We explored the top email marketing platforms for their overall quality, cost, and features. Read on to learn more about the best email marketing services.
Email marketing has transformed over the past decade – allowing you to reach over 4 billion daily email users. Our email marketing guide covers the top email marketing services available, all of which have been picked after hours of research and hands-on experimental testing.
We’ll be diving into the true, transparent benefit you can gain from choosing the right email marketing tool for you, and offering an unbiased summary of what every top option includes.
A copywriter for the software as a service (SaaS) and digital marketing space, I have worked with hundreds of clients from small businesses to Indeed.com. I have extensive experience working with marketing strategy and social media and have built my own business creating assets for clients in the space. Also, I enjoy being an entrepreneur and have started pursuing investment opportunities as time permits.
I attended Arizona State University for a B.S. in Medical Studies and am a fan of any topic that is tech or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related. I live in Southern California with my husband, family, and dogs.
How I Rated the Best Email Marketing Providers
I rated the best email marketing providers based on key features, such as reporting capabilities, quality and quantity of native templates, ease of use, and cost.
Reporting capabilities
You can’t attribute value to an arm of your business and marketing plan without high-quality, accurate, quantitative data. I recommend you choose an email marketing tool with robust and comprehensive reporting tools, giving you direct access to the status and quality of any given campaign or time period.
Ideally, your tool will also offer A/B split testing between campaigns, letting you experiment to determine which features and structures are most effective in your core demographic.
Cost
Email marketing tools generally aren’t presented as a centralized digital marketing solution (with few exceptions, such as HubSpot). Because of this, it is best to choose a cost-efficient tool delivering quality for the price you pay monthly. Also, it is helpful to select a sustainable tool that’s affordable in the long term, in addition to any other paid tools you’re using to manage your marketing presence.
Templates and advanced composition tools
You shouldn’t have to start from scratch for your email campaigns. Templates and other advanced composition tools (i.e., merge fields, dynamic values, and embed functionality) can help bring your emails to life and enhance brand awareness with every customer touchpoint.
Demo or free trial
An email marketing software is a valuable investment in your business. Yet every option has its unique benefits, growth opportunities, and limitations. Getting hands-on experience is essential to your decision-making process, saving you valuable time and money later on.
Ease of use
Centralized adaptation through every level of your business comes down to one core concept: accessibility. Pick a tool with fantastic ease of use and little-to-no onboarding requirements – giving your team members direct and nearly-instant access to the platform for effective management and execution.
Constant Contact was one of the first platforms available in the email marketing space, helping business owners connect with their clients since 1995. Since then, the company has scaled and adapted to the needs of the modern-day business environment exponentially.
Starting price: $9.99 per month
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
You don’t have to pick with Constant Contact. Choose to create an email or social post from your seasonally-updated dashboard and review key metrics and reports for management at a glance.
Constant Contact is affordable, easy to use, and packed with social media and email marketing tools to keep you ahead of the curve.
I found the site offers logo creation support, native sign-up form creation, and basic social customer relationship management (CRM) support. These allow you to better track and segment your email marketing contacts for more effective communications.
Its other strong selling points include a dedicated customer support team (available via email and live chat), comprehensive reporting across emails, contacts, e-commerce efforts, and social ad support functionality.
While it may seem like social ads and social media are unrelated to email marketing, this isn’t the case. Having everything managed out of a suite or hub like Constant Contact allows you to easily create a unified marketing presence and experience for your customer base.
Who is Constant Contact best for?
I saw that Constant Contact can benefit e-commerce brands at every level of development. It’s one of the rare tools that I could see all businesses using – from startups to fully-scaled enterprises.
The native composer tool was reminiscent of WordPress, featuring a drag-and-drop block editor, a simple interface, and interactive layouts for maximum customization.
Recent upgrades to Constant Contact
Constant Contact tracks its updates through the handy “What’s New” tab in its Knowledgebase. The last major changes and bug fixes occurred in August of 2022, which included additions such as seasonal templates and SMS contact import options.
Constant Contact pricing
Create anything you want in just a few clicks. The campaign creation tool is a powerful gateway to your brand’s latest public-facing asset.
Constant Contact’s pricing is incredibly competitive, especially when you consider the comprehensive nature of the tool. I haven’t encountered a tool with the potential for the return on investment (ROI) you can find with Constant Contact. With plans starting at just $9.99 per month, the platform is as accessible as possible – making this a fantastic option for businesses on a budget and newer e-commerce brands.
