With the help of the right platform, you can simplify your email marketing efforts and improve your customer experience.
Are you looking for ways to automate your email marketing? Or maybe you’re looking to improve personalization to improve the overall customer experience. No matter the case, you’re in need of an email marketing platform.
When you first start out, deciding on a platform can be a little overwhelming. There’s tons of companies out there that provide a similar service — how do you know which is the best fit for your needs?
The first step is to understand some of the benefits that come with an email marketing platform. From there, you can identify exactly what you’re looking to improve and find a platform designed to help you grow.
In this article, we’ll take a look at a few of the benefits you can expect to gain from an email marketing platform and review 12 platforms you should consider.
Here’s a quick look ahead at the platforms we’ll discuss:
- Listrak
- Hubspot
- Mailchimp
- Constant Contact
- ActiveCampaign
- Omnisend
- SendinBlue
- Benchmark
- Campaign Monitor
- Rejoiner
- Drip
- GetResponse
The Benefits of Investing in an Email Marketing Platform
When it comes to email marketing automation, there are a number of benefits you can expect to see. From improving personalization to saving time and money, the right platform will help you make the most out of your email marketing efforts.
While there are plenty of benefits that come with email marketing automation, let’s take a look at just a few of the benefits you can expect to see when investing in a new platform.
Improve Personalization
Email marketing platforms offer a variety of ways to improve personalization. From better list segmentation, personalized tokens, and predictive analytics you can take email personalization to the next level.
Why is that so important? Because adding personalization can have a big impact on your email performance. In fact, even simple personalization steps such as adding personal touches to subject lines or body copy can make a big difference in both open and click rates.
The more you personalize your emails, the more likely it is that your customers will open and click your messages. Image courtesy of Statista.
With the right email marketing platform, you can easily integrate personalized touches based on customer engagement and behaviors. Many platforms use advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics to identify, learn, and predict future customer wants and needs.
Increase Sales
Email marketing is a great way to increase sales and revenue. In fact, when you compare the ROI of email compared to any other marketing tactic, it comes out as the clear winner.
Email marketing provides you with the biggest bang for your buck. Compared to nearly every other marketing tactic, email provides you with almost double the return on investment. Image courtesy of Smart Insights.
Email works well for increasing sales because it can lead customers directly to your estore. When you consider that the majority of your subscribers now check their emails on the mobile devices, you can reach them at all times of the day, no matter where they are.
There are a number of ways that email marketing can help increase sales including:
- Providing product recommendations based on previous browsing or shopping behaviors
- Using predictive analytics to gain an understanding of what your customers will want or need in the near future
- Optimize email send times to ensure messages land in your subscribers inbox at the right time
- Send discounts and coupons to customers who have proven to need a little extra push to complete a sale
When you invest in an email marketing platform, you’re investing in your business. You’ll quickly see that by taking the right steps and choosing a platform that has the capabilities you need, you’ll improve your bottom line.
Build a Loyal Customer Base
Having a loyal customer base is very important to growing your business. In fact, it’s more cost-effective to retain current customers than it is to acquire new.
A loyal customer base is worth more than you realize. In fact, increasing customer retention can increase profits and decrease costs in the long run. Image courtesy of Business2Community.
Sending nurturing campaigns can help you engage customers and build a more loyal customer base. An email marketing platform will allow you to quickly and easily create automated workflows that appeal to audiences based on their specific wants, needs, and journey stages.
As you continue to grow a more loyal customer base, not only will they continue to interact and make purchases from your estore, they will also tell their friends and family about their positive experiences. That means that they will spread positive messages about your brand and help new customers learn about your services.
Save Time and Money
An email marketing platform will help save you time and money in a number of ways. You no longer have to waste your time sorting through data to identify customer segments or spending time each day to manage and send emails — it’s all done for you.
Marketing automation will help you drive traffic and reduce marketing overhead — a win, win when looking to cut costs and increase revenue. Image courtesy of Salesforce.
