I surveyed my readers and found out that their #1 challenge with e-mail marketing is designing a newsletter template. Tied for a close second? Deciding which one best fits my needs and Finding a service I can afford.
If you know at all what I’m about, you know I believe your website, your social media and your e-mail marketing all need to work together as a cohesive unit to get you traffic and conversions. If you’ve been putting off committing to an e-mail marketing provider because it’s all too overwhelming (and/or time-consuming) to compare pricing and features and flipping back and forth between websites to do that comparison, I’m here to rescue you! I’ve done the research on 5 of the top e-mail marketing providers for small business and compiled it for you below.
An important thing to note: Don’t let settling on an e-mail marketing service intimidate you. You are not going to be “stuck” with a company that you may decide after a few months really doesn’t fit your needs (or you’ve grown so much, it no longer fits your needs). Virtually every e-mail marketing site will allow you to export your existing list; you will then be able to import it to your new site.
MONTHLY PRICING
| Monthly Plan A | Monthly Plan B | Monthly Plan C | |
| AWeber | $19/500 subscribers | $29/501-2,500 | $49/2,501-5,000 |
| Constant Contact | $15/500 subscribers | $30/501-2,500 | $50/2,501-5,000 |
| iContact | $14/500 subscribers | $29/501-2,500 | $47/2,501-5,000 |
| MailChimp | FREE up to 2,000 contacts/ 12,000 e-mails per month | $10/up to 500 contacts, unlimited e-mails | $15/,000 contacts; unlimited e-mails |
| VerticalResponse | $10/500 subscribers | $28/501-2,000 | $46/2,001-4,000 |
OTHER PRICING INFO
| Trial Offer | Pay-As-You-Go | Nonprofit Discount | |
| AWeber | $1/30 days | N/A | 3 months free; 25% off thereafter |
| Constant Contact | 100 FREE e-mails | N/A | 20% off with 6 month prepay |
| iContact | 30 days FREE | N/A | FREE in NC; all others 20% off |
| MailChimp | FREE up to 2,000 contacts | $.03/e-mail | 15% off |
| VerticalResponse | 500 FREE e-mails | 1.5¢/e-mail | 10,000 free e-mails/month |
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
| Autoresponders? |
Ease of Use |
|
| AWeber | Included | 4 |
| Constant Contact | Included | 3 |
| iContact | Included | 3 |
| MailChimp | Incl with Pay as You Go or monthly paid plans |
2 |
| VerticalResponse | In Development | 1 |
Autoresponders, in case you don’t know, are part of an automated campaign that sends out an e-mail or series of e-mails when a triggering event occurs. The trigger could be someone submitting the opt-in form on your website, clicking through to an offer from one of your landing pages, or any number of other events. This is kind of an advanced e-mail marketing technique and not something you necessarily need to jump into right away.
When rating ease of use, I considered several factors such as how simple it is to create really great-looking e-mail newsletter templates, how straightforward the import/export procedure for lists is and general ease of navigation.
My personal favorite is Vertical Response. Yep, that’s an affiliate link. If you click on it and sign up, I get a kickback the first time you send an e-mail. But I would highly recommend their service even without the commission; I use it myself and continue to recommend it verbally, even when there’s nothing in it for me. They offer the very best pay-as-you-go pricing (one of the few that does at all), so when you don’t use it you don’t pay for it; very beneficial when you’re just starting out in e-mail marketing. They have a lot of great ready-made templates but I also LOVE their template wizard – it is SO EASY to create highly customized, great-looking newsletters, even from scratch.
So there’s my run-down for ya. If you still have questions or need guidance in helping you choose an e-mail marketing provider, comment below and I’ll get back to you!
Award-winning web professional Bonny Clayton, aka Your Web Chick, is a web designer, social media mechanic and email marketing technician.
A Tech Geek with a Creative Streak℠, she helps small business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere establish and maintain their online presence. She is committed to serving them according to their needs, whether that means “giving them a fish” or “teaching them to fish”.
If you still have questions about pricing or determining the best e-mail marketing provider for your business, feel free to ask in the comments below! I will make every effort to respond to all inquiries!
2 comments
Very good info, Bonnie!! You did all the work and made it simple for everyone!
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Thanks, Lisa! As someone who is devoted to the ongoing business success of my clients and readers, this seemed a good way to contribute to that success!