Pros and cons of Constant Contact
Pros
Offers comprehensive suite of e-commerce marketing tools (in and outside of email marketing)
Sleek campaign creation tool with easy, click-and-drag optimization experience
E-commerce exclusive benefits such as store management, website and landing page creation, and sign-up forms
Cons
Limited form customization options
Clients report mixed experience with competency and helpfulness of the customer support team
Sendinblue is a favorite email marketing tool around the world, due to its free management plans and competitive tool suite. The company launched in 2007 and has since expanded to service over 160 countries around the world.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Moderate
When you first log in, you’ll be greeted with a simplified overview of your operations. Strategic stats, draft campaign lists, and a quick tutorial help you pick up right where you left off.
Free tools are often some of the best – and Sendinblue has established itself as a valuable option for e-commerce brands looking to save on their email marketing outreach.
While the tool isn’t quite as robust as others in the space (i.e. HubSpot or Constant Contact), it offers a range of support and tools for your email marketing efforts, allowing you to grow and scale your e-commerce outreach more quickly. I found its simplified approach to email marketing automations and workflows make this a standout choice for those looking to do less manual marketing work. It is enhanced by the 10-plus tools in the Sendinblue integration library.
Sometimes, less is more when it comes to reporting. Email marketing specifically has a few key indicators of a successful campaign (such as those listed above), which Sendinblue has very strategically summarized at the bottom of the Reports tab. Tracking too many metrics at once can cloud the view of the overall effectiveness per campaign, and make your efforts less effective overall.
Who is Sendinblue best for?
I found Sendinblue is a great tool for e-commerce brands in the startup phase or just beginning their email marketing outreach. The Free Sendinblue tier plan is enough to get brands through the initial campaign creation, refinement, and automation processes. This allows them to scale up through the membership tiers for additional functionality (such as send-time optimization, advanced tracking, and A/B testing functionality).
The composer was easy to use and featured familiar block-style editing, which meant little to no learning curve. I also appreciated the ability to code your own via the Rich Text Editor or the hypertext markup language (HTML) option.
Recent upgrades to Sendinblue
Sendinblue releases semi-frequent updates throughout the year; the most recent one occurred in August of 2022. This update included chat support for your e-commerce brands via the handy Conversations app, WhatsApp marketing campaigns, and the rollout of its application programming interface (API’s) third version. You can track other releases through the Sendinblue Changelogs on the website.
Sendinblue pricing
Sendinblue’s price plans are affordable for most small businesses, offering the potential to scale up as you grow.
Sendinblue offers affordable pricing plans designed to suit the needs of smaller e-commerce brands, as well as an inclusive free plan for those just starting to refine their email marketing strategy. I recommend beginning with the Starter Plan ($25 per month) to gain access to the reporting and analytics features of the tool. You may also enjoy the removal of Sendinblue branding, email support, and others.
Pros and cons of Sendinblue
Pros
Offers inclusive free plan to help business owners start taking control of their email marketing initiatives
Easy to reference, streamlined dashboard experience
Higher per-day send limits compared to other tools, offers more opportunities to connect with your clients
Cons
Limited range of support options outside of basic email marketing functionality
Have to pay for the Starter plan for competitive analytics and reporting
HubSpot is known as one of the most comprehensive marketing tool suites available, delivering stellar service through its “hub” systems. You can choose from the sales, customer service, content management system (CMS), or marketing hubs, onboarding at your current pace of scale and growth.
Starting price: $45 per month
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Moderate
When you sign on to HubSpot, you’ll see the easy-to-navigate dashboard of whatever Hub bundle you’ve purchased. Marketing tools and the Hub are easily accessible via the top scroll bar.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a competitive tool of choice if you have the resources and time to complete the extensive onboarding process.
The design of the HubSpot tool suite is to give business owners the most comprehensive options possible to effectively manage their businesses. While this does give you near-unlimited benefits, the learning curve is far larger than other platforms – requiring a greater upfront use of your resources and time. That being said, many e-commerce brands choose HubSpot for their marketing and operational management tasks.
The Marketing Hub strategically offers access to just a few elements of business, such as ad, email, landing page, and social support. While you can integrate with other tools (such as the CMS and sales tools) to enhance the user experience, the simplified structure of the site allows you to go deeper and fine-tune your processes. You can also enjoy the easy-to-use native site composer tool, in-depth automation suite, and sleek template library.
