Why choosing the right Email Marketing Automation Tool is important?
According to recent surveys, 60% of small business owners produce an ROI of 32% with Email Marketing, and 66% of online consumers buy through email. This means that it is worth putting effort into creating a mailing list and using an email marketing automation tool because it is very effective in improving your small business or freelance career.
Whether it’s to update your audience on the latest news in your industry or to promote your new product or service, email marketing is still a very effective strategy, which is why we recommend that you include it in your business plan!
- MailerLite: the best to start with small mailing lists
- ConvertKit: the best for e-commerce users
- GetResponse: the best all-in-one tool
- Drip: the best for small e-commerce and CRM
- Sendingblue: the best for building an engaged audience
- AWeber: the best for its functionality
- Moosend: perfect for small email newsletters
As mentioned above, a very interesting fact is that: “66% of online consumers have made a purchase as a result of an email”. So, whether you are starting a new mailing list from scratch, or looking for a new provider, this article will help you find the best email marketing service for your needs.
If you are a freelancer or aspiring freelancer and are motivated to grow your creative business, we have plenty of other content that may be right for you!
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What to take into account for a Good Email Marketing Tool Service?
When we are faced with the choice of which email marketing service to use for our marketing campaigns or newsletters, there are various aspects to consider. In this article, we list some of the most important aspects:
- Email Deliverability
- Usability (Ease to use)
- Automation
- Templates
- Drag-and-drop builder
If you take these features into account when choosing which email marketing automation tool to use, you will certainly be able to choose the tool that best suits the needs of your small business or freelance career. Let’s take a detailed look at the main features that an email marketing service must have in order to be right for you.
Email Deliverability
Email deliverability is key data: it indicates whether the email you have sent reaches the inbox of the person who’s on your mailing list. In the chart above, we show you how different newsletter services have different deliverability rates. In some cases, the differences are quite significant!
Email deliverability can make all the difference when it comes to launching a marketing campaign with email marketing. There are various strategies behind increasing deliverability rates:
- maintaining clean mailing lists
- have a good reputation as the sender
- delete inactive contacts
- improve copy structure
- improve the subject of the e-mail
No matter how hard you work to improve your email skills and the effectiveness of your email campaigns, you can always run into a problem: your emails disappear after being sent.
Usability (Ease to Use)
Whether your business is small or large, email management is very important and should be as easy as possible. For this reason, the email marketing service you choose as a provider must also be user-friendly.
If you have a freelance business or a small company, sending out a newsletter or series of emails to about 1,500 people a month, you will need less sophistication when it comes to automation and list management, and you will be able to handle some of the work manually.
But, as your mailing list grows, you will necessarily need to choose an email marketing software that will allow you to be effective and fast in managing it, through easy and intuitive use of the platform.
Automation
When it comes to email marketing, you may find yourself spending hours and hours setting up the various settings for a proper marketing campaign or newsletter. For this reason, it is essential that the email marketing service you choose has the correct automation features.
When an email marketing service is automated, you don’t have to worry about, for example, your contacts being in the right email funnel. Once you have set it up correctly, each contact will receive the email programmed to them.
By following this line of logic, you will find it much easier to choose the email marketing service that allows you to set up the automated email flow and then forget about it!
Templates
Email templates are another great feature to consider when choosing an email marketing service. Whatever your strategy, you want your emails to look good!
As mentioned above, you need to optimize the time you spend on your emails as much as possible, so you need an email marketing tool that will take the guesswork out of formatting and layout.
Many of the email marketing tools available offer you a wide choice of preset templates that are sure to suit your needs, many of which are already optimized and visually appealing. In addition, many of these email services offer specific templates for various needs, such as:
- Welcome email
- Email for lead magnet and ebook
- Newsletters and promotional emails
- E-commerce specific emails
- Emails dedicated to cart abandonment
- Promotions for new products
- Text emails for the sales funnel
Drag-and-drop Builder
Continuing on the subject of an easy-to-use platform with a good library of templates, a feature that has become essential is drag-and-drop, which allows you to edit and move graphic elements of your email directly in the browser in a simple and intuitive way.
All of the email marketing services listed in this article also offer this feature, which is sure to save you a lot of time, as well as give you the chance to create emails that look as good as they read! With drag-and-drop you can easily change the design and content of your email or newsletter with a single click:
- change fonts, edit and move texts with the mouse
- change the size of the images, move them within the template
- create eye-catching content with other graphic elements
- insert new blocks by simply selecting and dragging with the mouse
- insert your logo and other brand identity stuff
- move and reverse all elements
Having said all this, we are ready to see our list of 7 email marketing automation tools for freelancers and the small business!
MailerLite – The Best Tool if You Are Starting Out with Newsletters
MailerLite is ideal for small businesses and freelancers looking for affordable but also powerful email marketing software. It’s Free for up to 1000 subscribers and offers a lot of features, which are very interesting, also with the free plan.
This tool is a perfect solution for those who want a simple and straightforward email marketing service. If you don’t need too much automation and complications, but want an intuitive tool that lets you get straight to the point, this could be a good solution for your needs! In the image below, you can see the details of their packages, which are very affordable.