Here are just a few ways that email marketing platforms can save you time:
- Schedule trigger emails to be sent based on specific triggers such as abandoned carts, purchases, or browse behaviors
- Cut design time in half by creating emails in easy to use, drag and drop template programs
- Improve segmentation to serve customers with the most relevant content to their needs
- Stop wasting time mining through mass amounts of data to understand your customers and let the platform do it for you
- Automate your testing and reporting data to provide daily, weekly, or monthly metric report outs
While it may initially be a big investment, it will pay off in the long run. You will no longer have to spend hours mining through data, developing reports, or trying to determine what segment your customers fit into.
Now that you’re more familiar with a few of the benefits you can expect to see, let’s dive into a few that you should consider when on the market for a new platform.
12 Email Marketing Platforms
When it’s time to start considering email marketing platforms, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. You’ll want to take a number of things into consideration to ensure you’re choosing the right partner for your business needs.
In this section, we’ll take a look at 12 different email marketing platforms and highlight a few details of each. As you read through the details of each platform, take notes to identify which might be the best solution for you.
EngageBay
EngageBay email marketing platform is a great solution with powerful features for small businesses and start-ups. Run comprehensive email marketing campaigns for best-in-class engagement and boost retention and conversions.
EngageBay allows you to choose from several pre-designed email templates or create your own. Moreover, you can personalize every part of the email and send it in a click. Finally, it also allows you to track and analyze your results. Image courtesy of EngageBay.
For those solopreneurs or businesses that are looking for a way to powerfully automate and take your email marketing to the next level, EngageBay is your go-to tool. Seamlessly automate your current email campaigns and make the most of their affordable technology to optimize your email marketing efforts.
Choose from a wide array of email marketing templates to suit your business needs, create email templates with their simple drag and drop email builder interface, segment and target your subscriber lists like a pro, personalize your emails, and fine-tune them with rich formatting options, and finally, track and optimize your campaigns to assess the larger picture.
Platform capability highlights:
Easily create attractive and responsive email campaigns with an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder.
Identify and act upon customer behavior to send targeted emails based on each customer’s stage in their buying journey.
Create emails triggered on specific events to remind users of abandoned carts, newsletter signups, and more.
Use predictive analytics to provide customers with the most relevant content, product recommendations, and optimize email send times.
Important considerations:
This platform is a great solution for small and mid-sized businesses
Pricing is affordable for all plans as compared to their competitors
Both Free, as well as Freemium plans, are available
EngageBay allows you can manage multiple marketing channels including SMS messages, telephony, social media, and more through its integrated platform.
What makes this platform stand out? The availability of power-packed features at highly competitive price points and 24/7/365 prompt and friendly support.
Listrak
The Listrak email marketing platform is a great tool if you’re looking to create data-driven, technology-backed email marketing campaigns to increase engagement and revenue.
Listrak allows you to easily create, manage, and improve your customer experience with artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. Image courtesy of Listrak.
If you’re looking for a way to automate and take your email marketing to the next level, you’ll definitely want to check out Listrak. You can easily automate your current process and take advantage of their advanced technology to send your email marketing into overdrive.
Use your current customer data to provide the most relevant content, optimize email send times, automate testing, and so much more. The best part is as your customers change, the platform will identify this to continue providing only the most relevant content.
Platform capability highlights:
- Quickly and easily create responsive email campaigns with an intuitive drag-and-drop email editor
- Use customer behavior to send targeted emails based on each customer’s stage in their buying journey
- Create triggered emails to remind users of abandoned carts, increase retention, and more
- Use predictive analytics to provide customers with the most relevant content, product recommendations, and optimize email send times
Important considerations:
- This platform is a great solution for companies of all sizes
- Pricing is dependant on specific business needs
- Listrak allows you can manage multiple marketing channels including SMS messages, social media, and more through the platform
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics to take your email marketing to the next level.
Hubspot
The Hubspot email marketing platform allows you to easily create, track, and test your emails in one central location.
View all your pertinent information in one centralized dashboard to know exactly how well your marketing efforts are performing. Image courtesy of HubSpot.
