Seven Email Platforms: Which is Right for You

Email marketing is a tool that has been in our marketing toolboxes for years.  Because customers opt-in to our lists, the repetitive direct access we enjoy makes conversion rates stronger than other methods of communication.  This powerful tool allows you to send various content types to subscribers: editorials, advertisements, promotions, giveaways, loyalty offers, flash sales, discounts, solicitations, and more.  Every email offers another chance to build brand awareness and loyalty among your list subscribers.

For someone new to its employment, however, it can be daunting to choose between email marketing platforms.  Each business has unique customer and staff needs.  Let’s briefly overview some of the more popular email marketing platforms available.

MailChimp

MailChimp touts itself as an email campaign tool that works for Fortune 500 company but at a price point that works for any business.  It is a straightforward tool with drag-and-drop templates, but can be customized by uploading your own email templates.  It includes a vast library of tutorial videos that can take any marketer from novice to knowledgeable in a few hours of review and practice.  MailChimp is well-rated by its strong base of happy users, and was included in PC Magazine’s Best Email Marketing Software of 2016.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers highly customizable templates, along with the ability to “automatically send the right email at the right time.” It allows the marketing team to easily deliver the right types of emails at the right times for maximum impact on subscribers.  Like other tools, it will also take care of keeping your list of contacts scrubbed on your behalf.  Constant Contact’s site offers extensive review of its feature set, allowing potential users to review many of its attributes prior to making an investment.

Hatchbuck

Hatchbuck offers email marketing as an outgrowth of its robust CRM functionality. Simple to use, it also offers powerful features once you acclimate to its capabilities.  At its simplest level, it can store subscriber lists and routinely broadcast emails.  However, tech-savvy, big data marketers can dig deep into this tool and turn every aspect of email content into trackable, quantifiable touchpoints.  How involved a business becomes with Hatchbuck will depend upon various factors, but they offer a range of opportunities.

Emma

Emma offers to help you get your content out to your subscriber list in less time and with less effort.  It offers email marketing automation to any size team.  Based upon customer behavior and interaction with your company’s website, Emma follows up customer actions and habits with email messages that are custom-tailored to those interactions.

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor emphasizes its ability to assist marketers with high-impact, optimized email campaigns geared toward results.  It also offers the standard ability to track and grow subscriber lists, success measuring and of course, email automation.  Campaign Monitor’s web site provides sparse information about their product, preferring earlier contact with their sales team, so it may be a good idea to have a solid grasp of other options before investigating their offerings.

GetResponse

GetResponse is a multi-layered marketing tool that includes an email marketing component.  End users can create landing pages, conduct webinars, send targeted emails, set up auto responders, and facilitate marketing automation.  As a self-described online marketing platform, it stresses an integrated approach which packages email marketing into complementary services.  It also offers follow-up email campaigns.

Campaigner

Campaigner is another email marketing platform that emphasizes quantifiable metrics, using engagement scoring to measure and weigh the value of interactions between an email subscriber and your brand’s touchpoints.  This software features many of the tried and true email marketing features that veteran marketers have come to expect: list segmentation, A/B split testing, auto responders, reporting, workflows, templates, bulk import, purchase behavior interactions, and more.  The company’s website offers a plethora of information, including helpful whitepapers, videos and 24/7 customer support.

Each of these platforms offers a free trial for potential customers’ consideration.  Many of them provide a wealth of videos for review.  After watching the how-to and tutorial videos, take your finalists for a test drive before committing to an email marketing platform.  Not every platform will fit your business well, so choose well.

After reading this article, if you are still don’t know which email marketing solution is the right one for you, contact us at your earliest convenience.