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The email marketing tools are used by marketers to create, test, send, optimize and finally report on email campaigns. These are tools related to email marketing like the email subject line generator, inbox placement testing tool, a suite of tools which helps marketers with end-to-end email marketing.

You must be familiar with Campaign Monitor which is an email marketing tool. Inbox Preview tool is nothing but a tool within a tool.

Why email marketing tools?

Let's start with what is email marketing. Its nothing but marketing using emails. It’s the most preferred communication channel for marketers.

Emails are no longer the simple weekly text emails. They can deliver highly engaging customer experience through predefined HTML templates, advanced scheduling features and of course; seamless marketing campaign integration. They can engage customers and have a direct impact on profits like never before.

How to create engaging emails?

Content is King: You must write engaging content of high quality. The content is divided into 3 parts:

• Heading
• Body
• Ending.

The heading drives users to open your email. It delivers the punchline. The body must match with the headline to establish trust. This is a simple crisp message which reaches the audience. It entices the recipient to take action. In the ending mention relevant social channels for further engagement.

Personalize emails: Focus on a more human email and not just names and domains, this brings the human touch and messages don’t look like they are sent from a robot.

Appealing graphics: Graphics must match content. Make sure the graphics don’t overshadow the content.

Finally, make sure to send the email at the right time, to the right people and the right place. Keep location, gender, and timings in mind. Make sure the URLs sent in the email don’t break or show the 404 error.

Top 12 email marketing tools for online business:

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one tool for all marketing. It offers real results through marketing campaigns like surveys, events, online listings, Facebook promotions, and marketing campaigns. Use constant contact for social media marketing, email marketing, event marketing to grow your business and build strong customer relationships.

Features of constant contact:

• Modern, mobile-optimized templates with a drag-and-drop editor to create, customize and send professional emails for your industry.
• The email marketing automation builds a strong customer relationship and keeps your audience engaged.
• New subscribers are greeted with a welcome email.
• Trigger email series is offered based on where your contacts click.
• Contacts are segmented to send the right message each time.
• Constant contact resends emails automatically to non-openers.
• Powerful list-building tools expand to reach.
• Email marketing for eCommerce tools builds your online store. New customers are kept engaged with automated emails. Leads become contacts and then loyal customers.
• Contact management in seconds. You can easily upload contact lists from Outlook, Excel, Salesforce or wherever you store the contacts. The easy-to-use email marketing tools then take over. Inactive emails bounce and unsubscribe are updated; automatically. The email list-building tool then adds new contacts in-person from Facebook or your website.
• The email marketing service offers real-time tracking tools which show who’s opening, clicking and sharing emails. This helps plan your next move.
• Constant contact goes beyond the inbox and helps connect with customers in new ways. Connect with live events, coupons, donations, and online surveys to drive the business.
• Put marketing on autopilot with personalized, scheduled and targeted emails.
• Gain actionable feedback from surveys and polls.
• Collect and track online donations through a custom landing page.
• Dynamic sign-up forms maximize list growth.
• Promote and manage events with Eventbrite integration.

Pricing: Constant Contact

Lite

Starts at Rs 323 a month. Sign up and get the first month free.

• You can send up to 10,000 emails/month
• Customize templates to suit the business
• 500 MB file storage capacity
• Live Support for 24*7 assistance
• Email scheduling to meet client needs
• Facebook Lead Ads to grow the business
• Marketing Calendar for a quick schedule

EMAIL

Starts at Rs 1,289 a month. Sign up and get the first month free.

• Send unlimited emails and customizable templates
• Branded or industry templates to suit the business
• A welcome email, contact list import, and list-building tools
• Facebook Lead Ads and marketing calendar
• Tracking, Reporting, Apps, and Integration.

EMAIL PLUS

Starts at Rs 2,900 a month. Sign up and get the first month free.