Hubspot is a good tool for companies that are looking for an easy to use automation platform that allows them to expand their efforts in the future. While it may not be the most cost-effective solution, it allows you to expand your plan beyond just your email marketing.
Platform capability highlights:
- Easily create personalized emails with simple editing and ready to use templates
- Use A/B testing to identify what is working and what isn’t working
- Create workflows to automate campaigns based on user interactions
- Connect your account with your CRM to manage customer engagement across channels
Important considerations:
- This platform is a great solution for mid to large-sized companies and works well for B2B business models
- There are multiple plans available: the Starter plan is $40 per month, the Professional plan is $800 per month, and the Enterprise is $3,200 per month. There are also options to add additional capabilities to each plan
- Hubspot allows you to manage multiple marketing efforts including managing contacts, blogging, social media, and more through the platform
What makes this platform stand out? Hubspot allows you to easily automate your email marketing efforts and provides resources to expand all of your inbound marketing efforts.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most widely known email marketing platforms and offers a free resource that is great for small businesses.
Know exactly how your email marketing campaigns are performing with easy to use analytics. Image courtesy of Mailchimp.
With Mailchimp, you can easily create professional emails that appeal to all of your customers. From real-time analytics to transactional emails, Mailchimp has everything you need to make the most out of your email automation with any budget.
Platform capability highlights:
- Easily create emails with a drag-and-drop builder
- Utilize premade email automation triggers or create your own to improve the customer experience
- Send transactional emails to let customers know about order confirmations, shipping details, and more
- Track and manage email performance with real-time analytics
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good solution for all company sizes but is a great solution for small businesses
- There is a free version that will work well for small businesses. If you’re looking for something a little extra, there are multiple plans to consider: Essential $9.99 per month, Standard $14.99 per month, Premium $299 per month — upgrades and additional capabilities can be added
- Mailchimp has grown into a full marketing platform and allows you to manage email, contacts and leads, social media, and more
What makes this platform stand out? With a free option that provides all the basics needed, this is a perfect platform for small businesses that are looking to expand their email marketing.
Constant Contact
The Constant Contact email marketing platform is a great resource for small businesses that are looking to take their email marketing to the next level.
Track campaign progress and stay ahead of your analytics with an easy to use dashboard. Image courtesy of Constant Contact.
Constant Contact is a great option for businesses looking to simplify and automate their email marketing experience. With this platform, you can improve communication with your customers and start building a more engaged subscriber list.
Platform capability highlights:
- Quickly create emails with templates that are easy-to-use and mobile-friendly
- Send trigger emails to customers based on their interactions and behaviors
- Segment your subscriber list based on interests and shopping history
- Increase your reach by using list-building tools
Important considerations:
- This platform is a great solution for small businesses
- There are two plans you can choose from: Email starts at $20 per month and Email PLUS starts at $45 per month
- Constant Contact allows you to automate additional marketing channels including social media, Google ads, eCommerce, and more
What makes this platform stand out? Constant Contact was created with small businesses in mind and can help take their email marketing efforts to the next level.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a great platform for improving the customer experience through improved segmentation and dynamic content.
Make email automation simple with easy to use workflows that can be created based on real-time user behaviors. Image courtesy of ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign provides you with an easy-to-use platform that will help you improve your customer experience with a more personalized email marketing experience. With ActiveCampaign, you can integrate all of your platforms to provide a more comprehensive portfolio.
Platform capability highlights:
- Easily create tigger and autoresponder emails based on user interaction and behavior
- Automate emails to help move users down the sales funnel and increase revenue
- Schedule messages ahead of time and never miss a big event
- Serve each customer the most relevant information with dynamic content
Important considerations:
- This platform works well for businesses of all sizes
- Pricing varies based on the number of contacts you have and there are multiple plan options that can start at $9 per month (with minimal contacts) and range to custom plans
- ActiveCampaign allows you to automate multiple marketing efforts including lead management, site tracking, and more
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to use segmentation and dynamic content to provide customers with the most relevant experience.
Omnisend
Omnisend is designed for ecommerce focused businesses that are looking to turn visitors into customers through email marketing.
