Email Marketing List Management Best Practices
Your email list, which contains the email addresses of all your subscribers, is the foundation of your email marketing campaigns. You must update your email list regularly to optimize your email marketing campaigns’ effective ness. Email marketing software is a vital tool for managing email lists. See our top picks below. This article is for small business owners who want to build and manage email lists for their email marketing campaigns.
If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you know you need an email list. Email marketing allows you to develop a relationship with your customers and bring in more sales for your company. But building an email list is not enough on its own; you also need a way to manage and optimize your email list. This process is known as email list management. In this article, you’ll learn about some of the best approaches to managing your email list and how high-quality email marketing software can help.
>> Read next: Hackers Target These Types of Accounts the Most – Including Gmail
Editor’s note: Looking for the right email marketing service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.What is email list management?
Email list management is how you organize your business’s email subscribers. It’s the process of validating email addresses, getting rid of dead ones and otherwise maintaining a healthy list. When you regularly manage your email list, you ensure it’s up to date and accurate, thus allowing you to deliver more value to your email subscribers.Why is email list management important?
A strong email marketing strategy hinges on an active and engaged subscriber base. People sign up for your emails for different reasons, and many will lose interest at some point.
A certain percentage of people will eventually unsubscribe, while others won’t — they’ll just stop opening your emails altogether. Worse, your emails might go to their spam folders, which hurts your campaigns’ deliverability and, eventually, your sender reputation.
Email list management needs to be at the core of your email marketing strategy. By maintaining a list of engaged subscribers, you can create content and offers that speak directly to your audience and generate a response.
Email list management is essential because it ensures your audience is as active and engaged as possible with your email marketing campaigns. A bad list equals an unsuccessful email marketing campaign.Best practices for managing your email list
You’ve invested a lot of time and money into growing your company’s email list, so you want to manage it well. Here are four best practices for managing your list:1. Use the double-opt-in method.
Before your customers can begin receiving your emails, they have to subscribe. There is some debate over whether you should require them to do a single or double opt-in for this. If you require only a single opt-in, they can begin receiving emails from you as soon as they subscribe. With a double opt-in, they must confirm via email that they signed up for your mailing list.
It can be tempting to go with a single opt-in because it allows you to grow your email list faster, and you never have to worry about losing the subscribers left in limbo. However, you could end up with a bunch of fake or spam email addresses. A double opt-in ensures you have a list of engaged subscribers, since the people who signed up have shown they really want to be there. [Read related article: How the GDPR Is Affecting Email Marketing]2. Set up a welcome sequence.
What happens when a new email subscriber joins your list? Hopefully, that person goes into your welcome sequence, an automated email series that new subscribers receive right after signing up. It’s an opportunity for them to get to know you and start building a relationship with your business.
When a new subscriber joins your email list, they are excited and engaged with your business. But if they don’t hear from you for weeks, they’ll quickly lose interest and move on, so a welcome sequence and other drip campaigns help you build trust and engagement with your audience.
Here are a few tips for creating a welcome sequence:Use a conversational tone in your emails.Ask a question, and invite your subscribers to respond to the email.Share one of your best pieces of content — a really helpful blog post, guide or video.Don’t space the emails too far apart; send them every day or every other day, depending on how long the sequence is.3. Segment your subscribers.
Personalizing your emails can increase your open rates to numbers well above those of generic emails sent to all of your subscribers. The best way to deliver targeted emails is to segment your email subscribers so you know who should receive what.
Segmentation can feel like a huge undertaking, so if you haven’t been doing customer segmentation already, it’s best to start small. Start by segmenting your list based on marketing demographics, like age, gender and income level. Those factors alone can tell you a lot about your subscribers’ interests.
You can also segment your subscribers based on whether they are already customers. You can segment your current customers even further based on their past purchases or total amount spent.4. Remove inactive subscribers from your list.
The final step in maintaining a healthy email list is to remove unengaged subscribers. It may seem counterintuitive to remove subscribers, but it doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have; what matters is your overall engagement.
Inactive, or “dead,” subscribers are individuals who haven’t opened a single email from you in the past 90 days. Your email provider should have a way for you to find this information quickly. Once you’ve identified your inactive subscribers, tag them and send them one last email with the opportunity to stay on your list. Here is an example:
Hi, [name]!
I noticed it’s been a while since you’ve opened one of my emails. I only want to send emails to people who are getting a ton of value out of them, so I plan to remove everyone on my list who isn’t engaged — and my records show that includes you.
