Best Email Marketing Software and Services for 2022

Most email marketing software providers charge a monthly fee based on the number of email contacts you have, or the number of emails you send, with a range of plans to choose from. Free options typically provide limited features and cap you at a certain number of contacts and/or monthly email sends, while some paid plans allow you to send out an unlimited number of emails each month. 

If you know or can estimate the number of emails your company will send each month or how many subscribers you expect to have, these numbers will dictate which pricing tier you should choose. Depending on your estimates and the features you want in your software, you can expect to pay anywhere from $9 to $400 per month for premium email marketing plans.

For businesses that only occasionally need an email marketing service, some providers offer per-email or pay-as-you-go pricing. This is a flexible option that lets you pay only for what you use, rather than for a monthly subscription with features that may go to waste. 

Most email marketing services offer a free version of their software or a free trial so you can test the software and see how it works for you. The free trials we found range from 14 to 60 days. We recommend trying as many free trials as you can during your search. Pay attention to how easy it is to design emails, any specific marketing automation features you want, and what other services the software can integrate with.

Here's a breakdown of the core features that email marketing solutions offer.

Email Creation Tool

Most services provide an intuitive drag-and-drop tool that allows you to customize your emails, or a library of customizable templates. Some providers have templates that show you how your email will look on multiple devices (such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones) to help you design a flexible and responsive email. 

Analytics

Many email marketing services offer analytics on your email open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, audience geolocation, conversion tracking, customer behavior trends and more. Some integrate with Google Analytics, while some provide their own analytics that present the info in easy-to-read charts and graphs. 

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is the ability of a service to send specific, targeted emails to customers when they complete a certain action. For example, if a visitor to your website signs up to receive emails from you, your marketing automation tool triggers a welcome email to go to that customer's inbox. Marketing automation can be an effective timesaver, and many email marketing services offer ways to make automated emails more personal, which leads to higher engagement and ROI. 

Segmentation

Segmentation is another helpful way to deliver more relevant messages to your audience by grouping them according to age, location, gender, industry, interests or other factors. Segmentation allows you to send different emails to different groups, rather than sending one mass email that may not be relevant to your entire customer base. 

Contact Management

A contact management tool helps you acquire, sort and manage email contacts; it also provides features like automatic deletion of dead or duplicate contacts, importing, exporting, grouping, and integrating with other management tools like a CRM or CMS. 

Social Media Integration

Most email marketing services integrate with social media platforms, allowing you to grow your contact list, schedule posts, and track your followers' engagement to determine what's popular. Integrating your social media with email marketing helps you make the most of multichannel marketing by providing more information about your customers as well as more opportunities for them to see messages from you.

Email marketing isn't necessary for every business. However, for some businesses, it is a good way to reach customers and improve your overall marketing strategy. Email is one of the most-used communication channels, which makes it a prime opportunity for businesses to get their message out.

It can also increase engagement for your business, both on your website and social media platforms, by encouraging customers to click links. By sending regular emails to your customers, such as thanking them for subscribing or sending a discount code, you can build rapport and trust, which in turn creates a higher likelihood of return customers.

Email marketing also provides an excellent opportunity for personalized marketing, which has become increasingly popular among consumers. Most email marketing services allow you to customize your emails based on personal details, location, customer behavior, location and more, which leads to a more fulfilling shopping experience for your customer.

Email marketing campaigns also have a positive environmental impact? In fact, according to an analysis by Sendinblue, one email produces 0.174 grams of carbon dioxide, which is better than a paper letter’s average of 19.5 grams of carbon dioxide, but it can add up if you’re sending out thousands of emails at a time.

If you're looking for a new email marketing solution, here is a step-by-step guide to help you choose the right one.

1. Define your budget, parameters and goals for your email campaigns.

As with any marketing strategy, you'll want to define the scope of your efforts before searching for a software solution. Figure out how much of your marketing budget you want to allocate to email marketing, as well as your plans for campaign frequency and the overall goals of your campaigns (brand awareness, sales, customer loyalty, etc.).

2. Identify the top providers.

Run a simple search engine query to identify the market leaders in the email marketing software category. The top contenders will be easy to spot by the number of times they appear on "best picks" lists and how high up they are in your search results.

3. Read reviews to narrow down your options.

Read customer reviews and reviews from sites like Business News Daily to learn about the pricing, features, limits, pros and cons, and customer support of each service you're considering. This will help you eliminate providers that are outside of your budget and don't offer the right mix of features and value for your needs.

4. Contact your top choices and/or sign up for free trials.

Many popular email marketing solutions offer free trials or fully free versions of their software. Create an account to try out each of your top contenders and play around with the templates, email builders, and other features. Consider ease of use, API and integration options, automation features, and the contact or send limits of your preferred plan. You may also wish to contact customer service to ask any additional questions and to test the level of support you may receive as an ongoing customer.

5. Decide on your email marketing software and begin running campaigns.

Once you've tried out your top software choices, commit to one and begin building your email list to start running campaigns. 

Email marketing software offers many advantages for businesses that want to develop strong, direct relationships with their customers.

• Personalized, automated customer engagements: The best email marketing software allows you to use customer data to create and deliver personalized campaigns that will resonate with each recipient. With automation tools, you can set up workflows to automatically send tailored emails to certain customers based on purchasing behaviors, special dates like birthdays and anniversaries, approaching contract milestones, and more.
  
  
• Reports and insights: Email marketing software offers a treasure trove of data to help you improve your marketing campaigns. You can see which subscribers opened, ignored, or deleted your emails, as well as which campaigns were opened multiple times and led to website click-throughs. With A/B testing features, you can send two versions of a campaign to see which one elicited the most engagement.
  
