12 Best Email Marketing Software, Platforms & Services For Small Businesses
12 Best Email Marketing Software, Platforms & Services For Small Businesses
Email marketing platforms make it easy for business owners to automate their emails, customize them to address different segments within their target market and communicate with their subscribers.
When choosing the right email marketing service for your business, there are a few things you need to take into account.
We’re going to cover the top 12 best email marketing platforms for businesses and help you determine which is the right email marketing software for your business.
These are the top 12 best email marketing software systems for businesses looking to nurture leads and convert more customers.
- Brevo – User-friendly automations for small businesses
- HubSpot – Best overall and best for enterprise
- Mailchimp – Most user-friendly, good for e-commerce businesses
- ConvertKit – Best for influencers and content creators
- MailerLite – Best for freelancers and e-commerce store owners, great customer support
- Klaviyo – Best for customizable automation & robust reporting
- AWeber – Best for bloggers and influencers
- ActiveCampaign – Best for premade and more advanced automation workflows
- GetResponse – Best for running webinars & SMB automations
- Constant Contact – Best for nonprofits & simple campaigns and newsletters
- Campaign Monitor – Best for pre-made email templates, small lists
- Zoho – Best for existing Zoho customers
12 Best Email Marketing Platforms for Businesses
Brevo
User-friendly automations for small businesses
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to use for first-time email marketers | Slow loading times | Small – Midsized Businesses | Annual Plans | $9 for 500 contacts | 9,000 emails |
| User-friendly email template builder | Limited landing page options | Limited Free Trial | |||
| Includes SMS and WhatsApp marketing automations | Has trouble loading data and reports | Image Library | |||
| Free plan option | Some features use credits and cost extra | Email Automations | |||
| Good option for growing small businesses | Does not have some of the advanced features a bigger business may need | A/B Testing | |||
| Rest API | |||||
| Social Media Integration | |||||
| 24/7 Phone Support |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
Brevo offers affordable plans and basic automations and integrations that make it easy for growing businesses to get their feet wet with email marketing. It’s one of the better all-around email marketing choices for businesses.
HubSpot
Best overall and best for enterprise
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Includes CRM integrations | Has expensive pricing tiers | Best overall and best for enterprise | Annual Plans | $20 for 1,000 contacts | 2,000 emails 1,000,000 contacts |
| Includes social media management tools | Can be confusing to business owners new to email marketing | Limited Free Trial | |||
| Includes well-built marketing automations | Has a steep learning curve, not as user-friendly | Image Library | |||
| Easy integration with other HubSpot solutions | Email Automations | ||||
| A/B Testing | |||||
| Social Media Integration | |||||
| 24/7 Phone Support |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
HubSpot offers an entire suite of marketing solutions beyond just email marketing services. This makes it a good pick for businesses looking for an all-in-one solution. All of the HubSpot products combined focus on the customer journey overall as opposed to just the email marketing aspect of it.
Mailchimp
Most user-friendly, good for e-commerce businesses
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offers a comprehensive marketing hub | Tools can be more helpful to e-commerce businesses than others | E-commerce businesses, businesses with small contact lists | Limited Free Trial | $13 for 500 contacts | 1,000 emails 500 contacts |
| Easy-to-use email templates & automations | Free tier includes fewer features than it used to | Unlimited Email | |||
| Offers web hosting plans | Can get relatively expensive | Image Library | |||
| Notable free tier (actually has some value) | Survey Tool | ||||
| Insightful reports with AI recommendations | Marketing Automation | ||||
| User-friendly | A/B Testing | ||||
| REST API | |||||
| Social Media Integration |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
Mailchimp has been a longtime email marketing software that is well known among businesses for being the user-friendly choice for email marketing. As its customer base has grown, they have evolved to offer more than just email marketing, including website-building and CRM integration. They’ve done this without sacrificing the quality of their initial email marketing services, although the prices have gone up over time.
ConvertKit
Best for influencers and content creators
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offers customizable landing pages and sign up forms | Not geared for all business owners | Best for influencers and content creators | Free plan | $15 for 300 contacts | Unlimited up to 300 contacts |
| Visual, easy drip campaign setup | Marketing Automations |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
ConvertKit is a great option for influencers, YouTubers and other content creators. It markets itself as an all-in-one software with landing page builders and sign up form creation in addition to its email marketing capabilities.
