The Best Email Marketing Software for Small Business: 2024 Edition

If you run a small business and are ready to grow, email marketing should be at the top of your list. It’s a great medium for outreach, plus it lets you stay in regular touch with your customers. 

To do email right, however, you need a dependable email platform — but which is the best email marketing software for small businesses?

We shortlisted our top recommendations along with details on their features below. But first, let us explain why setting up your email marketing operation should take precedence over other marketing channels.

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Why Small Businesses Should Take Email Marketing Seriously

If you’ve been looking at social media, PPC (Pay-Per-Click), or content marketing to attract leads, you need to reconsider. There’s a far more budget-friendly and powerful marketing medium you may have been ignoring: email marketing.

It is a powerful, versatile tool that offers numerous benefits for small businesses. Its cost-effectiveness, high ROI, and ability to build lasting customer relationships make it an essential part of any small business’s marketing plan.

And these aren’t just tall claims; the data backs it up, too.

Email marketing can do wonders for your business — but what should you look for in an email platform?

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10 ESP Features Small Businesses Need

When selecting an Email Service Provider (ESP), you need to consider your goals first.

In most cases, a standard set of email platform features will do; in other scenarios, you may need an ESP with a specific focus.

Regardless, these 10 factors are what you should pay attention to when shortlisting an email platform.

1. Deliverability

Partnering with an ESP that has high deliverability rates maximizes the chances of your emails reaching the inbox; that’s why it’s the number 1 factor to consider when choosing an ESP. 

Also, check what measures the platform takes to help you avoid spam filters. A good ESP would also guide you with IP or domain warmup. A gradual increase in email volume to establish a solid sender reputation is critical if you plan to send large volumes of emails.

2. Ease of Use

Look for a platform with a user-friendly dashboard that’s easy to navigate. This minimizes the learning curve and allows you to get started quickly. A simple email editor makes it easy to craft emails without needing technical skills.

3. Automation

Also verify if the ESP can send triggered emails based on user actions like sign-ups, purchases, or browsing behavior.

4. Templates

If you’re just getting started with email marketing, it’s helpful to have access to ready-made templates; but you could always create your own campaign templates. Access to email designs that fit different needs (newsletters, promotional emails, transactional emails) can be a game-changer. 

Ensure the templates are responsive and look good on both desktop and mobile devices.

5. Segmentation

The success of your email campaigns depends heavily on the email list segmentation capabilities of your ESP. Check if the platform lets you segment email lists based on criteria such as location, purchase history, engagement level, and demographics.

6. Personalization

Email personalization is another email marketing feature that can help you grab attention in an inbox. If the ESP lets you insert dynamic content like the recipient’s name or personalized recommendations, it’s a plus.

You can also use email personalization to drive strategy by tailoring content and offers for specific customers or segments.

7. Analytics

A poorly planned dashboard can hide flaws in your email marketing strategy. A good analytics dashboard will show you critical information and hide unnecessary details. 

Real-time tracking is another win; it lets you monitor the performance of your email campaigns to make prompt adjustments.

8. Integration

Integrations eliminate the need to manually enter data between your ESP and other marketing tools. For instance, syncing customer data from your CRM with your ESP ensures your email lists are up-to-date and reduces errors.

It also allows you to manage all your marketing data in one place. This eliminates the need to switch between different platforms and gives you a holistic view of your customer interactions. An email platform with poor third-party tool support will mean your data stays siloed.

For businesses that need custom integrations or advanced features, API access can be crucial — so verify if the platform supports API features, too.

9. Affordability

Paying a lot more doesn’t necessarily mean assured success. Create a budget for email marketing and find an ESP that fits your plans perfectly.

Look for plans that can scale with your business growth, offering more features and higher send limits as needed. 

10. Customer Support

Hopefully, you’ll never need customer support. But the day you need it, the quality of support you receive will either make you a loyal customer or immediately consider competitors. 

The email industry is rife with stories of underwhelming support from popular ESPs, so do your due diligence when researching customer service levels.

Check whether customer support is available around the clock via multiple channels (chat, email, phone) and what the average response time is. You can check sites like G2 or GetApp for credible customer reviews.

When researching ESPs, check out the tutorials, guides, and FAQs posted by the ESP to help you troubleshoot common issues.

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Small Businesses Can Consider These 5 ESPs

In the sections below, we highlight the special features of each email platform.

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Campaign Refinery: The Email Deliverability Champion

The biggest benefit of signing up with Campaign Refinery is that we have the best deliverability rates in the industry. Consistent inbox placement is one of the hardest things for an ESP to achieve, but we’ve dedicated years to perfecting our sending practices and technology. 

