Top 5 Email Marketing Software | Compared & Reviewed

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So, you’re doing some email marketing, and it’s time to sign up for a new service. But before you do that, you want an autoresponder comparison and email service provider reviews – trying to find the top email marketing software services…

You’ve come to the right place!

Below you’ll find our complete autoresponder reviews for the following top five email marketing service providers:

 

For each autoresponder we’ll look at the following points and features so that you can make the best decision to suit your needs:

 

  • Core features, such as template availability, API availability and drip schedulers.
  • Advanced automation features, such as workflow rules, tagging and lead scoring.
  • Integration with third-party apps such as Shopify and Zapier.
  • Ease of use.
  • What types of support are available to you.
  • Deliverability rates.
  • Who can use it.

We’ll end each review with a recap of the top pros and cons for each service, plus you’ll get our personal notes and impressions if we’ve personally tested the service extensively.
So, let’s jump in…

GETRESPONSE REVIEW

The autoresponder GetResponse entered the email service provider scene relatively early. Its founder started working on the software in 1997, and it officially hit the market in 1999. Today, it’s still a major player in the autoresponder market.

Here’s what you need to know about it…

PRICE

While Get Response is in the middle of the pack overall when it comes to email service provider pricing, it’s on the low to mid end of the pricing range among the autoresponders we’ve reviewed here.

Pricing starts at $15 for basic accounts and $49 for Pro accounts.

Here’s the current breakdown for GetResponse cost:

Get Response Prices -Top Email Marketing Software

Just to let you know… There is a free trial available for 30 days that you can use to take the autoresponder GetResponse for a spin around the block.

Click the Link Below to Learn More About Get Response’s FREE Trial!

http://promotelabs.link/GetResponse

 GETRESPONSE CORE FEATURES:

Most of the following core features are available in both the basic and Pro accounts, unless otherwise noted.

Take a look:

Broadcast: Yes

Schedule/drip sequence: Yes

Newsletter templates: Yes.

In fact, the GetResponse autoresponder has hundreds of newsletter templates that you can use to create a polished, professional image each time you send out an email.

Oh Yes, They Got Newsletter Templates:

Get Response features-newsletter-templates

Sign-Up Forms – Oh Yes:

If you couldn’t code your way out of a paper bag, no problem You don’t need to know any coding, as these templates are all “point and click” easy to use.

And what if you’re a pro designer? Also not a problem. GetResponse also offers you the freedom to design your own form from scratch using their HTML editor.

No matter which option you choose, you’re in complete control.

Sign up form output:

GetResponse gives you multiple options for your form output, including HTML, Javascript, and hosted URL.

Sign-up form templates: Yes. (Make that a huge yes!)

GetResponse is among the best in its class when it comes to sign-up form templates. Most email service providers give you the bare minimum, such as a dozen or so templates from which to choose. Big whoop—not very impressive.

GetResponse is different because they offer over 500 sign-up form templates that are designed for many different kinds of niches. What’s more, they even offer different kinds of sign-up form templates, such templates for:

  • Newsletter opt-in.
  • Event registrations.
  • Feedback forms.
  • Seasonal forms.

GetResponse also has a unique feature called “listbuilder apps,” which we didn’t find available through other email service providers. These apps let you create different types of sign-up forms, such as exit pop ups, scroll forms, shake boxes, and more.
Get Response features and reviews -sign-up-form-templates

All of this means that you can get your form up and ready to go in just minutes, even if you don’t know anything about design or coding.

Get Response-sign-up-form-typesDid You Say… Landing Page Templates:

Landing page? Yes. GetResponse gives you one landing page with a basic account, or unlimited pages with a pro account. Most email service providers don’t even offer this feature, much less offering unlimited pages.

Landing page templates? Yes. Another big yes!

You’ll get access to hundreds of high-quality landing page templates.

Get Response-landingpage-templates

As you can see, even this small sample above offers landing pages for a variety of uses and niches. Once again, you don’t need to know anything about coding or design. If you can click a mouse, you can get a professional landing page courtesy of GetResponse.

Confirmation email sent regardless of double opt-in or single opt-in? Yes.

 API available? Yes.

Blog broadcast (RSS to email):  Yes.

Import contacts without asking them to verify email again? Yes.

This means you’ll retain your list if you decide to transfer from another email service provider to Get Response.

Export: Yes.

You can transfer to your GetResponse list to another provider.

Platform:

GetResponse works well on a variety of platforms, including both web and mobile platforms (IOS, Android, iPad).

