Email marketing is still an effective way to connect with your customers, even though it may not be the most popular option. But the data tells us that the opposite is true. According to a study, the number of email users continues to increase, with 100 million accounts created each year. More than 300 billion emails are sent and received every day, and that number will continue to grow.
While the importance of social media marketing cannot be overstated, email remains the primary tool for small and medium businesses looking to grow. As reported by Emarsys, around 80% of SMBs still rely on email to acquire and retain more customers.
Now that we know that email continues to be a relevant and important tool for brand awareness, it's time to talk about email marketing. Simply put, email marketing is the act of promoting products or services via email.
Email marketing is much more than just emailing customers about your products. These types of emails can only offend people if you don't customize your message to the situation. In addition, personalized emails have the potential to increase your click-through rates by up to 14%. But with these tools, you can target the right people at the right time with the perfect message. That way, your email is less likely to be considered spam.
The problem is that when you have thousands or more customers you want to reach, it wouldn't be ideal to handle your emails one at a time. That's why you need the best email tool to help you get the job done.
So which of these tools should you use, which are the best mailing software?
When it comes to the best mailing software, Mailchimp, Sendinblue, ActiveCampaign and HubSpot comes to mind.
These software can be evaluated in terms of pricing, e-mail templates, e-mail automation, segmentation, integrations, analysis and A/B testing, user experience.
Mailchimp
One of the most popular marketing platforms, Mailchimp has millions of users worldwide. Standing out with its ease of use, Mailchimp makes it easy for small and medium-sized businesses to get the professional email marketing they need with its service launched in 2001.
- Pricing
There are different fee plans depending on your number of mail contacts. If you are a startup company, there is a free version available for you. But as your contact count increases and you need access to more features, you will need to upgrade your package. Although the initial package prices seem cheaper, you need to upgrade to the much more expensive option “Premium” for the best feature selections.
- Email templates
Even if you don't have much experience using email editors, Mailchimp has more templates than its competitors and a much more comprehensive editing tool to start customizing your email. If you don't want to design Mail, MailChimp offers an incredible variety of templates to choose from, tailored for both mobile and PC users. If you want to find a specific template, simply search by category.
You can also update your e-mails according to your brand and style with the drag and drop feature. With this feature, you'll find the option to add images, adjust your text, apply CTA buttons, and more as you play with your email content. You can even add links to your social media pages or add a video if you want.
- Email automation
Once you know how to create engaging emails for your brand, you can start creating automated threads that send those emails to your contacts. Mailchimp comes with a number of options to get you started building your autoresponders based on prebuilt templates. However, there are not as many options here as you can have with Sendinblue.
The main problem with Mailchimp's autoresponder functionality is that it's only available if you upgrade to some of the higher priced packages. This means you won't have access to this functionality if you're on the free or low-tier package. Also, the experience isn't all that smooth when creating autoresponders with Mailchimp. You may get confused when setting up the automation because the workflow is not clearly presented.
- Segmentation
Mailchimp also provides a simple and effective process for segmenting your email list and developing your email marketing solution. For customers using CSV files, you will be able to upload details and identify each of your customers using segments. Groups are also available to identify customers based on their previous actions in your organization. Unfortunately, advanced segmentation for your contact lists and campaign tracking is limited to higher tier pricing packages.
Mailchimp also doesn't let you target people from multiple groups at once. This is because Mailchimp lists are mutually exclusive, unlike solutions on other email marketing platforms. You can't include people from different lists in the same campaigns, which makes the experience less user-friendly.
- Integrations
Mailchimp knows that today's customers want an email marketing system that works well with the other tools they use. Fortunately, Mailchimp integrates with hundreds of tools, making it easy to connect with any tool you could possibly want except Shopify.
- Analysis and A/B Testing
In terms of A/B testing, Mailchimp offers several ways to test your campaigns. Within the cheaper pricing packages, you'll only get access to a handful of split testing options. However, on the premium plan, you will have access to up to 8 split test variants simultaneously.
The split tests in Mailchimp will show you which of your campaigns are performing the best, while the analytics and reporting feature will help you decide where to focus most of your efforts.
Mailchimp also has its own mobile app so you can track the performance of each campaign in real time, even on the go.
