Five Great Email Marketing Services for Small Businesses

In the age of social media’s limitless reach, you may question whether or not you should invest in email marketing services. Quite simply, the answer is yes. Email marketing strategies are lucrative for small businesses, and the investment has a reasonable chance of paying off.

Why email marketing is worth the investment

According to a survey from eMarketer, email marketing provides the biggest bang for your buck in the retail world, leading the way in terms of customer acquisition and retention. The results reveal that 81 percent of businesses surveyed cited email as their top-performing marketing tactic for gaining new customers.

Even if you’re not in the retail business, Campaign Monitor pegs the return on investment of email marketing as $44 per every $1 spent — with those impressive results, isn’t it at least worth a try?

Five email-marketing services for small businesses

If you’re looking for an email-marketing program to help grow your business, the following five options are popular, versatile, and affordable.

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the most popular email-marketing platforms for both small and large businesses.

With this service, you’ll have access to hundreds of premade email templates, as well as drag-and-drop customization options. You can also track the results of your campaigns with a thorough analytics tool. You’ll be able to upload, organize, and segment email lists, growing them with the help of Constant Contact’s list-building tools. Further, the company offers online training — a major bonus if you’re new to email marketing.

Constant Contact offers a 60-day free trial with no commitment. Its monthly plans start at $20, depending on your list size. There are also discounts available if you prepay for six or twelve months of service.

2. MailChimp

Another great email-marketing service for small businesses is MailChimp, which offers a plugin-enabled plan.

In addition to its numerous templates, customization options, and in-depth analytics, MailChimp integrates with WordPress.com. It has automation features to help you send emails at the right time, and there’s an easy-to-use MailChimp app that’s beneficial if you’re always on the go.

MailChimp’s “Forever Free” plan supports up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails each month. Its paid plans, which come with more features, start at $10 per month.

3. ActiveCampaign

If you want to get even more serious about your marketing efforts, ActiveCampaign is a good platform for you.

This email-marketing service offers ample templates and advanced list segmentation options. Its automation features allow you to send welcome and birthday emails, among many other options. You can also set up campaigns to automatically alert your subscribers when you post new website content.

Because ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features, its pricing can be significantly higher than other services. Prices start at $9 a month for small list sizes, and increase depending on which features you want to add on.

4. GetResponse

Those who are new to email marketing should consider using GetReponse, a user-friendly email marketing platform that will help you get results.

With GetResponse, you’ll be able to use predesigned email templates, choose from free stock images, and set up automatic email responses. You’ll also be given access to the platform’s advanced list segmentation options and its “Perfect Timing” feature, which delivers emails when your contacts are the most active.

For just the email-marketing service, GetResponse’s pricing starts at $15 a month and increases depending on list size.

5. ConvertKit

While most email-marketing services are targeted towards businesses, ConvertKit is uniquely tailored to bloggers.

ConvertKit features signup forms to embed into your website, user-friendly automated emails, list segmentation, and more. Prices vary depending on how many subscribers you have, starting at $29 per month. You can also try a free, two-week trial of ConvertKit.

You can’t go wrong with any of these top-rated email marketing services, all of which will help you engage with your supporters, get new customers, and help your business grow.