Best Email Marketing Services

In 2012, Sony Playstation launched an email campaign that reached over 4.2 million people and returned a staggering 508% ROI. But one thing nobody talked about was how they did it!

They used email marketing software to segment their existing email lists before sending specialized content to each recipient. In other words, they didn’t send the same email to everybody; they sent custom-tailored emails to various segments of their contacts.

They were able to do this because they understood the power of email marketing services.

You, too, can leverage similar services for your business.

Let’s find out how.

Email marketing is the process of sending targeted emails to your customers.

Let’s say you run a hotel. You may request the email addresses of your guests when they want to place a booking, then use this address to send them birthday wishes or promo offers sometime in the future.

When you do this, it can be said that you’ve implemented an email marketing campaign.

Although the above example is typical of email marketing for hotels, email marketing can also benefit other business models.

Did you know?

Source: Neilpatel.com

To execute an email marketing campaign (i.e., to send targeted email marketing messages to your audience), you need email marketing software.

An email marketing service is a company that provides you with this software.

As you might expect, hundreds of email marketing platforms offer this kind of software. But to get the best results, you need to use the best email marketing service.

However, finding such companies can take an eternity, as there are many options for email marketing software out there.

Luckily, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you.

So, below are the best email marketing services in 2021.

1. Constant Contact
2. Hubspot
3. Sendinblue
4. GetResponse
5. ConvertKit

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is, without a doubt, the best email marketing software for anyone who’s just dipping their feet in the email marketing waters.

Why? Because it doesn’t require any coding skills. Just drag and drop till you complete your campaign.

Basic email marketing features you enjoy with Constant Contact

1. Multiple email lists: You can segregate your email contacts into as many demographic segments as you want, based on shared customer information.

Source: constantcontact.com

Real-life Application: Say you run a debt resolution business. You can use this segmentation feature to segregate your clients into students, married, single, or based on their income, age, gender, etc. Then, use that info to send relevant, targeted messages to everyone.

2. A plethora of tools to grow your lists: You get embeddable opt-in forms, WordPress opt-in plugins, a Facebook app, SMS opt-in, and more. These tools help you quickly grow your contacts from these other platforms.

3. Autoresponders: Constant Contact offers custom autoresponders, which allow you to automatically send emails for special occasions like birthdays, welcome emails for new subscribers, or thank-you emails for recent purchases.

Real-life Application: In hospitality email marketing, you can use autoresponders to welcome new guests into your hotel when they complete their booking or appreciate them the moment they check out of your hotel.

4. Email editors: You get tons of email editors to manage the text and visuals of your email content until you’re satisfied.

5. Email marketing templates: Constant Contact offers a wide selection of already-prepared email marketing templates to choose from.

Let’s say you want to send bulk emails to a group of workout geeks. You don’t need to create a new email from scratch. Just check the library for inspiration.

6. Campaign analytics: Easily track important metrics like opens, clicks, bounces, subscribes, unsubscribes, spam complaints, etc.

Other exciting features include a free 60-day trial and email survey templates.

HubSpot

In the world of email marketing, Hubspot remains the master of automation!

Basic email marketing features you enjoy with Hubspot

1. Email creation: Hubspot allows you to quickly drag and drop any kind of email you want from its already prepared templates. But if you want to create your own custom email HTML, you’re free to do so, too.

This is what a typical Hubspot email marketing dashboard looks like.

2. Email scheduling: Hubspot’s email scheduling feature allows you to schedule emails for up to one year in advance.

Real-life Application: Imagine running an online business that accepts monthly or yearly payments from clients, e.g., a fitness or software business. You can use this feature to schedule a “Renew your subscription” message, which comes to life immediately when the client’s prevailing registration ends.

3. Workflow automation: Hubspot allows you to send custom-tailored emails to subscribers based on certain actions they take when signing up.

To use this feature, you’ll need to set some starting conditions from which subscribers will make a selection. Your starting conditions can be in the form of questions, polls, or surveys.

Whatever answers subscribers supply is what will determine the segment of your email contacts they fall into.

Think of it as a similar feature to Constant Contact’s segmentation, only the segmenting happens from the moment someone signs up.

