Client: Clikz
Top email marketing platforms listed based on ease of use, building subscriber databases, automatic replies, social media integration, and reporting.
With more options to market your product or service than ever before, marketers have a wealth of possibilities at their fingertips. But at the core of any marketing strategy, email marketing when done well, still has a huge bang for your buck. From low-cost platforms to custom-tailored content, from amazing analytics to incredible engagement, email marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. And with a $38 return on investment for every dollar spent, it’s actually one of the most successful marketing tools available.
Some other email facts to consider:
What percentage of B2B marketers utilize email marketing? 98%.
What about email newsletters? Have those gone by the wayside? Nope. 83% of B2B marketers distribute email newsletters with 40% stating these are critical to the success of their marketing strategy.
Mobile or desktop? 40% of all “opened” emails occur on a mobile phone.
What percentage of consumers check their email at least once a day? 99%.
But what email marketing platform should you use?
That decision will obviously depend greatly on your budget, company size, industry, and specific use cases. But here, we’ve researched a list to get you started.
In making this list, we took into consideration ease of use for creating emails, building databases of subscribers, setting up automatic replies, incorporating social media management, and providing analytic reporting. It’s important to note here that some tools, like HubSpot and Pardot, give you a more complex offering with features like the ability to automate your email marketing. Other tools may not provide these capabilities, but still provide simple, out-of-the-box solutions for your marketing strategy.
Other things to consider when reviewing these marketing platforms against your email marketing strategies:
Is this a one-off email or are you looking to create an email cascade to walk a reader through a product or service offering?
Do you have a large mailing list or a small one? Some platforms offer unlimited email sends, others charge per email.
Many of these platforms offer free trials — make sure to take advantage of testing them out before you commit.
If you have a large mailing list, verify that the platform will allow you to integrate with third-party software to import your contacts. (Most will allow you to import via a CSV or Excel file.)
Top thirteen email marketing platforms with high ROI
1. Campaigner
Campaigners’ strength lies in its artificial intelligence (AI) which allows you to automate and optimize your email marketing with data and event-driven triggers. This platform offers email workflows, customizable with advanced segmentation (demographics, user behavior, contact activity) allowing you to walk a reader through a customized journey. It is integrable with customer relationship management (CRM) software and Salesforce.com and provides 24/7 live chat support. A free trial is available, but you will need to input your credit card information – so if it turns out the platform is not for you – set a reminder to cancel your free trial before the first charge goes through.
Key features: Email automation workflows, A/B split testing, dynamic content, segmentation, social integration, SMTP relay, autoresponders
Cost: Plans start at $19.95 per month for up to 1,000 contacts.
Current clients: Subway, Adidas, The Washington Post, Stanford University
2. HubSpot
Like its name would indicate, HubSpot has three hubs, marketing, sales, and service which provide you with a complete software platform to support your email marketing strategy. These include a free customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This platform also offers you real-time analytics – sending you an alert the second an email was opened, a link clicked, or an attachment has been downloaded.
Key features: Automated emails, templates, email cascades, instant notifications, HubSpot CRM, out-of-the-box reporting and analytics, predictive lead scoring, Salesforce integration
Cost: Free trial for individuals (with plans starting at $50)
Current clients: Shopify, Usabilla, iAdvise, Scrive, Mention, Care.com, Randstad
3. Oracle Responsys
Featuring award-winning email marketing capabilities, Oracle Responsys delivers to improve email campaign engagement, drive conversions, improve the quality of customer relations, and reduce messaging fragmentation. It helps you cater highly personalized emails with its multi-platform versatility and layouts that are effective, fast, scalable, and easy to customize.
Key features: Email Message Designer, delivery platform, device scalability, multi-channel campaigns, collaboration and rights management, A/B testing, data and analytics, social media integration
Cost: Customization starts at $2,500
Current clients: Canon, Lenovo, Telstra, Aer Lingus, eHarmony
4. Mailchimp
A robust platform with a simple interface, Mailchimp gives you several options for designing, sending, and saving templates of your emails. With over one million users, those options include drag-and-drop templates, a content manager, photo editing, team collaborations, social integrations, automated email cascades, open rates, click, segment data tracking and reporting, and newsletter creation.
Key features: Analytic reporting and engagement tracking, drag-and-drop templates, social integrations, automation, third-party integrations, flexible pricing, newsletter creation, segmentation, customized email cascades, photo editing, team collaboration functionality
Cost: Plans begin at $10 per month
Current clients: East Fork, Chronicle Books, Fader, Sweat, Magnolia Bakery
5. Pardot
One of the more expensive platforms on our list, this enterprise level platform is designed for medium- to large-sized businesses. As a leader in the marketing automation space, it has a robust platform complete with social media integration and management, search engine marketing, CRM, and a host of automation tools that require little to no manual intervention. These include lead-scoring packages, list-building features, contact tags, and campaign rules. Other features include responsive out-of-the-box templates, automated engagements, auto-response, segmentation, A/B testing, and a spam checker.