MailerLite Features
- User Friendly
- Mobile Friendly
- A lot of templates are available
- Landing Page Builder
- Customer Support 24/7
- Free lifetime plan
- Very cheap
- Cloud
- A/B Test
- Easy to Embed with Shopify and WordPress
What about Templates?
This complete cloud marketing tool offers a large number of templates already optimized for newsletters, but it is also possible to use a less fancy Rich Text format to avoid problems with deliverability when it comes to opening emails with various email clients or different devices.
Is MailerLite worth it?
It’s the best option for you if you are starting out. No platform gives you the best value for money as MailerLite does.
I suggest you try this email automation tool if you are interested in starting with something simple and intuitive, allowing you to use the ‘basic’ features of email marketing platforms, build your mailing list and send graphically appealing and effective emails and newsletters. Try MailerLite for free today.
ConvertKit – Ideal for Ecommerce Businesses
ConvertKit is a widely used email marketing automation platform and one of the most recommended by influencers and bloggers, also perfect for small businesses and freelancers.
The main focus of this tool is to nurture your audience, which is why it also has a lot of functionality in terms of creating landing pages and membership sites. It is also very interesting for small businesses in the world of e-commerce and for those interested in developing automated email funnels at affordable prices.
Like many other email marketing services, ConverKit also offers its packages based on the number of subscribers to the mailing list, you can see their plans in the image below.
ConvertKit Features
- User Friendly
- Automation
- Clean formatting emails
- 70 third-party direct integrations
- Landing Page Builder
- Ecommerce integrations
- Free trial plan
- Affordable prices
- Easy to Embed with WordPress
What about Templates?
This email marketing tool has no limits with templates. If you want a new template for each type of email, you can have it or create your own.
The templates are already optimized for tablets, laptops, and phones, and the email templates are already responsive and allow you to keep your content clean. One of ConvertKit’s strengths is clean formatting so that your email design experience is as simple and beautiful as possible.
Is ConvertKit worth it?
ConvertKit is a great tool for anyone who wants an intuitive platform with affordable prices and scalable packages.
This is one of the most recommended email marketing tools by content creators (bloggers, YouTubers, influencers), so it is definitely recommended by our Desircle team. Try ConvertKit for a 14-day free trial.
GetResponse – Definitely an All-in-one Email Marketing Platform
GetResponse is one of those email marketing tools that offer a wide range of features, making it a true all-in-one marketing software. This platform is very suitable for small businesses and freelancers who need to sell products and/or services with automation, segmentation, and other structures.
For example, one of its features is Autofunnel, with which you can create real email marketing funnels, and sell courses through webinars or landing pages, all very well organized and automated directly from GetResponse.
Here we take a closer look at the various prices offered by this tool (all these prices are based on a mailing list of 1,000 contacts, prices increase according to the contacts on your mailing list), as you can see in the image below.
GetResponse Features
- Mobile Friendly
- Audience Segmentation
- Advanced analytics
- Webinar software
- Autoresponders
- Automation
- Landing Page builders
- Autofunnel
- A lot of integrations
What about Templates?
In addition to all the features listed above, GetResponse is much more. In fact, it also offers a huge range of pre-set templates to make your work easier, smoother, and without having to think about optimization.
All plans come with 220 email templates, 180 landing page templates, 700 form templates, 40 auto-funnel templates, 150 integrations, and 24/7 live chat support. You can really be creative in designing your emails in a unique and original way!
Is GetResponse worth it?
Based on the functionality and pricing, i.e. the value for money of this email marketing automation tool, I can say that GetResponse is really worth it, as long as you are looking for an elaborate email marketing software to create sales funnels and segmentation for your mailing list. Try GetResponse for free today.
Drip – Perfect for Small Ecommerce and CRM
Drip is an excellent tool for those with an e-commerce business that focuses on selling products from small, independent shops. Drip boasts the same automation and segmentation tools for email marketing as the big e-commerce stores.
Pricing is based on the number of customers in your account. All of the plans below have different features depending on the price of the plan chosen. You can see details of Drip’s prices in the image below.
Drip Features
- CRM for e-commerce
- Track e-commerce metrics
- Purchase behavior metrics
- Target users who abandoned their carts
- Customer Support 24/7
- E-commerce integrations
- Segmentations & reports
What about Templates?
Drip offers a wide choice of pre-made visual workflows, i.e. it gives you the possibility to create your own email funnels using their ready-made workflows from a large list of templates. Unlike many other email marketing automation tools, Drip has this really well-organized library from which you can choose from various email series:
- Abandoned carts series
- Welcome series
- Post-first purchase series
- Post-repeat purchase series
- Win-back series
Is Drip worth it?
Drip is super recommended as mentioned for those who have a small business selling e-commerce products. With all its very attractive features, its outstanding 24/7 customer support, its preset workflows, and its definitely affordable prices, it makes this email marketing automation tool is one of the best.
Definitely, therefore, an excellent email marketing service for all those looking for the right compromise between visuals, efficiency, and price.