Who is HubSpot Marketing Hub best for?
I found the HubSpot Marketing Hub is most appropriate for rapidly scaling midsize businesses and established enterprises that have the time and resources to fully embrace the integration and onboarding process. While smaller brands can also benefit from the tool, cost and time spent may be a barrier to fully enjoying the spectrum of the HubSpot Marketing Hub’s benefits.
HubSpot Marketing Hub’s comprehensive campaign management tool was especially handy for our test launch, allowing you to lay out every single forward-facing asset in waterfall workflow form. The visibility and clarity were unlike any tool reviewed prior.
Recent upgrades to HubSpot
HubSpot releases multiple additions and upgrades per month, conveniently tracking them in the Releases and Updates section of its blog. Most recently, we saw the addition of HubSpot Calls for iOS and Android devices, localized App Marketplace connections, and HubSpot payments added via an activity timeline format in the CRM area of the HubSpot suite.
HubSpot pricing
Email marketing health and analysis work synonymously, helping you to preserve the quality of your outreach. The Health tab takes you through modules of best practices, contributing to better overall reporting scores in the Analyze tab.
You can choose from Starter, Professional, or Enterprise plans, and will be assigned a membership tier based on the number of marketing contacts you have. I recommend the Starter plan ($45 per month) for rapidly scaling businesses, as you’ll get a majority of the benefits for a fraction of the price.
Pros and cons of HubSpot
Pros
High-quality customer support through email and in-app chat options, as well as a full-scale knowledgebase
Holistic campaign creation tool for comprehensive management and support across all customer-facing assets
Professional automation and split testing capabilities available for larger e-commerce brands; will assist with brand refinement
Cons
Generally higher priced compared to competitors; may present a barrier to entry
More limited reporting options in Starter plan compared to other tools such as Constant Contact
ActiveCampaign is a great tool if you’re looking to focus on email automation to boost your reach and conversion rates in your area of the e-commerce space. There are over 800 integrations available to experiment with, and an extensive suite of both sales and marketing tools at your disposal – no matter which plan you choose.
Starting price: $29 per month
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Moderate
ActiveCampaign gives you a user experience similar to MailerLite or such tools – primarily button-driven, featuring the readily available help button and tutorials on-page.
We chose ActiveCampaign as the top email marketing tool for enterprise brands due to the platform’s end-to-end e-commerce marketing management tools, relatively affordable membership prices, and extensive automation capabilities.
One of the top areas of functionality we evaluate for is automation and integration capabilities, which help you quickly build and scale. ActiveCampaign leads the industry with its extensive library, featuring over 800 e-commerce integration options.
In addition to these helpful features, I believe you’ll find great benefit from the service’s other top selling points. These include the robust campaign creation and management tool, intuitive and user-friendly interface, and integrated free email design service – a great place to start as you iterate on your brand’s feel and look.
I’ve never encountered another platform the size of ActiveCampaign that allows users to take advantage of free customized email designs. For rapidly scaling brands who don’t have a dedicated design team yet, this can be a valuable tool for a fraction of the initial investment.
Who is ActiveCampaign best for?
We found that ActiveCampaign, due to the comprehensive nature of the tool, would offer the most value to large-scale enterprises. Yet there is enough internal support and assistance that smaller brands would get an equal amount of value, should they take the time to optimize their processes and use the automation suite.
The campaign composer offers you the opportunity to work off of the basic and designed templates, stacked layouts and previous campaigns, as well as an HTML tool.
Recent upgrades to ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign rolls out numerous monthly updates, all tracked RSS-style in its Release Updates area of the blog. Recent changes as of October of 2022 include transactional email support, sorting enhancement, currency selections for e-commerce purchases, and SMS text marketing enhancement for HELP and INFO key commands.
Pricing
I appreciated how modular the site page builder tool was, allowing you to fully tailor every element of the template for personalized page experiences. It’s a fantastic tool to leverage for your next launch.
For the inclusivity of ActiveCampaign’s membership tiers, I believe the current price points are competitive. Your initial commitment for the Lite plan would be $29 per month, unlocking your access to key areas of functionality, such as marketing automation, segmentation, form creation, and site tracking. With the Plus plan ($49 per month) or the Pro plan ($149 per month), though, you’ll get end-to-end digital marketing management support – ranging from mobile marketing to website personalization.