Omnisend allows you to identify customer behavior and send the right message at the right time to convert them into a purchasing customer. Image courtesy of Omnisend.
If your main goal is to convert users into purchasing customers, Omnisend is a great tool to consider. Developed with this business model in mind, you can easily identify user behaviors to send emails that will help move users down the sales funnel.
Platform capability highlights:
- Target the right customers with improved segmentation efforts
- Automate emails to send to customers the right message, at the right time
- Quickly create emails with a simple to use drag-and-drop composer
- Track and report your email marketing metrics to see progress and make adjustments when needed
Important considerations:
- This platform is designed for companies that focus on ecommerce
- Pricing varies based on the number of contacts you have in your subscriber list. There is a free option and the paid plans start at $16 a month to customized plans
- Omnisend allows you to integrate and automate other marketing channels including SMS, mobile push, and more
What makes this platform stand out? The focus on increasing revenue and growing sales through marketing automation.
SendinBlue
The SendinBlue email marketing platform allows you to manage large subscriber lists more cost-effectively than ever before.
Cut your design time in half and create perfectly designed emails with a simple to use drag and drop editor. Image courtesy of SendinBlue.
Developing the perfect emails doesn’t have to take hours or include difficult coding. With the SendinBlue platform, you can easily create professional emails that appeal to all your customers. Include personalization and send at the right time with machine learning technology.
Platform capability highlights:
- Easily add a personal touch with dynamic content or take it to the next level by using their advanced personalization options
- Don’t be limited to a specific number of subscribers or segmentation lists — make as many as you need
- A/B test emails to learn what works and what doesn’t work to help improve your future campaigns
- Create beautifully designed emails in less time with a simple email editor
Important considerations:
- This platform has available options for all business sizes and types
- There are multiple pricing options including the Free plan, the Lite plan for $25 per month, the Essential plan for $39 per month, the Premium plan for $66 per month, and the Enterprise plan that is custom built
- SendinBlue allows you to incorporate your other marketing efforts including SMS, lead management, and more
What makes this platform stand out? You have no limit or additional costs based on the number of contacts and associated attributes.
Benchmark
Benchmark allows you not only automate your email marketing, but also customize your templates from editing photos, adjusting colors, and more all without leaving the platform.
Benchmark allows you to take your email template creation to the next level. Add HTML, edit photos, adjust coloring, and more right within the platform. Image courtesy of Benchmark.
Benchmark is a great tool for anyone looking to improve and customize email templates. Use the drag and drop builder or create something a little more custom, then test out what works with robust A/B testing capabilities.
Platform capability highlights:
- Use the drag and drop email builder or create something more customizable with their HTML editor
- Use A/B testing to test things like subject lines, call to actions, and more to learn what customers are engaging with most
- Preview emails in multiple browsers before sending to ensure a good experience for all customers
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good solution for companies of all sizes
- There are multiple pricing options including a free plan, a Pro plan starting at $11.99 per month, and an Enterprise plan that is priced based on business needs
- Benchmark allows you to automate various other marketing efforts including lead generation, landing page management, and more
What makes this platform stand out? You can easily create and edit your email templates — no matter your design skill level.
Campaign Monitor
The Campaign Monitor email marketing platform can help take your emails to the next level with simple automation, smart segmentation, and transactional emails.
Stay on top of your email marketing campaigns with real-time insights on engagement, segmentation, and more. Image courtesy of Campaign Monitor.
If you’re looking for a platform to simply automate your email marketing efforts, Campaign Monitor is a great tool. You can focus on improving campaigns, transactional emails, segmentation, and much more.
Platform capability highlights:
- Easily create emails with a drag and drop email editor that ensures your emails are always responsive on mobile devices
- Use automation to create personalized customer journeys based on user interactions and engagement
- Create smart segments to send customers the most relevant content that appeals to their personal interests
- Grow your subscriber list to drive more traffic and increase sales
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good solution for companies of all sizes
- There are three price plan options including the Basic plan that starts at $9 per month, the Unlimited plan that starts at $29 per month, and the Premier plan that starts at $149 per month
- Campaign Monitor is focused on email automation but does integrate well with other programs and platforms
What makes this platform stand out? Campaign Monitor allows you to focus on automating your email marketing efforts to create an unforgettable email experience.
