The 8 Best Email Marketing Software Options For Businesses
The benefits of a strong email marketing strategy are huge. For starters, studies show that 80% of future profits come from just 20% of existing customers. Sending customers an email remains one of the cheapest and most cost-effective ways to reach these interested customers. In fact, the average payoff for every dollar you spend with email marketing is right around forty bucks! That’s a huge payoff and the best software for email marketing helps you powerfully reach your goals.
However, finding the best email marketing software for your needs can be a time-consuming process. Not every business has the same needs, time, expertise, and target audience. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best software for email marketing that helps you hit that sweet spot for your small business.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
Other Featured Options:
- Constant Contact: Best for small businesses that need a low learning curve in eCommerce.
- iContact: Best for small businesses/nonprofits with simple needs that want a no-fuss campaign.
- ActiveCampaign: Best for advanced users looking to run a finely-honed campaign.
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
Table of Contents
The 8 Best Email Marketing Software Providers
Email marketing software varies quite significantly in pricing and features. It’s important to understand your goals and what’s offered with the platform so you can make the best decision for your price point. Programs like Mailchimp, Benchmark, Drip, and Sendinblue are some of the best providers available.
1. Mailchimp: Best Bang For Your Buck
Mailchimp |
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Mailchimp is great for small businesses that want to work with a trusted brand and don’t have a lot of money to shell out for email marketing software right away.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Generous features
- Cross-platform support
Cons
- Spotty customer service reported
- No support after 30 days on the free plan
Mailchimp distinguishes itself for having a generous free plan. It’s also feature-rich and frequently updated, so we think the value is great. The only major downside is uneven and hard-to-reach customer service, depending partly on which plan you choose.
Mailchimp Pricing:
Mailchimp’s prices are based on a combination of caps on the number of subscribers and emails. The more you want of both, the more you’ll have to pay.
The free plan grants you up to 2,000 subscribers and includes:
- 1 Audience
- Signup forms
- Marketing CRM
- Landing pages
- Social posting
- Facebook ads
- Postcards
- Creative assistant
- Websites and domains
- Content studio
- Basic email templates
- Marketing calendar
- 250+ integrations
- Surveys
- Mobile app
Paid plans start at $9.99/mo for the Essentials Plan and go up. For the Essentials plan, you get up to three audiences and behavioral targeting.
Mailchimp Features
Mailchimp’s features are a mix of the familiar and the experimental, with many behind a paywall. Features include:
- Drag and drop editor
- Multi-user accounts
- Analytics and reports
- Automation
- Custom forms
- Email analytics
- Geolocation
- Delivery by time zone
- Abandoned cart email
- A/B testing
Although Mailchimp has a reputation for being easy for first-time users, there’s actually a lot of product under the hood, although some of it lurks behind paywalls.
Mailchimp has an exhaustive segmentation system, which allows you to breakdown and categorize your contact list according to a wide range of rules and labels.
Customer support for Mailchimp is responsive, but if you prefer speaking to someone on the phone, you’re out of luck. To control costs, Mailchimp doesn’t offer phone support.
When To Use Mailchimp
We like Mailchimp’s plan for those wanting to coast via the freebie plan at first, as well as serious marketers with industrious goals. You’ll find quite a lot of bang for your buck with Mailchimp overall.
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2. Benchmark: Best Free Plan
Benchmark Email |
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We think Benchmark offers one of the most noteworthy platforms in its class. Combining quality customer service and a strong feature suite, Benchmark offers one of the best email marketing software options out there.
Pros
- Excellent customer service
- Easy-to-use platform
- Advanced features
Cons
- Mistakes may be unforgiving in the email editor
- Limited signup form options
Benchmark Pricing
Benchmark’s free plan doesn’t require a credit card and you’ll get unlimited contacts with 250 emails to send a month. While you won’t have access to A/B testing or advanced automation with the free version, here is a sampling of what you will get:
- Responsive templates
- Basic drip campaigns
- Open-by-hour reporting
- List management and segmentation
- List hygiene
- Google Analytics tracking
- RSS email campaign
- Signup forms
- Reputation health scoring
- Unlimited video storage
- Surveys and polls
The PRO plan starts at $13.00/mo and it inches up depending on the number of contacts you have. You’ll have unlimited emails to send each month, which is a fantastic deal.
