With email open rates over 20% and click-through-rates around 2% on average, email continues to beat social media and online ads when it comes to driving conversions and revenue.
However, you need the right email marketing platform if you want to reap the benefits. Selecting the best solution comes down to factors like available features, list segmentation capabilities, ease of use, automation functionality, and cost.
In this comprehensive guide, we compare and review the top 10 best email marketing platforms on the market in 2023 and 2024 so you can determine the right solution for your business. Let's start with why email marketing should still be a priority in your digital marketing mix, especially as other tactics like social media ads have emerged.
Why Email Marketing Still Matters
In an age of flashy online ads, influencer sponsorships, and viral social content - email can start to feel a bit antiquated. However, the data shows it still delivers results and drives ROI across industries. Here are three reasons email marketing still matters:
High Open and Conversion Rates
Consumers are inundated with ads competing for their attention across channels. Yet they expect and want email from brands they know and trust - making them more likely to open and click-through on emails.
- Benchmark data shows an average email open rate of 21.33% with some industries seeing even higher rates. Financial services and insurance brands for example have an average open rate topping 25%.
- Similarly, email drives conversions more than other online channels thanks in part to higher click-through-rates (CTR). The industry average hovers right around 2% - far better than the sub 1% CTR from most social ads.
Combining a 21% open rate with 2% CTR means roughly 1 out of 5 emails sent produces a click. Applying further segmentation and targeting can drive rates up even higher.
Automation and Integration Capabilities
Leading email platforms don't just help you design attractive campaigns. They enable you to set up triggered sequences based on user behaviors and schedule emails in advance.
For example, you can:
- Welcome new contacts
- Re-engage cold leads
- Retarget dormant contacts
- Reward loyalty program members
- Cross-sell related products
- Onboard subscribers with drip campaigns
- And more with minimal effort using email automation
This takes the burden off marketers while nurturing leads and driving repeat business. Email solutions also integrate with ecommerce platforms, CRMs, and marketing software - sharing key data to inform email targeting.
Now let's explore must-have features to evaluate when comparing email service providers. Understanding these core capabilities will help you choose the best platform to meet your unique business needs.
Key Features of Top Email Marketing Platforms
All top email marketing platforms share several core features like customizable templates, automation tools, and detailed analytics. But there can be vast differences beneath the surface - from interface and integrations to specific functionality.
Here are the key categories to look for when evaluating an enterprise or SMB-focused email solution:
Email Design & Templates
A good email service provider offers hundreds of professionally designed and mobile-optimized email templates to choose from out of the box.
Beyond access to templates, leading platforms provide intuitive drag-and-drop builders and WYSIWYG editors to create custom emails and landing pages tailored to your brand.
Must have email design features include:
- Customizable templates - Edit colors, fonts, content without coding
- Drag & drop builders - Build emails visually with moveable modules
- Mobile-responsive - Templates render flawlessly on all devices
- A/B testing - Test subject lines, content against each other
- Personalization - Dynamic tags to customize/segment each email
- Images & attachments - Support for embedded media
- Analytics - See opens, clicks, metrics for each email
Ideally the platform offers hundreds of templates optimized for all major industries - not just e-commerce - like healthcare, higher education, nonprofits, and more.
Let's explore the list management capabilities next - arguably the most important criteria for managing email contacts.
List Management & Segmentation
At its core, email marketing software aims to help compile, organize, and segment lists of subscribed contacts to target based on defined criteria and user profiles.
Robust list management functionality includes the ability to:
- Import/export contacts via CSV and integrate with CRMs
- Organize contacts with custom fields like location, gender, purchase history and more
- Track activity at individual and aggregate levels
- Score leads based on behaviors to identify hot prospects
- Filter and segment groups into separate lists based on profile data and attributes
- Feature one-click unsubscribes and spam complaint tracking
This rich profile data on each subscriber paired with intelligent list segmentation allows you to deliver personalized, relevant messaging driving higher conversions.
Now let’s dive into individual email provider overviews and see how the top 10 competitors compare across these evaluation criteria.
The 10 Best Email Marketing Platforms Compared
There are dozens of email marketing platforms to choose from in 2023 - ranging from enterprise-class solutions to budget picks ideal for small businesses.
In this section, we directly compare the 10 best email service providers across factors like cost, ease of use, capability set, and ideal customer size.
1. Mailchimp
Over 15 million users trust Mailchimp to help grow their business through email marketing automation and ad campaigns. It’s considered one of the easiest platforms to get started with - part of its widespread adoption.
However, it offers enterprise-grade functionality beyond its friendly interface - making it a top pick for established brands too. Read more....