If, on the other hand, your need is to focus on the creation of newsletters and marketing automation purely for the purpose of nurturing your audience with content, I recommend that you opt for one of the other email marketing services in this article. Try Drip for free today.
Sendingblue – The best if You Want to Engage Your Audience
Sendingblue is an email marketing service ideal for those who want to grow their audience around their business. It has a perfect free plan for beginners, as it offers you unlimited contacts and up to 300 emails per day.
Like other tools, it is very focused on audience nurturing, with an emphasis on its automation services, email marketing campaigns, social network integration, drag-and-drop design, and much more.
Its plans are affordable and scalable as your mailing list grows, as you can see in the image below. Very interesting is their free plan, which also offers features such as chat, SMS marketing, and an extensive library of email templates.
Sendingblue Features
- User & Mobile Friendly
- Landing Pages builder
- Signup forms
- Facebook Ads
- Retargeted ads
- Free plan
- Affordable prices
- Integrations & Analytics
What about Templates?
As with the other email marketing services mentioned in this article, Sendingblue also offers a wide range of templates, both for your emails and for the creation of fantastic landing pages. In addition, Sendingblue offers you a fantastic drag-and-drop interface with which you can modify each template to your liking, as well as the possibility to start from a blank template.
Is Sendingblue worth it?
In my personal opinion, Sendingblue is a great email marketing service that gives you many opportunities. I recommend the Premium version, which is affordable and provides many features including Facebook and retargeted ads.
AWeber – The Best Email Marketing Automation Service
AWeber is one of the leading companies in the field of email marketing and newsletter services, both for its deliverability rate and for its prices that are attractive even to an audience of users with mailing lists as small as 500 contacts.
With AWeber, you can be sure that the content of your emails is already optimized to reach the largest possible number of subscribers to your mailing list, thanks to the fact that it is one of the email marketing automation tools with the highest deliverability rate on the market. Its prices are very affordable, as we see in detail in the image below.
Aweber Features
- Design with Canva integration
- Free stock images & Pre-built templates
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Auto Newsletter
- Reports, Analytics & Segmentation
- Tagging and Automated campaigns
- Third-party integrations
What about Templates?
As well as having a lot of functionality and a good drag-and-drop builder, AWeber also comes with an attractive selection of pre-built templates for many email types, with over 700+ mobile-responsive email templates.
In addition, for those who want to save time or don’t have a lot of design practice, the AWeber team also offers a bespoke template creation service for every need.
Is Aweber worth it?
AWeber is definitely one of the best email marketing automation services you can find on the market, with lots of features and packages that are scalable and also very competitive.
This tool is recommended both for those who already have a large mailing list and need to find a new provider, and for those who are new to email marketing and want to use a service they feel comfortable with. Try Aweber for a 14-days free trial today.
Moosend – The best email newsletter service provider
Moosend is an email marketing tool suitable for everyone who wants to start with newsletters and is looking for an easy-to-use newsletter service provider. Moosend offers a very user-friendly and also very intuitive interface too.
Definitely a good tool for beginners, because it has all the features you need to manage your email marketing strategies, such as its drag-and-drop builder, real-time analytics, and segmentation tool.
Moosend has a special focus on eCommerce, with its AI dedicated to online shops. Moosend can target your customers with potential products they might like and record the buying habits of other similar buyers.
Its prices, as with other email marketing service providers in this article, are very affordable and perfect for those who need even the most essential functionality, as we can see below.
Moosend Features
- Ecommerce AI
- Responsive themes
- Segmentation
- Drag-and-drop Builder
- Real-time analytics
- Free lifetime plan
- Third-party Integrations
- Mobile Friendly
What about Templates?
Unlike the other email marketing tools in this article, Moosend doesn’t exactly offer many templates, as it only has 40 themes to design your emails. However, each predefined theme offered is fully editable and visually attractive.
Is Moosend worth it?
Moosend is a service that handles email marketing really well, offers all the necessary functionalities and the price is affordable.
This is the reason why we like to call Moosend “the perfect newsletter service provider tool for newbies, bloggers, small business owners, and beginners in general”. Try Moosend for free today.
Conclusion:
Whether you are new to the world of email marketing or you have a large mailing list and the intention to change providers, you will certainly find in this article some insights to help you make the best decision on which email marketing service to choose for your business!
So, what is the best email marketing service for small business and freelancers? I’ll leave you with this little recap and a rundown of the best features of each of the tools we’ve seen in this article of 7 top email marketing tools for freelancers and small businesses:
- MailerLite: the best to start with small mailing lists
- ConvertKit: the best for e-commerce users
- GetResponse: the best all-in-one tool
- Drip: the best for small e-commerce and CRM
- Sendingblue: the best for building an engaged audience
- AWeber: the best for its functionality
- Moosend: perfect for small email newsletters
We’ve come to the end of this article, which I hope has been helpful! Stay up to date with the latest news from the world of design and marketing by reading our latest blog posts, and always discover all the new tools and resources by visiting our Desircle library.
