What Does A Good Email Marketing Software Stand For?
A reputable email marketing software provider offers features that allow customers to run their campaigns effectively. It cuts out the hassle and improves efficiency without wasting money, time, or resources.
Customized Templates
The availability of free templates directly from email service providers can save you the trouble of building one from scratch. This is most useful if you know nothing about design or don’t want to spend extra by hiring a web designer. The sign of a good solution is an intuitive drag-and-drop builder with free templates that are responsive, professional, easy-to-customize, and optimized for varied devices.
Email List Management System
Maintaining a healthy list of addresses is crucial for keeping your deliverability rate high. It helps you build a list of high-quality leads that ultimately brings down costs and improves ROI. Search for features like user tags, custom fields, import, export, grouping, and deletion of duplicate/dead addresses.
Automation Tools
Marketing automation is the key to lead scoring, especially for creating targeted campaigns aimed at hundreds and thousands of people. Choose an email service provider (ESP) that offers pre-designed automation workflows, triggers, filters, sequences, or funnels, dynamic content, and lead nurturing, among other valuable features.
Segmentation Features
One of the best ways to divide different contacts is by categorizing them based on geographical location, age, gender, interest, purchase history, and other user attributes. This helps you develop highly-targeted messages that are relevant to different segments instead of building generic content.
Personalization Options
With 91% of consumers expecting brands to send personalized content, this functionality improves your messages’ relevance. Look for personalization tools that let you send the right content at the right moment to the right person. Features like send-time optimization, predicted demographics, merge tags, and advanced segmentation will help you do so.
Reporting And Performance Analysis
To measure the performance of your promotional messages, you need the software to collect and generate reports. Keep your eyes peeled for AI-powered analytics, custom reports, ROI analysis, heat maps, engagement reports, campaign comparison reports, and social media tracking, on top of open rates, CTRs, conversions, and bounces.
A/B Testing Tools
The split testing tool lets you test different parts of the message against variants to determine high performing options. This eliminates the need for you to do the guesswork on your own. Marketers should select services that offer A/B testing for the subject line, length, graphics, CTA, word order, layouts, tone, elements, and body of the message.
Social Media Integration
Check if your shortlisted ESP lets you integrate easily with social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. This valuable feature can help you attract more leads, schedule content, and track engagement, besides expanding the user database.
How Do We Rate Email Marketing Platforms?
We use a collection of parameters to rank various email service providers when creating in-depth email marketing reviews. It’s ultimately aimed at helping you find the best email marketing software for your business.
- Features: Must-have functions for a good ESP include email automation, spam filters, inbox previews, segmentation, contact management, mobile optimization, drip campaign delivery, lead capture, and personalized email message tools
- Pricing plans: From free email marketing packages to premium options and free trials, we look for software platforms that fit various needs of SMEs, startups, SaaS companies, and large enterprises. The aim is to find service providers that offer the complete set of tools so that you don’t have to spend extra for the bare minimum
- Ease of use: Whether you’re proficient at campaign delivery or just a beginner, finding an easy-to-navigate solution is crucial for our email marketing platform reviews
- Reporting and analytics: Our experts also compare the various reports offered by ESPs from basic analytics like open rates and CTRs to complex assessments like heat maps and ROI analysis
- Integrations available: To ensure seamless workability, integration with third-party apps is a must for platforms that we rank. That’s why our recommendations give weight to software solutions with a higher number of integrations than those with minimal choices
- Design and UX: Depending on the type of template building tools provided, such as drag-and-drop builder, rich text editor, and HTML builder, we rate platforms with maximum options to design promotional messages highly
- Customer service: Another critical parameter when assessing software programs is their support. You’ll find brands with multiple assistance options like live chat, email, ticket systems, and phone support with 24/7 availability recommended the most by our experts
Which Email Marketing Service Is Right For Me?
Email marketing software doesn’t work the same for everybody. When determining the platform that suits your needs, there are many variables to consider.
- If you aim to increase campaign conversions, then pick a software program that offers both analytics and A/B testing tool to assess different parts of your message on top of campaign results
- If you need a software solution for sending a high volume of messages, then select a program that allows for unlimited emails so that you don’t end up draining the bank before realizing returns
- If personalization is a key for your business, then it’s essential to choose a software platform with advanced tools for personalizing the subject line, graphics, layouts, body of the content, CTA, CTA buttons, and similar other elements
- If you want to automate messages without hassles, then seek a service provider that allows advanced automation tools with prebuilt workflows, triggers, funnels, and comparable alternatives
- If you’re working for a charitable or philanthropic organization, then it’s worth looking at platforms that offer pre-designed templates specifically for email marketing for nonprofits, so you don’t start from square one every time you want to create a mailer
Bottom line
Finding the right email service provider isn’t an easy task unless you’re working with experts. You need to look at the core features and compare the pros and cons and pricing before finalizing one. If you don’t do a thorough check, it can translate into a bad reputation for your brand and irreparable losses in the long-run.
Instead of burning the midnight oil with research and comparison reports, all you need is one look at the graph below to discover the best ESP for your business needs.