ADVANCED AUTOMATION FEATURES:

So what all do you need to automate your email marketing efforts? Below you’ll find some of GetResponse’s advanced features, as well as places where this platform is lacking…

 List Segmentation: Yes

The autoresponder GetResponse lets you segment and mail to your list using a variety of conditions, including:

  • Location
  • When they joined the list
  • Whether they’re still receiving the initial autoresponder sequence
  • How they joined your list
  • The last time they opened one of your emails
  • The last time they clicked on a link in one of your emails
  • According to some custom fields they completed when they joined your list.

And more.

For example, perhaps you collect extra information during subscription sign-up, such as the person’s gender. You can then narrowly target your email, such as sending out an email to all females who live in the United States who have completed the initial autoresponder sequence.

AUTOMATION RULES:  YES

GetResponse automation lets you create “If-Then” rules. For example, perhaps you collect your subscriber’s birthdate information. You can then create a rule such as, “If it is a subscriber’s birthday, then send them this email that gives them a special discount coupon code.”

Tagging: No

Split Testing:

Does GetResponse Split Test: Yes

GetResponse has built-in tools to test the following components of your campaign:

    • Subject line
    • From field
    • Content
    • Time of day
    • Day of week

ge-split-testing-type

 

You can choose how long to run your test, you can tell GetResponse how important a particular factor or goal is to you, and then you can do A/B split testing, click-throughs, and even Google Analytics.

Get Response-split-testing

You can then log into your dashboard to check metrics such as open rates and clicks.

GetResponse lets you further automate things by letting you choose whether to send the highest-responding message out automatically to the rest of the list.

SMS/Text Messaging: No

Visual Campaign Building Tools: No

Lead Scoring: No

CRM – Yes! It integrates with Salesforce, ZohoCRM, SugarCRM

INTEGRATION WITH 3RD PARTY APPS:

GetResponse integrates with over 100 apps, including the most popular applications such as Zapier, Shopify, PayPal, ClickBank, Amazon payments and many more.

gr-integration

EASE OF USE:

 Here’s what the main GetResponse dashboard looks like:

gr-main-dashboard

As you can see, it’s fairly user-friendly and intuitive as to where you need to click in order to perform a certain task. It’s definitely newbie-friendly, as you don’t need any previous experience or tech background to work with the interface. If you run into any problems, GetResponse has extensive help documentation and videos to walk you through just about any task, plus you can also get in touch with a real person to help you out.

Which brings us to the next feature…

SUPPORT:

GetResponse offers both live chatting and online support through a help desk. For fast help, use live chatting, as you’ll rarely wait more than a few minutes. If you use the Help Desk, you can generally expect a response within a couple hours during normal business hours.

DELIVERABILITY:

GetResponse deliverability is good, as they tout a 99% deliverability rate.  That is one of the highest rates in the industry. We’ve done our own extensive testing, and these stats seem to be accurate. No complaints from us!

WHO CAN USE IT?

Anyone can use GetResponse, from marketers to authors to local small business owners.

One thing that sets GetResponse apart from other services is that it’s affiliate friendly. If you’re an affiliate, then you’ll definitely want to put GetResponse on your list of potential email service providers.

OTHER SPECIAL NOTES:

Here’s one other point to consider as you’re reviewing your options…

GetResponse has a built in survey option. You don’t need to find another app to survey your subscribers or other people. You can use this survey to segment your list, plus you can invite respondents to join your list if they’re not already subscribers.

CONCLUSION:

Get Response Bottom Line: Pros and Cons

PROS:
  • Templates. This includes lots of nice templates for newsletter, sign-up forms and landing pages.
  • List-builder apps lets you choose from and create a variety of sign-up form types.
  • User-friendly split-testing.
  • Newbie friendly platform.
  • Great reputation, especially in terms of deliverability.
  • Very good pricing for what you get.
  • Affiliate marketing friendly. This is one of the very few email services that not only encourage affiliate marketers to sign up, but they also work with them in the greater online marketing community.
  • Good Support
CONS:
  • Advanced automation features are lacking. Not very powerful.
  • Tagging isn’t available.
  • List segmentation function needs to be updated.

We like the autoresponder GetResponse because it’s very marketer friendly. Plus, you can use their APIs to get your subscribers automatically added to your list from places like JVZoo, Zaxaa, Lead Pages and so on.