If you want to be removed, there’s no action needed on your part. But if you’re hoping to stay on my list, just click the link below.
[insert link]
This email allows you to reengage some of your inactive subscribers. At the same time, you’re getting rid of the people who don’t want to hear from you anymore.
Avoid common email marketing mistakes, such as failing to optimize your sends for mobile devices and using too many images . Email marketing software that can help manage your list
A crucial component of successful email marketing campaigns is targeting the right people. To do this, you need to use proper list management strategies and segmentation tools. This combination ensures you are sending emails to those who want to receive your messages while also making sure those who want your emails are getting messages that appeal to them specifically. Here are four of the best email marketing software providers that can help you on both counts.monday.Com
monday.Com is a project management tool designed to streamline the tasks involved with email marketing list management. You can store large amounts of email contacts in the program so you can easily keep track of all your sales leads.
Through monday.Com’s customizable opt-in forms, you can ensure the software’s innovative features meet the needs of your business and your potential subscribers. The company offers automated email marketing campaigns and detailed analytics that track email open rates, conversion rates and bounce rates, among other tools.
With lead categorization, you can organize your subscribers based on factors such as location and customer preferences. This can complement your segmentation and personalization approaches.
Although the monday.Com interface is user-friendly, users with little or no project management software experience may face a learning curve. You can check out our detailed monday.Com review to learn more about this platform.HubSpot
HubSpot is a leader in marketing software, and its email management solution is one of the best out there. You can use the software to create and track personalized email campaigns.
The email editor is incredibly comprehensive, with a wide range of templates for various purposes. You can add content blocks, like images and buttons, and edit the design to meet your vision.
One of HubSpot’s most useful aspects is that it lets you personalize emails based on where your customers are in the client life cycle. You create an email, and HubSpot will adjust details such as the subject line to fit that subscriber’s customer journey.
The platform also gives you access to extensive analytics about your campaigns. You can track your open rate, unsubscribes and spam reports. HubSpot will show you which subscribers are the most engaged and which links get the most clicks.
The only real downside to HubSpot is the price; it isn’t the most affordable option for small businesses. You can learn more about this vendor in our review of the HubSpot CRM, which has email marketing capabilities.Constant Contact
With Constant Contact, you can manage your email list, set up a website and monitor your ad campaigns, all in one program. The software is incredibly functional and offers many advanced email marketing features.
Constant Contact has hundreds of email templates with many editing options. You can customize the fonts and brand colors for each email by entering your website URL, as well as add contact blocks, videos and social sharing options. The software’s drag-and-drop tools make it easy to design each email exactly the way you want it.
If you switch to Constant Contact from another email service provider, you can automatically import your contacts. You can also use the software to grow your subscriber list, create sign-up forms and access advanced reports.
The software is relatively intuitive, so it’s a great option even if you don’t consider yourself particularly tech-savvy. However, the vendor doesn’t provide 24/7 customer support, which could be a downside for some users. To learn more about how your business can use this email list management platform, read our full Constant Contact review.Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the best email marketing services for novices. The software is easy to use, but it provides plenty of advanced reports that let you take a data-driven approach to email marketing.
When you sign up, Mailchimp walks you step by step through the process of setting up your first email campaign. You can choose to use an email template or build your own email from scratch. Mailchimp will even spell-check your emails for you when you’re done drafting them.
Mailchimp stands out for its advanced reporting features. The software gives you insight into the results of each email campaign, showing you which ones had the most significant impact on your bottom line. [See what email marketing metrics you should track.]
Mailchimp’s functionality and ease of use make it an excellent option for beginners. However, its customer service options are limited on lower-tier plans.
There are many email marketing platforms, so choose the one that best works for your needs and budget. Monday.Com, HubSpot, Constant Contact and Mailchimp are some highly rated options that can help you manage your email list.Making email management simple and profitable
Managing your email lists is a large part of keeping customers engaged with your business. Several email marketing software platforms can make the process easier and more beneficial, and various factors will determine which is the best service for your business. When you invest in effective email list management practices, you build stronger customer relationships and expand your customer base. That, in turn, can help secure some additional revenue for your business — and fuel your continued growth.
Shayna Waltower contributed to this article.
Three Ways To Kickstart Your Company’s Email Marketing Campaigns
For more than a decade, business prognosticators have been predicting the death of email, and perhaps it will happen someday — but not yet. Platforms such as social media and texting have taken a bite out of email, especially within work teams where people understand that communication is fragmented. However, while everyone is looking at the shiny new toys, there’s something that savvy business leaders and marketing teams realize: Email marketing to prospects and customers remains one of the best ways to grow and develop a business.
