Best Email Marketing Software & Automation Tools

Before I start about “Best Email Marketing Software” let me tell you one thing you will often hear when you will talk or discuss about email marketing with someone.

I have been hearing this too for many years while discussing email marketing with many of my clients and prospects.

The Email Marketing Is Dead Now (oh … really?) It’s one of the biggest lies in marketing. Let me tell you Email Marketing is still thriving and is one of the best and most cost-effective marketing tools to generate more visitors, more leads, and more business. Email marketing is not dead at all, It’s actually the backbone of some businesses.

People who say that email marketing is dead are those who have never actually tried email marketing or if they have failed due to wrong software and tools selection, improper list building, or maybe due to bad implementation of Email Marketing.

Why Choosing The Best Email Marketing Software Important?

A good email marketing software is one that is easy to use and gives you full control and flexibility in creating and managing the list and email campaigns. Most importantly, good email marketing software allows you to easily establish direct contact with your customers and ensures that your emails do not end up in the spam folder.

Best Email Marketing software should offer all these good features at reasonable pricing. So here my comparison will be based on two important factors.

• Pricing – who wants to spend $200 on something they can get for $50?
• Ease of Use & Support – You would not like to struggle in using the software.

If you don’t choose the email marketing software wisely, you may end up spending more for the features being offered to you or you may end up wasting your efforts if your email does not land properly. Let’s see the list of the best email marketing software.

10 Best Email Marketing Software & Automation Tools

There are many email marketing software out there, but to save your time I have only compiled the list of the top 10 best email marketing software here.

1. AWeber

Aweber is one of the most popular email marketing software indeed one of the best in the industry. They offer a wide range of tools that suits best to small to mid-sized businesses in managing their email marketing campaigns.

With Aweber, you can easily create signup forms and grow your list, Also you can easily automate the entire email process. For example if someone signup from your website they will get a different email and if they signup from your Facebook page they will get a different email and you can set the email series automatically.

AWeber has got all the required features and integration options, the best email marketing software should have. You get access to ready-to-use email templates, list management, autoresponders, and email tracking with detailed insights and reporting.

• Pricing: AWebers pricing is competitive, you get the best value for your spending. They charge flat for a chunk of growth in the list. Their base pricing starts at $19/month for up to 500 subscribers. AWeber also offers 30 days free trial.
• Ease Of Use & Support: AWeber is pretty easy to use, they have got all the resources to get you started. Also, their support is none to second. At AWeber, you get support options through email, live chat, phone support, webinars, and video tutorials.

AWeber makes sure you succeed with your email marketing. Being in the industry for these many years I can gladly recommend AWeber to all our users. Also if you want to give them a try, they have got a fully featured 30 Days Free Trial.

2. GetResponse

GetResponse is again one of the very popular email marketing software, but the best thing about GetResponse is that this is the easiest email marketing software to use. Even if you are a beginner in email marketing, you won’t face any big hassle in using GetResponse.

With GetResponse you can easily create a responsive signup form to grow your list and automate email marketing with easy to create autoresponders. Also, you can create responsive landing pages, perform A/B testing, and a lot more. GetResponse has got everything to be listed in one of the best email marketing software.

• Pricing: GetResponse is very competitive and affordable for a small or mid-sized businesses as well. Their base price starts at $15/month for up to 1000 subscribers. Also, they offer a 30 Days Free Trial so that you can easily start with them.
• Ease Of Use & Support: To be fair, let me tell you GetRespose is one of the easiest email marketing software to use. Also, they provide great support, their help section is full of free learning resources including videos, webinars, how-tos, guides, etc.

The only drawback is they have different packages with restricted features, levels of automation, and integrations options. But to start with this won’t be a big problem. You can start with GetResponse with a 30 Day Free Trial.

3. ConvertKit

ConvertKit markets itself as the “Email Marketing Software For Professional Bloggers”. They are right too, ConvertKit is created keeping bloggers in mind. They offer a wide range of tools to a startup as well as successful bloggers.

ConvertKit is a very robust email marketing platform for bloggers and indeed one of the best email marketing software available today, especially for bloggers. That’s the reason, you will see many successful bloggers using ConvertKit today. With ConvertKit, you can easily create emails, and autoresponders, and segment your list based on various parameters.

