you for the great information. I currently have Mail Chimp and it is set up to sync between my WordPress site and Mail Chimp. the problem is it isn’t and new subscribers to my blog are not being updated onto the list on the Mail chimp end. I have tried several fixes and nothing is working. I am unsure what to do now after endless googling it may be time to quit Mail Chimp. Seems others are having this problem also.
Hi,
Thanks for sharing the best email marketing services available in the market right now. I will love to begin with Mail Chimp.
I also had a similar experience with Get Response when sending out my 1st email using a direct sales list i had from my past job… banned me on the spot and poor customer service. They made me feel like a spammer when my email I crafted in no way was!!!!
Thank you for listing us! We hope you’re satisfied with our platform.
Which one of these lets you filter EU and non EU subscribers in order to segment the list? The GDPR goes into effect in a few days and Aweber has no means of segmenting the list that way.
I’v used MailChimp but my emails go in Promotion box of users whereas when I use GetResponse the same email lands in Primary. What could be the solution?
We’ve used MailChimp for years and are very satisfied. They continue to enhance the product beyond our needs. Glad they’re always ahead of the curve.
We’re pretty satisfied with how MailChimp gets the job done minus without their prices being so steep. Do you know how MailChimp can be integrated with Autotask? Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Edith,
We are not sure, you can try connecting it through Zapier which has support for both platforms.
I’ve been very satisfied so far with GetResponse. It’s super user-friendly, which is great if you’re just starting out.
Thank you for the list. I’ve used three of those on the list (Constant Contact, Mailchimp, and Campaign Monitor) over the years. They’re all good. My current email list marketing host, Madmimi.com, is better than any of the other three for a combination of low rates and great customer service. Its user interface is good.
Thanks for this. I’ll go investigate madmimi. I was suckered into G SUite and it was a disaster. Can’t believe a company like Google would offer such crap.
Editorial Staff, you are a genius! I didn’t even think to use that feature. I am going to look into it and add it as a reader tip into the post. So smart! I bet all the soccer parents love the cute emails
I have a photography site with and I would like to start an email marketing campaign to promote it. Any suggestions on the best email marketing company for this kind of online business? Thanks.
Mailchimp really lost it and being caught up by many other providers. Their support is really bad and in some ways even arrogant. Really disappointing after working with them for several years.
I recently had my MailChimp account suspended. One of my sites is in the ‘make money online’ space. It’s a completely legitimate website, but apparently if your emails contain keywords they don’t like, they will suspend you. I would not recommend using them. Contacting support I just get form responses that are completely unhelpful. There’s no phone support- just account termination. Really bad experience. Luckily, this is a very new site- but imagine if you have thousands of emails and they just shut you down without ANY recourse.
So, do you have any idea what you wrote that triggered your account suspension? I’d be interested in knowing.
so totally true this just happened to me as well. im looking for a new AR, any suggestions?
Yes I experienced the same thing, i tried creating other accounts too. When I was creating my landing pages, all of a sudden my mailchimp account has been suspended. That was really annoying. Three times I have done that and same thing happened. I don’t know what triggered them,
I am not happy with their system.
The post is very informative and the list you have shared with is great, but the Constant Contact is good I think to start the company as the live chat features are powerful in it can solve the one query on time. But it’s chargeable that to $20 at least it should be $10, I don’t know much about its but I’ll try for that free package and check it. Thank You.
I find Sendinblue very good, not so expensive as Mailchimp. and according the new laws in the EU
So, we have been using mail chimp, and they just booted us from using it because of new regulations. Does anyone know of a service that will allow us to send mass e-mails without issue?
Rob, you don’t say who ‘booted’ you from using it. A significant GDPR factor is non-profits having to consent/re-consent those on established email lists and experiencing significant proportions of lists being lost because people miss the notifications or are too busy to fill in yet more forms. However, I have found a few using a ‘one-touch’ re-subscription button that takes immediate effect, without the recipient having to do anything else. It would appear that the re-subscription rate is higher, the easier it is to activate. On enquiry, I was told that they were using mail chimp for this.
If anyone could give any GDPR basis for not using mail chimp – it would be interesting – but there is a mass of confusion out there at the moment. I would challenge the ‘booter’ to substantiate their opinion/action.
Thanks for posting! GetResponse is my all time favorite. Has anyone tried their marketing automation?
Dear,
I have lots of email data with me. I want to send email newsletter to them daily.
What you will suggest for me to go with?
Please help me. I checked most of the email sending services, they are charging more for less emails.
Hi Yakoob Can u please suggest me how to get email data….Just guide me, it will be help full for me to start good carrier.
Hey, great article!
Just wanted to notify you on a spelling error
“It integrates beautifully with WordPress, Magneto, Shopify, and many other platforms. If you are using WordPress, then see our ultimate guide to using MailChimp and WordPress for detailed instructions.”
It’s Magento instead of Magneto.
Cheers!
Hey Dylan,
Thanks for notifying us, we have fixed it
I have a small coaching business, any professional suggestions would be appreciated on what is the most productive above product to use.