• Enjoy unlimited emails
• Branded and industry templates to run the business
• Get list segmentation
• Welcome new customers with automated email welcome series
• RSVP and Dynamic Content
• Offers Event marketing, polls, surveys and coupons
• Online donations and new customer consultations.

2. SendInBlue

SendInBlue offers the SaaS solution for relationship marketing. SendInBlue helps your business grow and establish relationships with customers. SendInBlue has a special focus on small and medium businesses. It helps manage email campaigns, send text messages and even save time through automation, all of this at a pocket-friendly price.

Features of SendInBlue:

• Transactional emails and text messages can easily be created, sent and tracked.
• You can easily import, export and manage email lists and contacts.
• Drip emails can be sent through marketing automation workflows.
• Built-in analytics help track subscriber engagement.
• Contacts can be segmented to send the right emails to the right customers.

Pricing:

• The cheapest plan called Litestarts at $25 a month for up to 40,000 emails.
• The essential plan costs $39 for 60,000 emails a month.
• The premium plan costs $66 a month for 1,20,000 emails.

You also have the free version where you can send 9,000 emails a month.

3. GetResponse

GetResponse is an email marketing platform which helps create a valuable marketing list of prospects, clients, and partners. You can easily build and develop relationships, and a sound customer base.

Features of GetResponse:

• Easily create fully scalable workflows through the drag-and-drop creator.
• You can create messages through action-based autoresponders, triggered for recipient action through personalized one-on-one responses.
• Drive and engage leads through the complete webinar marketing solution.
• You can create high-quality web pages, sales, and webinars in just 10 minutes, without a line of code.
• You have state of the art API, Landing Page creator, form builder, social media integration and list building program.
• You may easily use the autoresponders 2.0, inbox preview, video email marketing, and real-time reports.

Pricing:

• You get the BASIC plan at just $15 a month with a free 30 day trial period. You get email marketing, autoresponders, exit pop-ups, Facebook Ads, unlimited landing pages, 150+ integrations and much more with the plan.
• There is the PLUS plan at $49 a month which offers everything in the BASIC plan and more.  You have list building funnels, sales, and webinar funnels.
• You have the PROFESSIONAL plan at $99 a month which offers everything you get in PLUS and more. There is an automation builder, contact scoring and tagging, paid webinars, DKIM and work together.
• You have the ENTERPRISE plan at $1,199 a month. This plan offers everything in the PROFESSIONAL plan more. You have the account manager, webinars, email campaign consulting, dedicated IP address and more.​

4. MailChimp

This is an all-in-one marketing platform to manage and talk to clients, customers and any other interested parties. Its marketing automation software helps reach customers in a quick and effective manner. It's great to use with its range of features and free plans.

Features of MailChimp:

• This marketing automation platform allows you to create, send and analyze ad campaigns and emails.
• You can create custom templates and also choose from an array of pre-made templates and campaigns.
• With the MailChimp mobile application, you can create and send campaigns, manage subscribers and even keep a tab on account activity.
• You can easily connect your store to MailChimp and capture order information, automate your product follow-ups, create and run targeted campaigns and even send personalized order notifications.
• You enjoy support via the online knowledge base and also enjoy technical support through emails.
• You can answer the user queries through live chats.
• You can automate routine tasks, customize signup forms, send targeted emails and also utilize insightful reporting and analytics.

MailChimp Pricing:

Free:

The free version offers 7 marketing channels, 1-click automation, basic templates, and even marketing CRM.

Essentials:

The essentials plan starts at Rs 725 a month. You get everything the free version has to offer and also email templates, A/B testing, custom branding, and 24/7 support. 

Standard:

The standard plan starts at Rs 1,088 a month. You get everything in the Essentials plus the automation series, retargeting ads, custom templates, and advanced audience insights.

Premium:

For advanced features, take up the Premium plan at Rs 21,703 a month. You get everything in the standard version and also advanced segmentation, unlimited seats, and role-based access, phone support and advanced segmentation.

5. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is nothing but an email marketing tool offering automation options. If you are interested in optimizing your sales funnel or increase conversions, buy the ConvertKit. It helps run advanced email marketing campaigns.

Features of ConvertKit:

• You have customizable opt-in forms which direct your subscribers to the desired call to action.
• There’s the homepage dashboard which displays all subscriber data. Use the opt-in conversion tally.
• With if-this, then that automation rules, you can create distinct workflows to develop personalized customer journeys. You can link events, actions, and conditions with just a click.
• You can personalize automated emails with the drag-and-drop sequence. This helps grow the subscriber's list.
• You can manipulate subscribers with just a single list through tags and segments.
• With ConvertKit, you can automate email distribution especially for one-off messages and RSS feed.
• You can edit email content by clicking on an item in the workflow.

Pricing:

• ConvertKit starts at $29 a month for a maximum of 1,000 subscribers. The price depends on the number of subscribers. It's $49 a month for 3,000 subscribers and $79 a month for 5,000 subscribers.
• There are higher plans too. You would have to pay $379 a month if you have 50,000 subscribers. If you have more than 5,000 subscribers, ConvertKit allows you to migrate the email list to their system at no extra cost.

6. VerticalResponse

You can create and send appealing newsletters and emails with VerticalResponse. Surveys can be sent at an affordable price. Create landing pages with VerticalResponse email marketing platform.

Features of VerticalResponse:

• You can send marketing emails with beautiful templates.
• Easily create signup forms with matching templates.
• Social network updates on Twitter and Facebook can easily be scheduled.
• New sign-ups to lists can be welcomed by autoresponders.
• Get reports which show the reach of social networks and emails.
• You can easily send email updates to everyone on your list.

Pricing:

The pricing of VerticalResponse depends on the number of subscribers. Small business owners can use the free plan which has a 300 subscriber limit along with 4,000 emails. You have the Basic plan at just $11 a month, followed by the Pro at $16 a month and the Pro+ at $196 a month. If you have 500 subscribers or more, opt for the higher-end plans with unlimited email sends.

7. Aweber

Aweber is considered to be one of the best platforms for email marketing. It has superior autoresponders and a rich feature set. Use Aweber web-based tools to stay in touch with prospects via email.

Features of Aweber:

• You have the drag and drop editor.
• Autoresponders and email newsletters.
• App showcase and HTML email templates.
• Subscriber management and segmenting.
• Email marketing campaigns and blog newsletters.
• Bulk email and permission email marketing.
• Email analytics and subscriber segmentation.
• Aweber mobile app and direct email marketing.

Pricing:

The pricing depends on the subscribers. You can start the campaign on Aweber for free. You pay $19 a month for 500 subscribers and unlimited emails. There’s the $29 plan for 2,500 subscribers. The $49 plan for 5,000 subscribers and $149 plan for 25,000 subscribers.

8. SendGrid

This is a cloud-based SMTP provider which allows you to send emails without having to maintain any email servers. All your technical details from scaling to infrastructure to ISP outreach, reputation management to whitelist services and analytics are managed by SendGrid.

Features of SendGrid:

• SendGrid has email scheduling parameters and IP Warm up.
• There is the 2-factor authentication.
• You have SSL-enabled click and open tracking.
• There is reputation monitoring and unsubscribe tracking.
• You have email template engine and dedicated/multiple IP addresses.
• IP white labeling and SMTP API
• 24/7 support and marketing email services.
• Email template engine and ISP monitoring.
• Suppression list management and SPAM filter testing.

Pricing:

• You have the free version where you send 40,000 emails for 30 days and then 100/day forever.
• You have the Essentials plan which starts at $14.95 a month where you send 1 Lakh + emails.
• There is the Pro plan where you pay $79.95 a month for 1.5 Million + emails.
• The premier plan is custom priced.

9. MailerLite

MailerLite gives small businesses a powerful platform for email marketing. It's easy to use and is compatible with existing content marketing platforms. You also have an exclusive HTML editor which allows you create HTML emails as and when you need them.

