Done-for-You: Email Marketing Comparison

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

OTHER PRICING INFO

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

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, offers web design, support and maintenance for small business, with a specialty in WordPress.

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!