So, let’s say you run a gaming blog; you can set starting conditions that talk about various types of games. Then, depending on the type a subscriber selects when signing up, you can send relevant emails to them.

Real-life Application: See how Starbucks used a similar workflow automation feature to create an email campaign.

4.Email marketing personalization: When creating a new email, Hubspot gives you the option to add recipients’ first names in the text.

DID YOU KNOW?

5. Lead tracking: Hubspot tracks subscribers’ activities on your website when they sign up – who they are, where they work, their social profiles, and what website pages they’ve visited.

Finally, HubSpot’s email marketing tool is free for a maximum of 2,000 email sends per month!

Sendinblue

Sendinblue is up there with the best email marketing tools in the US. When you sign up on their site, the first thing you’ll notice is that there is so much to enjoy, even free email marketing services.

Basic email marketing features you enjoy with Sendinblue

1. Email creation: Sendinblue offers you a simple drag-and-drop interface to create emails instantly.

2. Feature-packed free plan: With as little as $0, you can enjoy features like landing pages, sign-up forms, Facebook ads, unlimited contact lists, up to 300 email sends per day, autoresponders, SMS messages to contacts, email personalization, and customer segmentation options.

3. Email customization: Where you’ll find Sendinblue most impressive is in its email customization. There are a plethora of tools to design and customize your email layout.

GetResponse

GetResponse is not just an email marketing software; it is a complete lead generation tool.

Basic email marketing features you enjoy with GetResponse

1. Email marketing features: GetResponse offers similar email marketing features to the previous software we’ve reviewed, including audience segmentation, autoresponders, landing page builders, email templates, automated emails, advanced analytics, etc.
2. Email preview: Whether or not you choose from their templates, you have the option to preview created emails in desktop, tablet, and mobile views. This helps to make sure that the content looks great before rolling it out.
3. Photo-rich image library: GetResponse gives you access to thousands of free stock photos and an integrated Shutterstock gallery.
4. Webinar integration: You can create and manage webinars with GetResponse’s webinar integration.
5. Autofunnel: Easily create funnels for sales, leads, webinars, etc. In your funnels, you enjoy access to things like emails, landing pages, exit popups, Facebook ads, and eCommerce integration.

What’s more, once someone enters your funnel, GetResponse automates their overall experience to convert them into actual leads or clients.

Real-life Application: Imagine you run a nonprofit that’s looking to host a webinar for a couple of members. You can tap into GetResponse’s webinar integration to invite your contacts.

With the embedded additional features, you can even add an option to “refer a friend” in your email, thereby increasing the chances of more people attending.

See example:

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is the best email marketing software for creators. By creators, we mean bloggers, influencers, writers, or any online business owner that delivers content to their audience – people selling digital products or services, to be precise.

Why is ConvertKit ideal for creators? Because:

1) It allows you to grow your audience with

• Custom landing pages: With this, you can share new ideas and projects and keep your fans updated.
• Sign-up form download buttons: This allows you to quickly offer subscribers a reward (a free download of something valuable) in return for signing up.
• Contact segregation features: You get tags and segments to categorize all your subscribers into various interest groups, thereby enabling you to send personalized content to everyone.

This is precisely the kind of strategy Sony PlayStation used back in 2012 to land a 508% ROI.

• Email templates: Sending professional-looking emails can help you build trust and showcase your expertise.
• Email automation: Send promo offers (e.g., discount alerts), transactional messages (e.g., thank you for buying), or personalized content (e.g., anniversary wishes) to your audiences automatically.
• Subscriber data: Finding relevant info about each subscriber, like who they are, what forms they signed up through, purchase histories and other email engagement history can help you tailor your subsequent emails to meet specific interests.

2) It allows you to sell your digital products or services with

• Sales page: With this, you can direct subscribers from their mailbox onto a sales page where they can purchase your product or service. ConvertKit allows you to easily add a “Buy Now” or “Shop {product name}” button to your email, which subscribers can click to visit the sales page.

See an example:

• Automated sales funnel: By sending well-timed content to subscribers automatically, you can keep them updated with the latest product trends, new releases, etc.

So, there you have it: the five best email marketing services in 2021. Feel free to register with the one that appeals to you the most.

But before proceeding, be sure to learn about ways to build and grow an email list, because there’s no marketing without one.