For more on Benchmark’s pricing, features, and reviews, check out our Benchmark Review post.
Benchmark Features
Benchmark’s no slouch when it comes to email marketing software features. Each plan is generous and offers excellent value.
- Hundreds of email templates
- Video emails
- Surveys
- Dedicated email server
- Email delivery management
- Photo editing
- Autoresponders
- Sign-up forms
- Inbox checker
- RSS-to-email
- Segmentation
- A/B testing
Most of Benchmark’s features are available to all users, even the free ones, which make it one of the best email marketing software platforms to cut your teeth on. Users that have run afoul of spam filters in the past may appreciate Benchmark’s dedicated email server, which comes with high-volume plans and is available to lower-volume users as a $30 add-on.
Benchmark offers its users a lot of support resources. Customer service is generally responsive, with minimal waiting times.
When To Use Benchmark
Benchmark is a great choice for businesses that aren’t sure what they need out of their email marketing software platform. but also want some room to grow. The free plan removes most of the risk, making Benchmark a solid platform to get your feet wet plus plenty of room to grow.
Get Started with Benchmark Email
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3. Drip: Best Automation Tools For eCommerce
Drip Ecommerce CRM |
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Drip is best for businesses that want powerful automation tools for eCommerce. Drip is a modern, streamlined email marketing software that provides a powerful set of automation tools.
Pros
- Robust CRM platform reporting
- 90+ integrations
- Feature-rich for eCommerce
Cons
- It may be overkill for retail business
- Only chat support available
Drip Pricing
Drip is a little bit different than other email services in that you have access to all features at every price level. All plans scale by the number of subscribers you have on your email list.
Drip plans begin at $49/mo, which gives you up to 2,500 subscribers and unlimited emails.
Drip Features
Drip’s features are pretty straightforward but well-rounded:
- Email builder
- Customer data and insights
- Personalized campaigns
- Optimization
- Multi-channel marketing
- Customer behavior tracking
- Automation
- Segmentation
- Email delivery management
- Abandoned cart email
- Split testing
We think there is a modest learning curve with Drip. However, you should have a solid grip on the software after a week or two of use. Some features, such as the email editor, are a little unpolished but still serviceable.
When To Use Drip
Businesses that have outgrown free features and have the know-how to make good use of advanced tools geared to eCommerce should give Drip a try.
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4. SendInBlue: Generous Features For Large Contact Lists
SendinBlue |
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SendinBlue is generous with features in its starter plans and has no limit on contacts, so it is great for price-conscious small businesses that still have industrious marketing goals.
Pros
- Numerous features
- Good customer service
- Rated highly by customers
Cons
- Limited integrations
- Phone support not available on all plans
SendInBlue Pricing
SendInBlue offers a free plan with unlimited contacts and includes all its basic features, noted in the next section.
Your next option is the Lite Plan which starts out at $25/mo and adds no sending limit and up to 100,000 emails to send.
Listed pricing tops out at $65 for the premium plan. You can also negotiate an enterprise plan if you want a dedicated account manager and services pack. For more on pricing and features, check out our full SendinBlue Review post.
SendInBlue Features
SendinBlue’s calling card is its accessibility, both in terms of features and pricing, which allows new marketers to quickly create and ramp up email marketing campaigns.
Here are some of the features you have waiting for you with SendinBlue:
- Advanced segmentation
- Custom signup forms
- Sales CRM
- Email campaigns
- Email templates
- SMS marketing
- Transaction email
- Email and SMS personalization
- Workflow editor
- Chat window
- Core API features
- Automation
When To Use SendinBlue
SendInBlue is a good entry point into learning email marketing, particularly for those with a lot of contacts. It is highly rated by customers and has good customer support to back it up.
