Email marketing services buying guide
Email marketing is one of the most efficient ways to communicate directly with your subscribers. It directs more people to your website than search engines, social media, or referral links, which means it’s an essential marketing tactic for any business. However, the market is full of different options that provide distinct user experiences, prices, and features. On the one hand, this is perfect as you will always find a provider that will suit your needs. On the other hand, finding the right email marketing service can be quite challenging and time-consuming. To make the search process smoother, we recommend you follow these five steps:
1. What is the best email marketing platform for you?
Before you start searching for the best email marketing service on the market, imagine your ideal solution. Obviously, the platform needs to be able to send bulk email messages, allow you to manage your contacts, and provide an intuitive newsletter builder. But those are just the basics.
So, let’s go a step further and think about what an email marketing service would provide in a perfect world. Do you want to set up automatic emails to be sent on specific dates or when your subscribers make a purchase? Would you prefer an all-in-one platform that allows you to manage more than just email marketing? Will you need to build landing pages and web forms?
By outlining what you need from an email marketing service, you’ll have an easier time when searching for one that best fits your needs, as several can be crossed off your list right away. If you just need the basics, even better: you’ll find a few options that provide everything you need for free.
2. Find and compare email marketing services
When you have your completed checklist covering the features you want from your desired platform, it’s time to do some research. Articles featuring the best email marketing services are a great way to get a grasp of what the market has to offer. However, they won’t be enough to clearly understand which ones are best suited for you. There are various providers offering similar tools, and you can find out how they differ by comparing them.
Comparison articles place companies side by side, allowing you to easily understand which platform answers your needs the best. Although on the surface some email marketing services might seem equal, this isn’t always true. For example, certain platforms offer a comprehensive set of tools, but you may find some features that perform better with other services. Moreover, the maximum subscriber limit or the total number of emails you can send always differs. Even if two email marketing services are exactly the same, the prices won’t be.
3. Read reviews of email marketing service providers
Now that you’ve read some comparisons and found a few options that cater to your needs, it’s time for the last step of your research – reading product reviews. While articles and comparisons help you narrow down your options to a select few, they don’t provide detailed information about each product. However, reviews consider all aspects of a service, including the company’s customer support, user experience, setup difficulty, and more.
You should read various reviews from both experts and users, as well as visit the company’s website to get the full picture of a product. Make sure to read diverse perspectives both from people who had great and terrible experiences with the software to make an informed decision.
4. Sign up for a free trial
After so much research, you’ll end up with one or two email marketing services that check all your boxes and provide a decent price-quality ratio. This takes us to the next step – trying the software for yourself. Nothing is better than to experience the platform yourself to make sure it works as well as you imagined. Fortunately, email marketing services always provide a way to test their services either by providing a free trial, a limited free version, or a money-back guarantee.
5. Check for coupons
This is it! You’ve read everything about the service, tried it for yourself, found the perfect email marketing platform for you, and now you’re ready to make a purchase. But before you grab your wallet, make sure to look for ways to get a discount first – everyone loves to save money, right? Email marketing software providers typically offer ways for you to get a discount, such as lower monthly payments for longer billing cycles, special promotions, exclusive coupons, etc. Therefore, always search for these before committing to a subscription.
Side-by-side comparisons
Our email marketing services comparisons place companies side by side to make it effortless for you to understand where they differ. After you go through a few of them, you’ll know for sure which platform is worth your investment.
Daniel C.
Inês P.
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