Is email marketing service going to be important for your company in 2023? Are you In search of the top email marketing services?
Your marketing campaign’s success may be significantly impacted by your choice of email marketing provider. We’ll examine and contrast the top 7 email marketing services for small businesses in this article.
What is an Email Marketing Service or ESP?
An ESP (email service provider) consists of two primary components: software that aids in newsletter setup, contact management, and forms. An email engine that will deliver your newsletters is the other component. Additionally, email marketing service providers can handle everything from segmentation and automation to reporting and customer relationship management (CRM). It’s important to choose a marketing tool that is simple to use and has the features you need because they are essential to a successful marketing plan.
For advice and best practices on maximising email marketing, see our guide to lead generation through email marketing. Some people might like to employ an all-in-one email marketing service with the previously described features, while others would prefer to keep things straightforward with an intuitive email newsletter service. Below, we’ll outline several possibilities for you so you may choose wisely and ensure that your marketing efforts are not in vain.
So which email marketing tool is the best? To learn more read the points underneath
Why Is Choosing The Best Email Marketing Service Important?
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing techniques for small businesses. Businesses in the United States typically have a ROI of 4300 percent from email marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association. This will make it easier for you to handle your email marketing and establish a direct channel of connection with your customers.
It’s crucial to realise that your email marketing success will depend heavily on the software you use because they are in charge of ensuring that your emails are actually sent. You risk spending more money for fewer marketing possibilities and low email deliverability rates if you don’t exercise caution (which causes you to lose even more money).
Qualities of a good Email Marketing Tool
With the help of a reliable email marketing service’s user-friendly interface, you should be able to design email newsletters that are incredibly engaging (ideally drag-and-drop editor). Sending mass emails that are genuinely tailored and targeted shouldn’t take much effort. Marketing automation is a different term for this.
The ability to categorise customers into groups, manage your contact list, and assess the success of your email marketing campaigns must also be made simple by your email marketing provider. Above all things, a reliable email service provider will ensure that your email campaigns do not end up in the spam folder.
Best email marketing services in a nutshell
The principal solutions that we’ll discuss are listed below:
- Sendinblue
- Mailjet
- Mailchimp
- MailerLite
- Benchmark
- Omnisend
- Sender
Here’s a quick rundown of the free email marketing tools we’ll examine before we get started, along with the various restrictions on each service’s free plan:
1. Sendinblue
With Sendinblue, you can send transactional emails, SMS text messages, detailed analytics, and robust marketing automation tools all from one dashboard and with unlimited subscribers. Since Sendinblue is likewise based in France, you may be sure that you will abide with GDPR.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
You are permitted an unlimited amount of contacts under the free plan, but you are only permitted to send 300 emails each day. Because of this, using this platform to simultaneously send email blasts to all of your subscribers may not be the best idea. There is no subscriber cap, though, so it’s extremely flexible if you utilise a lot of drip programmes.
The Lite plan, the first upgrade, costs $25 per month and offers 20,000 monthly email sends. The daily sending cap is also gone.
What distinguishes this as among the top free email marketing services?
- A robust drag-and-drop email editor with a library of email templates
- Outstanding email marketing automation with features like autoresponders, email discounts, and page tracking
- Integrations with applications like Typeform, RSS, and Google Contacts
- Adding a chat window to your website
- SMS marketing
- Email and SMS personalisation to include contact details for customers in messages
- Using sophisticated segmentation to arrange contacts and deliver specific emails to specific users
- Adaptable sign-up forms
- An integrated sales CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool for monitoring team member workflows and customer interactions
- An open inbox
- Real-time reporting to monitor the success of campaigns
- Customer support through email
- Integrations with leading e-commerce systems like WooCommerce and Shopify
Who should use it?
Sendinblue is a wonderful email marketing solution if you have a large number of subscribers but do not need to communicate them all at once because of the way the free account functions. You won’t have to pay anything for Sendinblue if your daily email sending volume is less than 300. Because of its official plugin, it’s also a wonderful choice for WordPress users, and it offers superior analytics than many other free email marketing platforms.
2. Mailjet
Because of its clear templates, substantial monthly email send limitations, and limitless subscription limits, Mailjet is one of the greatest free email marketing platforms. Additionally, you have access to SMTP Relays, webhooks, and APIs for integrations and a more specialised email marketing experience.
