Back when I started my blog, I thought FeedBurner is enough for email marketing. It’s free and it sends all blog updates to my subscribers.

But email marketing is not about sending latest blog posts only. It’s the way to connect with readers which is not possible with limited FeedBurner features.

Then I started looking at paid email marketing platforms. There were so many platforms yet it was difficult to choose one because of so many features.

Aweber, GetResponse, iContact and MailChimp was on my priority list. Initially, I picked MailChimp as it has a free plan for up to 2000 subscribers.

Soon I realized that free plan of MailChimp has some limitations like not having autoresponder feature. Then I decided to go for another email marketing provider. Aweber seemed costly than others. So I had to choose between GetResponse and iContact.

If you are on the same situation, read on. In this post, I will be sharing a comparison between two email marketing platforms. (GetResponse Vs iContact). Hopefully, it will help you to choose the better one.

A Brief Overview

GetResponse has 350,000+ happy customers in 182 countries and engaging more than 1 billion subscribers every month. It has been in business for 16 years and calls itself “World’s Easiest Email Marketing” platform. It offers everything to build an email list: Email Creator, Autoresponders, Landing Pages, 24/7 Live Support, 99% Email Deliverability etc.

iContact is a cloud based email marketing provider, started its business in 2003. It enables customers to manage subscribers and create email marketing campaign. They specialize in small to medium sized businesses and organizations. They currently work with 50000 brands.

GetResponse has been in business longer than iContact. But iContact has more customers than GetResponse.

Pricing

GetResponse pricing starts from $15 per month for 1000 subscribers. The most popular plan is $25 per month which lets you contact up to 2500 subscribers. The plans offer up to 100,000 subscribers for $450 per month. You can sign up for month-to-month basis or you can go for the annual plan that offers 18% discount.

iContact pricing starts from $14 per month for 500 contacts. Other plans are $32/month for 2,500 contacts, $52/month for 5,000 contacts, $79/month for 10,000 contacts and $117/month for 15,000 contacts. You can sign up for month-to-month basis or you can prepay for a year with 15% discount.

GetResponse’s plans are comparatively cheaper than iContact’s plans. But iContact has better pricing options for small clients.

The User Interface

GetResponse UI is awesome and super fast. It’s very user-friendly, but it might take some times to get used to GetResponse. You will get everything in one place to build and manage your email list. It’s super easy to get things done.

iContact UI is bit clunky and outdated. New users might find it difficult to get things done. It has ‘Account Health’ option in sidebar that lets users track their marketing progress which is awesome.

GetResponse UI is easy to use and user-friendly.

Email Templates

GetResponse has 500+ email templates available under various categories. You can choose a template from 24+ categories that will fit with your business. All of the templates can be customized easily. You can check GetResponse email templates here.

iContact currently has over 600 email templates, also under various categories. All templates are fully customizable, inbox-tested and easy to use.

While iContact has more email templates, it’s definitely not a deal breaker. Both GetResponse and iContact have ‘easy to use’ message builder.

Autoresponder

Autoresponder helps you to schedule a series of emails to be sent to new subscribers on the basis of each subscriber’s subscription date. This is one of the easiest ways to engage with readers. Both GetResponse and iContact offer autoresponders that are easy to use.

GetResponse Autoresponders 2.0 allows you to send time-based or action-based messages. It also offers unlimited messages per day, flexible scheduling, super-easy template design to make a difference with simple and powerful marketing automation. You can set autoresponders based on your subscribers’ actual needs and interests.

iContact autoresponder allows you to schedule a series of emails to send your subscribers based on those users’ actions. It’s very easy to create an autoresponder in iContact. iContact Pro offers some addition features like segmentation, workflow automation, in-depth reporting etc.

GetResponse offers more advanced features for autoresponders.

Support

GetResponse offers Phone support (Mon-Fri, 9 AM – 5 PM EST), Live support and Email support. The 24*7 Live chat is awesome. They are always there to help. It also offers video tutorials, Q&A, Webinars etc to support its customers. Check GetResponse support page.

iContact also offers Phone support (Monday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 2:00 AM GMT), Chat support (Monday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 2:00 AM GMT) and Email support along with various Webinars, tutorials, articles etc. Check iContact support page.

Both are good in terms of support.

The Final Decision

iContact is a good platform that is straight forward to use.  But there are lack of features to make email marketing more effective.

On the other hand, GetResponse is a bit complicated to use. It might take some times to get used to GetResponse. But it has a lot of advanced features that will make your email marketing effective.

So GetResponse seems to be the more logical choice.

However, the final decision is always yours.

Both platforms offer free trials (No credit card required). You can try yourself both.

Sign Up for GetResponse Free Trial

Sign Up for iContact Free Trial

Do let us know which one works great for you. However, if you find this post helpful, feel free to share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.