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5. AWeber: Best Value For Automation
AWeber |
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AWeber works great for small businesses in growth mode because it provides a full set of features at each tier and grants powerful automation options at a relatively low price.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Numerous templates
- 24/7 US-based customer service
Cons
- Credit card required for trial
- Relatively higher cost for subscriptions
AWeber Pricing
AWeber has incredibly simple pricing. You have a Free and Pro plan. The free plan covers you until you get to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, but you also don’t have access to some features like A/B testing, advanced analytics, some of the eCommerce tools, and push notifications. However, you can still use quite a number of the features, which we’ll go over below.
The Pro plan starts at $16.15/mo and increases with your list size. Take note that you’ll be billed annually, so we do recommend using the free plan as a trial before making your final commitment.
AWeber Features
AWeber’s features are quite extensive and include:
- Newsletters
- Email automation
- RSS to email
- Drag-and-drop email builder
- Hundreds of email templates
- HTML emails
- Dynamic content
- AMP emails
- Hosted broadcast archive
- Thousands of professional images
- Email split testing
- Behavioral automation
- Branded click-tracking links
- Unlimited landing pages
- Landing page templates
- Thousands of professional images
- Video landing pages
- Google Analytics and Facebook tracking
- Custom domains
- Signup forms
- WordPress plugin
- Signup form split test
- Tagging subscribers
- Send to basic segments
- Save and send to custom segments
- Message analytics
- Webpage tracking
- eCommerce solution integration
- Sales tracking
- Cart abandonment and purchase tagging
- Unlimited users
- Free migration
- Integrations
- 24/7/live support/email/chat on all plans
AWeber finds a healthy balance between ease of use and functionality. Many features, such as autoresponders, are presented intuitively enough that you won’t be googling for tutorials very often. It’s a great, accessible toolset, though possibly overkill for small companies that only need to run a campaign once in a while.
If you’re looking for the platform to help you get serious with your email marketing campaigns, this is it.
When To Use
AWeber offers a fantastic platform for a small business that’s in growth mode or a business that wants to amp up this year’s success next year. With plenty of engagement tools for a low price point, you can’t go wrong with AWeber.
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6. Constant Contact: Easiest To Use For eCommerce
Constant Contact |
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Best for small businesses that are intimidated by the prospect of running an email marketing campaign but still want a full-featured solution.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Omnichannel selling tools
- Robust eCommerce features
Cons
- Mixed reviews
- Higher cost
Constant Contact Pricing
Constant Contact’s pricing is based on the number of subscribers you have. It begins at $20/month for the Email plan and next is Email Plus starting at $45/mo. You can also take advantage of the 6-day trial before committing.
Constant Contact Features
Constant Contact’s features include:
- Email marketing with unlimited sends
- Customizable templates
- Tracking and reporting
- Automated email resend to non-openers
- Online donations
- eCommerce marketing
- LogoMaker
- List building
- Welcome email
- Contact list import
- Contact management
- Landing pages
- Image library
- Facebook and Instagram ads
- Google ads
- Social posting, inbox, and monitoring
- Apps and integrations
- Signup forms
- Marketing calendar
- List segmentation
- 3 users
- Even management and marketing
- Unlimited eCommerce product
- Digital products and downloads
- Accept online payments
- Transactional emails
- Order, inventory, and tax management
- Integrated shipping management
- Mobile-responsive website
- Free hosting
- Unlimited storage
- SSL certificate
- Website analytics
- Blog
- Connect custom domain
- Chat and phone support
And that’s just on the basic plan! The Pro plan gives you additional features including:
- Advanced eCommerce marketing
- Customizable pop-up forms
- Automated welcome series
- Automated behavioral series
- RSVP
- Surveys
- Polls
- Coupons
- Dynamic Content
Tutorials and pop-ups will guide you through your first email. When you need to reach out to customer service, you shouldn’t have much trouble getting a knowledgeable rep on the line.