As the CEO of a company that provides email marketing services, I know email still plays a vital role in effective marketing, especially when it’s coupled with other platforms, such as social media. Even though most people are inundated with emails daily, an effective email can still catch someone’s attention. The fact of the matter is that it’s tough to match the breadth of email availability. Globally, Statista data (paywall) shows there were about 5.24 billion active email accounts in 2018, and 281.1 billion emails (paywall) were sent each day.
Drip Campaign Success
One of the best email marketing formulas, which I’ve found performs exceptionally well, is the drip campaign. Drip campaigns, also known as drip marketing, are a series of automated emails. An initial email is sent, and follow-ups are scheduled to follow automatically based on the preplanned number of days or triggers. For instance, this could be based on when a person completes a call to action, such as requesting more information or signing up for a webinar.
When automated drip campaigns are done well, they can help convert prospects into more qualified leads for your sales group. Drip marketing assists marketers in moving prospects through the sales funnel more quickly, provides sales teams with “warm” leads and rewards people with exclusive offers and incentives.
Challenges With Email Marketing
Even though email marketing — done well — can work, some teams end up with a hit-or-miss strategy and do a little bit of everything because they get frustrated with the challenges of email marketing, and they believe that social media is the best approach in today’s world. Additionally, email open rates can be low, especially if the emails are not targeted well. Other times, there may be limited data and information on an email’s performance because the company lacked the foresight to select robust email platforms and tools. Lack of proper staffing can also impact successful email marketing campaigns because no one is accountable and responsible for a comprehensive email marketing effort. Still, email marketing is an excellent marketing tool when it’s done well.
How To Kick-Start An Aggressive Email Marketing Effort
Email is still a powerful tool. By relying exclusively on social media, as some companies do, there’s a risk that audiences won’t see what you’re trying to communicate due to the continual changes to social media algorithms. Organic reach may be throttled; and depending on the number of fans you have on your page, your efforts may or may not be as successful as you expect. Therefore, email remains an excellent marketing opportunity that you can use to complement your social media and other marketing efforts.
Our team uses three strategies in our emails to make sure they are as successful as possible when they’re sent and resonate with our prospect leads and our past and present customers.
• Know your audience. Our team sends tens of thousands of emails each month to different audiences, and we do it because email is a top tool for communication. Something we work on is understanding our target audience. If we know something that’s happening in someone’s life or an entire group’s lives (such as birthdays and industry conferences) we make it a point to mention it so we don’t miss an opportunity to show our appreciation. We also share what’s happening in the industry and any insights we’ve discovered that we think would benefit those who receive our emails. Showing appreciation and sharing valuable information, like trends and ideas in your industry, can help engage and build relationships with people with whom you are communicating.
• The subject is everything. It doesn’t matter how good your email copy is if you don’t get people to open your emails in the first place. The subject line is probably the most critical part of an email — along with a call to action — and you have to give it thought. One tip about subject lines is to drive urgency, but stay away from spam words such as “free.” I’ve found that the best subject lines are those that have approximately 50 to 60 characters total. Remember, many people are now reading emails on mobile devices or tablets. If a subject line is too long and they don’t get the message with a quick scan, they may never open the email, so its content becomes irrelevant by default.
• Email is a team effort. Sophisticated companies understand that providing an exceptional customer experience is a competitive advantage in today’s world. Email is a company-wide effort, which can also provide industry leadership for a company. Therefore, when you’re thinking about email content, an essential element for your marketing team is for them to understand how customers feel and what they think about your product or service. Your marketing group can gain valuable insights by having ongoing discussions with your sales or account services teams, for instance. When they know what’s happening across the company, which you can encourage in company-wide meetings or internal reporting processes, your marketing team can better provide relevant email substance in communications with your audience.
If your company has given email marketing short shrift, you should reconsider it. There is just no tool or platform yet that has the rate of conversations that email has had up to this point for me. Social media is great, but if you’re looking for performance, email is still it — and it’s most certainly very much alive.
Email Marketing Best Practices And Predictions For 2023
Growing your business with email marketing is an excellent tactic, but creating a dynamic email marketing plan is crucial as new strategies and email marketing best practices emerge.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on email marketing, bolstering its effectiveness and proving that email is a valuable audience engagement channel. Businesses now allocate more of their marketing budgets to email, and there are no signs of this trend slowing down.