Mailchimp is a bit more advanced than its competitors, but you have to pay for higher-tier packages to enjoy the best features. Also, Mailchimp lacks the machine learning capabilities that Sendinblue can offer.
-User experience
Mailchimp offers a simple and impressive email marketing experience. From the moment you log in to your homepage, everything you need is right in front of you, from the option to create a new template to basic contact management. But if you're new to email marketing, some competitors like Sendinblue may seem simpler and clearer to you.
Managing your mailing list from Mailchimp is also easy. Once again, you can distribute contacts to your account using a bulk CSV file. Once you've added everyone on your list to your profile, you can segment your customers, which will help you send more personalized campaigns.
Considering that more and more competitors are entering the market every day, we can hardly say that Mailchimp is the best option these days. People argue that to get the best Mailchimp features, you have to pay the premium price.
Sendinblue
Sendinblue is a relatively new service launched in 2012. It can do most of the things Mailchimp does, as well as a few additional features that Mailchimp doesn't have. For example, with Sendinblue you can do SMS marketing and chat marketing as well as email marketing.
- Pricing
To start with the pricing, there is a handy “free” starter version. You will need to upgrade the package you are using to access more features. If you are looking for a more affordable option than Mailchimp among the paid options, it is a great option for you. Because Sendinblue's paid options are relatively cheaper. In addition, Sendinblue, unlike most software, does not set a limit for individuals. Instead, you're only charged based on email volume.
- Email templates
SendinBlue will also save you the stress of hiring a graphic designer and developer to make professional looking emails. You can have good looking emails with access to many responsive email templates, though less in number than Mailchimp.
It offers drag and drop to edit the look of your content and preset options that make your job easier than ever before. The only problem here is that Sendinblue's email generator is a bit old and simple compared to some other competitors in the market. There isn't much you can do when it comes to changing things like fonts and backgrounds.
- Email automation
At Sendinblue, simplicity is at the forefront when it comes to creating autoresponders and automation. That means you won't get the most advanced experience in the world. However, if you've never used email autoresponder software before, Sendinblue's arrival with a wealth of pre-built workflows to get you started will make your job easier.
- Segmentation
In addition to helping with segmentation, Sendinblue also ensures that you always deliver your emails. Also, Sendinblue makes it easy for you to track your email marketing links with bulk updates via CSV files. Unfortunately, you may have some issues assigning information to each contact, as adding attributes needs to be done individually. If you have multiple contacts, it's a huge pain. However, once you've finally uploaded all your contacts to your account, you can segment your digital marketing strategy based on things like residence, location, and even employment.
- Integrations
There is not as much integration in Sendinblue as in Mailchimp, but this problem can be solved with the Zapier library.
- Analysis and A/B Testing
With Sendinblue, you can test your emails and autoresponders in different ways by looking at everything from the content of your email to when you send your messages. Some of Sendinblue's higher priced tiers also offer machine learning functionality that lets you automatically find the best time to message each of the subscribers on your list.
Not only is Sendinblue A/B testing great, you also have a variety of email reporting tools built into the software to help you access deeper insights into how your campaigns are performing to help you meet your goals.
-User experience
Sendinblue user experience is very clean, simple and straightforward. While the first homepage is pretty informative, it doesn't seem particularly cluttered and overwhelming. There's a lot of white space to avoid getting confused. Sendinblue is great for beginners who don't want a lot of complexity when first starting out with their email software.
Another great thing about Sendinblue is how easy it is to add people to your list.
Hubspot
HubSpot is one of the best all-in-one marketing packages to help businesses attract visitors, convert them into leads, and gain customers. HubSpot brings together a wide range of functions that allow marketing departments and sales teams to manage all their activities from one place. This includes customer service, email marketing, quality content creation, social media management, workflow automation, lead generation, customer relationship management, customer tracking, sales pipeline and performance tracking.
- Pricing
If you're just getting started in business, the free plan with marketing, sales, service and operations tools from Hubspot is a good fit for you. The free plan offers you the ability to send 2,000 emails and create as many mail contacts as you need. If you need more advanced features, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.
HubSpot's CRM, on the other hand, is completely free, but as your company grows, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan as the features you need will increase.
