Evaluating An Email Marketing Program

Email Marketing is something everyone assigned with marketing related tasks has heard of. However, it’s not always simple to understand. Where do I begin? Which marketing platform do I chose to go with? The answer should always compliment the goals you have as a business. Whether you’re looking to drive more traffic to your website, get customers through your doors or continue to stay in front of customers who have engaged but have not converted, there’s an email marketing program that can help.

Beginner-friendly Email Marketing Platforms

Simple email marketing strategies can be successful through simple email marketing programs. If your goal is to collect email addresses over time and send out a monthly newsletter including industry news, product/service specials or company updates, an advanced platform may not be the place to start. Not to mention, a beginner-friendly email marketing platform means less time invested building campaigns and fewer costs. Let’s take a look at a few simple platforms and their offerings:

• Constant Contact – Designed with the beginner in mind, Constant Contact features an easy to navigate dashboard, unlimited emails, built-in and customizable templates, list-building tools, reports and more. With two plan options to choose from, Email and Email Plus, this platform starts at $20/month based on list size and comes with a free 60-day trial.
• VerticalResponse – Perhaps the ultimate beginner-friendly email marketing platform is VerticalResponse. Their generous free option features an easy to use email editor, customizable responsive templates, automated welcome emails, reporting and more. You can send up to 4,000 emails per month for up to 300 contacts, with three other plans including additional features starting at $11/month.
• MailChimp – Undoubtedly the most chosen email marketing platform available is MailChimp. They’re a hybrid between beginner-friendly and advanced email marketing capabilities with a free plan that offers automated welcome emails, sign up forms, built-in templates, reports and more. Their Forever Free plan allows up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails a month. When you’ve mastered consistent email campaigns and want to take the next step to reach your customers, their Growing Business and Pro Marketer plans include the additional features needed to reach that audience.

 Advanced Email Marketing Platforms

Email Marketing is all about getting in front of your audience on a regular basis. But what about staying in front of them on a regular basis? That’s where certain features like limitless email automation, user targeting and integrations come in to play. The ability to retarget specific contacts on your lists regardless of how they interact with your emails enables your business to stay in front of them with minimal long-term efforts. But in-depth email marketing strategies require email marketing platforms with in-depth capabilities. Here are a few platforms that are catered to the experienced email marketer:

• MailUp – Chosen by businesses wanting to get granular with their email and SMS marketing strategies, MailUp offers three paid-only plans catered to different audience sizes that start at $38/month. Not only do they offer pre-designed templates, landing pages, advanced segmentation and API & integrations, they also offer custom domains and full whitelabeling options.
• Emma – Chosen by small and large companies across the globe, such as the YMCA, Nationwide and Habitat for Humanity, Emma is a premiere email marketing platform catered to those with significant contact lists and email needs. Featuring a drag & drop email editor, automated workflows, list segmenting, built-in integrations, landing pages, inbox previewing and more, this email platform has everything needed to get as specific as possible within your email marketing campaigns. However, premium features come with a premium price – that price starting at $89/month.

Which Email Platform is Right for Me?

Mentioned above are just a handful of the e-mail marketing platforms available on the web. While some make it simple to start sending e-mails and others have costs, they all enable businesses to get in front of their customers on a consistent basis. Collecting and building an email list is step one. What follows after depends on how much time and money you have budgeted to invest into your program. Take our free online email marketing series classes to learn more about why email remains one of the most effective and powerful strategies in a marketer’s digital toolbox!

Email Marketing at Top Floor

With email marketing experts on staff at Top Floor, we’re able to answer any questions that you may have about how email marketing can benefit your business. From setup and training sessions to providing email marketing services that drive results, learn more about our services or contact us today to learn more about how we can get you started with email marketing.