Thank you
Good overview of platforms but I’m sick of these reviews that simply praise each platform, don’t rate them, don’t say what they are lacking or how they compare. Obviously it’s not to critique the platforms as they provide you with affiliate income, but sometimes I think you would do better with a more critical approach. Anyhow, my thoughts.
From where can I get a targeted email list for my products that I want to sell on line as I do not have a list?
This article is informative, but it does not offer distinguishing features between the services covered (other than mailchimp is free). You seemed to go to great lengths to say good things about each – although I’m sure each services has positive aspects. I would have benefited much more from a rating of some sort of the various features of each service, or at least the pros & cons of each.
Loved reading this! Which of these would you recommend so that I could set myself reminders on certain clients so that I can follow up with them in the future? I feel like I am doing a lot of extra steps that I might not have to do if I was using an actual marketing software. I am in the very beginning stages of getting my business out there and I would like to follow up with potential clients down the road with an email… is this a possibility or should I just keep using my excel spreadsheet!?
Hi Annie,
Did you find a solution to your situation? I’m in exactly the same place and about to start looking for something that can get my customers to tell me dates of things that I can then send emails to them around those dates,
Thanks
Noel
We just started using MailChimp because it seems to be the only one that offers a free account for small or new users. The problem is that there are so many steps for a potential subscriber to go through with both double opt-in and recaptcha, that we are getting at best complaints to worst, plain nasty comments posted on our Facebook page. We don’t know how many would be subscribers we lost because of this.
I have a scuba operation and have thousands of e-mail addresses from people that have used my service before. Is it alright to add them all to my new e-mail marketing newsletter? do they just unsubscribe if they don’t want it? What’s the right thing to do here?
Hi Adam,
Most email marketing services allow you to send an email to all users you are importing. This email asks their permission to be added into your email list. If they give consent, then they will be subscribed to your email list.
Hi Adam, Yes most of the time all email service providers (ESPs) will include an unsubscribe line in every email you send so you can stay Can Spam Complaint. It is also a great idea to add your unsubscribe link to the top of your emails as this give more options to your customers to be removed from your mailing lists with ease.
Best,
Mike
I agree with marketing automation. Most of the B2B companies are utilizing marketing automation because it can help in marketing processes. Also, when leads freeze over and unable to move toward sales, marketing automation enters, helping managers fish out qualified sales prospects.
Awesome summary of the tools. GetResponse has an interesting marketing automation solution. Is it easy to use?
Email marketing is the best option for targeting your readers. I am using Aweber and MailChimp, and I am satisfied with these.
Hi Jigar, why did you decide to use both AWeber and MailChip?
I also would like to know why you use both.
What about integration to generate leads from a website? That is what I need most out of a mail service. Which are best (and cheap)?
Nice Article, Nowadays, Email Marketing is considered an extremely powerful marketing tool. However, users need to know key factors before they start designing and launching their email marketing campaigns.
Happy to see GetResponse on the list! I like their marketing automation.
Great list but I am surprised you didn’t mention MadMimi.
MadMimi is cheaper than MailChimp and it gives users lots of addons that make alot of sense. Imagine, you can’t automate with MailChimp free 2000 option while MadMimi allows you to set up drips even when you are on the free plan. You can plug in rss feed, the interface is so simple to use (drag n drop) etc.
Good. Hw good is Madmimi
Hi,
Thanks for this list, to which you could add SendInBlue. Very intuitive, with responsive template, worpdpress plugin, analytics board. I use it for two years now for my little business in France.
Stephan
Looking good – Wish we had this article a few days ago! (After wasting many hours searching and comparing them all) We tried most of the above (Except ConvertKit, will check them out) but we found this little gem, SmartMailer.com worth considering for the next article as they offer more free subscribers and better priced than most.
Don’t be fooled, looks like a dodgy website. Browser prompted that the website is unsafe and do not proceed. it is not even secured (HTTPS:// )
How about MailerLite ?
It gives autoresponder for free account(1000 subscription)
Hi,
Is there a free service that lets you start a campaign from your phone?
Thanks,
Ted
Hands down MailChimp rules for small business and starter nonprofits. I will use nothing else.
Thank you for your research and the post. Very useful
After helping Small Biz’s and Non-Profits with Contact Contact, and then migrating them to MailChimp. Gonna have to disagree with #1. CC is only good if you have lots of resources (money) to gain. Way too complicated and unreliable for SMBs.
Thanks for the post, I see some new( to me) services. Eager to check them out.
MailChimp is indeed the best for non-profits due to their free pricing plan and non-profit discounts.
I think that all are amazing email marketing services but what is your opinion about mailrelay?
We have not tried MailRelay. Sorry Ramon.
Ok. Don’t worry.
I’m from Spain and recently the European Union have changed laws about email marketing and some services from non european companys wasn’t adapted to the new laws. I’ve read that mailrelay (european company) was adapted to this news laws.
Thanks.