GetResponse is easy to use and offers a variety of advanced features that you can
try for a full 30 days free.
You can learn more about GetResponse and their free offer by clicking the link below.

http://promotelabs.link/GetResponse

AWEBER REVIEW

This is another email service provider that’s been in the game a long time, since 1998. And that’s why almost everyone who is doing email marketing puts the Aweber autoresponder on their list of potential services. Take a look at our Aweber review to see if it’s the right service for you…

PRICE

Aweber pricing starts at $19 per month, and it goes up from there depending on how many subscribers you have.  As you can see, the core features are included at all pricing levels:

Autoresponder Review | Aweber Pricing

You can also take advantage of the Aweber 30-day free trial. Just enter your credit card number and set up your account. If you do nothing, you’ll get automatically billed every 30 days thereafter. Or you can cancel within the first 30 days to avoid charges if you decide it’s not a good fit for your business.

 If you want to take advantage of the Aweber 30-day free trial just click the button below and you can find out if this solution is right for you.

CORE FEATURES:

How does Aweber stack up to other major email service providers? Take a look…

Broadcast: Yes

Schedule/drip sequence: Yes

Newsletter templates: Yes.

You get access to over 700 different Aweber email templates. Some of them are designed for specific events, such as a sale or even a holiday. Others are better suited to specific industries. The majority of them are professional designs that you can send at any time to any list. You’re sure to find something to suit your needs.

Autoresponder Reviews | Aweber Templates

If you don’t find what you want, Aweber’s design pros will also develop a custom template for you. (This is a separate service that comes with an extra charge.)

Sign up form output: You can choose HTML, Javascript or hosted URL.

Sign up form templates: Yes.

Aweber lets you pick from hundreds of sign-up form templates which are suitable for a variety of industries and even particular events (such as holiday forms). These templates are click and point easy, so you don’t need to know any coding to swap out different colors, font styles and so on.

Autoresponder Reviews | Aweber Sign up Forms

Landing page: No

Confirmation email sent regardless double opt-in or single opt-in: Yes.

API available?  Yes.

Blog broadcast (RSS to email):  Yes.

Import contacts without asking them to verify email again?  Yes. (And again, this helps you retain your list if you transfer it to Aweber.)

Export: Yes. (Always a good idea to back up your lists, and also useful if you transfer out of Aweber.)

Platform: You can access it via mobile and web platforms.

ADVANCED AUTOMATION FEATURES:

List Segmentation: Yes.

Aweber gives you the tools to segment your list in multiple ways…

Autoresponder Reviews | Aweber List Manager

For starters, you can segment your Aweber list according to subscriber behavior. For example, you can segment according to who opens a particular email and/or who clicks on a specific link in a particular email.

You can also segment your list according to the last message a subscriber opened, when they joined your list, where they are in your autoresponder sequence, and if they’ve opened your initial series emails and/or clicked on the links.

You can also segment according to any information collected during the registration process, such as custom fields. Aweber also gives you the ability to segment by location (according to the subscriber’s IP at the time they joined your list).

AUTOMATION RULES:

Yes, but limited. You can only create rules around subscriptions and unsubscriptions.

Basically, Aweber automation offers you the ability to create three rules:

  1. Subscribe-on-subscribe. This means that if someone subscribes to one particular list, they’re automatically subscribed to another one of your lists.

For example, perhaps someone joins one of your list segments as a result of signing up to a webinar. You can then automatically add them to your main list too.

  1. Subscribe-on-unsubscribe. The idea here is that if someone subscribes to one of your lists, they automatically get unsubscribed from another. For example, if you place someone on your customer list, then they’ll automatically get unsubscribed from your prospect list.
  1. Unsubscribe-on-unsubscribe. If someone unsubscribes to one of your lists, you can apply a rule that they’re unsubscribed from one or more of your other lists.

Autoresponder Reviews

Note that only one rule can be triggered at a time.

Tagging: Yes.

Autoresponder Reviews

You can use the AWtomator tool to start using the tagging feature. For example, you can automatically tag people after they finish an autoresponder sequence or after they click a link. You can then send messages to anyone who has been tagged. You can even trigger a campaign.

Split Testing: Yes.

Aweber split testing include subject lines, content, templates, HTML vs plain text emails, links and even the sign-up form.

Autoresponder reviews

SMS/Text Messaging: No.

Visual Campaign Building Tools: No.

Lead Scoring: No.

CRM: Yes. Aweber integrates with SalesForce.

INTEGRATION WITH THIRD-PARTY APPS

Aweber integrates with over 70 apps, including those related to social media, landing pages, shopping carts and more. You’ll also find that it integrates with the most popular apps, including Zapier, Shopify, PayPal, WordPress, Facebook and many more.