At Campaign Refinery, we focused on what the best email marketers would want in an email platform. Along with top-tier deliverability, you also get robust analytics, powerful segmentation and personalization tools, a simple email editor, and engagement features such as Gamification and Evergreen Flash Sales.

Our commitment is towards helping email marketers of all sizes land consistently in the inbox. Let’s check out how our customers feel about partnering with Campaign Refinery.

Campaign Refinery: Testimonials

Our clients have achieved ambitious goals and continue to flourish by using our services.

Here is what they have to say about our platform:

Below are the features that help our clients run campaigns with ease.

Campaign Refinery: Features

Campaign Refinery has everything a small business would need to run email campaigns:

Feature	Function
Email campaigns	Create and send all types of email campaigns.
Campaign library	A collection of pre-built campaigns that you can click, edit, and deploy.
Automation	Automate your email campaigns with custom workflows and triggers.
Segmentation	Powerful tools to segment your email list, such as audience groups.
Personalization	Tailor messages to individual recipients.
Automated list-cleaner	A tool that gets rid of all invalid email addresses on your list and protects your sender reputation.
Tagging	Organize your audience with custom fields and tags for targeted campaigns.
Third-party tools	Seamlessly integrate with various third-party apps and services.
Gamification	Incorporate game mechanics into your email marketing campaigns to boost engagement.
Evergreen Flash Sales	A marketing tactic that uses scarcity and urgency to convert leads into customers.
Analytics	Track campaign performance with detailed analytics and reports.

Campaign Refinery also has numerous resources to achieve more from your email campaigns. 

If you’d like to know what elite email performance looks like, apply to become a Campaign Refinery user right now.

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Mailchimp: Simple and Intuitive Email Platform

Mailchimp has carved out an image for itself as an ideal email platform for small businesses that are just starting out. But how valid is this claim?

As an all-in-one marketing platform, Mailchimp helps businesses of all sizes manage and optimize their marketing efforts. With its user-friendly interface, Mailchimp enables users to create, execute, and analyze email campaigns. You can also run social media campaigns parallelly and create landing pages or websites with Mailchimp.

You also get access to a marketing CRM. The platform offers a freemium plan that allows small businesses to access essential features without incurring costs. But the limits are restrictive, and you’ll find yourself browsing through the paid plans soon enough.

Another option would be to check out its top alternatives.

Mailchimp: Features

You can set up a robust email marketing setup with these Mailchimp features:

Feature	What does it do?
Email marketing	Create and send email campaigns.
CRM	Manage customer relationships with detailed profiles and interaction histories.
Automation	Set up automated workflows for welcome emails, abandoned carts, and customer follow-ups.
Analytics	Track campaign performance with detailed reports, insights, and A/B testing capabilities.
Integrations	Connect with various apps and platforms, including e-commerce stores, CRMs, and social media.
Web page builder	Design and publish landing pages/websites to capture leads or promote products.
Social media marketing	Schedule and publish posts, plus run ads on social media platforms directly.
A/B testing	Test different versions of emails to determine which performs best.
Retargeting ads	Target website visitors with ads to bring them back to your site.
Webhooks	Trigger automated workflows based on real-time events and updates.

Mailchimp’s main sales pitch is its ease of use; this attracts small businesses that are intimidated by email marketing. But we recommend you examine the paid plans closely to ensure your budgets don’t go through the roof when you scale up.

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HubSpot: All-In-One Marketing and Sales Platform

HubSpot focuses heavily on large-scale businesses and enterprise-level solutions, but it is a good option for small businesses as well.

Hubspot has a wide range of solutions for various business processes; it helps manage inbound marketing, sales, and customer service tasks. Like Mailchimp, it features a CRM and also helps with marketing automation, lead generation, and analytics.

Each of these hubs is priced independently, but HubSpot lets you create bundles at a discount.

HubSpot: Features

Curious to know what you get in the Marketing Hub? Here’s a list:

Feature	Functionality
Email marketing	Create, customize, and send bulk emails.
HubSpot Workflows	Automate tasks like email campaigns, list segmentation, lead routing, and notifications.
Social media management	Plan, schedule, and publish content across multiple social media platforms.
CRM	A free CRM tool to help manage customer data.
Segmentation	Group contacts based on specific criteria, enhancing targeted marketing efforts.
Ads Optimization	Optimize ad campaigns by targeting valuable leads, improving return on ad spend (ROAS).
A/B testing	Test different versions of your emails, landing pages, web pages, forms, and ads.
Landing page + form builder	Create and optimize landing pages and forms with drag-and-drop functionality.
Analytics	Access comprehensive data to monitor campaign performance and understand user behavior.
Personalization	Deliver personalized experiences with dynamic content across channels.

