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A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Email Marketing Services
Go Further With the Right Partner
Megan Smith
June 20th, 2024
Your mission (should you accept it) is to maximize your most lucrative channel with one of the best email marketing services and proper management.
Email marketing is the best way to get your message out. It generates an average ROI of $36 for every dollar invested, which is unmatched by any other channel.
Most people use email and check it often. Moreover, your message will wait until your audience is ready for it. Unlike with social media marketing, you don’t depend on the whims of a continually updated feed.
You can further tailor content for different self-selecting audiences, developing meaningful long-term relationships with your customers.
This post assumes that you’re convinced, on board, and ready to launch into email marketing, yada yada, etc., and so on. (Not true? Check out these statistics that prove its value.)
Table of Contents
Next step: Pick an email marketing service.
There are tons of options. How can you find the right one for you? Here’s what you should look for, the most popular providers, and our top pick.
Email Marketing Services: Key Features
Whether you work independently or with a larger team, access to the best tools allows you to get the most out of every communication.
These are the features you need.
Strong User Interface
Tools matter, but the most essential element in your email marketing success is you. You need to be able to work with the service you choose.
In discussing the best email marketing services, I’ve noted ones that receive frequent kudos or complaints about their interface.
Find a platform that you understand and enjoy. There is no universal truth. Every single service has a couple of fans who feel as if it were designed just for them.
Most services offer limited free plans or free trials, so take advantage of the chance to take the service for a spin.
Deliverability
A high email deliverability rate allows your emails to reach the intended recipients' inboxes without being flagged as spam or getting blocked. It directly impacts your marketing campaign's reach, visibility, and response rates. Otherwise, you're just talking to yourself.
While your domain reputation and list management ultimately affect deliverability, services’ reputations also matter. Look for a provider known for strong deliverability.
Effective Email Templates
A good newsletter template provides the perfect starting point, saving time and ensuring an enjoyable reading experience.
Elements of an attractive email template:
Attractiveness: An engaging layout helps your audience connect to content.
Compliance: There should be a designated space for necessary legal inclusions, such as unsubscribe links or your company's address.
Customizability: With customizable templates, you can tailor your newsletter's appearance to match your brand's unique style and personality.
Compatibility: Templates should display correctly across diverse email clients — Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
Mobile responsiveness: As more people open emails on their mobile devices, the template also should render well on various screen sizes.
Integration of website and social media links: By including social media icons and website links, you can offer your audience more ways to connect.
Variety: Different designs suit different purposes. Make sure that you have options that meet your brand's specific requirements.
Analytical Tools and Reports
A central component of email marketing management services is the ability to make and implement data-driven strategic decisions.
That’s why you should choose a service with strong analytics, allowing you to uncover actionable insights from campaign reports.
Marketers should be able to examine metrics that indicate a campaign’s reach, engagement, and conversions and identify areas for improvement.
Segmentation Options
By 2026, projections indicate that about 392.5 billion emails will be sent each day.
Inboxes can fill up as brands bombard consumers with content that may not fit their specific needs or interests. Don’t add to the clutter. Embrace the power of segmentation.
By dividing your customer base into smaller groups based on demographics, preferences, or behavior, you can tailor content to meet the unique needs of each segment. Give people the emails they want to receive.
For instance, an online clothing retailer might segment their list based on gender, age, or previous purchases. That way, they can show off the products most likely to resonate with different audiences.
Automation
Automation capabilities save time and streamline processes. They also help you send the right message at the right moment when the customer takes an action that triggers its delivery.
Some of the best email automation ideas include:
Welcome emails
Re-engagement emails
Abandoned cart notifications
Birthday emails
Feedback requests
Targeted offers
You can also automate certain list-cleaning and sorting functions. Ensure that your lists remain highly targeted by automatically adding subscribers to various segments.
Personalization and Customization
Personalization in email marketing goes beyond just adding the recipient's name to the email. It involves tailoring the content of the email to meet the specific needs and interests of each recipient.