Pros and cons of ActiveCampaign
Pros
Extensive digital marketing tools for end-to-end management and support
Heavy emphasis on user experience and website support, ranging from page and form creation to personalization and refinement
Integrates with over 800 tools and top names in the space, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce
Cons
Customers report poor experiences with customer service, no matter what membership tier you’re associated with
Customers report long resolution times for reported bugs and unexpected glitches at random with key areas of functionality (such as automation and campaign sends)
Klaviyo has quickly established itself as the marketing tool of choice for over 100,000 brands, assisting in both email and text message marketing. It’s a favorite for major e-commerce brands like ColourPop, Dermalogica, and Nomad.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
I appreciated the minimal design of the dashboard interface, giving you the most immediate option to launch your campaign or explore other avenues.
Klaviyo sets the standard of email marketing excellence across hundreds of thousands of brands – so I was especially excited to give the platform a try. The onboarding process was exceptionally easy, and connected me to its intuitive dash – prompting me to start my first campaign.
The platform comes equipped with plenty of perks, including extensive pre-built automation and personalization tools, as well as integrated SMS tools to help amplify the effects of your marketing outreach strategy.
Additional selling points include custom reporting dashboards, behavior-based drag-and-drop automated sequences for maximum impact, and compliance support to keep every interaction you have as safe as possible.
Simple tools like compliance support are vital to the health of every campaign and send. With external governing regulations over your email marketing strategy (such as General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] and the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 [CAN-SPAM Compliance Act]), it’s easy to make missteps. Tools with compliance support included can save you valuable time and money in the long run.
Who is Klaviyo best for?
Businesses of any size can benefit from Klaviyo’s extensive library of service inclusions and marketing options. However, I believe rapidly scaling midsize and enterprise-level e-commerce businesses would get the most benefit. The extensive suite of integration options would require a testing and onboarding period that may not be as easy to facilitate for a smaller or rapidly growing e-commerce brand.
The campaign builder is easy to use and allows you to conveniently address the more technical parts of the email before moving into the design flow. Choose from drag-and-drop, text-only, or HTML for your design options.
Recent upgrades to Klaviyo
Klaviyo continues to evolve, rolling out monthly updates to help enhance your overall user experience. You can view the full list at Klaviyo’s “What’s New” part of the blog. The most recent updates were AI-assisted writing tools for SMS marketing campaigns and private API key permission options for more secure operations.
Klaviyo pricing
The Flow automation editor allows access to a wide library of templates by goal, or you can opt for a drag-and-drop experience – helping get your strategy finalized in minutes.
Klaviyo offers a convenient free plan for those with 250 records or less. After you cross the threshold, you’ll be moved to the more advanced plan options: Email or Email + SMS.
The pricing is determined by a sliding scale based on the number of contact records you have associated with your account, going up in increments of $10 to $30 based on each additional parcel of 500 contact records. You can see the average price you’ll be paying on the site’s sliding scale here.
Pros and cons of Klaviyo
Pros
AI-powered composer tools to help build your highest converting campaigns yet
Enhanced data protection measures for safety with each transmission
Over 200 integration options to better optimize your email campaigns
Cons
Customers report a learning curve through the more advanced automation elements of the platform
The Klaviyo template library is more limited than other comparable tools
Summary
Klaviyo
Best email marketing tool for advanced segmentation
GetResponse, a well-known e-commerce digital marketing tool suite, is a favorite pick with brand giants like Ikea, Revolut, and the University of Nottingham. If you’re looking for visually-driven newsletter support and advanced send tools, it is the right tool for you.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
The GetResponse dashboard is exceptionally easy-to-use and is button driven, giving you little to no learning curve during your onboarding process
GetResponse, like many platforms on this list, offers a full suite of e-commerce business marketing support. But its auxiliary tools outside of email marketing support are more sales-oriented, such as the added funnels functionality.
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of service and support I had through the onboarding process. While the platform is simple, you can go the extra mile and really customize your experience, inputting whatever area of business you want to focus on first. It felt comparable to concierge support. Because of this, I feel confident the service would provide smaller brands and services (or e-commerce leaders who aren’t familiar with email marketing management) with the assistance they need to make their experience a success.
In addition, I found e-commerce business owners would benefit from the site’s form and pop-up functionality, extensive newsletter creation and support services, and CRM for streamlined record management, list hygiene, and segmentation.
Finding a tool with embedded list of hygiene tools was a pleasant surprise. It’s an invaluable element of your email marketing strategy, helping make your outreach attempts as efficient as possible.