Autoresponder Reviews

EASE OF USE

Aweber has a professional, clean and intuitive dashboard:

Autoresponder Reviews

Aweber also provides a lot of documentation and help videos to get you started, so even beginners will be able to jump right in and start setting up autoresponders and opt-in forms.

SUPPORT

Aweber provides both help desk support as well as live chatting support. With live chatting you’ll get almost instant support, whereas with the help desk route you can generally expect a response within a few hours during normal business hours.

DELIVERABILITY

Aweber deliverability is superb with a 98% deliverability rate, which is one of the highest in the industry. They have a very good reputation in this regard, and they’re constantly working hard to make sure your emails get to their intended recipients.

As for our own experiences?  There have been a few issues now and then over the years, as delivery can be a little iffy at times. However, overall we’ve been happy with their services

WHO CAN USE IT?

Anyone can use. This includes affiliates, as Aweber is one of the few email service providers that’s friendly to affiliates.

For years, Aweber has been heavily involved in the online marketing industry – answering questions on forums, being a visible part of business groups and so on. They have a vested interest in helping marketers succeed.

CONCLUSION

Aweber Bottom Line: Pros and Cons

PROS:
  • Templates: lots of templates for both your newsletter and sign up form.
  • Creating new forms is fast and easy with their three-step process.
  • Newbie friendly platform.
  • Aweber deliverability is excellent.
  • Aweber is one of the very few email services that are affiliate-marketing friendly.
  •  Good support.
CONS:
  • Aweber automation functions are lacking.
  • Tagging is basic.

Overall, our impression and experiences show that Aweber is easy to use, they have a great reputation, and they’ve been around for a long time. We have quite a few subscribers with Aweber since this is one of the first autoresponders we started using. Since we’ve been with them for a long time, we’ve also noticed their delivery can be iffy at times.

AWEBER FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE

They will ask you to enter your credit card information and set up your account. You will need to cancel within the first 30 days to avoid charges if you decide it’s not a good fit for your business. If you fall in love with Aweber then do nothing and it will keep your account and rebill each month.

If you want to take advantage of Aweber’s 30-day free trial click the button in the box below…[su_note note_color=”#99cc99″ text_color=”#feffff”]You can learn more about Aweber and their free offer just click the learn more button below.

[su_button url=”http://promotelabs.link/Aweber” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#ffffff” color=”#14750f” size=”7″ center=”yes”]Learn More[/su_button][/su_note]

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ACTIVE CAMPAIGN

Active Campaign isn’t one of the earliest email service providers to appear in the market, but nonetheless they have a long and established reputation of offering high-quality service since 2003. Let’s take a look at what they offer…

PRICE

Active Campaign’s pricing varies according to your number of subscribers, as well as the features you desire from your plan. Active Campaign offers three service plans:

  • Lite
  • Small Business
  • Enterprise

The Lite plan offers basic features such as unlimited sending. The small business plan adds extra features such as SMS marketing, lead scoring and more. The Enterprise plan offers additional features such as a custom mailserver domain and dedicated account rep.

Here’s the Active Campaign pricing breakdown:
Active Campaign - Review | Pricing

Active Campaign also offers a free trial for 14 days, with no credit card required.

 If you want to take advantage of the Active Campaign 14-day free trial just click the link below and you can find out if this autoresponder service is right for you.

CORE FEATURES

As mentioned, Active Campaign offers different pricing options depending on what features you need. Let’s start with the core features to see how Active Campaign stacks up to other autoresponders and email service providers…

Broadcast: Yes

Schedule/drip sequence: Yes.

Newsletter templates: Yes.

Active Campaign offers a variety of responsive (mobile friendly) and easily customizable templates you can use to create your newsletter. You can search or browse through their template library to find templates that are a particular color, those that are a good fit for a particular industry, those that work for particular kinds of emails (such as an announcement), and much more.

Actice Campaign - Review | Templates

For an extra fee, you can also have Active Campaign’s designers create a custom template for you, complete with your business name, logo, and colors.

Sign up form output: Javascript, hosted URL and WordPress plugin.

Note: Most email service providers offer javascript and/or HTML, and a few offer hosted URLs. Active Campaign goes a step beyond and makes it easy to get your sign up form up and running on a WordPress blog.

Sign up form templates: No.  However, they do have a drag and drop builder that’s easy to use – no coding experience required.

Active Campaign - Review | Forms

Landing page: No.