MailerLite
Best for freelancers and e-commerce store owners, great customer support
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy-to-use drag and drop editor | Does not have some of the advanced tools other providers have | Freelancers and e-commerce store owners | Free Plan | $10 for 500 contacts | 12,000 emails 1,000 contacts |
| Has third-party integrations | A/B Testing | ||||
| Has a website-builder | Marketing Automations |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
MailerLite is on our list because it has an extremely easy-to-use drag and drop editor that makes email marketing a breeze for business owners who are new to it, and it also has a website-builder available that can make product sales easy to track for e-commerce store owners.
Klaviyo
Best for customizable automation & robust reporting, good for e-commerce
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Has a huge list of templates to choose from | Must already be somewhat proficient at email marketing to see success with this platform | E-commerce, businesses who want customizable automations and robust reporting | Limited Free Trial | $20 for 500 contacts | 500 emails 250 contacts |
| Great reporting tools | Limited customer support | Marketing Automation | |||
| Has a very visual, intuitive interface | A/B Testing | ||||
| REST API | |||||
| Social Media Integration |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
Klaviyo is on our list because it has one of the best reporting tools of any email marketing software and because it does have a lot of great features for e-commerce store owners. It does have limited customer support though, so you’ll want to already have a good understand of how to navigate email marketing software before using this one.
AWeber
Best for bloggers and influencers
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy-to-use drip campaigns | Is not the best platform for all business owners | Bloggers, influencers | Free Plan | $14.99 for 500 contacts | 3,000 emails 500 contacts |
| Custom-branded templates | Pricing is based on the size of your list, which can get pricey | Marketing Automations | |||
| Phone Support |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
AWeber is a great option for bloggers who have an established website and want an email marketing software that’s going to match their brand with custom templates. They also have pre-made workflows which can make automations that much simpler and quicker to implement.
ActiveCampaign
Best for premade and more advanced automation workflows
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-in-one marketing solutions | May not be the best choice for beginners | Businesses who want advanced automation workflows | Free Trial | $39 for 1,000 contacts | 14-day trial |
| Has a Spam/Junk tester | More expensive than some of the other options | A/B Testing | |||
| Advanced, pre-made workflows | Marketing Automations |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
ActiveCampaign is a great email marketing software for businesses that have a pretty sizable list and have a little experience with running email marketing campaigns already. It has multiple marketing solutions in addition to its email marketing tools, allowing you to track and customize the customer journey from stranger to lead to customer.
GetReponse
Best for running webinars & SMB automations
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offers SMS and email chat | Does not have a robust analytics or reporting system | Small businesses with automations and webinars | Annual Plans | $19 for 1,000 contacts | Unlimited up to 500 contacts |
| Has effective auto-responder features | Does not offer 24/7 support | Unlimited Email | |||
| Easy-to-use email marketing tools | Image Library | ||||
| Has improved e-commerce integration | Survey Tool | ||||
| Marketing Automation | |||||
| A/B Testing | |||||
| Social Media Integration | |||||
| 24/7 Phone Support |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
GetResponse is a great entry email marketing software for business owners who are newer to email marketing because it has a straightforward user experience. It doesn’t offer full-service products like some of the other bigger players in email marketing, but it does offer easy-to-use automations and third-party integrations.
Constant Contact
Best for nonprofits & simple campaigns and newsletters
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very user-friendly platform | Templates are not very dynamic or flexible | Nonprofits, businesses with simple campaigns | Annual Plans | $12 for 500 contacts | 60-day trial with conditions |
| Is compatible with a lot of third-party integrations | Can get expensive with larger subscriber lists | Limited Free Trial | |||
| Has a great email deliverability rate | Does not have multi-channel automation | Unlimited Email | |||
| Image Library | |||||
| Survey Tool | |||||
| Marketing Automation | |||||
| A/B Testing | |||||
| REST API | |||||
| Social Media Integration |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
Like Mailchimp, Constant Contact has also been in the email marketing game for a while now. It offers small businesses an easy-to-use email marketing software that also includes SMS marketing and social media marketing tools. It also offers what it calls Spaminator to help your emails avoid recipients’ spam boxes.
