{"id":15182,"date":"2020-11-12T17:30:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T17:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/?p=15182"},"modified":"2022-09-16T22:23:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T22:23:31","slug":"best-email-marketing-services-for-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/best-email-marketing-services-for-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Email marketing is unusual in the advertising sphere. Unlike some forms of ads, which people actively hate and avoid, a vast majority of people like receiving emails from companies they\u2019ve done business with at least once a month<\/a>. A smaller number of people like receiving marketing emails every day, and even if they don\u2019t buy every day, that\u2019s still a lot of views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, while larger companies have more flexibility to experiment or even create their own email marketing systems, small businesses often rely on existing options. When margins are tighter, a few percentage points of difference between a company can be enough to make or break your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, we looked through the options to find the ten best email marketing services for small businesses. Before we get into the reviews, however, we want to briefly explain our process and how to interpret these reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every email marketing service is different, and even more importantly, so is every small business. What works for other stores in your industry won\u2019t necessarily work for you, particularly when we account for your staff\u2019s skill and how much time you can devote to creating marketing emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why our top companies list is alphabetical and does not have a universal winner or \u201cbest overall\u201d. Titles like those can imply that you should choose a particular service even when that may not be right for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, we recommend reading through the reviews of all of these services, then determining which of them best fits your needs as a small business. Once you know that, you can focus on choosing between your top choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t forget to account for company growth. If your business is stable and unlikely to change significantly in the future, that\u2019s different from a business where you may need significantly higher marketing capacity over the next few years. It\u2019s better to go with the service you want to use in the future, even if that\u2019s different from the best choice right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, all of the information below is accurate as of the last time we updated this article. However, some elements (like pricing) may have changed since then. Always check the current pricing on a marketing service\u2019s website before you sign up with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ActiveCampaign<\/a> is an automation-focused marketing platform with a wide variety of features. Outside of email marketing, it also provides services like CRM, win probability estimations, market segmentation, and even engagement tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This makes ActiveCampaign fundamentally more robust than email-focused companies, although not every small business wants or needs these features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like all good marketing companies, ActiveCampaign features an extensive collection of analytics options to help you understand what your audience responds to. Once you know what works, you can perform additional tests to continue optimizing your emails and improving your results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the fundamental key to success in email marketing as a small business. When the evidence guides your actions, you can produce better marketing emails with less effort. They even save older drafts so you can revert a template anytime you need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, ActiveCampaign is a solid choice for many small businesses. It\u2019s also extremely budget-friendly, with the basic email service available for as little as $9\/mo if you have 500 or fewer contacts. The pricing goes up as you get more contacts, but you should get enough of a return on your investment to cover each stage when you get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We particularly like how you can focus on email marketing without paying for all of their other features. The premium option levels include more than most small businesses need, so paying for that would be a waste of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, the other features also offer the opportunity for growth, so ActiveCampaign is a good choice if you expect your business to change over time and want easy access to marketing systems beyond emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AWeber<\/a> is a small business email marketing system, which is a significant difference from ActiveCampaign above. Like our previous choice, they focus on using automation to streamline the process and improve results for companies like yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from its technological features, AWeber offers 24\/7 customer support. That\u2019s extremely<\/i> useful if you\u2019re planning a marketing campaign late at night or even early in the morning if you end up needing help with a technical issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even better, they offer a free version of their services. This supports up to 500 subscribers on your list and 3000 emails per month maximum, but also offers outstanding access to their other software and services. AWeber free includes email design, campaign automation, landing pages, full technical support, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We like this a lot. If you have an incredibly small business, free email marketing is the best deal you can get, and AWeber\u2019s systems are good enough to make it work for you. Even if you have more customers than that, you can start with only part of your subscription base to test their system and get to know it, then sign up for a paid plan when you\u2019re more familiar with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With all of that in