The email marketing solution comes with email automation, as well as a drag-and-drop email editor that doesn’t require you to write a single line of code and lets you start with Mailjet email templates and pre-built building modules. With features for SMS marketing and embedded forms, Mailjet is a great choice.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
An unlimited number of subscribers and 6,000 monthly email sends are permitted under Mailjet’s free plan. There is a 200 email sending cap per day.
The Essential plan, which has a cap of 15,000 emails per month but no daily sending cap, is the next tier of Mailjet pricing and starts at $15 per month. Additionally, you can partition lists, add a sub-account, and get rid of the Mailjet branding with that package.
What distinguishes this as among the top free email marketing services?
- Unlimited subscribers
- High monthly sending cap to support drip emails and transactional emails for startups and small enterprises
- The open, click, and non-delivery rates in basic statistics
- Access to SMTP Relays, APIs, and webhooks for complex configurations
- An email builder with drag-and-drop functionality and lovely layouts
- Integrations with online storefronts like PrestaShop, Shopify, and WooCommerce
- Integrations with enterprise applications including ClickFunnels, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google Drive, Salesforce, Jira, and others
- Simple subscription forms that comply with GDPR
- Every email campaign should be personalised.
Who should use it?
The free version of Mailjet functions effectively if you avoid sending emails to big groups of individuals in a single day because it has a low daily sending limit but a respectable monthly sending limit. It works well for transactional emails, drip marketing, and smaller newsletter lists. Given the extensive range of integrations and the API access, it’s also perfect if you need to integrate with virtually any product.
3. Mailchimp
Because it was one of the first significant email providers to provide a totally free plan, Mailchimp is a favourite of many bloggers and small businesses. Additionally, Mailchimp includes some great capabilities for email marketing and online shopping.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
Under the free plan, 2,500 emails can be sent each month to up to 500 subscribers. There is a 500 message daily cap. The caveat is that you can only have up to 500 subscribers, which isn’t the case for several competitors.
What distinguishes this as among the top free email marketing services?
- 500 contact support
- The drag-and-drop editor and lovely templates for a variety of businesses and events
- A tool for creating landing pages that advertise products and direct visitors to your website
- A tool for creating and embedding forms
- Applications for Facebook and Instagram posts and adverts
- A marketing CRM to monitor customer communications
- One free domain name for a website that uses Mailchimp
- Integrations with more than 250 tools, including Salesforce, Shopify, and Eventbrite
- A “Creative Assistant” that allows you to import fonts, colours, and photos before coordinating email campaigns with your brand
- A topic line helper
- Customer surveys to get comments
- One-step automation solutions that include options for welcome campaigns, abandoned carts, and product suggestions
- 24/7 access to award-winning customer service
Who should use it?
For bloggers and small company owners who value beautiful designs and excellent deliverability, we recommend Mailchimp (it will also help you optimise your open rates). It’s particularly useful if you run an eCommerce business or intend to automate email procedures and want to improve productivity.
The free plan’s subscriber cap continues becoming smaller, which is a drawback. Mailchimp originally had a 2,000 subscriber free plan that was well-known, however that number gradually dropped to the current 500 subscriber cap. Therefore, we mostly suggest it for new enterprises and beginning bloggers.
4. MailerLite
One of the top free email marketing services, MailerLite is a little more recent than most of its rivals. Overall, that can be advantageous because it has one of the largest monthly sending caps and gives you access to a simpler, easier to use platform.
MailerLite offers beautiful themes, an intuitive email builder, and even some advanced technologies like ecommerce platform integrations, automations, and even premium alternatives to sell subscriptions and digital things through your emails. Behemoths like Mailchimp are more frequently where these tools may be discovered.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
The free plan includes a 1,000 subscriber cap and the second-highest 12,000 monthly send cap on our list. You will have access to almost all of the fundamental email marketing functions with the free edition, but you might have to forgo certain more sophisticated features.
You won’t have access to all of the email templates, live chat assistance, heatmaps, or A/B testing, in other words. For $9.00 a month, you can enable all of this (as well as unlimited monthly emails). Instead, you must pay $15 each month if you wish to raise the subscription cap to 2,500.
What makes this one of the best free email marketing software?
- Stunning email newsletters created using a simple drag-and-drop builder.
- Access to some of the email template collection
- In the free plan, 12,000 emails are sent each month for up to 1,000 subscribers.
- Infinite audience division
- One website with ten landing pages
- Unlimited embeddable and pop-up forms for email address collection
- Segmentation, interest-based groupings, and complete subscriber management
- Create your own single-step automations using a builder.