Campaign Monitor
Best for pre-made email templates, small lists
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offers unique email templates | Has difficulty importing contacts and matching custom fields | Small – Mid Sized businesses with small lists who want pre-made email templates | Annual Plans | $11 for 500 contacts 2,500 email sends |
Unlimited emails 5 contacts |
| Easy-to-navigate interface | Has issues when importing HTML templates | Limited Free Trial | |||
| Easy-to-use automation tools | Does not offer phone support with all tiers & doesn’t have live chat | Unlimited Email | |||
| Great analytics for small businesses | A/B Testing | ||||
| REST API | |||||
| Social Media Integration |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
Unlike a lot of other email providers on this list, Campaign Monitor does not offer a full suite of marketing tools or a CRM. You can create emails, send them and track success. The simplicity of the software is often attractive for businesses owners that are newer to email marketing.
Zoho
Best for existing Zoho customers
| Pros | Cons | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For | Features & Configurations | Prices Start At | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy integration with any/all Zoho services | Can be more costly if you’re not already using Zoho for other marketing efforts | Existing Zoho customers | Annual Plans | $3 for 10 contacts | 14-day free trial |
| Easy-to-navigate campaign marketing tools | Some designs and templates look dated | Limited Free Trial | |||
| In-depth reporting | Lengthy setup time | Unlimited Email | |||
| Image Library | |||||
| Survey Tool | |||||
| Marketing Automation | |||||
| A/B Testing | |||||
| 24/7 Phone Support |
Why It’s In Our Top 12 Email Marketing Software
If you’re looking for an all-in-one suite of marketing services from a software that has a lot of educational resources and offers 24/7 support, Zoho is a great option. It integrates really with Zoho CRM to make tracking the customer journey seamless for businesses using multiple Zoho products.
What To Look For In A Good Email Marketing Platform
The best email marketing platforms give you all the support you need to effectively nurture leads and track their customer journeys at a rate you can afford.
Here are the top 8 things to look for in a good email marketing platform:
- Email Lists – List management helps you to segment your subscriber list so that you send customized, relevant emails to each group within your target audience. You want an email marketing software that can handle the size of your list and segment it accordingly.
- Signup Forms – You want an email marketing software that has seamless integration from the sign up lead form on your website to the email automations you have set up in your platform.
- Customer Segmentation – You want to be able to automate emails to customers based on the specific actions they’ve taken (or not taken) to maximize email opens, clicks and conversions.
- Transactional Emails – Order or payment confirmations, shipping notifications, call scheduled emails, password resets and more are all necessary, non-promotional emails you need to be able to automate to your customer.
- Email Automation Workflows – The biggest reason for paying for an email marketing software is for the automations. You want emails to send out automatically based on the conditions you set so that you don’t have to spend time manually sending out emails to your subscribers. Automate your welcome emails, confirmation emails and lead-nurturing emails to save time and take full advantage of the email software.
- SMTP Server – A SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Server refers to a set of rules used to send emails from a webmail provider to a recipient’s email server. This essentially helps your emails land in your subscribers’ inbox instead of Spam.
- Integration With Your Other Apps – If you have a separate CRM software or marketing tools that you use, you want an email marketing software that integrates easily with the other apps and website plugins you use.
- Tracking & Reporting – As with any marketing effort, you want to know if what you’re doing is working or not. Not all email marketing software have the capability to show you how many people converted from your emails, so make sure you choose one that does.
Find The Best Email Marketing Platform For Your Business
| Email marketing platform | Free Plan | Prices Start At | Who This Email Marketing Platform Is For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | 9,000 emails | $9 for 500 contacts | Small – Midsized Businesses |
| HubSpot | 2,000 emails 1,000,000 contacts |
$20 for 1,000 contacts | Best overall and best for enterprise |
| Mailchimp | 1,000 emails 500 contacts |
$13 for 500 contacts | E-commerce businesses, businesses with small contact lists |
| ConvertKit | Unlimited up to 300 contacts | $15 for 300 contacts | Best for influencers and content creators |
| MailerLite | 12,000 emails 1,000 contacts |
$10 for 500 contacts | Freelancers and e-commerce store owners |
| Klaviyo | 500 emails 250 contacts |
$20 for 500 contacts | E-commerce, businesses who want customizable automations and robust reporting |
| AWeber: | 3,000 emails 500 contacts |
$14.99 for 500 contacts | Bloggers, influencers |
| ActiveCampaign: | 14-day trial | $39 for 1,000 contacts | Businesses who want advanced automation workflows |
| GetReponse | Unlimited up to 500 contacts | $19 for 1,000 contacts | Small businesses with automations and webinars |
| Constant Contact | 60-day trial with conditions | $12 for 500 contacts | Nonprofits, businesses with simple campaigns |
| Campaign Monitor | Unlimited emails 5 contacts |
$11 for 500 contacts 2,500 email sends |
Small – Mid Sized businesses with small lists who want pre-made email templates |
| Zoho | 14-day free trial | $3 for 10 contacts | Existing Zoho customers |
Why Your Business Needs An Email Marketing Service
These are the top 5 reasons as to why your business needs an email marketing service:
- It’s affordable: Most email marketing software offer free plans that are sufficient enough for businesses that are new to email marketing with small subscriber lists, and then even when they move on to the paid plans, most are less than $100 a month.