Studies indicate that customers now expect more personalized experiences. The more relevant and personalized your email content is, the more likely subscribers are to engage.
For example, Allakando, a Swedish tutoring company that uses GetResponse, creates targeted content targeted for educators, teachers, and students. They pair segments with custom fields to ensure a relevant, personalized experience at scale.
Customize unique email content based on subscriber behaviors and preferences. For example, a software company might send different emails to customers who have just signed up for a free trial, compared to those who have been paying customers for several months.
The best email marketing services also allow you to use dynamic content, pieces of an email that change based on user behavior, location, and preferences. Consider providing personalized notifications, spotlighting different stories, or incorporating interactive or time-dependent features.
Email Testing Capabilities
Email testing options are crucial for enhancing open rates, clicks, and conversions.
Whether it's changing the subject line of an email or altering the call-to-action on a landing page, small changes can have large effects.
Look for a service that allows you to A/B test different variations of content, discovering which option appeals to your audience and ultimately drives more conversions.
List-Building Tools
The object is to grow. (I assume.)
Your email service should make it easy with newsletter growth tools that help you grow your subscriber base.
Look for:
Sign-Up Forms: These are essential for collecting email addresses from potential customers. Look for customizable forms that integrate with existing channels. Pop-up options can also be effective attention-grabbers.
Landing pages: These standalone web pages are designed specifically to capture leads or present specific content.
Lead magnets or premium content: These are incentives you offer in exchange for signing up or upgrading a subscription. Consider whether the tool allows for easy distribution or gated access.
Social media integration: Capture emails from your social platforms. Check for smooth integration with your most important social media platforms.
Referral programs: Reach more diverse audiences and reward your current customers for sharing your emails.
Built-in ad and recommendation tools: Some services (Hint: beehiiv) even provide tools that connect you with other newsletters and brands.
The right tools can accelerate your growth in almost unimaginable ways. beehiiv’s referral program helped the AI newsletter The Brink gain 14,000 subscribers. Not bad, right?
Oh, did I forget to mention that The Brink hit 14,000 subscribers in the first month after launching?
Customer Support
Be confident that you can reach assistance if/when you need it. Customer service tools and a library of helpful resources enable you to keep your email program running at peak performance.
Best Email Marketing Services
It’s time to check out the best email marketing management services and find one that excites you.
1. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a powerhouse for experienced marketers. The comprehensive platform offers a range of features from email marketing to CRM, catering to various business needs.
Pros of ActiveCampaign
There are many advantages to using ActiveCampaign. It's known for:
Deliverability: ActiveCampaign consistently receives high ratings for deliverability.
Thorough reporting: Depending on the plan, reports can include contact trends, deal reports, and chat conversions as well as campaign data.
Automation recipes: The marketing automation tools are robust, yet user-friendly, offering recipes for custom automation. List management can also be automated.
CRM and marketing bundles: ActiveCampaign also provides a full CRM service, which can be bundled with email marketing for a discount.
Cons of ActiveCampaign
The pricing can put the platform out of reach for smaller businesses, and navigating the different plans’ features can be tricky. The platform's complexity also challenges many marketing beginners.
Pricing
ActiveCampaign pricing includes marketing-only plans: Lite (starting at $29/month), Plus (starting at $49/month), and Professional (starting at $149/month). Marketing/CRM bundles either start at $93/month for the Plus bundle or $386/month for the Professional bundle.
2. AWeber
AWeber provides small and medium-sized businesses with a tailored set of tools for email marketers.
Pros of AWeber
AWeber is a solid choice and deserves its place among the best email marketing services due to its:
Deliverability: AWeber consistently ranks highly when it comes to email deliverability.
Customer service: Users appreciate the wide availability of support and describe the support staff as "top-notch," "well-trained," and "courteous.”
Strong reporting: Analytics and detailed reports make it easy to track every element of a campaign, including the revenue generated.
Cons of AWeber
AWeber can be clunky. It would benefit from more customization features, newer templates, and a better-organized dashboard.
Some users report errors when it comes to mobile optimization and image uploads, fairly basic email marketing features that customers should be able to take for granted.