  
• Scalability: Most email marketing solutions offer multiple pricing tiers that allow you to scale up your contact lists and email sends as your business and subscriber base grow. You can reach and manage hundreds of thousands of contacts from one easy-to-use platform.
  
  
• Integrations with other marketing solutions: Email marketing platforms that are part of larger marketing software products, such as CRM solutions, allow you to manage your contacts and communications throughout the customer journey. Your whole team will have access to important customer data and insights when your email marketing software integrates with your other systems.

What is an email marketing strategy?

As with all marketing channels, no two email marketing strategies are the same. An email marketing strategy is designed to help you reach your marketing goals, whether that is improving brand recognition, increasing sales, or just keeping your customers up to date.

Once you identify your marketing goals, you can create a series of emails and workflows with tools such as automation, email templates, and list segmentation.

What is the difference between traditional email marketing messages and transactional messages?

Traditional email marketing is designed to communicate with many people. These emails can share information about your business, such as news, promotions and special events. You can send these to your entire subscriber list or only certain segments of your list.

Transactional emails are sent to individual customers after they perform certain actions. For example, when a customer makes an online purchase from a business, the confirmation email they receive is a transactional email.

Why is an effective email marketing strategy so important?

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your products and reach your customers. If executed correctly, email marketing campaigns can help you build trust with your customers, encourage users to visit your website, and ultimately result in more sales and satisfied customers.

How do I know if my email marketing campaigns are working?

The best email marketing services have extensive reporting and analytics. To determine if your email marketing campaigns are successful, check the recorded data once an email is sent. The reports should indicate how many people received your email, the click-through rate, bounces, etc.

How do email marketing services help you grow and maintain your contact lists?

Email marketing services offer several tools to help you obtain and manage email addresses from your customers. Most software options integrate with your current email address book to start your list. In addition, many provide the ability to embed signup forms on your website and social media accounts to grow your contact list.

Most of these software solutions also have automatic tools that keep your contact list up to date by removing inactive addresses and customers who unsubscribe from your emails.

What are automation tools, and how do they make the email marketing process easier?

Automation tools allow you to set up recurring emails, which automatically go to certain subscribers based on actions they take. For example, if you set up a welcome series, a contact will receive a welcome email once they subscribe to your list.

Is it really feasible for someone without marketing experience to master email marketing?

While you might not hit a home run with your first campaign, email marketing services provide everything you need to eventually be successful. The software offers a selection of design tools to help you create emails (including templates and sample emails), contact management solutions to help you manage and grow your distribution list, and analytics to determine if what you're doing is working.

What types of analytics do email marketing services provide?

One of the biggest reasons email marketing is so popular with businesses is that you can track its success. Services typically provide details such as who opened your email, who immediately deleted it, who forwarded the email to others, and who bought your product or service.

You can drill down into the data by looking at the days and times emails are being opened, and the types of customers – male, female, old, young, etc. – who engage with your emails most. All of this information helps you increase the success of future campaigns.

Can you use email marketing in conjunction with social media?

Yes, most email marketing services let you take advantage of the social media following you've built. Many providers let you connect your campaigns with your social networks, so your emails automatically post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms. In addition, the services let you collect email addresses for your contact list with prebuilt social media signup pages.

You can also get data on whether your email campaigns are resonating on social media by checking which messages are being liked and shared on Facebook or retweeted on Twitter.

Does email marketing software integrate with any programs I already use?

Yes, most email marketing services integrate with at least some popular business applications. The most common integrations are with Salesforce, WordPress, Shopify and Magento. These integrations save you time and resources by automatically transferring content between your email marketing platform and your other software. Some providers also let you tap into their application programming interface (API) to build your own custom integrations.

What if I have trouble with the service? What help is available?

Whether a problem occurs when you're designing an email, managing your contact list, or deciphering the analytics, most service providers offer customer support, either through live chat or a toll-free number. Rather than sending an email and waiting hours or days for an answer, you can reach the company and get help for the problems you're experiencing. Additionally, most providers have an extensive online knowledge base of user guides, videos, and whitepapers that explain the ins and outs of the service and how to use each feature.

What should I look for in an email marketing service provider?

Ensuring that the software actually delivers your email is one of the most critical aspects of any service. You want a service that delivers your emails to your customers' inboxes – not their spam folders. Segmentation and automation are also features that small businesses should look for.

How do I choose an email marketing software solution?

When deciding which email marketing software is right for you, draw up a list of features that are essential, features you would like but could live without, and features that you do not need or want. Then, narrow down your choices based on these lists. Determine what you want your email marketing service to do for you and what you hope to get out of it.

Over the last two years, remote work and increased e-commerce transactions have caused a sharp increase in the number of online messages sent, including emails. It's estimated that the daily number of emails sent and received in 2021 was roughly 319 billion, and that number is only projected to grow in 2022 as people continue to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, because of the increase in opened emails, companies will have to stay competitive with their marketing strategies to be heard through all the noise. Email marketing will become filled with user-generated content, including testimonials, reviews, and photos to try and reach like-minded customers. The more prospective customers see positivity from loyal customers, the more likely they’ll be to try your product or service.

With what's being called “the death of the third-party cookie,” email marketers will also be trying harder to create personal connections with customers through email. When they're no longer able to collect data, it's important they have a loyal customer base to work with referrals. We can look forward to seeing more specialized deals, recommendations and language in targeted emails.

More of these emails, though personalized, will be automated, which means customers may receive more emails than ever before. Companies will be trying to deliver their messages in the most concise ways possible to get their point across quickly and make that connection over other brands. To do this, email marketing experts predict companies will ditch templates in 2022 in favor of plain text and pared-down descriptions. Bite-sized content, including short videos, will be on the rise as companies try to compete for customers in the age of content overload.