A Top Digital Marketer’s Revelations: 6 Must-Know Facts About the Best Email Marketing Software

Digital marketers have achieved remarkable results through a combination of well-designed actionable landing pages, educative and entertaining newsletters, and automated email marketing. Email marketing is another form of digital marketing that’s fast-gaining popularity, leading to a common phrase that money is on the list. That’s true and to advance the game, email and SMS marketing have been closely linked.

The projections from Statista show that the value of email marketing in 2027 will be $17.9 billion from the value in 2020 which was $7.5 billion. No wonder the existence of hacks and tactics in email marketing all over the internet. Before we take a look, have you build your email list? If not, start doing it!

Some email marketing software such as SendinBlue, GetResponse, and ActiveCampaign have already incorporated the concept of SMS marketing in their respective software. If there’s any form of marketing that you’re assured of your investment, it’s email marketing. Look here, I won’t promise you overnight after you purchase all the ‘best’ email marketing software, clickfunnels, content, and others. The ultimate focus is on the end results and if you quiet along the way, you’ll be part of statistics. Oh, among the failures and you don’t want to associate with such right?

It’s been established that the problem with most websites isn’t traffic, rather, it’s the inability to convert traffic into leads. The question is, how then do you convert traffic to potential leads? One of the conversion processes happens through making a follow-up through email. Now, that’s your ladder towards email marketing.

Your main concern should be, with the emergence of various software in the market, what should you consider when ordering services of email marketing providers? The devil is in the detail.

Factors to consider before purchasing email marketing software

Despite numerous factors put into consideration when one wants to decide on the best email marketing software to purchase, the following play pivotal roles.

#1 Size and Type of your Business

The software that a small-scale business requires for automation is likely to be different from what a scalable or large-scale enterprise needs. A startup or small-scale enterprise may not need to send over 1 million emails daily, why then waste resources to go for a plan you can’t utilize to the maximum? The point here is, it’s advisable to go for software or a plan that fits your business size. Even businesses in the same niche may have different requirements. The stage of your business will also determine your software choice. For example, you may choose to order Inbox Blueprint services considering the commendable learning curve you’ll have for a new team.

#2 Price of the Software

The purpose of your online business is to generate income, and no business owner wants to count losses. When deciding on the best email marketing software to purchase, you must consider the expenses vs the projected income. Sometimes, you will go for the cheapest software in the market if you’re a beginner. However, the features may be limited prompting you to soon upgrade. It’s advisable that beginners use the free or trial version to familiarize themselves with the software before upgrading. Your budget will always dictate the option you go for even as you consider the limitations. Do you know that you can begin your email campaign with Zoho at $3/month billed annually or go for Hubspot at $50/month?

#3 Refund Policy

Have you ever bought a product online only to realize that it doesn’t suit your goals? But then, when you want to return it to the vendor, they refuse! That’s disgusting, right? Maybe you could be knowing someone who has undergone such a situation and never wants to fall into the same trap. The same mentality should be when purchasing email marketing software. An email marketing software such as Hubspot will charge you $3,200 monthly for their enterprise plan. If you can’t be refunded your money if you’re unsatisfied with the services, you could count losses alone, although that’s not the case with HubSpot. I recommend that before you purchase any digital marketing software, check the refund policy.

#4 Payment Plans and Options

Do you know that some email marketing providers like Inbox BluePrint give you lifetime access to their resources? I mean, you won’t ever be worried about monthly or annual renewal after paying $1497! ($997 offer at the time of writing) There are other service providers like GetResponse and MailChimp where you’ll part with approximately $10/month for the basic plan. That seems cheaper, in comparison to the lifetime access mentioned here, right? The point is, if you have a long-term goal, it’s advisable to go for a lifetime access plan. Otherwise, if you intend to test the features or you’re a beginner, you can start where your budget allows.

#5 Email Deliverability

Three crucial steps when doing email marketing are ensuring that your emails are;

• Delivered
• Read
• Clicked/ forwarded

It’s one thing to send emails, it’s another thing for them to be delivered. Picture this, have you checked your mailbox and found some mails on the promotion list? What about the spam list? The dream of every email marketer is to have the emails delivered and links clicked. When the deliverability of mail is poor, you’d encounter high bouncing rates. For a small mail list, MailChimp scores high on deliverability. When doing it on a large scale where your mail list is 50,000+, ActiveCampaign has continued to outshine its competitors.

Three main determinants of email deliverability are;

• Sender reputation
• Recipient engagement
• Bouncing and complaint rates

Try to imagine, if 8% of your emails bounce and the mails aren’t invalid, won’t it make a difference if they were delivered? If out of the 8% only 2% would click your links and be converted, that would be a huge success. I believe that the deliverability is one of the most important factors that you need to consider when selecting your email marketing service provider.

#6 Features and Benefits

You’ve heard of A/B testing when conducting email marketing right? Some of the software may not give you the opportunity to conduct A/B testing, especially with the trial/free version. There are software that fully integrate your CRM products and offer a detailed report on your marketing efforts. The presence of 24/7 support may be essential for your business making you let go of software such as Salesforce Pardot which doesn’t offer exclusive support. The features such as the presence or absence of survey tool are also essential, specifically if you require such. It’s important that you not only consider the prices but also check the other features other than A/B testing include;

• Automation
• Segmentation
• Email funnel
• Triggering of emails
• Autoresponders
• Geotracking
• Scheduling
• Conditional content
• Multi-user editing
• Managed deliverability
• Website builder, landing page and pop-ups

Bottom Line

Whether you’re a beginner or expert email marketer, you can’t assume the factors mentioned here. The most important thing to consider is that you align your budget with your future expansion plans. Go for the software which satisfies your business needs. Chime in with a comment below to let us know your thoughts.