GetResponse included features such as contact import/deletion en masse, duplicate record management, and inactivity flags to help you take care of this task easily. It also offered blocklisting rule functionality to assist you in doing so on a more automated basis.
Who is GetResponse best for?
In my research and use, I found GetResponse would be a fantastic tool of choice for brands looking for a full en-suite of tools, as well as an email marketing platform. I could see SMBs getting the most use from the tool, as large-scale brands may be wanting additional features and support based on their unique business needs.
I was impressed with the ease of use of the list management area, allowing you to segment, streamline, and manage your list in a few clicks. The rules and mass import features were especially handy and took seconds to set up.
Recent upgrades to GetResponse
GetResponse doesn’t upgrade the platform regularly. But updates seem to be focused around e-commerce brand areas of need, giving you the maximum amount of benefit with every update. The most recent update occurred in May of 2022, an e-commerce marketing automation functionality that offered one-click compatibility and other great add-ons, such as promo codes and transactional email support.
GetResponse pricing
The e-commerce tool suite was greatly enhanced as of the last update, giving you a single space to work on personalization, reporting, and sales strategies.
GetResponse features a more nuanced pricing plan than most, offering the option to set up your account and add your credit card later. You can start for free and still have core functionality (such as the website builder, domain connection, and form creation support). Yet, e-commerce brands of any size and scale might be looking for more – in which case I recommend choosing either the Email Marketing or the Marketing Automation plans ($15.58 per month and $48.38 per month, respectively).
Pros and cons of GetResponse
Pros
Offers comprehensive suite of e-commerce marketing tools (in and outside of email marketing)
Sleek campaign creation tool with easy, click-and-drag optimization experience
E-commerce exclusive benefits such as store management, website and landing page creation, and sign-up forms
Cons
More complex pricing tiers than other tools, may require additional time spent in a sales call
Clients report “buggy” features with inconsistent downtime (i.e. text sizes, fonts, and email template breakages)
Zoho Campaigns is an extension of the Zoho tool suite, known for providing extensive and low-cost digital marketing and management tools for businesses across industries. Whether you’re looking to refine your automated workflows or manage your content and records, Zoho has a tool that can help – for free or low cost.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
I appreciated the minimal design of the dashboard interface, giving you the most immediate option to launch your campaign or explore other options.
I was immediately impressed by the tool suite included for free with Zoho Campaigns. The site makes a point to create accessible tools and solutions in every area of business operations and management, and email marketing was no exception.
You can manage your email, social, and SMS campaigns directly from Zoho Campaigns for the most centralized approach to your digital marketing outreach yet – relying on workflow tools and integration to keep everything moving smoothly as you refine your strategy.
Additional selling points with Zoho Campaigns include the native segmentation and list management tools, and the e-commerce tool suite (accessible as soon as you integrate your store with Zoho’s system). Also, a plus is the template library – housing your workflow, email, and form templates for easy reference and use.
Who is Zoho Campaigns best for?
Zoho Campaigns will be most effective for small-to-medium businesses looking to pursue higher level automation and workflows to streamline their processes. Larger e-commerce brands may be seeking a wider range of template options and reports not available in the current version of the suite.
The visually-driven workflow editor is incredibly easy to use, and comes pre-loaded with workflow templates to give you a strong head start.
Recent upgrades to Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is updated a few times per year, often updating in bulk with improvements to user experience and overall navigability. The most recent update at the time of this publication occurred in August 2022. It gave valuable updates like the AI-powered product recommendations for e-commerce sequences, a streamlined new look to email workflow tools, and the launch of the site’s native SMS gateway.
Zoho Campaigns pricing
While reports are slightly simplified, Zoho Campaigns comes equipped with functionality to support a variety of them – spanning over Google Analytics, campaign send, and list-specific analytics.
Zoho Campaigns is competitively priced, especially if you’re relatively new to email marketing. For 500 contacts or less, you’ll pay between $0 (the free plan) to $4.50 per month (the Pro plan). You can determine your proposed monthly payment amount with the sliding estimation tool. It’s based entirely on how many email contacts you have, giving you tailored price options at every point of development.