Key features: Salesforce integration, CRM, social media management, automation, search engine marketing, intuitive out-of-the-box templates, automated engagement, segmentation, A/B testing, Spam Checker, social media integration, campaign rules
Cost: Plans begin at $1,000 per month
Current clients: VMWare, Amazon, Stanley Black & Decker, InsideView, ENGIE Cofely, GeneSight
6. Epsilon
Named as the number one email and loyalty program by Burns McDonnell’s Industry Rankings, Epsilon’s digital messaging solution promises to create highly relevant messages for a one-on-one communication experience with your customers. Its omni-channel solution, Agility Harmony, analyzes person-level profile attributes and enables you with tons of options to customize and create impactful messages that are personalized and in real time. Epsilon gives transparent performance reporting and helps you anticipate the needs and patterns of your customers. It also supports multiple channels and devices.
Key features: Campaign management, account management, inbox performance analysis, challenge identification, multiple channel integrations
Cost: Quotes available for request
Current clients: Coach, Edward Jones
7. Constant Contact
A popular and affordable option is Constant Contact which offers a free 60-day trial. From pre-designed marketing templates to email automation to third-party integration, this is a tool that is robust and easy-to-use, even for the most novice of marketers.
Key features: Third-party integrations, drag-and-drop templates, segmentation, automation, contact management, real-time analytics and reporting, surveys and questionnaires, registration, events planning
Cost: Plans start at $25 per month
Current clients: DeRisk IT, Archdiocese of Atlanta, Financial Security Management Agency, Inc, The IT Group, LLC
8. GetResponse
What makes GetResponse stand out is its third-party integration abilities which include over 100 API integrations with CRM software and e-commerce platforms, among others. In addition, it has a pretty hefty CRM tool that includes lead scoring, tags, and statuses.
Key features: Automation, landing pages, ready-made funnels, drag-and-drop email templates, scalable workflows of user journeys, web event tracking, advanced segmentation, CRM, e-commerce tools, customizable forms, analytics, reporting, A/B testing
Cost: Plans start at $15 per month
Current clients: Hilton, Unesco, Henkel, CD Projekt, AutoDoc
9. SendinBlue
SendinBlue has a feature that none of these other platforms have, which makes it worth checking out. Short message service (SMS) capabilities to allow you to build an SMS campaign alongside your email marketing campaign. Unsure how you might incorporate this? Take advantage of their free trial.
Key features: SMS campaign functionality, auto-responders, transactional emails, landing pages, chat functionality, segmentation, automation, CRM, sign-up forms, Facebook ads
Cost: Plans begin at $25 per month
Current clients: Amnesty International, CodeInWP, Video-Dressing, Cannes
10. Zoho Campaigns
At a price point starting at just $5 per month, Zoho Campaigns is worth a look. With a slew of email templates to choose from, an easy-to-use editor, auto-responder capabilities, real-time analytics, and workflow functionality, this may have exactly what you’re looking for.
Key features: Email templates, auto-responder capabilities, workflow functionality, drag-and-drop email editor, real-time analytics, third-party integrations with YouTube, G-Suite, WordPress, Facebook, SurveyMonkey, and Litmus.
Cost: Plans begin at $5 per month
Current clients: National Dental Pulp Laboratory Inc., Behavioral Health & Medical Review Experts, Infonet Institute, niSpana
11. Campaign Monitor
With a simple, easy-to-use (and intuitive) dashboard, Campaign Monitor offers a number of worthwhile features — as well as a client list of more than 250,000 businesses worldwide.
Key features: Autoresponders, analytics and reporting, email newsletters, mobile-optimized templates, segmentation, personalized customer journeys
Cost: Plans begin at $9 per month
Current clients: Showtime, Adidas, Envato, Make-a-Wish, Chatbook, Penguin Random House Books, The Drake Hotel
12. Infusionsoft
Designed for small businesses with less than 25 employees, what sets Infusionsoft apart is its CRM capabilities of capturing and organizing leads, setting tasks and reminders for follow-ups, customizing workflows, and automating emails.
Key features: Customizable dashboards, autoresponders, task management features, CRM, customized workflows, automated emails, analytics, and reporting
Cost: Plans begin at $99 per month
Current clients: Presidential Pools, DC Mosquito Squad, Home Painters Toronto, Iron Tribe Fitness, Cleancorp Cleaning Services
13. Marketo
Adobe-owned Marketo offers a broad range of capabilities that has helped forge its reputation as an industry leader. They’re particularly recognized for the abilities to manage leads and databases, to send out automated, customizable emails to a target audience, and to capture every single customer interaction with a brand.
Key features: Triggered emails, personalization, real-time updates to customer segments, responsive templates, reporting
Cost: Prices are determined by the number of contacts in your marketing database, so give them a call to find out more.
Current clients: Microsoft, Panasonic, Hyundai, Canon, Fujitsu
So there you have it, our latest pick of the top email marketing platforms with high ROI. Have you used any of these platforms and want to tell us what you thought? Leave a comment below or find us on twitter @ClickZ.
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