mind, AWeber is a good choice only if you\u2019re a small business and expect to remain so. It does not offer other types of marketing services, so you\u2019d need to sign up with someone else to do anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re also a bit more expensive than some competitors on the lower end, starting about $19\/mo for up to 500 subscribers on a pro plan and scaling up to $149\/mo for a maximum of 25,000 customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At that point, though, you\u2019re stretching the definition of a small business and should consider other services. We like AWeber as an option for small companies, but it\u2019s not a great choice for medium or large organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constant Contact<\/a> is a comprehensive marketing platform offering email, online stores, website creation, and social media marketing as its main focuses. However, they also serve as a good example of when to scrutinize marketing hype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, they claim that you can build an excellent website in minutes. While it\u2019s true that you can use a template to set up the basics of a website, creating a truly comprehensive site that includes unique images and photos, company information, and content for users to access takes somewhat longer. In short, remember to be careful when a company hypes itself up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n As we can see from these features, Constant Contact is fundamentally different from our first two choices. It\u2019s not as easy to use as AWeber, so it\u2019s not the best choice if you\u2019re short on time and want to automate as much as you can. However, since it\u2019s more interconnected, it offers seamless support for more marketing strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constant Contact also works out better for companies expecting some level of growth. The more types of marketing a company offers, the better it is as you continue growing. Constant Contact offers a 60-day email marketing trial, which is long enough to learn most of the nuances of their system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email marketing here starts at $20\/mo, which is relatively high for the introductory level. Websites are sold separately and start at $10\/month, and they include SSL Certificates, unlimited storage, analytics, custom domains, and eCommerce support. However, they have extra transaction fees, and that adds up over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ConvertKit<\/a> is a creativity-focused marketing platform. Alongside email marketing, it also focuses on signup forms and landing pages for visitors. Note that this isn\u2019t quite the same thing as a full website design. Landing pages are simpler, and users may not visit anywhere else, but sometimes that\u2019s all you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main difference here is that ConvertKit isn\u2019t so much for small businesses as it is for tiny<\/i> businesses. You might use it for selling individual products to relatively small groups of people, rather than a larger number of people around the world or in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these are decent features, and to an extent, we\u2019re glad ConvertKit exists. There are only so many large businesses out there, and not every small business wants to grow that way. Companies that focus exclusively on the smallest businesses aren\u2019t right for everyone, but they are<\/i> right for some<\/i> people, and that\u2019s what really matters here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, ConvertKit only makes sense if you\u2019re extremely small and just want to do easy setups for marketing your products. This is closer to hobby-level than true business-level stuff. It\u2019s also a good option if you want to test things with a smaller audience before opening up your marketing to a larger group. That\u2019s a niche case, but it is a viable option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drip<\/a> is a small business-focused eCommerce engine. Their main product is something they call ECRM, or eCommerce customer relationship management. This is an important distinction from purely email-based marketing because it means you can\u2019t effectively separate the email from everything else. You should use all of their systems, or none of it, but nothing in-between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like ConvertKit, Drip isn\u2019t a great choice once your business grows past a certain point. It has a process to use, and that process certainly works, but it\u2019s only flexible within its own structure and doesn\u2019t connect too well to most outside services. That\u2019s why businesses that want to work with a lot of other services should choose another email provider instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Drip is<\/i> easy to set up and get going. Their workflows are the biggest part of this because most of those have been heavily optimized over the years to work for most people in most situations. You can realistically install dozens of well-made automated workflows in a couple of minutes, giving you an instant, fully-functioning marketing campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pricing starts at $19\/month for up to 500 subscribers, with unlimited emails from your account during that period. This scales up to about $1,599\/mo if you have 140,000 people, and anywhere higher than that is customized pricing. However, that\u2019s well beyond small business, so chances are you\u2019ll never have to worry about the high end of their fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GetResponse<\/a> is an all-in-one marketing platform for companies of all sizes, which is excellent if you want to grow your small business and stick with the same marketing system. Changing systems is<\/i> relatively difficult past a certain point, so that\u2019s not a small consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email isn\u2019t the only part of their platform, but it is a significant part, and it has several features that help it stand out as a viable choice for small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like other email marketing services for small businesses, GetResponse includes a selection of responsive templates that help improve conversion