Pros and cons of Zoho Campaigns
Pros
Competitive prices offer little to no barrier to entry
E-commerce tool suite and exclusive workflows (i.e. abandoned cart and purchase follow-ups) offer the potential for higher conversions
Drag-and-drop workflow editor and campaign creation tool; user-friendly interface
Cons
Limited functionality is available in-app, not comparable to web client experience
Clients mention bugs that occur at random in the platform’s functionality
Summary
Zoho Campaigns
Best email marketing tool for workflow-driven operations
Founded in 2010, MailerLite offers some of the most supportive and affordable email marketing services for e-commerce brands. Membership tiers begin at no cost and escalate to $19 per month, giving you some of the most robust tool access we’ve seen for the set package cost.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
This dashboard view is the first thing you see when you sign into MailerLite. It’s exceptionally easy to navigate, and you’ll be taken through a series of prompts to set up your account – saving time as you won’t have to figure it out yourself.
MailerLite is one of the most comprehensive and affordable email marketing tools for e-commerce business owners that we’ve found. The platform offers more extensive services than just email marketing. You can take advantage of the service’s full tool suite. This includes website builder tools, CMS, lead management tools, and e-commerce support – in addition to email marketing services.
I found the comprehensive structure of the platform was comparable to Constant Contact and other more advanced services, coming in at just a fraction of the price.
You’ll also receive advanced email marketing automation tools, newsletter-specific editing services, and extensive campaign send tools, such as A/B split testing, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) campaigns, and auto-resend functionality. This unique email marketing tool allows you to resend your mailing to those who haven’t opened it yet, boosting your open rates and campaign efficiency.
Who is MailerLite best for?
MailerLite would be an excellent tool for smaller e-commerce brands and startups wanting to save on an email marketing service, and larger companies looking for a low-cost, comprehensive tool suite that offers comparable service to top en-suite tool systems (such as HubSpot).
The campaign creation tool offers a streamlined support tool for your marketing initiatives, taking you through a series of steps for the highest level of customization possible.
Recent upgrades to MailerLite
MailerLite updates its platform seasonally, rolling out important groups of updates around user experience and inclusions. The most recent update was Summer of 2022, posted to the MailerLite “What’s New” summary area. Some of the most exciting recent updates include multiple trigger automations to allow campaigns to be multi-use, new integration opportunities with PrestaShop, and a built-in email preference center for greater recipient engagement.
MailerLite pricing
The form creation tool is one of the best we’ve seen, allowing you to create tailored pop-ups, embedded forms, and promotional shout-outs for your e-commerce brand.
I believe MailerLite is incredibly competitive when it comes to pricing. In the free plan, you get access to advanced benefits (such as 10 landing page creation slots, signup form and pop-up creation, and website management), as well as full access to the email automation suite and builder tool. If you plan to scale, choose the $9 Growing Business plan or the $19 Advanced plan – offering other competitive benefits, such as 24/7 live chat and email support, multiple trigger functionality in your automation sequences, dynamic emails, auto-resend, and more.
Pros and cons of MailerLite
Pros
Incredibly affordable rates for businesses at any point of development
Extensive automation support and multi-trigger campaign management, helping get the most out of your content
Comprehensive digital marketing support; including web page creation, CMS support, and light CRM functionality
Cons
Clients report mixed reviews regarding uptime and speed of the platform
More limited template library compared to other tools in the space
Drip is an email marketing tool that’s specifically designed for e-commerce brands looking to grow and scale. The platform is largely built around integrations and specializes in ease of use and segmentation, giving you an incredibly easy email marketing experience.
Starting price: $39 per month
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Extremely simple
Once you sign on, you’ll be greeted with Drip’s easy-to-navigate dashboard – offering you the opportunity to complete a tutorial or begin working quickly.
I was excited to review an email marketing tool made exclusively for e-commerce businesses, especially one as streamlined as Drip.
In my initial assessment, I appreciated the minimalistic design elements and flow of the native interface. Often, email marketing tools can feel clunky or out of date. But with Drip, there was absolutely no learning curve, and help was readily available via the startup tutorial and the chatbox to the bottom right.
Beyond the element of user experience and sign-on ease, I believe business owners will enjoy its other top selling points. These include the Email Series Blueprint tool for en masse campaign creation, workflow templates for easy automation support, and integrated knowledge base materials to get the most out of your tool use experience.
Who is Drip best for?
Drip is best for those looking to establish their email marketing efforts in a strategic way, and who aren’t afraid to experiment with integrations and automated workflows.
You’ll receive the campaign email Blueprints, organized by launch type, style, and formation. They’re easy to navigate and even easier to edit – I created my first email in just two minutes with the help of the native composer.