Pricing
AWeber plans include a limited free plan as well as two main paid options: Lite (starting at $12.50/month) and Plus (starting at $20/month). Enterprises can choose the Unlimited plan at a fixed price of $899/month.
3. Brevo
Brevo (formerly SendinBlue) is a versatile, but relatively cost-effective marketing tool.
Pros of Brevo
Brevo is best for those looking to contact their audience in multiple ways. It boasts:
Comprehensive communication channels: Brevo users can send emails, SMS, WhatsApp messages, and web push notifications.
Improved navigation: A major reorganization has made it easier for users to find tools and create campaigns, addressing a former pain point.
Advanced automation builder: Brevo's automation builder is sophisticated yet easy to use. It allows users to build workflows with if/else conditions and track contact behavior.
Cons of Brevo
Brevo loses points when it comes to advanced email editing features with limited templates and content types. While its CRM capabilities are impressive, clients may prefer the ability to do more across fewer channels.
Pricing
Brevo's pricing starts at $25/month for unlimited contacts and 20,000 emails. The Business plan, which starts from $65/month, unlocks features like A/B testing and landing pages.
It also offers a generous free plan for those looking to dip a toe into email marketing.
4. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is one of the best email marketing management services for agencies and also appeals to users who prioritize design elements.
Pros of Campaign Monitor
When listing Campaign Monitor’s benefits, expert reviewers highlight its:
High-quality templates: Campaign Monitor's key strength lies in its templates. With 108 templates featuring web fonts and responsive designs, users have tons of options to create engaging emails.
Detailed subscriber profiles: Campaign Monitor provides detailed analytics information on individual users, allowing users to segment lists into highly targeted groups.
Unique white label option: Campaign Monitor's white label option enables agencies to rebrand the product for their clients, providing an added layer of customization.
Campaign Monitor campaigns are the shiniest. The service’s strength lies in gorgeous, customizable templates. This message from Rip Curl has the high gloss of a magazine.
Cons of Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor could improve its split testing feature, which only allows for two variants, and expand its reporting features. While it provides detailed analytics for individual subscribers, reports on trends and campaigns are more limited.
Perhaps the most common sticking point is that the service's pricing tends to be more expensive than competitors. For the cost of its base platform, many users would prefer to buy a service that extends beyond email marketing.
Pricing
Campaign Monitor offers three pricing plans. Lite starts at $11/month, Essentials at $19/month, and Premier at $149/month. Prices within tiers depend on the size of the user's database.
Below the premier level, users do not have access to its impressive white label and advanced segmentation features.
5. Constant Contact
Constant Contact has earned a reputation as one of the best email marketing services for its intuitive interface and extensive library of customizable templates. It's particularly useful for businesses seeking to manage event invitations and registrations alongside their email marketing efforts.
Pros of Constant Contact
Constant Contact comes with several impressive tools:
Niche features: Constant Contact packs multiple niche features for different industries, such as digital product downloads, surveys, and tools for event management, appointment scheduling, and social campaigns.
Activity-based segmentation: Constant Contact automatically creates audience segments based on activity, allowing you to tailor your frequency accordingly.
Constant Contact’s niche-directed templates allow users to find specific designs suited to their needs. For example, they have templates for seasonal donation requests that nonprofits such as Artists for Humanity use to procure the funds they need for the coming year.
Cons of Constant Contact
The main criticisms levied against Constant Contact have to do with its price-performance ratio and limited personalization and automation features. Sign-up forms also come with limited customization options.
Pricing
Constant Contact’s prices start with the Lite plan at $12/month. Standard starts at $35/month and Premium at $80/month. As with most email marketing services, each plan contains a tiered pricing structure depending on the number of users.
6. Drip
Drip focuses on e-commerce businesses, providing features like customer journey mapping, automation, and personalization.
Pros of Drip
In addition to advanced reporting capabilities and customer behavior tracking, the platform provides:
Customizable forms and automation workflows: With Drip, users can create customizable forms for lead capture and set up a wide range of automated workflows, including personalized promotions on their websites.
