We’ve all heard the saying that “money is in the list.”

Whenever you ask any of the popular bloggers what their #1 mistake is, they will tell you that they didn’t build their email list sooner.

List building is more important nowadays than in the old days. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your new blog posts. And your list is immune to Google updates. You can continuously direct traffic to your blog even if you got penalized by Google.

Not only that, but it is also a great way to build trust with your audience.You can send an autoresponder to people once they sign up and show them your authority and how you understand your topic.

But you can’t just collect names and emails, and email those on your list one by one. You need a facilitator. And that’s where the email service provider comes in.

Choosing the right email marketing tool is as important as building your list. Not every service is the same. Every tool comes with different set of features and at different price points.

This guide will help you choose the best email marketing service for your blog. Here are my reviews of the top 10 email marketing services on the market right now.

Let’s get started.

1. GetResponse

GetResponse is one of the old players in the market and has been around since 1997. Over the years, it has grown to become one of the top players in the industry.It offers a great set of features at a great price. If you want one of the top tools with optimum price, consider this tool.

Advantages:

• A significant number of pre-designed email templates.
• Using tags for automation.
• One of the best when it comes to A/B testing.
• Supports website event tracking. You can track pages your customers visit, and based on that; you can send a specific email(s).
• Track activity and ROI of your emails.Good support.
• Price is great.

Disadvantages:

• The visual builder is funky sometimes and can cause some problems.
• The reporting interface is limited and needs an uplift.
• You can’t add tags manually to subscribers.

2. AWeber

Aweber is another old player in the email marketing industry which was founded in 1998. If you have been doing internet marketing for a while, then you may be familiar with the tool. It was the go-to tool for a long time until they stopped innovating for some time. But now, it is returning strongly to the game. They are still lagging in the automation part compared to many of the tools on the list.

Advantages:

• Started using a tag-based system and not just lists.
• A good selection of email and form templates.
• Great customer support. It is why they still have a popularity.
• Great integration with third-party apps.

Disadvantages:

• Limited automation: Even after all their efforts, it remains limited. No, if/then branches.
• No behavior-based tags.
• The automation builder is very basic.
• They charges you for people who unsubscribed. You need to delete them from time to time.

3. MailChimp

MailChimp (founded in 2001) is another one of the old email marketing providers, and it is the most popular email marketing tool with over 15 million customers.It offers everything from sending emails and running automation to your email list. If you are just starting out, their forever free plan for up to 2k subscribers is hard to resist. The best part is that there is little to no limitation to the free plan as compared to the paid account. It is best for nonprofits and new small businesses. But like AWeber, it has fallen in rank to newer tools. Although MailChimp’s interface is much better than AWeber, their support is lower in quality.

Advantages:

• Their generous forever free plan for up to 2k subscribers.
• Great user interface.
• A/B testing for broadcasts only.
• Great library of professionally designed email templates.
• Integrated with many third-party apps.
• Good support.
• Easily run FB ads to your list and look-a-likes of your list.

Disadvantages:

• List-based not tag-based, thus charging you multiple times for the same subscriber if on different lists.
• Marketing automation is good but still limited.
• You can’t use groups without special coding or third-party plugins.

4. Pabbly

Pabbly Email Marketing was founded in 2014. It is the only email marketing service that doesn’t restrict you on features which means you’ll get all the features with their paid or free plans like marketing automation, list management, email tracking, etc.

It is the best solution to boost your email marketing performance by running campaigns. With this service, you can send bulk emails to all your prospective users in a single click. You can easily manage your contacts, email lists, import emails, etc. 

Furthermore, you can effortlessly integrate in-built or 50+ external SMTPs for sending emails without any additional charges. Pabbly Email Marketing is the only service that handles bounce and spam complaints about all popular SMTP’s such as Amazon SES, MailGun, Mandrill, & SendGrid, and many more.

Some of its striking features are drag-n-dropped email builder, list management, Google Analytics integration, MX cleaner, Email verifications, etc at cost-effective prices.

Advantages:

• Automatically deliver emails on pre-set schedule to engage your subscribers.
• Track email clicks, open rate, and click-through rate easily for all your campaigns.
• Automatically send welcome emails when a new subscriber joins your email list.
• Get free access to 500+ email templates that accept all types of customizations.
• Handle bounce and spam complaints for all popular SMTP’s.
• No limits on Marketing Automation

Disadvantages:

• Animated templates are not available.
• Processing speed is a bit slow

4. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is one of the recently launched email service providers. Created by Nathan Barry, it centered around bloggers and authors and what they need exactly. Nathan wanted to provide all the advanced features in tools like Infusion soft and make it easy-to-use. For some time, they used the tagline “the power of Infusionsoft, but easier to use than MailChimp”. And this is 100% true. After being backed by Pat Flynn and many other influential figures, ConvertKit started to gain popularity rapidly.

Advantages:

• Tag-based system, not list-centric.
• Simple visual builder but effective.
• Offers a landing page builder.
• Offers builder for different form types.
• Great support.
• Good reporting.
• Personalized email based on tags.
• Easily resend broadcast for non-opens.
• Great visual automation builder with all the features in Infusionsoft and other top brands.

