How to choose the right email marketing solution for your business

In this 5-minute read:

  • Features to consider when choosing an email marketing solution
  • Top email marketing solutions for small business, including pricing

Email marketing is the most effective avenue for small business marketing in many cases. Often the primary point of contact a consumer has with a business, no matter what the industry is. 

From customer loyalty programs to gathering details on a new project, customers that correspond via email with a business tend to stick around longer and spend more. 

Womply has made email marketing truly automatic for busy small business owners and operators. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!

Part of the customer acquisition and retention process for more than 80% of small businesses is email marketing, particularly when done well. On average, a good email marketing campaign will provide a $42 dollar return to every $1 spent. 

Go deeper: Why email marketing should be your top priority

Let’s talk about some key things to consider when choosing email marketing software and what solutions can help you succeed in your marketing efforts. 

Features to consider when choosing a small business email marketing solution

When you are looking into an email marketing solution, there are a few features you should look for in order achieve the best results.

Integrations

A good email marketing software will have integration options with the solutions you are already using. The most important integration it should have is with your CRM. 

You should be able to upload your contacts with ease and have them automatically imported when new customers are added to your CRM. 

Editing and personalization

Customers can see right through a bland, templated email. You need to edit and personalize your email messages to provide a better customer experience (and click-through-rate). 

Solutions that have personalization features like inputting your customer’s first name or company at the introduction of the email or in the subject line, or options for artwork/layout changes, will help you find greater success in your marketing efforts. 

Viewing options

Most of your customers are likely checking their emails on their phones or other mobile devices. Because of this, you need to make sure the email marketing solution you choose has responsive capabilities. 

This means your emails are will look good and function correctly whether on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. 

Hipster using email on smartphone for small business marketing

Response capabilities

If you are sending out hundreds or thousands of emails each month (or week), you’re going to want some help handling the responses that come in. Every good email campaign has a clear call-to-action, and sometimes that call is to respond to that very email that was sent. 

In order to save your company time, find an email marketing solution that helps automate responses to customers or that aggregates them into a support ticket, depending on your needs. 

Automation

We’ve touched on this a little with the other features, but automation is key. A great email marketing solution should be able to seamlessly pull in new customers from your CRM, send automated responses, automate personalization features, initiate drip campaigns based on customer purchase or online visit behavior, reach out to customers after an online shopping cart is abandoned, and more. 

Data management

Throughout each email marketing campaign, you should be provided with analytics that tell you how successful your campaign was. Open rates, click-throughs, and leads acquired are the very basic metrics that you should at least have access to. 

The more data your email marketing solution can provide, the better you’ll be able to set up future campaigns.  

Top email marketing solutions for small business

Now that you have the low-down on the features that you need for a successful email marketing campaign, let’s take a look at some solutions that provide those features. 

Each of these options are popular email marketing solutions that are constantly adapting as technology evolves. 

MailChimp

Deliver emails at the perfect moment with MailChimp’s email marketing solution. With email automations, personalization, real-time analytics, and an easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder, MailChimp makes every email campaign simple and fun. 

Other features of MailChimp’s email marketing:

  • Mobile app
  • 300+ app integrations (including ecommerce solutions)
  • GDPR compliance (important if you deal with the EU)
  • Built-in security

MailChimp has four different plans:

Free

This plan gives you a basic email marketing solution at no cost. It includes basic templates, 1-click automations, a basic CRM, behavioral targeting, 2,000 allowed email contacts, 1 allowed audience. 

Essentials

The Essentials plan starts at $9.99/month and includes everything in the free plan, plus all email templates, A/B testing, customer branding, 50,000 allowed contacts, 3 audiences, and customer support. 

Standard

Starting at $14.99/month, the standard plan includes everything in Essentials, plus advanced audience insights, retargeting ads, custom templates, and 100,000 allowed contacts. 

Premium

MailChimp’s Premium plan is recommended for professionals that need more advanced customization features and starts at $299/month. Some of the enhanced features of this plan include advanced segmentation, unlimited contacts allowed, phone support, unlimited audiences, multivariate testing, and more.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact prides itself in making marketing easier, quicker, and more fun for you and your customers. You can collect emails from various sources, including your website, Facebook, texting, and more. They have over 100 customizable email templates to choose from and real-time analytics. 

Constant Contact has two basic pricing plans: Email and Email Plus. 

Email

This plan starts at $20/month and includes the following features:

  • Unlimited emails
  • Ecommerce marketing
  • Contact list import
  • List segmentation
  • Apps and integrations
  • Customer Support
  • Automated email resend to non-openers
  • Learning resources

Email Plus

Email Plus starts at $40/month and includes everything from Email plus a few extras:

  • More advanced automation features
  • A/B testing
  • RSVP capabilities
  • Users
  • Dynamic content
  • Event marketing
  • Surveys
  • Online donations
  • Polls
  • Coupons

Sendinblue

From personalized messaging to A/B testing, Sendinblue has you covered with its 5 different pricing plans and tons of helpful features. 

Free

The free plan allows 300 emails per day and unlimited contacts with the following features:

  • Mobile-friendly designer
  • Template library
  • SMS marketing
  • A/B testing

Lite

The Lite plan starts at $25/month and includes everything from the free plan and:

  • Unlimited emails

Essential

This plan starts at $39/month, includes the features from the previous plans and allows you to remove the Sendinblue logo from your email campaigns. 

Premium

The Premium option starts at $66/month with the previous features and the following:

  • Send time optimization
  • Facebook ads
  • Chat
  • Retargeting ads

Enterprise

The Enterprise plan is a customizable plan in which you contact Sendinblue and they will craft a plan specific to your marketing needs. The price varies by customer. 

Womply

Womply’s email marketing solution is part of Womply’s robust suite of front-office small business software, and provides an easy way for you to build customer loyalty and keep more customers coming back. 

Send customized emails with each transaction that a customer makes, thanking them for their business and keeping them updated on new deals and offerings. 

You can easily send helpful and timely reminders, marketing offers, birthday wishes, notifications, and more, including both templatized and customizable options.

More than 500,000 businesses trust Womply’s small business solutions, and Womply’s email targeting and email marketing automation features save you time while providing your customers with incentives to return to your business again and again. 

Womply’s plans start at $69/month and include vital reputation management, business insights, and customer relationship management features in addition to email marketing functionality such as:

  • Email automation (if you so choose)
  • Targeted messaging
  • Real-time alerts
  • Sending customized offers
  • App integrations

Stay top of mind for your customers and improve loyalty with Womply. Our U.S. based customer support team is ready guide you through the software and features whenever you have a question. 

Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!

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