Extensive integration options: Drip integrates with over 100 companies, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Facebook Custom Audiences, and ClickFunnels.
Cons of Drip
Drip has a steeper learning curve than other email marketing tools. Once users familiarize themselves with the platform, they find it considerably easier to use.
Some of Drip’s strengths also become weaknesses for certain clients. The platform was built with e-commerce in mind, and small businesses in other industries benefit less from these tailored features.
Pricing
Drip's pricing is based exclusively on the number of contacts in your list. Plans start at $39 per month for up to 2,500 contacts.
7. GetResponse
GetResponse is a comprehensive marketing tool that allows users to move between channels with ease, connecting with customers wherever they are.
Pros of GetResponse
GetResponse aims to be an all-in-one solution. Features include:
AI Autoresponder: AI auto-responses take email automation to the next level, allowing you to design trigger campaigns in seconds.
Extensive data segmentation options: GetResponse excels in data segmentation, allowing for more targeted and effective email campaigns.
High deliverability rate: GetResponse boasts one of the highest deliverability rates thanks to its strong seller reputation.
Webinar feature: You can host webinars through the platform, which allows up to 100 participants, with one-click recording, streaming video, multiple presenters, PowerPoint uploads, and breakout rooms.
Cons of GetResponse
Sometimes less is more. The most frequently voiced complaint is that the user interface is clunky and difficult to navigate. This can make it hard to find the features you need.
Pricing
GetResponse pricing plans include Email Marketing (starting at $16/month), Marketing Automation (starting at $49/month), and E-commerce marketing (starting at $98/month).
Features vary widely, so make sure that your plan includes everything you need and expect.
8. Intuit Mailchimp
Recently acquired by Intuit, Mailchimp is a well-established digital marketing hub for brands. Known for its all-in-one marketing approach, Mailchimp gives customers an integrated suite of services, including email marketing, social media ads, and landing pages.
Pros of Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s most-praised features include:
User-friendly email builder and automation: Mailchimp's email builder offers dozens of stylish layouts that can be customized with drag-and-drop functionality and an intuitive system for automating email sequences.
Comprehensive campaign tracking: You can access data about audience activity, click performance, demographics, and geolocation, empowering you to fine-tune your marketing strategies.
Mobile app: The Mailchimp mobile app adds to the platform's convenience, allowing users to manage campaigns on the go.
Segmentation and tagging: Mailchimp offers multiple ways to annotate and divide contacts.
Steel City Collectibles is one business that has capitalized on Mailchimp’s segmentation features. Trade shows and in-store events are a huge part of the sports memorabilia business, so it uses highly targeted segments to send subscribers upcoming events based on past attendance.
Cons of Mailchimp
While Mailchimp is widely praised for its versatility, its extensive features lead some beginners to find the platform overwhelming. It may be unnecessarily complex for smaller businesses or those with simpler marketing needs.
Incremental pricing increases within each tier mean that the service becomes expensive — sometimes before true brand business growth increases the marketing budget.
Pricing
Prices increase depending on your number of subscribers, but Mailchimp’s main pricing tiers start at the following prices:
Essentials: Supports up to 500 contacts for $13 per month
Standard: Offers advanced features for 500 contacts at $20 per month
Premium: Provides support for up to 10,000 contacts at $350 per month
9. MailerLite
MailerLite brands itself as one of the best email marketing services, packing a host of features for a reasonable price.
Pros of MailerLite
Fans of the platform endorse its:
Advanced automation tools: Though less expensive than many of its competitors, MailerLite does not skimp on automation features. It is easy to set up automated flows based on common or customized triggers.
User-friendly interface and landing page builders: Simple and intuitive, MailerLite’s builders have a gentle learning curve.
Comprehensive subscriber management: MailerLite gives its customers extensive filtering options as well as an auto-remove feature for non-engaged subscribers, helping you keep your list clean and targeted.
Cons of MailerLite
While MailerLite offers many integrations, some users want more, with several citing the lack of ability to trigger workflows from web page visits.
