The 7 most popular email marketing platforms for small businesses
Discover which email marketing platform is best suited for your business
Email marketing is one of the most effective online marketing strategies with an average return on investment (ROI) of $42 for every $1 spent. [1] With so many different email marketing platforms to choose from, the options can feel overwhelming.
Email marketing is also a great way to increase your business’s sales. According to a recent survey, 59% of respondents say that email marketing influences their purchase decisions. [2]
Continue reading as we review and compare the 7 most popular email marketing platforms.
#1: Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms and it is one of the few that has a forever free pricing plan. It was created to help small businesses grow and with the different pricing plans and features, Mailchimp promises to grow with your business.
- Features: Mailchimp is very user-friendly with complete functions and a robust interface. Its main features are a drag and drop editor, email automation, customer relationship manager, app integrations, a mobile app, and a website builder.
- Pricing: Mailchimp offers four pricing plans: Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium. Their pricing is based on the number of contacts you have — from 2,000 to over 200,000.
#2: Constant Contact
Constant Contact is one of the first email marketing tools available for small business, it promotes being beginner-friendly, having high deliverability rates, and unique features such as event management.
- Features: Constant Contact allows you to send unlimited emails. It also includes a smart email editor, automation, mobile app, free image library, app integrations, and personalized emails. Constant Contact does not have their own customer relationship management system, but they do allow for CRM integrations.
- Pricing: Constant Contact has two pricing plans that vary based on your number of contacts: Email and Email Plus. Both of the plans allow you to send an unlimited number of emails. They offer a 60-day free trial to explore all the features it has to offer, and after that the cheapest option is $20 a month for 500 contacts.
#3: Active Campaign
Active Campaign is ranked #1 by G2 in marketing automation and #1 by TrustRadius in email marketing. This platform allows the user to send personalized emails based on their contacts’ information.
- Features: Active Campaign’s main features include a drag and drop design tool, mobile app, automation, customer relationship management, and social media integrations. They also allow for easy account migration from other email marketing platforms.
- Pricing: Active Campaign features four pricing plans: Lite, Plus, Professional, and Standard. Their pricing is also based on your number of contacts, and all the plans allow you to send unlimited emails. After their 14-day free trial the cheapest option is their Lite plan at $9 a month for 500 contacts.
#4: ConvertKit
ConvertKit targets online creators such as bloggers. With high deliverability and open rates, this platform allows the user to build sign-up forms and clickable call to action buttons.
- Features: ConvertKit allows you to send an unlimited amount of emails to your contact list. This platform’s main features include automation, personalization, app integrations, a community of other creators, and the ability to sell digital products through your emails. It’s important to note that this platform does not have a drag and drop editor, which is common on most other platforms.
- Pricing: ConvertKit has three pricing options: Free, Creator, and Creator Pro. Their pricing plans are based on your number of contacts, and with the free plan you can have up to 1,000 contacts.
#5: HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot’s Marketing Hub is an all-in-one email marketing platform developed for small to large businesses. HubSpot’s pricing plans allow your platform and features to grow with your business. HubSpot’s Marketing Hub also offers in-depth and customizable analytics and reporting.
- Features: HubSpot’s main features are a drag and drop editor, a landing page editor, a mobile app, and personalization. This platform also features a free CRM tool available with all pricing plans.
- Pricing: HubSpot has four pricing options: Free, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. Their pricing is based on what features you get—the more expensive plans offer more automation and SEO features.
#6: Sendinblue
Sendinblue is promoted as a robust all-in-one email marketing platform. They offer many personalization options with their fully-functional customer relationship management and beginner-friendly automation options.
- Features: Sendinblue’s main features are an unlimited number of contacts, drag and drop editor, app integrations, send time optimization feature, customer relationship management, automation, and email personalization. This platform also features a SMS marketing tool.
- Pricing: Sendinblue has four pricing plans: Free, Lite, Premium, and Enterprise. Their pricing plans are based on your number of emails per day. The free plan allows for 300 emails a day and their enterprise plan has custom pricing made to fit the needs of larger businesses.
#7: GetResponse
GetResponse focuses heavily on their webinar feature and e-commerce sites which are included in all of their pricing options.
- Features: GetResponse’s main features include a drag and drop tool, automation, customer relationship management, mobile app, the ability to host and send webinars to your contacts, and app integrations. This platform also includes a tool called autofunnel that allows you to create funnels for sales, leads, and webinars.
- Pricing: GetResponse has four pricing options: Basic, Plus, Professional, and Max. Their prices are also based on the size of your contact list. They offer a 30-day free trial, and after that the cheapest option is the Basic plan for $15 a month with 1,000 contacts.
In conclusion
Email marketing is a very powerful digital marketing tool to maximize your customer relationships—80% of business professionals believe that email marketing helps to increase customer retention. [2] It helps to serve as a reminder to your consumers and subscribers what products and services your business offers. These tools can all be effective as long as you focus on building an email list and consistently deliver emails that bring value to your contacts.
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