There is no better way to communicate with consumers than via email. This tried-and-true marketing strategy is still one of the best methods to communicate your message in 2022. This is especially true if you use social media, direct mail, chat, display advertisements, SMS, online landing pages, and even the metaverse into conventional email marketing. Multichannel marketing efforts are commonplace in the current environment. However, the major focus of your direct marketing initiatives should still be email.
Never undervalue the impact and reach of email. There are still 4 billion daily email users, or around half of the world’s population, according to numbers obtained by HubSpot(Opens in a new window), one of our Editors’ Choice winners for email marketing solutions. It is thus not surprising that more small businesses—64 percent, or more than any other digital medium save social media and websites—use email to communicate with clients.
Having said that, email addresses alone are insufficient for effective email marketing. To write, deliver, monitor, and even combine data from email campaigns with other backend systems, you’ll need the right tools. Thankfully, there is a ton of assistance accessible. In this review, we examine some of the best email marketing platforms and evaluate their functionalities, usability, customer service, and other factors. But first, a little introduction.
What Are Tools for Email Marketing?
With the aid of email marketing software, you can organize your contact lists, create and send persuasive emails, and monitor if they were opened and read. Options vary from simpler HTML or JavaScript templates to more complicated text-based template solutions that marketers may easily create on their own. The good news is that getting started doesn’t cost much money and that it’s not a difficult task. The majority of the solutions in our review provide reasonably priced introductory packages, and several even include onboarding services for new clients.
There are several types of email marketing. For instance, some organizations may conclude that a value-added newsletter sent to a subscriber community behind a gate is their most successful marketing strategy. Others may wish to connect their emails directly to their sales and product engines so that they can send subscribers exclusive offers and discounts.
Different tools are needed for each strategy to create the source email and deliver it to the recipients. You may segment your subscribers using email marketing solutions based on their demographics and amount of involvement. Additionally, you should definitely combine your system with other back-end ones like the inventory management system, CRM system, and accounting system.
Smarter Email Marketing With AI
Many digital marketing initiatives, particularly email marketing, now heavily rely on artificial intelligence (AI). A/B testing and more informed audience segmentation are two examples of how AI enhances email marketing mechanics. Since it increases productivity straight away and enables you to make better strategic choices on how to create the best campaign for various clients, this may be of assistance to you very immediately.
Depending on how much data you can feed AI from your CRM and sales systems, it can also assist customize email content right down to the individual customer level. With the right data, AI can make alternative content selections, alter consumer experiences instantly, and even communicate with customers directly using a chatbot that uses natural language and AI. If any of that appeals to you, you should pay particular attention to how an email marketing provider has used AI and the services it provides.
The marketing automation features that most of these email suites provide to some extent are another area where AI might be useful. The finest applications for automation technologies are drip campaigns or lengthy email-based exchanges. However, monitoring the customer journey and the different touchpoints that clients experience from the first point of contact to the final transaction is crucial. Since AI can dig down to a specific consumer and analyze the precise data for the enormous customer quantities that top global merchants could acquire, it thrives in these situations.
What Should the Initial Investment Cost?
The good news is that email marketing often has cheap overhead costs and offers high profit margins for most firms. Most estimates place the usual return on investment (ROI) for email marketing at around $40 for every dollar invested. One of the best rates of return for any kind of digital marketing, in my opinion.
The pricing range of the email marketing competitors we analyze here is wide. In Zoho Campaigns, they start at about $3 per month for 500 emails sent each month, while in Salesforce Pardot, they go up to $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts.
Numerous programs for email marketing charge you depending on subscribers and provide an unlimited number of emails each month. Look for a provider that provides a free plan, a cheap plan for several hundred members, or even a pay-as-you-go plan if you have a tiny list. On the other hand, a lot of these businesses furthermore offer high-volume subscriptions with up to 100,000 contacts or more. In certain cases, a special arrangement must be made with a sales representative. If you’re ready to commit, seek for businesses that provide discounts for paying year as opposed to monthly. Some also provide money-back guarantees.
Starting shouldn’t be difficult. In general, you’ll be able to tell straight away whether you like a user interface (UI), and most of the competitors in our evaluation provide you a free trial so you can check them out before spending any money. Fortunately, the majority of these services have streamlined layouts and visuals that seem current. The intricate commercial software UIs of yesteryear are not these.