MailerLite also does not provide the social media and ad functionalities boasted by some of its competitors.
Pricing
MailerLite's paid plans come in two tiers: Growing Business (starting at $9/month) and Advanced (starting at $18/month). Beyond these initial rates, prices depend on the number of subscribers.
The platform also offers limited-feature free plans for up to 1,000 contacts, which is one of the most generous free options you’ll find.
10. Moosend
Moosend is a powerful, yet user-friendly email marketing service. It stands out with its advanced automation features, allowing businesses to create personalized customer journeys with ease.
Pros of Moosend
Much like MailerLite, Moosend prioritizes affordable pricing and ease of use. Strengths include:
Budget-friendly plans with unlimited email sends: Moosend appeals to marketers with a high-volume strategy by refusing to cap email sends.
Comprehensive automation templates: Moosend's automation builder comes with 18 templates to help businesses streamline their email marketing efforts.
Mobile app: Businesses with remote or traveling teams benefit from the ability to access, edit, and preview their email campaigns on the go.
Cons of Moosend
Moosend isn’t for brands seeking extensive customization. Its integrations and form templates are comparatively limited.
Some reviewers have also reported a slow user interface and limited analytics capabilities; the latter of which will particularly frustrate more advanced marketers.
Pricing
Moosend’s pricing structure is ultra-simple. Unless you’re looking for an enterprise option, you’ll pay solely based on the number of subscribers, starting at just $9/month.
11. Omnisend
As its name implies, Omnisend specializes in more than one channel, focusing on email and SMS. Its platform also offers advanced segmentation and automation capabilities, particularly for e-commerce brands.
Pros of Omnisend
Omnisend fans cite its:
Ease of use: Beginners love Omnisend and praise its comprehensive onboarding process. The platform is quick to learn and straightforward to operate, making it ideal for small businesses seeking to up their marketing game.
Product Picker: Omnisend’s Product Picker allows you to quickly select items from your online store, automatically filling in the proper pictures and descriptions. It’s a great time-saver for e-commerce businesses.
Premium automation: A highly visual builder allows you to design complex workflows with ease.
The Cake Store in the UK used Omnisend’s automation workflows to supercharge its conversions and capitalize on annual occasions. 340 days after a customer creates an order, they receive a reminder, an offer for 10% off, and pictures of top-selling confections.
Cons of Omnisend
A significant price jump between the standard and premium plans may cause sticker shock, so make sure the added capabilities justify the cost for your brand.
The biggest downside, though, is a low deliverability rate. Omnisend routinely places near the bottom when compared to its peers. Remember, it doesn’t matter how fabulous the message is if it never reaches its target.
Pricing
Omnisend's pricing structure contains two main plans: Standard (starting at $16/month) and Pro (starting at $59/month). Those who want SMS features will need to upgrade to the Pro plan.
Omnisend also offers a limited free plan, which is a good way to take the service for a test drive.
12. Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is part of the Zoho suite of business applications.
Pros of Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is known for simplicity and effectiveness at a competitive price. Its biggest pros are:
User-friendly interface: The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, which can save users a significant amount of time and effort.
Zoho suite: Zoho Campaigns makes the most sense for people using other Zoho tools, allowing seamless integration between in-platform applications.
Affordability: Zoho has an extensive free plan, and its paid plans are significantly less expensive than its competitors.
Cons of Zoho Campaigns
To a certain extent, you get what you pay for.
Zoho Campaigns is a phenomenal tool for those on a strict budget, but it’s an email-only tool and doesn’t provide features for more complex marketing needs. For instance, some users protest inadequate campaign tracking and limited automation.
Pricing
Zoho Campaigns promises always low pricing. Its free plan allows for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 sends a month. Paid plans are the Standard plan (starting at $3/month) and the Professional plan (starting at $4.50/month).
Best Email Marketing Services: Top Pick
The above options are all solid options for brands in need of a good email marketing service. We want you to find the right solution for your brand.