• Pricing: ConvertKit is actually competitive and affordable in terms of pricing. Their base price starts at $29 /month for up to 1000 subscribers with a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you are not happy using ConvertKit.
• Ease Of Use & Support: ConvertKit is extremely easy to use when it comes to email marketing. You can easily automate the email marketing for your blog. They provide support by email and their help page has got enough resources to get you started.

Unfortunately, they do not offer a free trial, but you can request a demo and their team will take you through the software and processes.

4. Drip

Drip is the new entrant in email marketing and certainly one of the most advanced email marketing software available today. With Drip you can create the most advanced signup form even without knowing anything about HTML coding. Apart from that, it has got a visual campaign builder with which you can create a completely dynamic email. Reporting, Analytics everything is fantastic. Drip is certainly the best email marketing software in today’s time.

• Pricing: Drip is certainly not the cheap option, but for the features it offers, manages to justify the pricing somehow. The base pricing starts at $41/month if paid annually for up to 2500 subscribers and you can send unlimited emails.
• Ease Of Use & Support: Being one of the most advanced email marketing software, Drip is still very easy to use. You can do almost everything with the visual editor, from creating an email to creating a signup form. Analytics, reporting everything is easy to understand. Also, they have nice documentation which will help you start with Drip.

Drip also has a free trial option for up to 100 subscribers, you can send unlimited emails.

5. MailChimp

MailChimp is the email marketing platform with which we all start our journey in email marketing. I am not sure but probably MailChimp is one of the oldest email marketing software (Let me know in the comment if I am wrong). MailChimp is one of the most popular, easy-to-use, and best email marketing software in the industry.

With MailChimp, you get access to hundreds of templates with a drag and drop option to create a mail as per your choice. Also, you can create a responsive signup form to build your list. It has also got an autoresponder feature to automate your email marketing process. The best thing about MailChimp is, that it has got plenty of integration options.

• Pricing: To start with MailChimp offers 12000 Emails every month to 2000 Subscribers FREE forever. Also, It has got pricing that starts at just $10/month.
• Ease Of Use & Support: MailChimp is probably the easiest email marketing software and in case you are stuck somewhere you will get video tutorials on almost everything. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to reach MailChimp Team if you are on a free plan, but you might never need that too as they have got plenty of resources online.

I have heard from many bloggers as well as clients that, once your list grows, MailChimp becomes really costlier. But to start with nothing can beat MailChimp.

6. Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is again a well-known email marketing platform. It has got all the features that one of the best email marketing software and automation tools should have. Campaign Monitor has a very fluid drag-and-drop email editor to create an email campaign. You can easily manage and segment your list in Campaign Monitor.

Other important features include A/B Testing, Social Media Sharing Tools, Email Personalization, Email Automation, and many other features.

• Pricing: It has got three different packages for each subscriber band. Their base price starts at $9/month for up to 500 subscribers and you can send up to 2500 emails a month. They increase $20 for the same number of subscribers for their unlimited plans (unlimited email sending) with some additional features.
• Ease Of Use & Support: If you have already used any of the email marketing software in the past, you won’t face any difficulty in using Campaign Monitor. They have got plenty of resources on their support page to get you started and also they do provide support on chat and email in case you need help.

They don’t really have a free trial kind of thing but you can access all of its features by creating an account and You only pay once you start sending campaigns.

7. Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email is another popular email marketing software, the best thing I like about Benchmark is the ease of creating and executing a responsive email campaign. They have everything when it comes to email marketing but nothing more than that. Another good thing with Benchmark Email is they have got a local team here in India as well, that’s the reason they are very popular in India too for email marketing.

• Pricing: When it comes to the pricing Benchmark Email has flat pricing for each subscriber band, this is actually good as it does not confuses the users. Their base price starts at $11.96 /month and you can send unlimited emails to 600 subscribers.
• Ease Of Use & Support: Benchmark’s interface is very easy to use. Just signup with them and you will get started in just a few minutes. They have got learning resources, and video tutorials in case you are stuck somewhere, they do also provide support.

