If you are a small business, irrespective of the industry, email marketing can help you build a stronger brand, foster better customer relationships, and reap profits. Email marketing has proven to be one of the most lucrative forms of marketing for businesses large and small. Given its very high potential return on investment of up to 4400%, it is considered to be an easy and highly effective way to attract and retain customers.
But, building an email list from scratch, designing and coding emails, and sending them out to your list can seem like a daunting task. This is where an email service provider and software help. It takes care of most of the processes of setting up and executing email campaigns, allowing you to focus on other important tasks.
There are several options available when choosing the right email service provider for your business. We have curated a list of the top five email service providers that work best for startups and small businesses. Read on to find out the unique features and pricing details of each and choose the most suitable one for your business as per your requirements.
Top Email Service Providers for Startups- At a Glance
| Email Service Provider (ESP) | Pricing per month | Free Version | Customer Support |
| MailChimp | Starting from $10 | Yes | Email/Phone/Live Chat |
| Sendinblue | Starting from $25 | Yes | Email/Phone/Live Chat |
| Constant Contact | Starting from $20 | No (30 days trial) | Phone/Live Chat |
| GetResponse | Starting from $15 | Yes | Email/Phone/Live Chat |
| AWeber | Starting from $16.15 | Yes | Email/Phone/Live Chat |
An ideal email service provider should simplify the process of creating highly engaging and converting email newsletters. It usually features a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to create highly personalized and targeted emails in just a few clicks. It should also take care of the list segmentation, email testing, performance tracking, and all major activities associated with running email campaigns. Most importantly, it should help you design and code emails that meet the compliance guidelines and keep your brand reputation protected by ensuring the emails do not end up in spam.
1. Mailchimp
Mailchimp – an easy-to-use email marketing software for beginners. It is being widely adopted by businesses across the world, mainly because of its free version with basic features and functionalities. It also offers various paid versions with advanced features based on the number of contacts.
Salient Features
- It offers a drag-and-drop email editor that allows you to build quality emails quickly.
- It offers options to build plain text emails, custom-coded Mailchimp HTML templates, or emails by simply choosing a suitable design from the Mailchimp HTML templates library.
- It also features an integrated image editor that allows you to seamlessly build visually appealing emails.
- Other key features include customer segmentation, dynamic content, personalization, etc.
- It also features 200+ integrations with social media channels and other applications such as WordPress, Shopify, Magento, etc.
2. Sendinblue
Sendinblue is well-known amongst businesses for its simple and intuitive drag-and-drop editor that allows even beginners without any email marketing experience to create highly engaging and beautiful emails. It allows you to import contacts, segment users, build transactional emails and create automated workflows for your emails.
Salient Features
- It offers a user-friendly email design tool that allows you to create rich and custom HTML-coded emails.
- The email editor is fully functional in a mobile browser.
- It allows you to set custom email automation rules based on your unique campaign and business needs.
- Other useful features include customer segmentation and hyper-personalization options.
3. Constant Contact
Like the previous tools, Constant Contact also offers a handy email builder which allows you to choose from a library of ready-to-use templates or build your emails from scratch. There is no free version available for use. However, it offers a free 30-day trial for its paid versions. You need to compare the pricing and choose the most suitable version based on your desired features and requirements.
Salient Features
- The design tool allows you to create mobile-responsive emails.
- It features a free image library and built-in social media sharing tools to create and share engaging emails.
- It also offers a tracking and reporting tool to keep a check on the email campaign performance.
- The advanced version comes with unique features such as drip campaigns, email automation, surveys and polls, A/B testing, etc.
4. GetResponse
GetResponse is a user-friendly tool and offers a smooth user experience throughout the entire process of building and executing email campaigns. Unlike other tools in the list, GetResponse lacks a built-in image editor. It comes with a free forever plan, which lets you send unlimited emails, choose from a library of pre-designed templates, and use their drag-and-drop editor.
Salient Features
- It offers an intuitive design tool that lets you design pixel-perfect emails that convert.
- It lets you access thousands of free stock images and an integrated Shutterstock gallery for adding images.
- It helps you set up autoresponders and automated email sequences to nurture your subscribers.
5. Selzy
Selzy is an easy-to-use email service provider that specifically targets small and medium businesses. It’s a great option for beginners in email marketing and it offers a generous free forever plan with a monthly limit of up to 1,000 contacts and 15,000 emails sent.
Salient features
- Drag-and-drop email editor with 100+ free templates and an option to edit in HTML for more tech-savvy users
- 24/7 support via chat or email even on the free plan
- Deliverability recommendations that will help you improve email content so it looks less spammy
- Built-in subscription forms you can make for your website with no need to use CSS or HTML
6. AWeber
AWeber – one of the oldest email service providers in the email marketing arena, it is widely used by small and medium businesses. It helps in simplifying a range of email marketing processes such as list management, segmentation, email testing, tracking, etc.
Salient Features
- It offers a range of ready-to-use HTML templates to help you build professional-looking emails.
- It allows you to schedule email messages by setting up automation for your campaign.
- The paid versions offer advanced features like AMP emails, RSS to email, subscriber tagging for segmentation, dynamic content, etc.
Wrapping Up
To leverage your email marketing efforts, it is important to choose the most suitable email service provider. So before you head straight to pay for a tool, go through its features and pricing plans in detail and select the most suitable one for your startup based on your campaign and business needs.