Many platforms have specialized tools that ideally suit them to specific use cases. If event marketing is at the core of your strategy, Constant Contact is a good choice. Do you need to be able to run webinars through your service? Consider GetResponse.
Which is best for email marketing?
The answer is beehiiv. Our top pick is no surprise. All other things being equal, we truly don’t believe you can do better than the affordable platform that enables exponential growth.
beehiiv
beehiiv is a purpose-built platform designed to help users publish, grow, and even monetize their newsletters.
Pros of beehiiv
In addition to free and affordable plans, beehiiv delivers the most sophisticated content and list-building tools around.
Powerful Growth Tools
beehiiv aims to help users expand their subscriber base with built-in features that include:
Referral program: Grow faster by rewarding subscribers who do your marketing for you.
Newsletter cross-promotions: Recommend and be recommended by publications with similar audiences. Auto-subscribe, one-click magic links remove all possible friction from the process. You can also accelerate growth with boosts, paying per new subscriber who signs up through another newsletter.
Gated content: Limit what people can access without subscribing to future issues, encouraging people to opt-in to your newsletter.
Pop-up and embeddable subscription forms: Encourage movement between channels with sign-up forms that can be added to websites and social accounts.
Monetization Opportunities
You can use your newsletter to promote other products or turn it into its own source of revenue.
beehiiv potentially provides content creators with multiple streams of income. Take advantage of boosts or the beehiiv ad network to get paid for featuring other brands or create premium content for paid subscriptions.
Indirect monetization is also possible. For example, the real estate newsletter The Blueprint developed a large, engaged free audience. Instead of charging for the product, its creators then launched a course on how to sell luxury real estate, generating revenue from this complementary product.
In addition to a great editor, beehiiv provides helpful extras such as embeddable one-click polls and customizable content blocks.
The Soulful Entrepreneur used beehiiv’s polls to unlock sustained growth. Matt Gray consistently delivers content designed to be opened and shared by continually asking readers what they want to learn.
You work hard. Let us help with newsletter AI that can create on-brand text and images. People with diverse audiences can also use AI to translate their content as needed.
Advanced Segmentation Tools
Divide your audience into sections and tailor what each receives. In addition to comprehensive reports, beehiiv enables you to create and distribute surveys. The best way to know what members of your audience want is to ask them.
Marketing Features
beehiiv outranks direct competitors in terms of marketing capabilities, including automation features to personalize subscriber experiences. You can also A/B test emails or connect to your other marketing tools.
Cons of beehiiv
Nobody’s perfect, not even us. We’ve only recently joined the list of best email marketing services. We’re young, exciting, and scrappy…which means we’re rapidly developing new features, some of which other services may already have.
One area for improvement: integrations. Current, direct integrations include
Wordpress
Squarespace
Wix
Webflow
Pollinate
Zapier
Shopify
Privy
It’s a quality list, but it isn’t as long as the one boasted by some of our competitors.
Pricing
How much is the best email marketing?
Potentially $0. beehiiv’s options include the most generous free plan around, allowing for up to 2,500 subscribers.
When you’re ready to level-up, you can choose between the Scale plan ($39/month) and the Max plan ($99/month), depending on what features you need.
How To Get Started With the Best Email Marketing Service
Now that you know the best email marketing services around, it’s time to get cracking on your brand’s email marketing.
Instead of throwing a dart at a list of the top options, find the one that best suits your brand. (Then, you can play darts if you wish.)
The first step is to identify the features that you most need. Create a list of your needs, a list of your wants, and a list of any limits such as your list size and budget.
Once you’ve chosen a service that meets your criteria, create a free account or sign up for a trial. Play around with the features to make sure that you love it as much as expected.
After that, the sky’s the limit. Start sending!
Why Trust Us
Developed by the team behind the mega-successful newsletter The Morning Brew, beehiiv designed the email newsletter and marketing service it wished it had when starting out. The platform spent time digging into all the available options. As for me, I’m a digital marketing pro with a specialization in email and long-form content who has worked with multiple email marketing services.
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