2. ConvertKit
ConvertKit markets itself as the best email service provider for bloggers, creators, and digital entrepreneurs. It tailors features to help content creators grow their fan base and run a subscription-based business. Read more...
3. Brevo
Founded as a cost-effective Mailchimp alternative, Brevo powers customer communications for over 300,000 businesses worldwide.
With a free plan covering 300 contacts, it remains one of the most budget-friendly tools for getting started with basic email, SMS, and automation.
Since 1995, Constant Contact has made it easy for small businesses and nonprofits to grow using email marketing automation. It strives to provide an accessible tool for beginners focused on simplicity and guidance versus advanced configuration.
Some view Constant Contact as dated - but it still powers over 500,000 organizations who value the straightforward user experience.
5. GetResponse
GetResponse markets itself as the all-in-one marketing automation solution for small and midsize businesses. Beyond email, it provides landing pages, webinars, CRM, analytics, and extensive integration capabilities.
This breadth comes at a cost however - GetResponse runs higher than competitors. But packs enterprise-grade power.
6. AWeber
In business since 1998, AWeber pioneered many email marketing innovations like segmentation, deliverability monitoring, and abuse complaint tracking.
While sometimes labeled “old school” compared to trendier rivals - 600,000+ users stick around thanks to reliability, deliverability, and easy integrations.
Trusted by over 73,000 customers, Benchmark Email pitches itself as an easy-to-use email marketing solution for small to midsize businesses.
It focuses on core functionality like customizable templates, automation, and basic analytics in a streamlined intuitive interface.
Claiming 120,000+ customers in 170 countries, ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, sales CRM, marketing automation, and messaging in one integrated platform.
This consolidated view allows SMBs to manage contacts, tasks, deals in one place while designing automated campaigns with 500+ templates.
9. Drip
Drip differentiates itself as the all-in-one marketing automation toolkit purpose-built for ecommerce brands. Founded by ecommerce insiders, it tailors every feature to help merchants sell more.
This focused, shopper-centric design delivers up to 20%+ lifts across key revenue and retention benchmarks by paying users.
10. Klaviyo
Y Combinator alumni Klaviyo takes a data and automation-centric approach to email marketing - building in powerful personalization, analytics, and segmentation from the ground up.
This innovation continues making Klaviyo one of the fastest growing email platforms with 80,000+ customers. Brands switching from competitors often see 20%, 50%, or even 100%+ increases in email revenue.
Conclusion & Recommendations
When synthesizing the pros, cons, pricing, and ideal use cases across the 10 highest rated email platforms - a few clear recommendations emerge based on user sophistication.
1. Mailchimp
Mailchimp remains the gold standard for the vast majority of small business owners thanks to generous free tiers, outstanding templates, and an easy learning curve for beginners.
But it also packs the enterprise-grade capability to handle nine figure email volume for the world's most sophisticated marketers through automation, CRM integrations, and customer journey orchestration.
You simply can't outgrow Mailchimp unless you need specialized functionality like Klaviyo's predictive models or Drip's tight ecommerce focus.
2. ConvertKit
For bloggers, content creators, coaches, educators, and other individuals monetizing through subscriptions and digital products - ConvertKit provides ideal functionality.
It simplifies email-driven membership site management, course promotion, landing page design, and marketing automation for creators establishing their brand and funnel.
While ConvertKit doesn't match Mailchimp or Klaviyo feature-for-feature yet - it caters directly to the creator community's needs.
3. Klaviyo
For mid-sized and enterprise ecommerce brands selling in the $10M+ range - Klaviyo should rank at the top of email marketing platforms.
It combines sophisticated enterprise-grade analytics, segmentation, personalization and automation with an SMB-friendly pricing model.
Brands routinely see exceptional lifts in revenue and retention when graduating from providers like Mailchimp to Klaviyo. The further upmarket, the stronger the ROI.
While overkill for under $1M merchants - Klaviyo delivers tremendous upside for established brands through customization capability and its relentless focus on commercial outcomes.
Final Thoughts
The best email marketing platform ultimately depends on your business's unique needs, volumes, workflows, team skills, and future ambitions.
Generally though - it's hard to go wrong starting with Mailchimp for simplicity, ConvertKit for creator monetization, and Klaviyo for mid-market ecommerce sales velocity.
From personalization capability to deliverability rates and tracking - significant variances emerge across top providers in all aspects. Shop carefully aligning strengths to your resources and objectives.
And implement thoughtfully - transitions should improve commercial metrics measurably based on your strategic self-assessment. Outcomes determine fit.
Now over to you - which provider seems to best align with your business from this analysis? And what functionality seems most critical to your priorities and audience? Would love to hear your thoughts and questions in comments below!
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