We’ll highlight current email marketing best practices and explore email marketing predictions as marketers take advantage of new trends, strategies and technology.Email marketing best practices
These eight email marketing best practices are long-standing strategies. If you haven’t been following them, make 2023 the year to start. 1. Follow the CAN-SPAM Act.
If you violate the regulations in the CAN-SPAM Act, you risk your domain name being banned, meaning you’d no longer be able to send emails from your domain. The Federal Trade Commission compiled a CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide that includes the following rules for businesses:Don’t use false or misleading header information.Don’t use deceptive subject lines.Tell recipients where you’re located.Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future emails.Honor opt-out requests promptly.Monitor what others (such as companies you hire to do your marketing) are doing on your behalf.
Although the CAN-SPAM Act was designed to regulate and curb email spam, marketers must also follow text message spam laws under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which governs messages sent to wireless phones.2. Cater your emails to your audience.
To improve marketing ROI, you must understand and pinpoint your target audience. Create a buyer persona to understand your customers’ needs and truly speak to them.
For example, suppose your business provides dog training services and one of your target audiences is first-time owners of newly adopted puppies. In that case, your email marketing content may ask these questions: Does your puppy bark at other dogs? Does the puppy refuse to come when called? Do you feel overwhelmed and unknowledgeable about what you are doing? Is your puppy having bathroom accidents in the house?
Then, you might include the following:
A few tips on how to fix these problems (to help build trust and show your expertise).A testimonial from a client.A clear call to action that shows you understand their pain and your ability to help.Cute puppy pictures.
This email marketing best practice is called “segmentation,” which involves separating various email subscriber groups into smaller lists broken down by buyer personas. Segmenting your email lists into targeted groups is more time-consuming than sending one email to everyone on your contact list, but this extra work can yield a higher email open rate, a better click-through rate (CTR) and, ultimately, more sales.3. Optimize your emails for mobile devices.
According to research from Spark Post, people open 42% to 60% of email campaigns on mobile devices, so optimizing emails for mobile devices is crucial. Your recipients view emails differently on smartphones than on desktop computers, often scrolling quickly and sometimes paying less attention than they would if they were looking at a computer screen.
Follow these best practices to optimize your emails for mobile devices:Put your best content at the beginning of your subject line so readers don’t miss it. (An email client may cut off part of the subject line.)Keep your subject lines under 30 characters.Add preheader text to help readers get a better idea of what the email is about and to entice them to open it.Use a font size of at least 12 point so readers don’t have to zoom in to read your content on their small screens.Use big images, but don’t rely on them, as they may not load properly on all mobile devices.Put your calls to action at the top (before readers have to scroll) so they don’t get missed.Test your emails on various screen types.4. Test your emails on various screen types.
Emails often look different on desktop screens than on mobile devices. Some email clients offer the option to preview desktop, mobile and inbox versions of your email. With this feature, you won’t have to jump from device to device to preview your emails (but it won’t hurt if you do).
Preview desktop, mobile and inbox versions of your email to see how it will appear on each type of screen.5. Keep your email list updated.
After you build an email list, you must keep updating it. Although this is one of the oldest email marketing best practices, many marketers allow their lists to languish. Here are some risks you take by not keeping your email marketing lists up to date:Getting high email bounce rates (and thus having content not reach your audience).Being flagged as a spammer by your email software, which means you may get banned from sending future emails from your domain.Sending subscribers content that no longer interests them.
Take these actions to keep your list updated:Keep a record of your latest lists of unsubscribers.Avoid using old email lists for new campaigns. Instead, send the new campaigns to people who have subscribed within the past several months. For example, if you received a list of conference attendees two years ago, don’t send them an email campaign now.Continually run campaigns to get new email subscribers.Remove subscribers who have not engaged with your emails in the past year.6. Analyze the results, and adjust the campaigns accordingly.
Your work isn’t done after you send emails. As a good rule of thumb, wait about a week (to give subscribers a chance to open your emails), and then analyze the email campaign’s performance to learn what worked well and where you can improve.
Depending on your email marketing strategy, your reporting key performance indicators may include the following:Click-through rateOpen rateBounce rateUnsubscribe rateSpam reportsSharesLead conversions
Conduct A/B testing to discover what subject lines resonate with your audience, how long the email should be, and when to send emails to subscribers to get the most engagement.7. Market only to subscribers who opt in.