- It’s profitable: Because most email marketing services are affordable, email marketing done well tends to be pretty profitable for businesses, with businesses earning $40 in return on average for every $1 spent on email marketing.
- It builds trust: Email marketing done well means that you are providing free value directly to your customers’ inbox every week. It also gives them direct access to you, helping them build trust in your brand, and trust is statistically required in order for them to buy from you.
- It’s easy to access: Because email is free for the recipients, there are about 4 billion email users worldwide. It’s easy to reach most target audiences with email marketing.
- You own your list: If you mostly use Instagram to market your products and have built a big following on there, what would you do if Instagram crashed and never came back? You would lose your audience entirely. Email marketing allows you to own your list and have direct access to their contact information to reach them whenever you need to without being at the mercy of third-party sites.
Email Marketing Service FAQs
Which is the best email marketing provider?
HubSpot is the best email marketing provider overall, Mailchimp is best for e-commerce store owners and/or businesses that are new to email marketing.
What is the best email service available?
HubSpot, Mailchimp and Brevo are the best email marketing platforms for small businesses to use.
How do I choose an email marketing service?
You choose an email marketing service by evaluating what features are most important to you, and identifying which service provides those features at the most affordable rate.
What is the best email to use for a small business?
Brevo and Mailchimp are the best email marketing services to use for a small business.
What is an email marketing platform?
An email marketing platform is a software that helps you create, automate, send and track email campaigns as well as manage and segment subscriber lists. Most email marketing platforms include drag-and-drop automation builders, email templates and measurable metrics such as open rates, click through rates and more to help business owners create email campaigns that drive real results.
What is the best email marketing platform?
The best email marketing platform overall is usually HubSpot if you take into account the price, features and capabilities for small businesses.
What costs should you expect to pay for an email marketing tool?
Email marketing tools cost anywhere from $0-$500 a month or more depending on the size of your subscriber list and how many emails you want to send them. Email marketing services, wherein an agency handles all of your email marketing for you can range from $500-$1,400 a month or more.
What are the main features to look for in an email marketing platform?
The main features to look for in an email marketing platform are the abilities to send both email marketing and transactional campaigns, an integrated CRM, SMS (text message) tools, WhatsApp tools, live chat and push notifications.
For what types of businesses are these email platforms suitable?
Email platforms are suitable for most all types of businesses, but some platforms are geared more towards e-commerce businesses, so you’ll want to evaluate the software features beforehand to make sure it has the right features your business needs.
Is email marketing still worth it?
Yes, email marketing is still worth it because on average, businesses receive $40 back for every $1 they spend on email marketing!
What is the best email platform for small businesses?
Mailchimp and Brevo are the best email marketing platforms for small businesses to use.
How do I start email marketing?
To start email marketing, you need to do these 5 things:
- Define Your Goals: determine what you want to achieve from email marketing
- Pick An Email Marketing Platform: choose an email marketing software that offers the features you need at a price within your budget (automations, list size, CRM etc)
- Develop A Lead Magnet: create a free, valuable piece of content that your audience wants (such as a free ebook, a discount code, a guide, a quiz etc) and give it to them in exchange for their contact information
- Start Building Your Subscriber List: use targeted ads to advertise your lead magnet and collect email addresses
- Start Emailing Your Audience: use the email marketing service you choose to send value-packed emails to your audience and customize them based on customer-behaviors to nurture leads into customers
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