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Email marketing is of paramount importance to small businesses to attract and nurture leads for their business. According to HubSpot, email marketing has an ROI of 4300%.
As such, marketers must prioritize email marketing and make it an integral part of their marketing strategy. Choosing the right email marketing software provider (ESP) can have a huge impact on the success of your email marketing strategy. In this article, we’ll review the 4 best email marketing tools your business can invest in.
1) Mailchimp
Started in 2001 by Ben Chestnut, Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing services on the market. It’s highly popular with small businesses because of its Forever Free plan which allows you to send 12,000 emails a month to 2000 subscribers for free. This is where Mailchimp has an edge over other ESPs in this list. The Forever Free plan doesn’t require you to input your credit card details and as the name suggests, it’s free forever. No catch!
The only disadvantage of being on the Forever Free plan is that you won’t have access to some of Mailchimp’s premium features such as email automation and send time optimization. Other than that, there’s very little to complain about Mailchimp’s free plan.
Pricing – Mailchimp offers 3 plans – 1 free plan and 2 paid plans. The paid plans are send-based (pay as you go) and list-based (monthly).
Here’s a breakdown of Mailchimp’s pros and cons:
Mailchimp Pros & Cons
Pros
- The Forever Free plan is an excellent plan for email marketing beginners.
- Super fast setup and friendly interface
- Fantastic pre-designed email templates
- Powerful segmentation and A/B testing capabilities
- Easy to use
Cons
- The Forever Free plan lacks email automation, a key feature which helps engage and nurture business leads
- No phone or chat support. Customer support is restricted to email
- Confusing pricing structure
Mailchimp’s Free Plan —> Sign up for Mailchimp’s Forever Free Plan
Free Resources by Mailchimp
- Mailchimp Guide for Bloggers
- Email Marketing Field Guide
- Working with Automation
2) AWeber
Founded in 1998, AWeber is the preferred ESP used by over 120,000+ small businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs from all around the world.
AWeber is easy to use with a friendly interface, packed with features, and has the #1 customer service team among all email marketing services.
Pricing – AWeber’s pricing is list-based. It offers a free 30-day trial for lists of up to 500 subscribers. Once the trial is over, you can opt for any of the following list-based pricing options:
- Up to 500 subscribers – $19/month
- Up to 2,500 subscribers – $29/month
- Up to 5,000 subscribers – $49/month
- Up to 10,000 subscribers – $69/month
- Up to 25,000 subscribers – $149/month
- Over 25,000 subscribers – Contact AWeber for pricing
If you exceed your plan’s monthly limit, you will be billed for the next plan up. This is a common practice among majority of email service providers.
AWeber Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to use with a user-friendly interface
- Autoresponder feature – . Autoresponders are easier to setup and execute on AWeber than any other ESP
- Wide variety of email templates
- Excellent customer support
- AWeber’s Free Stock Image Library – AWeber provides 6000+ free stock images which you can use in your email campaigns
Cons
- Poorly designed email templates – In terms of quantity, AWeber offers more templates than other ESPs. But in terms of quality, their email templates are just so poorly designed. For an email marketing veteran like AWeber, one would expect the quality of email templates to be much higher.
AWeber FREE Trial —> Sign up for a free 30-day trial of AWeber
Free Resources by AWeber
- What to Write in Your Emails (Free Course + Email Templates)
- Growing Your Business with Email Marketing (PDF)
3) GetResponse
Launched in 1999, GetResponse is yet another email marketing service with a lot of reputation and a wide array of helpful tools and reports suitable for both email marketing newbies and pros.
Pricing – The basic email plan gives you unlimited email marketing, autoresponders and a landing page that can accommodate up to 1000 visitors per month. This plan is perfect for small businesses and professional bloggers.
- Up to 1,000 subscribers – $15/month
- Up to 2,500 subscribers – $25/month
- Up to 5,000 subscribers – $45/month
- Up to 10,000 subscribers – $65/month
- Up to 25,000 subscribers – $145/month
- Up to 50,000 subscribers – $250/month
- Up to 100,000 subscribers – $450/month
The Pro email plan removes the limitations on the landing page and allows you to make as many of them as you want. You can also assign up to 3 users to your account and access webinars (up to 100 attendees).
- Up to 5,000 subscribers – $49/month
- Up to 10,000 subscribers – $75/month
- Up to 25,000 subscribers – $165/month
- Up to 50,000 subscribers – $280/month
- Up to 100,000 subscribers – $490/month
The Max email plan allows you to assign up to 5 users to your account. You’ll also get a custom domain, a dedicated account manager, and you get access to webinars with 500 attendees.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers – $165/month
- Up to 25,000 subscribers – $255/month
- Up to 50,000 subscribers – $370/month
- Up to 100,000 subscribers – $580/month
There is an Enterprise email plan as well which starts from $799/month with 100,000 subscribers.
GetResponse Free Trial —> Try GetResponse FREE for 30 Days – No Credit Card Required
4) ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a preferred email marketing service of several professional bloggers including Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income.
ConvertKit offers the same functionality and ease of use as other ESPs in this list, with one key difference: it’s tailored more towards bloggers. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not suitable for small businesses. The automation rules that you can setup via ConvertKit are just phenomenal. It’s based on a very simple “if this/then that” sequence and it can truly help you capture more business leads.
Pricing – The ConvertKit pricing is list-based. The biggest flip side is that there is no free trial available. However, when you sign up, there is an option for you to get the first month free. The basic email plan with 1000 subscribers starts from $29/month.
- 1,000 subscribers: $29/month
- 3,000 subscribers: $49/month
- 5,000 subscribers: $79/month
- 8,000 subscribers: $99/month
- 10,000 subscribers: $119/month
- 15,000 subscribers: $149/month
- 20,000 subscribers: $179/month
- 25,000 subscribers: $199/month
- 35,000 subscribers: $259/month
- 45,000 subscribers: $319/month
- 55,000 subscribers: $379/month
- 65,000 subscribers: $439/month
- 75,000 subscribers: $499/month
- 85,000 subscribers: $559/month
- 95,000 subscribers: $619/month
- 105,000 subscribers: $679/month
- 115,000 subscribers: $739/month
- 125,000 subscribers: $799/month
- 135,000 subscribers: $859/month
- 145,000 subscribers: $919/month
- 155,000 subscribers: $979/month
- 165,000 subscribers: $1,039/month
- 175,000 subscribers: $1,099/month
- 185,000 subscribers: $1,159/month
- 195,000 subscribers: $1,219/month
- 205,000 subscribers: $1,279/month
- 215,000 subscribers: $1,339/month
- 225,000 subscribers: $1,399/month
- 235,000 subscribers: $1,459/month
- 245,000 subscribers: $1,519/month
- 255,000 subscribers: $1,579/month
- 500,000 subscribers: $2,449/month
- 900,000 subscribers: $3,999/month
ConvertKit Pros and Cons
Pros
- The email automation feature is both powerful and easy to use
- Excellent sign-up forms and accompanying editor
Cons
- Limited reporting features
- No free trial
Sign up for ConvertKit —> ConvertKit First Month Free Signup
Free Resources by ConvertKit
- The Complete Guide to Email Marketing (FREE EBOOK) –> Download Now
- The State of Blogging 2016 (Annual Report) –> Get It Now
- Don’t Switch from Mailchimp (Blog Post) –> Read It Now