- Email templates
If you don't want to spend time and budget on email design, you can choose from dozens of templates created specifically for converting customers. Many HubSpot templates are designed to help you reach your goals. Customization is also very intuitive thanks to the simple editor. You can add calls to actions and images, and change content and colors to reflect your brand. In addition, you can use the easy-to-use drag-and-drop email builder to create professional emails that attract and grow your audience.
- Email automation
You can create different marketing campaigns using each contact's behavior to navigate their own sales funnel and automatically generate more business.
- Segmentation
In Hubspot, users can create different forms to classify their contacts. HubSpot also lets you score and qualify your leads by creating smart lists, automatically identifying leads to contact to close more sales.
- Integrations
Hubspot is integrated with several dozen platforms to make your job easier.
- Analysis and A/B Testing
Hubspot has a complete analytics panel that helps the user understand both the source of the traffic to which the marketing panel is attached - extracting data from Google Analytics - and the marketing actions in the results with dashboards updated in real time. These reports can be customized or use the reports HubSpot includes preconfigured by default.
-User experience
Since HubSpot is such a comprehensive tool, it can be a bit confusing for beginners. If this confusion is not a problem for you and you want to learn how to use it, you can improve yourself with HubSpot Academy. HubSpot Academy keeps its users up-to-date by offering its customers online courses, projects, certifications and software training to expand their knowledge base.
If you're a growing business looking for software to help you manage everything from sales to service to marketing in one place, HubSpot is a great choice. The all-in-one hub environment can be very feature rich, but it costs a bit.
Although HubSpot with its CRM is one of the best all-in-one marketing packages, it may not be ideal for you if you're just looking for an email marketing tool.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a powerful email marketing tool that allows you to create campaigns for your business. It's a great way to reach your target audience and drive results. You can also leverage omni-channel features such as social media and live chat to develop a consistent marketing strategy that provides a positive brand experience for all your customers.
Pricing
Unlike its competitors, ActiveCampaign does not have a free version. However, you can receive a free 14-day trial by contacting the team. But if you’re new to this business and don’t want to have a budget, this may not be the best option for you.
Like many of its competitors, it has different pricing depending on the number of people on your contact list.Email templates
ActiveCampaign has a more limited set of templates than its competitors. Many of the templates included with WordPress are attractive and easy to use. You can easily import and use other templates from your dashboard. This makes it easy to create a custom layout for your blog or website.
- Email automation
ActiveCampaign is one of the best email campaign management tools out there in terms of automation, offering a wide range of automated options to choose from and a flexible automation creation process. The drag and drop automation builder makes it easy to create flows that are triggered by different events. ActiveCampaign can help you automate sales actions and keep track of customer data in an integrated CRM. This makes it easy to follow up with customers and make sure that your sales efforts are successful.
Segmentation
ActiveCampaign makes it easy to create different lists to categorize your contacts. However, for greater accuracy and purpose, the tool wants you to describe, name, and add URLs to the list. This strict classification can be useful for teams that manage multi-member email marketing campaigns.Integrations
ActiveCampaign can work with a variety of popular platforms, including WordPress, Shopify and Google Analytics. The API makes it easy to integrate with other software, and it has a wide range of features.
- Analysis and A/B Testing
With ActiveCampaign, you can access many reports containing data such as mail open rates, link click rate, social performance, location, number of unsubscribes.
-User experience
ActiveCampaign is one of the more difficult email marketing tools to use, as it is more advanced than other options. If you are a beginner, you may need to spend some time watching video tutorials on how to use ActiveCampaign, reading the manuals and instructions on the site, and taking some time to get used to the program.
ActiveCampaign is not suitable for the less experienced and newbies as it is more complicated to use and does not have a free plan, but overall it is a reliable and advanced automation software.
If you want to buy mailing software to grow your business, you should consider many issues such as pricing, ease of use, integrations. In order for you to make this choice easier, we have evaluated four softwares that comes to mind when we say the best mailing software. When choosing the best software for your company, you should focus on these criteria, as well as your company's needs and the purpose for which you will use it.
Source: https://mailsoftly.com/blog/best-emailing-softwares/