Recent upgrades to Drip
Drip did not have any recent changelogs or updates available in summary form for public consumption.
Drip pricing
Launch your list from scratch or import en masse with Drip’s diverse list management and import tools.
Drip’s pricing begins at $39 per month, offering you the ability to grow your list to 2,500 email contacts, unlimited sends, and direct support as you navigate the tool. You can then scale up to the next tier of pricing, determined based on your current number of listed contact records. Calculating your estimated payment per month can be done using the on-site calculation tool.
Pros and cons of Drip
Pros
Extensive workflow and rule templates for better management and support
Helpful customer service via chat and email, as well as a fully built-out knowledgebase
Advanced campaign tools such as brand style management and help to keep your communication on-brand
Cons
Templates for emails are less visually driven than with other tools
Less comprehensive reporting options compared to other tools
AWeber has been a fixture in the email marketing community for over 20 years, launching during the dawn of email commercialization in 1998. It’s evolved to offer customized email marketing support for e-commerce brands of all sizes.
Starting price: $0
Template and send tools: Yes
Free trial or demo: Free trial
Ease of use: Moderate
While the AWeber dashboard wasn’t as clean as competing email marketing tools, I was pleasantly surprised at the handiness of its widgets.
AWeber offers a fantastic free plan that gives you everything you need to start your email marketing strategy off strong.
The platform has been one of the longest-standing email marketing tools and has adapted to the needs of modern-day e-commerce business owners. While the user experience is slightly less streamlined than other tools in the space, I believe AWeber makes up for it. The company offers interesting AI-supported tools (such as the Smart Composer, pulling inspiration from your site into the design of every broadcast), and its extensive integration library.
Customer support within the AWeber interface is more competitive than other tools I experimented with. I connected with a customer service representative in seconds – and had the option to reach out via phone (during business hours) or email (on a 24/7 basis). The platform’s other strongest selling points were its blog broadcast functionality, advanced social CRM support, and list optimization options to help you organize every group of customers.
Who is AWeber best for?
AWeber is a strong tool of choice for rapidly growing small-to-medium businesses that don’t mind a less modern interface as they refine their email marketing strategy.
AWeber offers the opportunity to start your message from scratch, make your own template, or choose from a variety of richly-designed templates. Can’t decide till it’s written? Simply check the “Keep My Message Content” and it will smart-adapt to the template you’ve chosen.
Recent upgrades to AWeber
AWeber isn’t as frequently updated compared to other tools in the space, offering published updates biannually in the Blog Updates section of the site. However, the changes it makes are always geared toward user experience and inclusivity, the most recent of which were Google Analytics 4 Tracking for site landing pages and adding social icons in emails.
AWeber pricing
The automation sandbox is very basic in appearance but offers everything you need to track and manage, such as tag-based organization, triggers, and message management.
AWeber’s pricing is competitive for what it offers, albeit not that straightforward. If you’re considering upgrading, I recommend going to the Price tab and determining your average monthly price (determined by subscriber count).
Pros and cons of AWeber
Pros
Offers comprehensive suite of e-commerce marketing tools (in and outside of email marketing)
Sleek campaign creation tool with easy, click-and-drag optimization experience
E-commerce exclusive benefits such as store management, website and landing page creation, and sign-up forms
Cons
Confusing price tiers may lead to membership problems down the line
More limited in certain areas than competing tools, such as design and spam preview options and certain reporting elements
I test each email marketing service by purchasing a plan to check out what each provider offers new users, and how easy it is to navigate around each brand's interface. Getting a firsthand, authentic look at every tool enables us to provide the highest-quality and most honest reviews for all of your favorite e-commerce services. This gives you the insight you need to confidently decide which service is next in your tech stack.
I know how important it is to choose an email marketing provider you can trust, so I focus on whether each provider presents its products honestly, clearly, and transparently. I give every service a thorough evaluation and launch dummy shops and campaigns to give you a true taste of what each tool offers — as if you were sampling the service.
Lastly, I base my total evaluation on the price point that every platform offers, evaluating the value of what you’ll be paying each month.
My dummy campaign system involves true-time email sends, compliance support evaluations, reporting analysis, and automation experimentation. This covers every core element a business owner would be using throughout the trial period and membership experience.
Each email marketing service provider has been selected based on being at the top of its game for one aspect of web hosting service or another prior to being included on our list. We’ll be keeping this list updated with the best email marketing services available each year – keeping you up to date on the latest and greatest names in the space.
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