- Access to API documentation
- Integrations for online stores like WooCommerce and Shopify
- Optimization tools such as A/B testing, tests, surveys, test mailings, and delivery to a certain timezone
- Every report, such as information on list expansion, e-commerce sales tracking, and automation reports
- Basic email assistance
Who should use it?
From a single dashboard, MailerLite may be used to create landing pages (for events like webinars), pop-ups, and surveys. It is perfect for startups, small- to medium-sized companies, and eCommerce stores that require strong deliverability because of all of this and the heatmap testing. This is especially true given the increased monthly sending caps, which make it simpler to distribute newsletters without exceeding the cap.
5. Benchmark
For busy marketers, Benchmark features a rapid email creator. The editor lets you alter photographs directly, and the templates are excellent for a range of businesses. Their free email marketing solution is also user-friendly enough and includes features for lead creation, marketing automation, and reporting.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
The free plan only permits you to store a limited list of 500 subscribers and send up to 3,500 emails per month, but you can still send numerous newsletters to those subscribers each month.
For $15 each month, you may upgrade to obtain 500 subscribers and limitless monthly sends. Additionally, that first premium package grants access to tools like professional-level marketing automation, advanced reporting, and advanced lead generating.
What makes this one of the best free email marketing services?
- A very quick builder with drag-and-drop components for quickly creating campaigns
- RSS email campaigns
- Sign-up forms and simple list segmentation
- The fundamentals of marketing automation drip campaigns
- Management of delivery for all email campaigns
- Surveys and polls to obtain consumer feedback
- All the reports that you would get with the premium plans, such as Google Analytics tracking and statistics for opens, clicks, heatmaps, live interaction, and opens per hour
- n unlimited video storage space and a 10 MB image gallery
- More than 1500 connections to websites and programmes like Shopify, Zoho, Google Drive, WooCommerce, eBay, and Twitter
- Basic online client service
Who should use it?
If you require free polls, polls, segmentation, and drip advertising, Benchmark is a great option. Given that the 500 subscriber and 3,500 monthly send limits are the only ways you’d be able to keep it free, we like it best for companies with extremely tiny lists that need to send out many newsletters each month.
6. Omnisend
For users who just manage online stores, Omnisend is among the top free email marketing platforms. To expand your contact list, it instantly gathers products from your store and creates attractive, entertaining emails and opt-in forms.
Given its exceptionally seamless connections with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and Bigcommerce, the Omnisend platform is without a doubt the best email marketing tool for e-commerce sites. Even details like product pricing and descriptions properly sync with the emails for all of your products. With A/B testing, pre-built automations, and gorgeous ecommerce-focused layouts, the free plan is also extremely amazing.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
500 email sends per month are included with the Omnisend free email marketing plan, which also provides support for an unlimited subscriber list. Remember that even though you can contact as many subscribers as you like, you can only contact 250 of them, thus it’s actually more limited than it seems. So, while you are theoretically allowed to send 2 emails every month to 250 of your subscribers, you are free to develop your list as big as you like.
Whether you require more emails per month or more sophisticated functionality, an upgrade is necessary. Pricing plans start at $16 per month for 6,000 email sends and 500 subscribers. As there are more subscribers, the number of emails and prices increase.
What makes this one of the best free email marketing software?
- You can contact up to 250 of your email list’s uncapped subscribers at a rate of no more than 500 emails sent each month.
- 60 SMS messages
- 500 web push notifications
- Drag-and-drop builder that allows you to customise professional designs
- Prebuilt automations and workflows, such as those for emailing abandoned cart notices or delivering receipts
- Basic performance and sales reporting
- A/B testing for all email campaigns
- Facebook’s custom audiences and the Google Customer Match tool
- Automation divides for segment-specific message personalization
- Blocks of conditional content
- Customized e-commerce suggestions in your emails
- Unlimited segmentation with client lifecycle stages and contact profiles
- Pre-built consent, marketing, and targeting forms
- Landing pages, pop-up ads, and a wheel of fate tool
- Top-notch sales and performance reports for segment scoring, audience growth, and campaign performance
Who should use it?
An excellent free alternative for eCommerce stores is Omnisend. If you don’t own a store, you can still use this free email marketing tool, but you won’t have access to many of the advanced features. It’s mostly for new e-commerce startups that might later upgrade to a premium plan as they expand.