HubSpot’s freemium plans attract a lot of small businesses who wish to explore email marketing; but for the paid plans to make sense, you will need to make the most of HubSpot’s features. This may be overkill for many smaller companies — but HubSpot’s paid plans become more cost-effective as your business scales.

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GetResponse: Email Marketing, Webinars, and PPC ads

GetResponse has been around for over 2 decades and provides a range of tools for email marketing, automation, and conversion optimization. The platform offers a range of tools targeting individual business owners and small businesses. It has a user-friendly interface and provides comprehensive support, including live chat and email.

One of GetResponse’s key features is Webinars — it allows you to host live online seminars directly within their platform. It caters to businesses looking to connect with their audience, share knowledge, and generate leads.

With GetResponse, you can build websites and forms. The platform also lets you execute PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ad campaigns on Google, Meta, and other platforms directly. For lead generation, you get a conversion funnel tool.

If you’d like to see how it stacks up against Mailchimp, read our comparison.

GetResponse: All Features

You can get an online business up and running with these GetResponse marketing features:

Feature	Description
Email marketing	Create and send bulk emails, newsletters, and automated campaigns.
Automation	Design workflows with triggers and actions based on user behavior.
Webinars	Host live webinars with interactive features like live chat, polls, and detailed analytics to track engagement.
Page/forms builder	Build high-converting landing pages/forms using pre-designed templates.
Conversion funnels	Create and manage sales funnels to guide potential customers from lead generation to conversion.
Analytics	Access detailed analytics to refine your email campaigns.
Social media support	Run social media campaigns across multiple platforms.
SMS marketing	Send SMS messages to your contact list.
Segmentation	Advanced segmentation and tagging options to group contacts based on specific criteria.
Split testing	Test different versions of emails and landing pages to pick a winner.
Integrations	Seamlessly connect with various third-party tools and platforms.

GetResponse advertises unlimited emails for its paid plans, but you’re restricted by your list size. The base plan, for example, lets you email 1,000 contacts as many times as you like for $19 a month. But that number grows to $245 per month to email 50,000 subscribers.

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Drip: Focus on Automation

Drip has a good reputation due to its advanced automation, which can be useful for small businesses looking for complex workflows to run their business. The platform also focuses on integrating with e-commerce businesses. 

Additionally, you also have the usual range of email marketing tools and you can also use Drip to create popups and frames on your website for re-targeting. Drip also helps predict customer behavior and purchase intent.

Drip’s Features

While Drip doesn’t offer as many functions as the ESPs listed above, it covers the basics:

Feature	How it helps small businesses
Automation	Set up automated email sequences triggered by user actions, behaviors, or time intervals.
Segmentation	Segment email lists based on demographics, behavior, purchase history, or engagement level.
Personalization	Personalize emails with dynamic content and merge tags.
Integration	Integrate with third-party tools and platforms.
Lead scoring	Score leads based on their interactions and behaviors to prioritize and target high-value prospects.
Analytics	Track campaign metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
A/B testing	Test different email variations to optimize subject lines, content, and CTAs for improved performance.
Social retargeting (Meta only)	Sync your segments with Facebook Custom Audiences to re-target leads.
Onsite	Track website visitors’ behavior to trigger personalized email campaigns.

Drip is a robust email platform, but the plans can seem pricy to small businesses for whom complex automation flows aren’t a priority.

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Top Email Marketing Platforms: Features Comparison

Depending on your business, you may be looking for specific features in these ESPs. But here are the common features between the 5 ESPs, side-by-side.

Feature	Campaign Refinery	Mailchimp	HubSpot	GetResponse	Drip
Deliverability	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
Email automation capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Automated list cleaner	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Unlimited contacts for free	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Gamification	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Evergreen Flash Sales	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Landing page builder	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Ease of use	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
API access	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Variety of templates	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
Monthly emails allowed on base paid plan	50,000	5,000	2,000	Unlimited but for 1,000 contacts only	Unlimited but for 2,500 contacts only

No matter your budget or marketing goals, there’s an ESP out there perfectly suited to help your small business thrive. So take some time to explore the features offered by each platform, consider your specific needs, and think long-term. Remember, a well-executed email marketing strategy can be a game-changer for your small business, and the right ESP can help you achieve it.