Despite the emergence of many new and path-breaking digital marketing strategies, email marketing is still at the core of many businesses. Not only is it one of the most cost-effective marketing tools delivering a high ROI unfailingly, but it also helps you connect your diverse channels ensuring a fluid and cohesive buyer’s journey.
Contrary to what most people think, email marketing is not just about getting messages into potential and existing customers’ inboxes. In fact, the stats prove why this is one digital marketing strategy you cannot keep away from your arsenal.
- 3.9 billion people across the globe used emails in 2019. This figure is expected to grow to 4.3 billion in 2023.
- Emails sent and received each day are expected to reach a whopping 347.3 billion in 2022 from 293.6 billion in 2019.
- The ROI of email marketing can be huge. Marketers can expect an average return of $42 for every $1 spent on email marketing campaigns.
- According to recent statistics, 87 percent of marketers use email marketing to distribute their content. Email marketing is now the third most preferred channel for distribution. Social media tops the choice with 91 percent and the company website or blog is placed second with 89 percent.
Email marketing helps you create and deliver personalized experiences. This can result in improved engagement and greater brand awareness as you gain new leads, new customers, and returning customers.
Emails provide the opportunity to access customer data that can be harnessed for creating more effective and meaningful customer touchpoints.
But before you explore tools that can help automate your email marketing campaigns, you must ensure your foundation is strong. This refers to your own email address.
You share your email address ([email protected]) with all but don’t hear from any of them after the meet and keep wondering why.
A good email address is one of those small details that leave a huge overall impact. Coming across as a professional is especially important for those who are just starting out. Considering that most of your interactions are online, you should establish your company’s presence by registering your domain name.
It is important to pick a domain name that is easily associated with your company. It should also be short enough to be memorable without being prone to misspelling or mishearing. If your desired name is already taken, you can opt for a new domain extension best suited to your business and brand, such as .online, .site, or even something more specific such as .tech (if you are a tech company) or .space (if you are an artist).
Such a domain name is unique and relevant and it also saves you from modifying your name of choice because it was already taken or was too expensive.
It also gives you a meaningful email address. For instance, after registering your new company, Better Words Solutions, you can register www.betterwords.online as your company domain name. In the future, once your company grows, you can create email addresses such as [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and more.
Email automation tools
Organizations are leveraging the power of automation to make their email marketing strategies more powerful and enhance such strategies by working smarter. A good email marketing tool is a must if you want to maximize your marketing strategy results.
Here is a well-researched list of the top email marketing tools to ensure you achieve your marketing goals smartly and consistently.
SendInBlue
SendInBlue offers a comprehensive set of highly valuable tools to automate your marketing plans. It can automate SMS, ads, and landing pages.
All you need to do is set it up once. The autopilot mode takes up all the tasks such as segmenting, targeting and reaching customers.
Highlights:
- Designed for both businesses and individuals.
- Multiple pricing options available based on the number of messages delivered.
- User-friendly and short learning curve, even for those with no formal knowledge of email automation.
- The free plan allows you to try out all the key features without having to spend anything.
Pricing:
- Starts at $25 per month
- The free plan allows uploading of unlimited contacts and allows sending of up to 300 emails/day
GetResponse
If you are a novice with marketing automation, GetResponse is the perfect choice as there are many features to help you remain organized and in control. The workflow feature is of great help as it can help understand the buyer’s journey and can create attractive offers based on insights.
GetResponse is useful for building integrations of all types with three simple concepts – conditions, actions, and filters.
Highlights:
- Ideal for medium-sized businesses as it offers affordable intelligence tools, along with email marketing tools.
- The Perfect Timing tool suggests the best time of the day to send emails sent to your clients’ inboxes.
- There are tools for creating landing pages, webinars, and other types of content.
Pricing:
- Starts at $15 per month
- There is a 30-day free trial offer
Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a comprehensive toolkit for marketers. It features landing page builder tools, Google Ads integration, and automated email resend.
It is best suited for small businesses and offers features over and beyond what many email marketing software systems offer.
Highlights:
- With its numerous guides, webinars, and other content types, it’s support system ranks among the best in the industry.
- You can boost your social media presence with this advanced tool.
- Website users can create coupons and downloads to make unique offers.
Pricing:
- Starts at $20 per month
- There are no free plans available
SalesHandy
SalesHandy is a popular email marketing platform that many claim to be one of the easiest to use out of the top brands available in the market.
If you focus on sending personalized cold email campaigns, this tool can help you achieve your campaign objectives effortlessly as it enables high deliverability.
SalesHandy also helps avoid email spam filters as it supports domain tracking. Email addresses of intended recipients can be verified before scheduling campaigns to minimize bounce rates and ensure high open and response rates.
Highlights:
- Has a high rate of deliverability for cold emails.
- Integrates with other major tools such as HubSpot, Zoho, Copper, PipeDrive, Insightly, and Outreach. It uses Zapier to achieve these integrations.
- It is available as a Web App and Chrome Extension.
Pricing:
- Regular Plan starts at $9/user/month but billed yearly.
Drip
Drip is the perfect marketing automation tool for building ongoing relationships with customers. The key benefits include full CRM and many customization options.
Make your customers feel special and get them to perform marketing actions with these powerful tools. The analytics resources are among the best in the industry, according to experts.
Highlights:
- Designed to cater to bloggers and influencers.
- Works well for eCommerce businesses of small and medium sizes.
- There are tools to help marketers understand customer behaviour more accurately.
Pricing:
- Basic plans start at $49 per month
- A free 14-day trial is available
Mailjet
Mailjet is a hassle-free and straightforward email marketing tool that offers easy integration with clients connected to your business through email. There are other tools also provided to help grow your audience and achieve greater future sales.
Highlights:
- Personalized email templates allow easy customization of content and make customers feel special.
- Free version comes packed with many tools for easy email marketing management for small businesses.
- Intuitive interfaces are available for building emails effortlessly.
- The SMTP feature guarantees a highly reliable delivery system.
Pricing:
- Pricing for the basic plan starts at $9.65 per month
- The free plan limits emails to 6000 per month
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing tool for developing strong and lasting relationships with customers. You are assured of some extraordinary marketing creatives. Also, the system allows the use of segmentation and dynamic content for initiating personalized conversations with customers. ActiveCampaign offers multiple sales and marketing tools for better leads.
Highlights:
- High level of personalization available for meeting your business goals.
- Option for opting only for email marketing features available saves you money.
- A full suite of automation tools is also available.
Pricing:
- Basic plans start at $9
- 14-day free trial available
Keap
This professional marketing system offers a wide range of features, including a full CRM tool, invoice and payment processing, and appointment tools. You can carry out interaction with customers through one convenient email marketing platform. The focus on follow-ups is also high.
Highlights:
- An all-in-one system that brings together full CRM software to your marketing plans.
- The first one to offer the user-friendly drag-and-drop feature.
- The advanced segmentation and subscriber tagging tools are available for easy and perfect segmentation of customers.
Pricing:
- Pricing starts at $79/month
- A 14-day free trial is available
Conclusion
Reaching your audience in the right manner is a key part of a successful marketing campaign. With the right email marketing tool, you can boost the chances of success of every campaign you plan to launch.
Free trials offer a great way of checking out the various marketing tools available without having to dip into your limited resources. This list should help you identify the best email marketing software that best meets your enterprise needs.
Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .ONLINE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.