When To Use Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers a very large feature set for the eCommerce business and keeps its learning curve very low. Because it is such a large company and appeals to inexperienced users, we think any negative reviews are outweighed by the majority having a good experience with Constant Contact. Start with the 60-day free trial and go from there.
Get Started with Constant Contact
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7. iContact: Simplest Platform
iContact |
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Best for small businesses or nonprofits with simple needs and don’t have a lot of marketing experience.
Pros
- Well-designed templates
- Good customer support
- Easy to use
Cons
- Cost higher than competitors
- Not suitable for industrious marketing goals on its own
iContact is yet another player in a crowded field. While it doesn’t particularly stand out, it does offer a solid plan for businesses with simple email marketing needs.
Unlike some competitors, you’ll have access to a simple automation series on the basic plan with a nice set of features waiting for you. Additionally, our research shows that iContact excels in its customer service, making it a fantastic choice for the beginning marketer.
iContact Pricing
iContact’s plans start at $15/month for up to 1,500 subscribers and increases as your email list grows. Other price-points include $25/mo for up to 2,500 subscribers and $45 for up to 5,000 subscribers.
Nonprofit companies do enjoy a 20% savings on these amounts!
iContact Features
iContact’s features include:
- Email marketing
- Drag and drop editor
- Template library
- HTML editor
- A/B testing
- Automation
- Segmentation
- Landing page creating
- Birthday series
- Smart sending
- Automation editor
- Targeted automation follow-ups
- Welcome series
- Event promotion serious
- Contact record updates
- Landing pages
- Reports
- Signup forms
- Rolling non-opener segmentation
- Custom API
- Integrations directory
- Client folders
- Multiple users
iContact has a strong core program, and its sheer ease of use sets it apart from many other programs on the market. The user dashboard is quite simple, providing a quick overview of your latest email statistics, contact lists, and social sharing sites.
Reporting tools are basic, providing a condensed overview of your campaigns. For individual campaigns, key statistics (such as opens, clicks, and bounces) are presented in both numerical and pie chart formats.
iContact touts its award-winning customer service, and it seems to be well earned. You can get live support through chat, phone, and email, with prompt responses.
When To Use iContact
Try iContact if you need a solid suite of basic features at a reasonable price, with a low learning curve. iContact is also well suited for a nonprofit organization with its features and a generous discount.
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8. ActiveCampaign: Geared For Serious Marketers
ActiveCampaign |
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ActiveCampaign is best for advanced users looking to run a finely-honed email marketing campaign with a dedicated marketing team and budget.
Pros
- Numerous features
- Excellent automation tools
- Integrated CRM tools
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Expensive for smaller businesses
ActiveCampaign probably won’t be your first email marketing software, but it may be your last. It’s a feature-rich product with a fairly high learning curve, but if you’re willing to put the time into exploiting its tools, you can design very effective and highly targeted marketing campaigns. Even its low-tier plans allow multiple users, making it well-suited for businesses large enough to have marketing departments.
ActiveCampaign Pricing
ActiveCampaign’s pricing is based on the size of your contact list and the features you want to use. Lite starts at $9/month for 500 contacts and increases with your subscriber count. It supports three users, email marketing, automation, and chat and email support.
Plus starts at $49/month for 500 contacts. supports up to 25 users and adds sales automation, custom domain and branding, data integrations, SMS marketing, and one-on-one training.
Professional starts at $129/month for 2,500 contacts. It supports up to 50 users and adds predictive sending, win probability, site messaging, and attribution.
ActiveCampaign Features
ActiveCampaign’s features, locked or unlocked depending on your plan, include:
- Email marketing
- SMS marketing
- Dynamic content
- Automation
- Segmentation
- Split A/B testing
- Event tracking
- Customer success pipelines
- Account management
- Customer health scoring
- Advanced mobile supporting
- Automations map
- Conditional content
- Advanced performance reporting
- Custom branded forms and landing pages
- Facebook custom audiences
- Contact scoring
- Contact and lead scoring
- Predictive sending
- Marketing attribution
- Site messages
- Website personalization
- Win probability
- Deal path reporting
One of the standout features is the ability to create “dynamic content.” You can designate portions of your emails to have fields that substitute pieces of content, depending on your contact’s preferences. You could, for example, highlight two different products in the same template; your contacts would only see the one that more closely fits their tastes.