Features of MailerLite:

• You can design emails, landing pages, embed forms and even pop-ups. There is also an easy drag-and-drop composer.
• Easily import, organize and manage subscribers all at one place.
• Subscribers can interact with your emails through click maps.
• You have the rich text editor and custom HTML editor.
• There are the built-in photo editing feature and free newsletter design template.

Pricing:

• You have the free trial subscription and its value for money. This is for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails a month. However, the free version has limited features.
• There’s the $15 a month plan for 1,001 to 2,500 subscribers which offer unlimited emails.
• You have the $30 a month plan for 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers along with unlimited emails.
• Finally, there’s the $50 a month plan for 5,001 to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited emails.

10. ActiveCampaign

The ActiveCampaign is an intelligent platform. This makes it easy to leverage marketing campaigns. You can design sophisticated, automated marketing processes, save time and earn that extra revenue for the Company. Integrated sales CRM helps automate sales processes.

Features of ActiveCampaign:

• You have A/B testing and advanced segmentation.
• There are automated series and custom forms for landing pages.
• You have the drag and drop email designer and conversion rate management.
• Free email templates, free phone, and live chat.
• Marketing automation and SMS marketing.
• Smart autoresponders and social media monitoring.
• You can easily track contacts live, add live e-commerce data and videos.
• You can record your most precious marketing assets which are leads and contacts in the marketing lead database.
• You can segment the database and build your target leads and contacts.
• You can automatically qualify and store leads based on demographics, prospect online behavior which includes recency and frequency. There’s the facility to assign own weights to determine lead scores for prioritization.
• You can even track contacts based on their location in the sales pipeline.

Pricing:

You have the free version for 500 contacts. There’s the Lite version at $9 a month for unlimited sending, email marketing, newsletters and marketing automation/chat, and email support. There’s the plus version at $49 a month, which offers everything Lite offers and more. There’s the Professional version which offers everything from the plus version along with attribution, site messaging and unlimited sending. You have the Enterprise version which offers everything the Professional version does and more at $229 a month. This is free design services, custom domain, custom reporting, phone support, in-depth onboarding, custom mail server domain, free social data, unlimited users and uptime SLA.

11. iContact

iContact’s business email platform makes sending marketing emails a breeze. Signing up to sending emails can be done in minutes. It's easy to manage subscribers and email marketing campaigns. Sending surveys, engaging customers and growing business is done with little fuss.

Features of iContact:

• You can send business-class emails.
• There are campaign segmentation and landing page templates.
• Enjoy custom landing pages, configurable workflow and lead scoring.
• You have event-triggered emails and workflow automation.
• Salesforce integration, social CRM, drag, and drop editing and engagement tracking and analytics.
• Contact management, social media marketing, and behavior tracking.
• A/B testing, auto-responders, salesforce integration, and customizable templates.

Pricing:

• The iContact plan starts at $14 a month. This is 500 subscribers for the essential plan.
• You have $99 a month for the Professional Plan.
• You have annual pricing which reflects a 15% discount for 12 months pre-pay.

12. CampaignMonitor

Campaign Monitor is an online email marketing application which helps designers create, send, manage and track branded emails for self and clients without any difficulty.

Features of Campaign Monitor:

• You can drag and drop a beautiful email.
• Enjoy free templates
• Emails look perfect on all mobile devices. Enjoy previews before sending emails.
• Social sharing features amplify your message on social media.
• You can seamlessly add videos to your emails.
• A robust set of tools help code your own HTML email templates.
• You have effective list management tools which help organizations build segmented lists depending on criteria.
• You can automate campaigns so that the right customers receive the right messages at exactly the right time.
• You can easily measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Pricing:

Campaign monitor offers 3 plans.

• The basic plan starts at $9 a month.
• The unlimited plan starts at $29 a month.
• The premier plan starts at $149 a month.