How the Top Email Marketing Platforms Stack Up by Megan Totka. Available from <http://www.tgdaily.com/software/how-the-top-email-marketing-platforms-stack-up> [
Despite the glitz and glamour of social media, that old workhorse email still dominates the field in terms of conversions and sales.
Think of social media as priming the pump to get people engaged with your brand. Once they sign up for your email newsletter, they will have taken that next, very important step to clicking that “buy now” button.
Because of email’s continued importance in online marketing, you should never skimp when selecting email tools. Of course, you want to make sure that the email marketing solution you are considering is cost effective, but don’t let price alone determine your decision.
You want to select an email platform that is not only reliable, but robust. It should enable you to not only track responses to your emails, but target specific customers.
In the near future, email marketing solutions will be incorporating powerful innovations such as artificial intelligence into their software. If being on the cutting edge is important to you, consider how much the company is looking forward when assessing your options.
3 Top Email Marketing Solutions to Promote Your Business
Any of these options will provide a high-quality service with many features. Each of them has strengths and weaknesses, however.
1. Campaign Monitor
If there was one word used to describe Campaign Monitor, it would be “innovative.” The company simply doesn’t rely on gimmicks or hip branding to sell their service. Campaign Monitor is marketed as a serious business solution that focuses on bottom line functionality and customer service.
Marketing automation and personalized content is and will continue to be the state of marketing. Campaign Monitor is clearly setting itself up to lead the marketplace in these areas. The platform already sets itself apart with easy to use drag and drop email workflow creation interfaces and integration with business tools like Shopify and Salesforce for more personalized email messages.
Campaign Monitor is leading the pack again by purchasing the customer data platform, Tagga, which will enable advanced segmentation of data based on creating in-depth customer profiles. These profiles will be able to be segmented based on more advanced metrics such as frequency of engagement, behavior and inferred interests.
Campaign Monitor also leads the email automation market with award winning 24/7 customer support. They not only provide customer support to all international markets, but assign a customer success representative to help customer generate the best ROI possible from their email campaigns.
2. MailChimp
If a word could be used to describe MailChimp, it is “friendly.” From the logo of a smiling monkey, to the ease of use and basic functionality, MailChimp appeals to small businesses, freelancers and bloggers. MailChimp goes out of its way to be easy to use and comprehensible by non-technical people. The platform features pre-designed email templates and an easy to use drag and drop email editor.
MailChimp does integrate with third party business tools like Ecommerce platforms and CRM tools but their interface for utilizing the data from these tools is cumbersome and limited.
One of the latest features that MailChimp offers is an integration with Facebook and Instagram ads. Through this initiative, MailChimp allows customers to create Facebook and Instagram ads and use your email list in MailChimp to find more customers on these social media platforms.
3. Emma
So what about Emma? In trying to set itself apart as a higher-end solution, Emma is the designer handbag of the email marketing world. Pricey compared to its competitors, Emma promises to offer more than just email newsletters. In additional to creating email campaigns, Emma users can build landing pages to promote sales.
Where Emma shines is in its integration with fitness membership tools like MINDBODY. The platform automates fitness class and contact update reminders such as birthdays, holidays, reminders and more. With customers like gym powerhouse OrangeTheory, Emma has become the email marketing leaders for the fitness industry.
The Right Email Marketing Platform for the Future
As surprising as it may seem, some businesses are still getting by with the rudimentary email newsletter functionality offered by their shared web host. If this is you, it is time to bite the bullet and spend a little extra to get a fully-functional email marketing solution.
For a small business owner, spending more money on an email service than actual web hosting may seem odd, but consider this: As email campaigns become more and more sophisticated, the software needed to track and manage them must be up to snuff. And with the future being interactive emails, where users can order a product right from the email, these email marketing platforms will become more and more valuable..
Already, some small businesses – particularly those that are service-based – don’t even have websites and just use Facebook pages and social media to gain leads. In the future, more businesses may opt for email marketing and social media as their online presence, and not even bother with website development.
Either way, you need to stay ahead of the game with a powerful, robust email marketing solution.
How the Top Email Marketing Platforms Stack Up by Megan Totka. Available from <http://www.tgdaily.com/software/how-the-top-email-marketing-platforms-stack-up> [5th August 2017]