Disadvantages:

• Limited customization options for forms and email templates.
• No email templates by design. If you want it, find other tools.
• Reporting data is simple but limited somehow.
• Landing page builder is primitive.
• A little bit pricey compared to most of the tools in the list.

6. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is the oldest email marketing provider. Launched as Roving Software in 1995, it took the name Constant Contact in 2004.

It is also owned by the same company (EIG) that owns Bluehost and HostGator.

Advantages:

• A tag-based system like ConvertKit.
• A decent amount of email templates.
• Good email template editor.
• Good reporting.
• Good support.
• Integrates with many third-party apps.

Disadvantages:

• Automation is very basic.
• No split-testing.
• Basic form builder.
• Reports lack the visual aspect.
• No behavior-based tagging.
• The email templates are outdated.

7. Drip

One of the newer tools in the market. It is an automation-focused email marketing software considered by many to be the best email marketing service provider. It was acquired by Leadpages. When it comes to automation, it is the top in this list with ConvertKit.

Advantages:

• Uses a tag-based system.
• Great visual automation builder.
• Excellent support.
• Advanced tracking.
• Advanced reporting dashboard.
• Email sequence blueprints can come in handy.
• Free plan for up to 100 subs.

Disadvantages:

• Automation is a little bit more scattered, making it more confusing than ConvertKit.
• Not user-friendly for beginners. The design of the site can be complicated when doing many of the basic tasks.
• Split-testing functionality is limited.
• Only supports plain text emails. You can use their editor to create your own design.
• Pricier than other services here.

8. Mad Mimi

Founded in 2008, it is one of the companies that compete for price. It is founded by Godaddy, the popular domain registrar company.Mad Mimi is perfect for people with large database and want an easy-to-use interface.

Advantages:

• Simple to use interface.
• Integrates with many apps.
• Very cheap.

Disadvantages:

• Doesn’t contain email templates.
• Limited autoresponder functionality.
• Lack of split testing.

9. Campaigner

Founded in 1999 and is part of the J2Global family. It’s a great tool with easy to use interface that offers split testing for its users.

Advantages:

• Intuitive and easy to use interface.
• Integrates with many third-party apps.
• The mobile app is good.
• Over 500 templates to choose from.
• Great support.
• Cheap for a large database.

Disadvantages:

• Lacks when it comes to automation.
• Limited number of emails to send every billing period.
• Limited reporting.
• Slower than many other sites.
• Sometimes have problems with deliverability.

10. SendinBlue

Since being founded in 2011, it has grown rapidly to serve over 100k customers. It offers affordable pricing that’s lower than MailChimp.

Advantages:

• List-based.
• Can create signup forms in WordPress.
• Good reporting dashboard.
• Low prices for large lists.
• Generous 60-day free trial.

Disadvantages:

• Limited integration.
• The user interface is a little bit outdated.
• It lacks when it comes to automation.
• Limited support.

11. ActiveCampaign

Another one of the old players, but don’t mistakenly assume that it lags when it comes to automation.It offers one of the most advanced automation solutions for small businesses. It gives you the power to do almost anything when it comes to automation without paying 10x the price as Infusionsoft.If you can get over its user-interface and low speed, then it is the most full-fledged tool you’ll have with the best price.

Advantages:

• Uses both lists and tags for managing subscribers without paying twice for the same contact.
• Highly advanced automation features.
• Great split-testing tool. You can even split-test complete automation sequences.
• Good email builder with decent email templates.
• Excellent tracking.
• Great reporting features.
• Great support.
• Cheapest when it comes to automation.
• You can install other people’s automation.

Disadvantages:

• The interface is really slow to navigate and frustrating.
• The UX is not that great for newbies, and it takes a lot of time to set up. 

12. MoonMail

Moonmail is a unique email marketing platform that uses Amazon SES for sending your emails. Why is this important? Amazon SES is one of the most cost effective solutions for sending mass email (as you only pay for what you send) and it has some of the highest deliverability out there.

Conclusion: Which Email Marketing Service Should You Use?

A lot of great tools has been covered in this review. You may need to read the pros and cons one more time before deciding which one to choose. Here are a few criteria to help you decide:

• If you want tools that hit almost all corners with a great interface and good pricing, GetResponse or Aweber is the  great choice to start with.
• If you want the top when it comes to automation, and you are a coder or willing to learn, then Drip is the tool to choose.
• If you want automation with an easy-to-use interface, then ConvertKit is your choice.
• If you want automation with lowest possible price, then ActiveCampaign is your choice.
• If you are starting out, MailChimp‘s forever free plan is hard to resist.
• If you have a large database and want simple-to-use tools, SendinBlue and Mad Mimi are great tools to choose from.

Hope this post helped you to find a right email marketing service for you. Now I’d like to hear from you. Which tool have you decided to go with? Did we miss a great tool? Share it in the comments below.

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