MailChimp is great and is actually our recommended email marketing software for small businesses. But when you’re ready to take your email marketing to the next level, you will find just some things that MailChimp is not equipped to perform. You will have to decide on a more feature rich alternative if you would like to boost your email marketing efforts. In this article we will cover 6 MailChimp options, so that you can find the one which is ideal for your unique requirements.
Best MailChimp Alternatives Summary Table
| Finest For | Benefits of Use | Monthly Cost (1,000 subscribers) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Contact | Beginners | Easy | $20 (500 subscribers) |
| GetResponse | Landing page creation | Easy | $15 |
| ActiveCampaign | Online marketers | Intermediate | $17 |
| Klaviyo | E-commerce shops | Intermediate | $50 |
| Infusionsoft | Salespeople | Difficult | $199 (2,500 readers ) |
| HubSpot | Content entrepreneurs | Hard | $300 |
There are dozens and dozens of email marketing applications available, so when thinking about the best MailChimp options for small business owners, we’ve looked for options that offer a feature or functionality that MailChimp either does not have at all, or does not excel at.
These types of features include:
- Marketing automation — lets you send emails based on a contributor’s activities. For instance, you can set it up so that an email is automatically sent when a user first signs up to your newsletter, when they have not opened an email for any number of times, or any time they click a particular link on your email.
- Advanced tracking and reporting — While most applications offers open and click through rates, a few get more detailed on the reporting and tracking. Including advice about what time and in what place a person opened an email, month over month interaction prices, and comprehensive info on which links are receiving the most clicks.
- E-commerce solutions — That is important for ecommerce stores that sell multiple products. It is possible to put it up so that mails are sent when an individual abandons their cart, send targeted emails according to a client’s previous purchasing history, and send emails based on how much the user has spent with you.
- CRM capacities — perfect for salespeople because it retains all of the info on your clients in 1 place. This helps when you are attempting to convert customers since you understand exactly when and how frequently they have socialized with your company.
Each one the email advertising applications within this guide are fantastic, but the ideal fit for you depends on your type of business, just how much you are willing to pay, and what functionality is the most important to you. Within this guide we will proceed through each and point out that the software is ideal for, and highlight the differentiating features.
Best Email Marketing Software for Beginners: Continuous Contact
Who’s it Finest?
Individuals trying out email marketing for the very first time.
Constant Contact is super simple to use, and therefore recommended for individuals just starting out with email marketing. Although the price is a bit steep for the features you get, the simplicity is fantastic for producing emails and interpreting the tracking and reporting. Contrary to MailChimp, there’s also customer service available via phone or chat daily Monday-Friday.
Replies & Characteristics
| Number of Clients | Fundamental Plan | Pro Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 500 subscribers | $20/ month | $45/ month |
| 2,500 subscribers | $45/ month | $70/ month |
| 5,000 subscribers | $65/ month | $95/ month |
Together with the basic plan, you get the following attributes:
- Send unlimited emails
- Dozens of customizable templates
- Tracking & reporting
- 1 person
- Live customer support
Together with the pro strategy you get everything in the basic plan also:
- 3 users
- Email automation
- Surveys and surveys
- Event marketing
What Does it Allow You To Do
Send an infinite quantity of nice-looking, predesigned mails to your subscribers. Together with the expert plan, you’ll also have the ability to send automatic emails and customized surveys.
Read our Constant Contact review to find out what their users think of the company.
Email templates from Constant Contact
Best Email Marketing Software for Landing Page Creation: GetReponse
Who’s it Finest?
Small to medium sized companies that want a simple way to create targeted landing pages depending on the email being sent to subscribers.
Replies & Features
| Number of Clients | Basic Strategy | Pro Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 readers | $15/ month | N/A |
| 2,500 subscribers | $25/ month | N/A |
| 5,000 subscribers | $45/ month | $49 /month |
Together with the basic program, you get the following attributes:
- Infinite emails
- Marketing automation
- 1 landing page
- 1 user
With the pro plan, you get all of the features from the basic plan also:
- Webinars
- Unlimited landing pages
- Marketing automation (innovative )
- 3 users
What Does it Allow You To Do?
Create mobile responsive landing pages by selecting from hundreds of templates. This helps boost email conversions as you can send people to a page with a single special call to action that is in line with the email you sent. GetResponse also allows you to create and promote webinars to maintain readers engaged (expert plan).
Landing page templates from GetResponse
Best Email Marketing Software for Online Marketers: ActiveCampaign
Who is it Best For?