rates. Their landing pages are exceptionally robust thanks to their use of Shutterstock and Giphy. These services mean you don\u2019t have to provide your own pictures, and that makes a huge difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also support A\/B testing to get more information on which services are effective and which aren\u2019t. We always like seeing that, and the added flexibility of on-page options like countdown timers, forms, and popups lets you customize things even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GetResponse starts at $15\/mo for up to 1000 subscribers on your list, which is a bigger list size than many competitors have before costs start going up. Their pricing scales up to $450\/mo for 100,000 people on the regular plan. They also have premium plans for moderately higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MailChimp<\/a> is one of the most well-known email marketing platforms for small businesses, and with good reason. However, in recent years, they\u2019ve been expanding their offerings to become more of an all-in-one marketing platform. Their current services include website creation, marketing, and even help for physical advertising like postcards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physical ad services are scarce among email marketing companies. While that\u2019s not a deciding factor for most businesses, it does show that MailChimp is willing to look outside of the box and create services that can help your small business from a single centralized area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a comprehensive service, MailChimp works best when you use it for all of your marketing needs. Luckily, their focus on integration means you can still use most of your existing apps and software, and that\u2019s a benefit most of its competitors can\u2019t offer. If you\u2019re still unsure which service to use, MailChimp is a pretty good choice for most small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pricing starts at free for up to 2,000 contacts and one primary audience, which is useful for learning their system and getting used to it. This easy entry is another reason they\u2019re a good default choice. Paid plans range from $9.99\/mo (for up to 50,000 contacts) to $299\/mo (for their premium services and over 200,000 contacts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As their name implies, MailerLite<\/a> is an email-focused marketing platform, although they offer to land pages to help complete the experience. They\u2019re fundamentally a lighter marketing platform than many of their competitors, but that\u2019s not always a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re dealing with everything else your business needs, a system that\u2019s too<\/i> involved can be just as bad as one that doesn\u2019t have enough features. Balancing your time commitments is essential to success, and MailerLite\u2019s inherently smaller service is sometimes the best choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n MailerLite\u2019s focus on simplicity is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It\u2019s not a good choice if you want to keep growing your business because you\u2019ll hit a point where it simply doesn\u2019t have the features to keep up with other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, we need to point out the difference between the number of subscribers and the complexity of your business. You can market to a huge<\/i> list of people while still having a simple business. MailerLite is suitable for simple businesses, regardless of size, but not for complex companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pricing starts at free (with 12,000 emails\/month and up to 1000 subscribers) and scales upward from there. Costs go to about $1,915\/mo for up to 600,000 subscribers, and anything beyond that is going to be custom pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SendGrid<\/a> is an email-focused platform, which means they don\u2019t do much with landing pages, websites, eCommerce stores, or social media. That means they\u2019re not as good of a choice if you want to centralize your marketing while your company grows, but it also means that they\u2019re extremely good at their focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SendGrid is particularly suitable for high volume senders. They claim to send out more than 80 billion emails per month, giving them incredibly precise insights about user behaviors in different industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major Features:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, we don\u2019t like SendGrid for small businesses as much as some other options on this list. The reason for that is their focus is entirely<\/i> on email, and small businesses often do better with a comprehensive platform. For email-only needs, however, it\u2019s a top choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pricing here ranges from their free plan (limited to 100 emails\/day, with no time limits) to $14.95\/mo for their initial paid plan. This scales up to $29.95\/mo for up to 100,000 emails, or more if you want their pro features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that SendGrid prices things mainly by the number of emails you send, not<\/i> your list\u2019s size. This is different from most of their competitors and worth keeping in mind. They switch to customized pricing on the professional plans around the time you hit 1.5 million emails\/month, but that\u2019s beyond most small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinding The Right Service For You<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Best Email Marketing Platforms 2023<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ActiveCampaign<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
AWeber<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Constant Contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ConvertKit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Drip<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
GetResponse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MailChimp<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MailerLite<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
SendGrid<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
SendinBlue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n