Psst, this blog post contains a few affiliate links. I will only EVER recommend products (in this case Email Marketing Platforms) I believe in and have used before. Affiliate links help my business stay afloat and I appreciate you trusting me!
At some point in your growing biz you’re going to want to go beyond Social to connect your clients/customers/leads and get on to an email marketing platform. There’s an overwhelming multitude of choices but don’t fret! Your girl’s got the Techy Witch low-down on what YOU need to look for and my personal top 5 picks.
Your email list is your money honey. That shiz is valuable! You probably don’t need me to spell it out for you, but you need to get your contacts out of social and onto an email marketing platform. Not that we don’t trust Zucks (do we?)…but you OWN your list. It can’t vanish at the the whim of a big corp or the ill-will of a hacker. Gone are the spammy email blasts of the past. These are ‘your’ people, they want to see their name at the top of the page and relevant content.
According testing and analytics tool Litmus, the ROI for email marketing is $36 for every $1 those are some MAGIC numbers!
So much more than a newsletter – these days most email marketing platforms (I’m just gonna use EMP from here k?) are actually all-in-one marketing hubs that can build websites, create landing pages and sign up forms, segment, automate and target your clients and their different needs. You can track and analyze your subscribers and their habits and modify your campaigns accordingly. You may not need all these things right now – but having a good general understanding of what can be done is badass biz knowledge you need. I’ve used a variety of email platform providers. The most important thing is to find the one that’s the right fit for you and for all you commitment-phobes out there – many platforms will offer a free trial and even free migration from another provider, but it’s good to know what you’re looking for.
Things to consider:
Level of Creativity: do you want to make enchanting graphic-laden emails or will a drag and drop editor be sufficient?
User Friendliness: Are you going to be confident actually using this thing? What’s the customer service/availabilty like?
Connectivity with other platforms you might be using: If you’ve got a website or e-commerce site you want to make sure you got them all playing together nicely
Automation: I LOVE a good automation #noworkworkflow
But what level do you need? Something as simple as sending an automatic welcome email when someone subscribes to your list, or maybe an email reminder to customers who abandoned their digital shopping carts. Segmentation and funneling, upselling, cross-selling even tracking your ROI can all be automated depending on the sophistication of the platform.
The Techy Witch List:
For low to no budget, I LOVE Mailerlite.
Magic: Best for basics at a great price. Free for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails going out per month. (That means if you have 1,000 subscribers you can send 12 blasts per month!) You also have the option to grow with them with affordable paid plans. Their templates are great and customizable and they even have automations on the free plan!
Meh: light on complex automations, not a problem if you don’t need them!
Get a $20 credit for when you’re ready for a paid plan by using this link.
For mid-range budgets and BIG lists: Flodesk.
Magic: This one is a bit of a hidden gem. It’s still new and just recently came out of beta and the pricepoint is spellbinding! At $39 a month, you get UNLIMITED subscribers, emails, automations, and landing pages which is awesome if you plan to grow big. Almost all other platforms charge based on list size.
The aesthetics are sexy – templates and layout design capabilities are elegant and sophisticated. The automations are simple (think LBD basic good – not basic Bee bad) to use and I’m sure they will add more as they grow. This is a new company so the deliverability is still up in the air, but one of my clients uses it and their deliverability seems to be great!
Meh: Soooo right now, Flodesk doesn’t integrate with anything without using Zapier (you can use the free version for up to 5 zaps). And as much as I love Zapping – I’m crossing my fingers that this will change.
Get 50% off your first year by using this link.
Three Heavy Hitters: Convertkit, ActiveCampaign and Aweber.
Three of the most well-known platforms and comparable in complexity. All great options for established businesses and e-commerce stores.
Convertkit is a tried and true platform.
Magic: Straightforward but automation (sequences, tags, triggers), possibilities are great. Responsive customer support ConvertKit wins out as the best tool for content creators and bloggers, their plans start at a very budget friendly $9/mo for up to 300 subscribers and it increases from there.
Meh: The templates/ design capabilities aren’t as pretty as flodesk, or some others in my opinion.
Aweber
Magic -Really user friendly! STELLAR customer service (so responsive they actually altered something on the platform after a client suggestion!) available by chat, email and phone; intuitive menus; loads of guides and pop-up tips which are great when you’re first finding your way around. Easy drag and drop editor and even Pre-built campaigns. Everything you need email, automation, analytics, landing pages- and reliable with loads of integration (WordPress, Shopify, Paypal, Etsy etc) options.
Meh– Not Much Meh! Low cost for low subscriber counts BUT $$ can pretty quickly rack up, depending on your list numbers. Still, very comparable numbers to other top platforms.
AWeber Pricing: $19.99 per month for up to 500 subscribers with tiers/payment options up to $149.99 per month for up to 25,000 subscribers. Feb 24, 2022
Active Campaign – the big guns
Magic: Great price for the starter plan. Good option if you’re looking for a CRM-lite to incorporate into your email marketing platform. Nice visual workflows for your customer’s experience with your business through automations in a simple way. Flexible tags and custom fields make it easy to use contact behaviors to manage lists and subscribers.
Meh: Lacks a free plan. Steepish learning curve.
So there’s your MAGIC, your MEH and… Mailchimp.
Although it’s billed as ‘the world’s most popular email marketing platform’, I just really dislike Mailchimp…#sorrynotsorry. Unless you pay the big bucks you’re left without customer support, and the platform as a whole is incredibly unintuitive. I would just steer away from it in general, and pick one of the above platforms.
Want more support picking your platform and getting it all set up and ready to work with your website? Check out the The Techy Witch’s Mini-Magic Day to get you going!
Questions? Email us at cara@thetechywitch.com