Also, they have got a Free Forever plan where you can send 14000 emails to 2000 subscribers every month. It has got some feature restrictions but still good to get the start.

8. ConstantContact

ConstantContact is also one of the oldest email marketing software, but it didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. ConstantContact has got all the basic features, you can easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, etc.

Each account on ConstantContact gives you access to easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing tools, an image library, and 1GB of storage for your own files. Having all these, ConstantContact is one of the best email marketing software out there.

• Pricing: ContantContact has got two different packages “Email” and “Email Plus”. Email Plus additionally has features like Email Automation, Event Marketing, Online Donations, Surveys & Polls, and Coupons. Their base price starts at $20/month for up to 500 subscribers. For Email Plus they charge an extra $25 to $30 a month depending on the list size. I am really not sure if it is worth spending those extra bucks when automation comes as standard with many of the email marketing software.
• Ease Of Use & Support: ConstantContact is easy to use email marketing software, Just signup on their website and you are good to start using the easiest and simplest email marketing software. Also, did I mention it here? They have got the Longest Free Trial Period i.e. 60 Days (except MailChimp’s Free Forever Plan). ConstantContact support is really good, they provide live chat support and have a vast library of resources.

Get started with ConstantContact with 60 Days Free Trial (No Credit Card Required).

9. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is one of the well-established players in the email marketing industry. ActiveCampaign is best suited for medium to large-sized companies. They have got all the features a good email marketing software should have.

• Pricing: ActiveCampaign is not that great when it comes to pricing. Their base price for the lite plan starts at $9/month for up to 500 subscribers, for the plus plan, they charge $49 /month for up to 1000 subscribers.
• Ease Of Use & Support: ActiveCampaign is not for everyone, you may need some learning to master the ActiveCampaign. Initially, it could be a bit confusing using ActiveCampaign as they have much more than email marketing software. They do provide good support and have got the help resources to get you started.

Also, they offer 14 Days Free Trial. But I believe their pricing is on the higher side for the features being offered as compared to the competition.

10. Infusionsoft

At first, Infusionsoft looked like an email marketing software for big enterprises. It’s true in some sense also. But they market themselves as “Small Business, CRM, Sales & Marketing Software”. Infusionsoft again is one of the most advanced email marketing software. You can easily automate your email marketing with Infusionsoft.

• Pricing: Here I must say Infusionsoft is the most expensive email marketing software. They market themselves to small businesses but it’s certainly not the case here. Their base price starts at $99/month for 500 subscribers and you can send only 2500 emails.
• Ease Of Use & Support: Infusionsoft requires learning, of course, they have got all the resources to get you started but it’s definatly not that easy for newbie to use. They do provide excellent support if you get stuck somewhere.

What to say here! if you can afford Infusionsoft, It’s the best email marketing software. It’s certainly not for starters and small businesses. They do not have a free trial option but you can request a free demo and their team will take you through the product.

These are the Top 10 Best Email Marketing Software in terms of features, pricing, and ease of use. We all understand that no single software can fit everyone’s needs. You can choose the one that fits well with your requirement, list size, campaign type, etc.

Here is what I personally recommend.

Best Email Marketing Software For Beginners

For beginners, I will personally recommend AWeber and GetResponse, They have got all the features a good email marketing software should have. With these, you can grow your list easily and reach your contacts in the most cost-effective way.

MailChimp is also good if you have less than 2000 contacts and want to reach your contacts for free. But remember MailChimp will not be that cost-effective once you have 2001 contacts, so I will suggest you, choose the one that works best for the long run.

Best Email Marketing Software For Bloggers

For bloggers, I will recommend ConvertKit and Drip. These two are the best email marketing software for bloggers, they have all the required tools which help in growing your blog.

Best Email Marketing Software For Business / Enterprises

For businesses or enterprises, I will recommend Drip, Drip is the most advanced email marketing software today. You will get everything the best email marketing software should have. GetResponse is also good for small or mid-sized businesses. Both of these email marketing software and tools are easy to use and do the job perfectly.

Which email marketing software do you use? and why? Let me know in the comments.