Online marketers who have a ton of articles they want to send to certain subscribers based on how they are interacting with the emails.
Pricing & Characteristics
| # of Clients | Basic Plan | Pro Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 readers | $17/ month | $49/ month |
| 2,500 contributors | $29/ month | $73/ month |
| 5,000 subscribers | $45/ month | $113/ month |
Features of this Simple plan include:
- Infinite emails
- Marketing automation
- Chat and email support
- Up to 3 customers
With the expert plan, you get All the features from the basic plan plus:
- CRM with sales automation
- Contact and lead scoring
- As much as 25 customers
What Does it Let You Do?
Advanced marketing automation which lets you push out content strategically to be sure you are targeting the ideal people at the right time.
As an example, let’s say you would like to re-engage subscribers who haven’t opened an email in 30 days, and when they still don’t participate, then you want to unsubscribe them in your listing. This might look like the flowchart below. As you can see, it’s very simple to comprehend the flow and easy to add unique conditions.
Instance of an automatic workflow
We use ActiveCampaign at Fit Small Business and recommend it to bloggers, software as a service (SAAS) businesses, and any other online company with a lot of educational content.
Best Email Marketing Software for E-Commerce Solutions: Klaviyo
Who is it Best For?
Stores that sell multiple online products.
Klaviyo was assembled with e-commerce in your mind so it’s templates include abandoned cart emails, win-back mails and more.
Replies & Characteristics
| # of Subscribers | Basic Strategy |
|---|---|
| 1,000 subscribers | $50/ month |
| 2,500 subscribers | $125/ month |
| 5,000 contributors | $200/ month |
Characteristics of the Simple plan include:
- Infinite emails
- Marketing automation
- Results based reporting
- Data from multiple systems (POS software, ecommerce programs, helpdesk software, etc.) all in one place
- Endless users
What Does it Allow You To Do
Klaviyo says it best on their own website:
“With Klaviyo, you can easily segment your audience and goal triggered campaigns based on things that actually happened rather than guesswork. Target based on what they really bought, what they actually looked at on your site, where they really interact with your mails, how much they really spend so you can send emails they actually need to receive.”
Klaviyo integrates with heaps of applications
Best Email Marketing Software for CRM Capabilities: Infusionsoft
Who’s it Best For?
Salespeople and ecommerce businesses with a lot of information on clients they need stored all in 1 place.
Pricing & Characteristics
| Basic | Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199/ month
+$999 (one-time onboarding fee) |
$379/ month
+$999 (one-time onboarding fee) |
| Contacts | 2500 | 10000 |
| Emails monthly | 12500 | 50000 |
| Clients | 3 | 5 |
Features of the Simple plan include:
- CRM to maintain leads and contacts arranged
- Marketing automation
- 12,500 emails
- 3 users
The complete plan includes everything in basic plus:
- Sales automation
- E-commerce
- 50,000 emails
- 5 customers
What Does it Let You Do
Infusionsoft is a blend of an online store, client relationship management (CRM) software, and email advertising. That makes it quite a powerful all in 1 email marketing solution, where you will have a great deal of data about every subscriber in 1 system.
With this capability comes a steep learning curve, which is why you will have to purchase a $999 package that will help you get started.
The CRM helps to manage leads
Best Email Marketing Software for Content Management: HubSpot
Who’s it Finest?
Advanced content marketers who are well educated and committed to email marketing so as to take advantage of the powerful capabilities.
Pricing & Characteristics
| Fundamental | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $200/ month
+$600 (one-time onboarding fee) |
$800/ month
+$3,000 (one-time onboarding fee) |
| Alerts | 100 +100/mo each 1k additional |
1,000 +50/mo each 1k extra |
| Emails per month | 10x Contact | 10x Contact |
| Clients | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Features of basic strategy:
- Content Creation Tools
- Content Safety
- Social Media Suite
- Advertising Analytics Dashboards
Together with the pro strategy you get everything from the basic plan also:
- Marketing Automation
- Goal Based Nurturing
- Attribution Reporting
- A/B Testing
What Does it Let You Do
It unites your content management system with email marketing and sales to create personas for all your subscribers. Then you are able to target different content at different times through different devices depending on what you know about that individual.
Create landing pages to convert prospects
Wrap Up
Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool for small companies, and it’s essential to choose the software that suits your specific requirements. Summarize exactly what you need out of your email marketing applications, then test out some of the very best choices so that you can get a sense of which one is best for you.
As soon as you have picked the solution for you, it is time to begin sending out emails! View our email marketing best practices to assist you get started.