Customer support options are tiered. Most users will have access to chat and email support, but phone support is reserved for the enterprise level.
When To Use
If you’ve felt frustrated by the limited features of other email software marketing platforms and want to get deep into dynamic content and automation, ActiveCampaign may be for you. That goes double for businesses with marketing teams.
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How To Choose The Best Email Marketing Software
Choosing the best email marketing software for your small business requires getting clarity on your goals, budget, and projected growth when it comes to your email marketing campaigns.
Know Your Company’s Goals
This one sounds obvious, but you should have a good sense of what the company hopes to get out of its email marketing campaign. If you’re only selling a couple of products, you probably don’t need highly-advanced dynamic content and list segmentation.
If you don’t have a full-time marketing department, you probably want something that you can learn to use within an afternoon. On the other hand, if you’re managing thousands of subscribers and targeting customer journeys, you’ll need those precise targeting features and deep reporting tools.
Determine Your Budget
Email marketing software provides a potentially incredible return on investment as noted in the intro, but sticking to your budget is still important.
Having a sense of what you can comfortably spend on email services will help narrow down your options. And remember, if you’re new to this, several email marketing software platforms offer free services to test the waters with zero risk. Sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t!
See What Users Are Saying About The Provider
Most email services are well-known enough to have been exhaustively reviewed by a diverse swath of users. Everyone’s needs and experiences are different, but you’ll still notice certain “themes” emerge with any given email provider. Pay special attention to what businesses similar to your own are saying.
Email Marketing Software FAQs
Looking For This Email Marketing Software?
Since our last list, we’ve had to downgrade two of our choices, unfortunately. While they still offer a good set of features and might be right for certain small businesses, we just can’t give them the best-of stamp this year.
Campaign Monitor Email Marketing Services
While Campaign Monitor made the best email marketing software list previously, we’ve seen an uptick in complaints regarding binding contracts.
We don’t like to see long-term contracts among email software providers because business needs often change and sometimes a platform just doesn’t provide the room to grow.
A long-term contract can really put a business in a bind, and it isn’t something that’s even very common in the industry. While contracts can help a company keep costs down, we specifically see an uptick in complaints. For example, 83% of Trustpilot reviews gave Campaign Monitor the worst rating possible, with contract complaints being a dominant issue.
While we like how easy Campaign Monitor is to use and the features are good, we just can’t keep it in our best-of list this year for that reason. For more on features and customer ratings, check out our full Campaign Monitor Review.
GetResponse Email Marketing
While we think GetResponse is easy to use, has a great set of features and even a competitive price point, we have to issue a word of warning.
In our most recent review, we noted that GetResponse had an uptick in customer support complaints, and we consider it to be a higher complaint volume than normal for its size.
Additionally, at the time of our review, GetResponse had an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. We really don’t like to see issues with canceling contracts and automatic billing, but unfortunately, that seems to be the case. We hope these issues can be resolved, but until then, we have to bump them from the list. For more information, check out the GetResponse Review.
In Summary: The 8 Best Email Marketing Software Providers
- Mailchimp: The best for small businesses that want more bang for your buck.
- Benchmark Email: The best for small businesses that want a free plan.
- Drip Ecommerce CRM: Best for businesses that want powerful automation tools for eCommerce.
- SendinBlue: Best for small businesses looking for generous features with large contact lists.
- AWeber: Best for small businesses with limited contacts who want automation at a low price.
- Constant Contact: Best for small businesses that need a low learning curve in eCommerce.
- iContact: Best for small businesses/nonprofits with simple needs that want a no-fuss campaign.
- ActiveCampaign: Best for advanced users looking to run a finely-honed campaign.
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