Some email marketing tools allow you to reach people who didn’t sign up to receive your emails. However, most experts advise against this approach. Emailing people who did not opt in to your marketing campaign could be detrimental to your overall marketing efforts. Sending emails to purchased lists rarely works and wastes time and money while annoying people who aren’t interested in your products or services.
Further, email marketing must uphold digital privacy laws, like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Take time to build your email list and market to people who have shown interest in your products and services.8. Consider email marketing timeliness.
Integrating timely email marketing into your strategy can help boost engagement and sales. For example, for a successful holiday marketing campaign, you might want to detail your discounts and promotions.
In 2021, many companies leveraged email marketing to describe changes in policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, while others emphasized their commitment to social justice.
Remember that your contacts are moving through the world in real time and are affected by current events. Whenever possible, create that link between your brand and what your audience is experiencing in their personal lives.Email marketing predictions for 2023
Marketers are always taking advantage of new trends, strategies and technology. Here are some email marketing trends to watch for in 2023.Automated email sequences
As the name suggests, an automated email sequence is deployed via triggers set forth by email marketers. For example, when prospects opt in to your e-commerce clothing business’s email list, you can create emails that go out automatically.
Here are three potential sequences for that scenario:Send a welcome email with a promo code, or offer a coupon for free shipping on their first order within minutes after they sign up for your list.Email them a style guide on how they can mix and match some of your clothes one week after they sign up if they haven’t made a purchase.If they haven’t purchased within two weeks of subscribing, entice them with a 48-hour promo code that’s valid only for new customers.
Without email automation, sending emails at the right times to the right people can be a time-consuming task with little room for error.
Use tools such as HubSpot to streamline the email automation process. Read our in-depth HubSpot review to learn more.Increased investment in email marketing
You need the right team to strategize email marketing correctly. Make 2023 the year you invest in qualified talent and the right tools to improve your email marketing campaigns and take them to the next level.
Overall, SparkPost found that marketing budgets have increased by 5% but that marketers are shifting their priorities from digital and social media marketing to branding, customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing.
If you don’t think you have the budget for email marketing, consider cutting expenses in other areas, because email marketing is essential to keeping your audience engaged and building brand loyalty. GIFs
Make your emails pop with animation. You don’t need a big budget for this. Instead, use a free design tool, like Canva, to incorporate an interactive element into your email campaigns.
Although you can’t rely on imagery to get your entire message across (images may be blocked or may not load correctly on mobile devices), try mixing animations with standard text.Dark mode
Some iOS and Android mobile users view their devices in “dark mode,” meaning a dark background with light text. Dark mode is easier on the eyes and preserves mobile battery life. To accommodate, email marketers should design their emails in light and dark so they display correctly regardless of the user’s settings. Accessibility considerations
Emails cannot convey information and communicate with recipients if they find it difficult or impossible to get the message. That’s why it’s important to design emails that are accessible to all people, including those with disabilities.
Designing for accessibility includes using certain font sizes and text alignment, as well as incorporating HTML coding to ensure everyone can read or hear your content. Designing for accessibility is the right thing to do, and ignoring this best practice can hurt your brand’s reputation and reduce your campaign’s effectiveness.
It’s also crucial to design your website for accessibility. To create an accessible e-commerce website, consider the needs of people with hearing and visual challenges, and thoughtfully design elements such as usability, appearance and presentation.Emojis
Marketers are using emojis more in the email subject line, preheader text and body of the email. Incorporating emojis is an easy way to inject an element of fun without too much coding. But use emojis with caution; if a subscriber has images blocked, using too many emojis will turn your email into gibberish.Personalization
Personalization is a continuing trend in which companies use customer data to personalize emails. Personalization includes using the customer’s name and referring to their purchase history. The best CRM software lets you easily personalize email campaigns with valuable customer insights.
Email personalization increases open rates, click-through rates and customer satisfaction.Agile email content
Email marketers can use feeds from their websites and social media accounts without adding information manually. This way, content stays up to date in emails even when it changes frequently. In addition to keeping content fresh, this method makes it easier to create the emails in the first place.Importance of a strong email marketing strategy in 2023
Studies have shown that email is one of the top forms of marketing. Consider the following statistics:In 2021, there were 4 billion email users worldwide, and that number is expected to grow to 4.6 billion by 2025, according to research from Statista.According to Constant Contact, the average email open rate across all industries is 30.35%, and the average click-through rate is 1.1%.For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42, according to research from Litmus. That’s a higher return than you can expect from any other form of marketing – digital or otherwise.