7. Sender
Another email service with a great free plan is Sender. In fact, of all the providers on this list, it has the greatest monthly sending cap. Along with segmentation, integrations, and beautiful, customizable styles, it also offers push alerts. The Sender service is undoubtedly one to keep an eye on because it includes a product selector, numerous email editing styles, and email automation options galore.
How many emails/subscribers do you get for free?
You can send 15,000 emails each month and have up to 2,500 subscribers with the free plan. The next level of service costs $10 per month and includes 2,500 subscribers and 30,000 emails per month. In addition, there are pay-as-you-go programmes.
What makes this one of the best free email marketing services?
- The 15,000 monthly send limits is the highest on this list, and there is a generous 2,500 subscriber limit.
- Tracking using Google Analytics
- A SPAM detector
- Email automation with automation splits and custom triggers for things like welcome emails and drip campaigns.
- Built-in workflows
- There are three types of email editing: drag-and-drop, plain text, and HTML.
- Use of email templates, a product picker, a photo library, and an image editor
- Every email campaign should be personalised.
- Contact profile segmentation that is limitless
- A variety of form formats that include popups, embeds, custom fields, and GDPR consent
- Reliable analytics that keep tabs on audience expansion, clicks, campaigns, and automations
- Access to the API and integrations with applications like Shopify, PrestaShop, and WordPress
- Constant chat support
Who should use it?
Sender is the best option for small businesses that want to develop but not too quickly because it keeps expenses reasonable when you upgrade and the free plan has higher restrictions than other competitors. The service is more beneficial to start-ups and small businesses than it is to enormous corporations.
Which of these free email marketing platforms suits you best?
Following careful consideration, the following recommendations are made:
- If you don’t mind having a maximum of 500 subscribers, Mailchimp is the finest free email marketing tool overall.
- Sendinblue will be your best option if you want to be able to send to an unlimited number of subscribers. They have a nice SMS option, too.
- Omnisend or MailerLite must be tried if you manage an online store.
- Sender’s free plan offers the ideal balance of a high monthly send limit and subscriber limit, making it the perfect option for small enterprises that want to stay that way. especially when the higher plans are similarly reasonably priced.
Which Is the Best Email Marketing Software? Packaged Software vs. Cloud-Based Software.
A review of cloud-based email marketing software may be found here. Compared to bundled software that is installed locally on your computer, they have the following benefits:
- The tool is accessible from any computer.
- You don’t need to actively update software; it updates itself in the background automatically.
- One provider offers and manages the newsletter editor, email server, and all necessary site space.
- The email server was certified and whitelisted since it is designed for large distribution, which boosts your delivery rate.
- Instead of dealing with open-source software, you have access to customer support services.
- However, there are also some drawbacks:
- Your recipient list is kept on a server that is not owned by your business.
- Typically, packaged software, which can be bought once and utilised for an extended period of time without further cost, is less expensive than a cloud-based utility.
The greatest email marketing programmes are typically cloud-based. Particularly smaller and mid-sized businesses profit from not having to bother about IT maintenance. Never undervalue how much time and money this will take. It’s very impossible for smaller businesses to establish an email server for newsletters that isn’t eventually blacklisted by services like AOL or Gmail.
Additionally, many businesses dislike hosting their recipient lists off-site due to security concerns. Since their reputation is on the line, the email marketing businesses themselves will undoubtedly take great effort to address any security vulnerabilities as soon as possible. However, some residual danger will always exist.
Find Your Business the Best Email Marketing Service.
It’s crucial to keep your unique needs in mind when contrasting email marketing services providers. A wide selection of email templates you can simply customise to meet your brand, more tools for multichannel campaigns, or sophisticated automation and segmentation capabilities might all fit under this heading.
There will be several plans and pricing options available for each solution. Finding out how much each platform charges for the features you require and the number of contacts you intend to send campaigns to is therefore worthwhile. The finest email marketing service for your company should not only aid in your short-term growth but also continue to be an effective option as your needs change.
Final Thoughts: The Best Email Marketing Services
We want to make sure you choose the best email marketing service for your business’ needs out of the many that are offered. Here is our professional pick: We advise utilising Constant Contact if you own a small business, a non-profit, or are just starting out as a blogger. Their pricing is amazing, and their customer service is without a doubt superb. Your success with email marketing will start right away with the assistance of their onboarding team. If you’re looking for an all-in-one email marketing solution, we advise using HubSpot. A wide range of marketing tools, such as live chat, email marketing, CRM, sales tools, and others, are offered by them. The free plan is great for lead generation because you may store an infinite amount of subscribers.