Written By Henry Walden - Digital Marketing Expert Updated: 09/05/2021 |
What Is Elastic Email?
Originally built as an API service, Elastic Mail now provides a scalable platform for your marketing needs. An array of modern interfaces and features, which I’ll get into later, put emphasis on an easy to use interface to allow you to jump straight into it.
Elastic Email Pros & Cons
PROS | CONS |
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Pros
- Large sending capacity - For paid plans, there’s no limit on the volume of emails you send per month, which is great news for those with bulk emailing tendencies. With prices starting at $15, this potentially makes for a very favourable cost/email ratio
- 24/7 customer support - Elastic Email have a dedicated 24/7 team to help with any queries or issues you may have. This service is available to anybody, but they also sell “Premium” and “Priority” support plans for further expert help and account optimization
- Dedicated IPs - The ability to purchase your own personal sending IP for an extra $30/month is a great way to control your own sending reputation and deliverability rates
- Email validation - A fairly new addition to the toolbelt, this feature will sift through your contact list and remove unwanted emails like spambots, inactive users and repeat addresses. When the pricing is calculated from the size of your contact list, this makes for a valuable money-saving tool
Cons
- Shared IP reliability - Sharing an IP means you’re relying on the reputation of others as well as yourself, which can cause deliverability issues and blacklisted addresses at no fault of your own. Strict policies also mean if you have poor deliverability or are deemed to be spamming, you could be blocked, although there’s no clear way to gauge your reputation and avoid this
- Not much documentation - Unfortunately the platform doesn’t provide advanced documentation or testing, requiring you to already know how to deliver a solid campaign. If you don’t already know how to make a solid campaign with high deliverability, you could be in for a big learning curve
Who Is Elastic Email Recommended For?
If you have bulk emailing needs, the unlimited access accounts could be a suitable, cost-effective platform to accommodate this. The scalability within these accounts also allows you to pay by how much you grow your list.
The API access that comes with email marketing means you’re able to integrate this service with most things if you have the know-how, useful to those with prior subscriptions to other tools.
Who Is Elastic Email Not Recommended For?
The lack of initial documentation, tutorials and tips mean this might not be suited to entry-level customers. While there are additional help services you can pay for, they mostly rely on you being able to set yourself up.
The shared IPs require you to abide by certain sending rules, but don’t really give you the ability to test before sending or guide you on how to overcome this potential problem.
Elastic Email Pricing
Plan | Price | Subscribers | Features |
Ultimate | $15 | 5,000 | Email verification, A/X testing, email designer, forms, 7 day log, templates, scheduling |
$115 | 50,000 | ||
$210 | 100,000 | ||
$700 | 500,000 | ||
$1,200 | 1,000,000 |
Plan | Price | Subscribers | Features |
Ultimate Pro | $30 | 5,000 | Ultimate features + unlimited custom fields, email automation, extended logs, faster delivery, user management |
$170 | 50,000 | ||
$280 | 100,000 | ||
$860 | 500,000 | ||
$1450 | 1,000,000 |
The main difference between the two subscription plans on offer is the access to certain features - functions such as automation, multiple user management and more detailed logs are locked behind the Pro model.
If you require more than 1,000,000 contacts, you can contact Elastic Email directly for a custom price, while additional services like dedicated IPs and priority support are purchasable separate to base plans.
Cancellation / Refund Policies
You’re able to cancel your account by sending a quick email to customer support, but you won’t be granted any refunds for any time remaining if you decide to cancel your contract early.
Remember those stricter anti-spamming policies I talked about earlier? Well if you don’t abide by them, your account can be terminated (potentially without notice too). So make sure you read up on how to avoid that!
Elastic Email Features
Before I head into some of the features provided by Elastic Email, it’s worth mentioning again that some of these will be locked behind advanced subscriptions or subsidiary payments. I’ll let you know shortly if this is the case, though.
· Ease of Use
On initial setup, you’re presented with the option to transfer data for an easier migration process. There's a built-in live support chat that’s fairly responsive, and there’s also other priority support available to you if you need it and are willing to fork out a bit extra.
· Email/Form Templates
The email gallery has over 100 pre-made, editable templates to choose from with a wide variety of uses and eye-catching designs. The search function makes it easier to find what you need and a mobile preview ensures it looks great no matter the device. There are also over 25 form templates to choose from, although these look a bit samey.
· Email Designer
Once you’ve picked a foundation to work from with one of the pre-made templates, or if you’re going in fresh, the email creation tool makes it easy to manipulate your design to fit your needs. Drag-and-drop functionality, both for formatting and for adding in your own media, is easy to use and a massive time saver.
· Email Verification
Ensuring your contact list is clean, active and engaged is good for loads of reasons. It makes sure you’re not wasting resources sending unnecessarily, it improves your interaction rates, and it improves your reputation by removing undesirable addresses. Elastic Email does this for you automatically - what’s not to love about that?
· Activity Tracker
A clear view with statistics for delivery, open rates, bounce rates and complaints, which can be seen as an overall, or for each campaign, makes for easy viewing when assessing the effectiveness of your email marketing. A timeline view is useful for seeing when your emails are best received for future reference.
· Web Forms
One of the best ways to increase your ROI is to increase your contact list by capturing potential customers when they are already browsing your services. An online form creator allows you to make a customizable widget, which you can then easily integrate within your website or blog to maximize this potential.
· Landing Pages
“But what if I don’t have a website or blog?” I hear some of you cry. Well, Elastic Email has you covered there with their built-in landing page designer. Choose from over 25 customizable templates, then link the end product to your campaigns to grab all those prospects.
FEATURES SCORE: 3.5/5
Elastic Email Automation Features
The ability to automate email campaigns is essential for email marketing, as you can’t be behind a screen 24/7 to do everything yourself! Each price plan comes with different automation possibilities, so let’s have a look at each.
Ultimate - The basic package gives you the ability to automate emails in response to certain triggers like an open, or new signup. There’s also the option to conduct A/X testing on each new campaign to optimize your interactions.
Ultimate Pro - This gives you more advanced email marketing automation with unlimited sequencing. This allows you to automate multiple steps by various triggers for effective drip campaigns. A drag-and-drop interface with pre-made responses makes this process a doddle to set up.
Elastic Email Software Integration
Elastic Email has a highly integrative SMTP and API, allowing you to integrate other email marketing software to send through these servers. There’s extensive documentation detailing how to integrate API using all the major coding languages, although a lot of this might go over your head if you’re not a coder (I know it did for me).
Third-party integrations are also possible due to partnerships with WordPress, Zapier, InvoiceBerry and Piesync to name a few.
Elastic Email Alternative Brands
Sendx - Boasting some top-notch customer service and a range of useful features, this platform will have your campaigns up and running in no time. With access to 24/7 support and even a free migration service, this becomes accessible to anyone regardless of experience.
AWeber - For small businesses who want to start building marketing campaigns for their products or services, this platform gives you a generous amount of features to get going. With seamless integrations across different tools, you’re able to easily connect with the software you’re already using.
Benchmark Email - High delivery rates and engagement are stand-out features here due to targeting campaigns to contacts who have opted in. Some powerful and easy-to-use features for designing and building campaigns allow you to grow your business while maintaining your sending reputation.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a cost-effective email marketing platform without any limitations on sending, Elastic Email could be a serious contender for this position. If you’re already familiar with conducting email marketing campaigns and more advanced integrations, you’ll be over the moon with the integration capabilities available here.