Rejoiner
The Rejoiner email marketing platform is a great solution for companies looking for a little outside help on all things email.
Rejoiner can create workflows that are triggered based on customer interaction and engagement. Image courtesy of Rejoiner.
Take advantage of all things email marketing automation and more with Rejoiner. Whether you’re just looking for a platform to manage your email efforts or a partner who can help you develop strategy, design, and write emails — Rejoiner is a must see.
Platform capability highlights:
- Stop wasting time and money on inactive customers and develop a plan to remove these subscribers from your email list
- Create a complete profile for every subscriber based on historical and real-time shopping and engagement data
- Schedule emails to send to customers and never miss another opportunity
- Get monthly performance reporting to know when you are or aren’t meeting your goals
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good solution for companies of all sizes looking for extra email marketing assistance
- Pricing is based on the number of contacts you have and starts at $95 per month
- Rejoiner is focused on email marketing but provides additional hands-on resources
What makes this platform stand out? Rejoiner not only allows you to automate your current process, but can also help with strategy and managing and creating your emails.
Drip
Drip is an email marketing platform that allows you to provide customers with a personalized experience and move subscribers through the sales funnel based on their specific journey.
Create emails, test variations, implement workflows, and much more with the Drip email marketing platform. Image courtesy of Drip.
Drip is a great email marketing platform for ecommerce focused businesses that need a program that integrates with an existing estore. From there, you can create email campaigns around customer needs to help move them through the sales funnel and increase revenue.
Platform capability highlights:
- Understand your customers on a more personalized level and provide them with the right content at the right time with custom fields
- Improve segmentation with specific tags, events, and custom fields based on how customers are interacting with your estore
- Create a seamless customer journey across multiple platforms including social media and other third party platforms
- Use split testing to identify what experiences have the biggest impact on your customers.
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good tool for ecommerce companies of all sizes
- Pricing is dependant on the number of subscribers you have and can start at $19 per month and range to custom plans based on your business needs
- Drip is mainly an email marketing automation but does integrate with social media and third-party programs
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to create a seamless customer journey that will take customers from new subscribers to purchasing customers.
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GetResponse
With the GetResponse email marketing platform, you can manage all of your email needs in one location and make reaching your customers easier than ever before.
Make your email marketing easier than ever before. With a simple email editor and clear call to actions, you can quickly see increased engagement and revenue numbers. Image courtesy of GetResponse.
Whether you’re looking to automate your emails, easily create monthly newsletters, or improve segmentation, GetResponse is a great tool. Integrate the platform with programs you’re already using to take your business to the next level.
Platform capability highlights:
- Send newsletter to let your customer know about recent news and upcoming events
- Make sure emails are sent to your customers at the most optimal time to increase open rates
- Automate emails including post-purchase notifications, abandoned cart messages, website visits, and more
- Create automated follow-up emails to nurture subscribers and lead them down the path towards converting
Important considerations:
- This platform is a good solution for small to mid-sized businesses
- Pricing is based on list size, but there are three plan options available including the Basic plan starting at $15 per month, the Plus plan starting at $49 per month, and the Professional plan starting at $99 per month
- GetResponse allows you to automate multiple marketing efforts including list management, sales funnel conversions, landing pages, and more
What makes this platform stand out? Manage all your email marketing needs in one location and improve conversions by pushing customers down the sales funnel.
Find the Perfect Email Marketing Platform For You
Finding the perfect email marketing platform will take time. It’s a big investment that can ultimately help you save time, money, and reach more customers in a more effective manner.
You need to learn more about each company and understand exactly what they have to offer you. So take all the time you need to learn more and request demos of the platforms that pique your interests. Making the right decision on what platform to move forward with will make a big impact on your email marketing performance.
Photo by Carlos Muza