An effective email marketing strategy can help you accomplish the following goals:Optimize your email marketing return on investment.Properly incorporate email marketing into your overall marketing mix.Visualize your email marketing on a large scale and see where each campaign fits your overall business goals.Benefits of an email marketing strategy
An email marketing strategy in 2023 can help you meet your business goals for the year. Here are three major benefits of developing an email marketing strategy:1. You’ll build stronger relationships with your customers and prospects.
Building relationships to earn loyal customers can help keep your business afloat during tough economic times. One way to do this is to send emails to see how your customers are doing, how you can help them, or how everything went with their order.
This email from Stellar Villa, a wall art company, is an excellent example of how to build relationships with customers:
One reason this email is effective is that it shows that the company cares enough about its customers to ensure they received their order and that they’re satisfied, said Patrick Connelly, co-founder of Stellar Villa. Second, the email asks customers a question and prompts them to reply.
“This starts a conversation in which you not only further engage with your customer, but you create a memorable, positive experience for them,” Connelly said. “Also, in the rare event there is an issue with a customer’s order, they can let you know, which will give you the opportunity to fix it right away. This prevents negative experiences.”
Connelly added that because the email is not promotional and contains mostly text, it does not get caught in spam or promo folders.
The subject line reads, “Re: Your Order from Stellar Villa,” putting the brand front and center. In the email itself, the company also inserts the customer’s first name, when available, at the start of the email to personalize it.2. You’ll reach your prospects and customers.
With many people working at least part time from home, your prospects may not be in the office to receive your business-to-business company’s direct-mail piece. They may not be on the roads to see your billboard ads or reading the newspaper to look at your print ads.
They are, however, looking at their mobile devices wherever they go. As a result, your audience can access your email marketing content from anywhere, anytime.3. You’ll craft emails that get results.
Email marketing should fit within your comprehensive marketing strategy. Speak in your brand’s voice, and stay on track. But also find a way to take advantage of email’s personalization options.
When you reach someone’s inbox, you have direct contact with them. You can track metrics such as open rate, click-through rate and conversions to determine your audience’s engagement with your campaign. By identifying your target audience’s demographics, wants and needs, you can refine your email marketing content to relate better to your ideal customer.
How can you gauge the success of your efforts? Improved engagement rates suggest your content is hitting the mark.
To develop content that resonates with your ideal customers, consider building customer personas to represent the people purchasing your goods and services. How old are these customers? What is their employment status? What are their problems, concerns and goals?
Adjust your buyer personas as you get real-world feedback from your customers, and use your buyer personas to refine your marketing strategy.
Design emails to reduce shopping cart abandonment. For example, use retargeting emails to remind customers of items they left in shopping carts, and offer a discount or free shipping to entice them to buy.The best email marketing services
Email marketing services give you a platform to segment, grow and maintain your email lists. You can also easily create attractive, responsive email designs and track your campaign results.
Here are a few of the best email marketing services to consider: Constant Contact is our pick for the best email marketing service for small businesses. Small businesses get a great deal of value from a Constant Contact account. In addition to its ease of use, wide variety of customizable email templates and large image library, the service provides higher-end functionalities, such as Canva integration, list-building tools, subject line recommendations and automated email campaign flows. There are two affordable plans; the entry-level plan starts at $20 per month. To learn more, read our in-depth review of Constant Contact. Sendinblue is our pick for the best email marketing service for growing businesses. Sendinblue has a free plan that comes with unlimited contacts that allows you to send up to 300 emails daily. You can also buy prepaid, non-expiring email credits to increase your send limit, so you pay only for what you use. In addition to drag-and-drop templates and email personalization, Sendinblue offers tools for SMS marketing, advanced contact segmentation, customizable sign-up forms and more. Read our review of Sendinblue to find out more. Freshworks Freshmarketer is our pick for the best email marketing service for marketing integrations. Because Freshworks is a complete marketing suite, it allows small businesses to integrate their email with the rest of their marketing efforts, using customer data from Freshworks CRM to craft highly effective email campaigns. The software gives you AI-powered insights and visibility into the customer’s journey, including actions such as visiting your website, putting items into their cart and purchasing. Freshworks integrates with Trello, Zapier, Shopify, Outlook and more. Check out our complete review of Freshworks Freshmarketer for more information.
Marisa Sanfilippo contributed to the writing and reporting in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.