Confirmation email sent regardless double opt-in or single opt-in: No. They’ll get a confirmation if you choose double opt-in, but there is no confirmation email if you choose single opt-in.

API available?  Yes.

Blog broadcast (RSS to email):  Yes.

Import contacts without asking them to verify email again? Yes.

Export: Yes.

Platform: Web only.

ADVANCED AUTOMATION FEATURES

How does Active Campaign stack up against the competitors with advanced features? Check it out…

List Segmentation: Yes.

Active Campaign lets you maximize your ROI by targeting specific segments of your list. You can segment based on:

  • Demographics, such as gender and age.
  • Behavior, such as whether they’ve opened the last email you sent.
  • Location, as determined by IP or custom fields.
  • Custom fields, such as indicating a liking in a specific topic.
  • Tags (see more info below).

Take a look…

Active Campaign - Review | List Segment

AUTOMATION RULES: YES.

You can build your own, or use recipes (more on that in a moment).

First, start with your goal…

Active Campaign - Autoresponder Review

And then start building your Active Campaign automation…

Autoresponder Reviews | Active Campaign |

 

The Active Campaign autoresponder goes above and beyond most email service providers when it comes to automation rules. That’s because they also offer their customers automation workflow recipes.

In other words, you don’t need to get overwhelmed trying to figure out how to piece together an automation rule that does what you want. Instead, just use one of the pre-configured “recipes” – AKA pre-built automations.

Here’s the automation workflow marketplace where you can purchase recipes:

Active Campaign | Autoresponder Review

Finding a recipe is easy. Just browse or search for these recipes based on your goal. For example, do you want to increase revenue? Then you might check out the customer follow-up recipe.

Or do you want to increase traffic? Then check out the increase referrals recipe.

They currently have at least two dozen automation recipes already available, with more being added. If you don’t see the automation you want, you can also contact them to see if they’ll create a recipe for it.

Tagging: Yes.

Active Campaign lets you create tags directly in contacts…

Active Campaign | Autoresponder Review

Or you can tag automatically as part of triggered event, or as part of an automation rule.

For example, if a contact has ever visited a specific URL, you can tag them. Then you can email those tagged prospects a specific message.

Split Testing: Yes.

Active Campaign | Autoresponder Reviews

You can maximize the ROI of your campaigns by testing the subject line, the from name, the from address, and the email content. You can also set up an automation that sends the split test messages to a smaller portion of your list, and then sends the winning message to the rest of your list.

SMS/Text Messaging: Yes, but there is an extra charge if you’re using the basic plan. However, you do get a limited number of SMS credits when you sign up for the Small Business plan or the Enterprise plan.

If you want to buy credits for your Basic plan, or if you want to buy credits for one of the premium plans, here is the pricing scheme:

ac-sms-price

Visual Campaign Building Tools: Yes, there is a powerful visual automation builder tool.

You can also use the Kanban tool to track the progress of a campaign.

Lead Scoring:  Yes, but it’s only available to those who choose the Small Business plan or the Enterprise plan.

CRM: Yes, but it’s only available to those who choose the Small Business plan or the Enterprise plan. The CRM is built into these two plans, and you can integrate with SalesForce.

ac-crm

And speaking of integration…

INTEGRATION WITH THIRD-PARTY APPS

Active Campaign integrates with over 180 apps, including the most popular ones such as Zapier, Shopify, Facebook, WordPress, PayPal, Google Analytics and many more. You can search or browse for apps according to category.

Active Campaign | Integration

EASE OF USE

Since Active Campaign is feature-rich, there is a learning curve, especially when compared to the email service providers that offer more basic services. On the other hand, it’s easier to use than the big platforms like InfusionSoft.
ac-dashboard

As you can see, the dashboard is clean, professional and fairly intuitive. If you get stuck, there’s plenty of help documentation on the site.

SUPPORT

Active Campaign offers both live chats and help desk. You can get instant access through the live chat. If your question or problem isn’t urgent, you can get a response in a few hours by using the help desk.

DELIVERABILITY

Active Campaign posts a deliverability rate in the 95th percentile as compared to other service providers in the industry. However, they do caution that certain factors can hinder deliverability, such as embedded HTML coding in your emails.

WHO CAN USE IT?

Active Campaign is geared towards small businesses and larger who need a feature-rich service to automate tasks and optimize ROI.

CONCLUSION

Active Campaign Bottom Line: Pros and Cons

PROS:
  • This platform is super powerful, loaded with features, and it comes with a polished, modern interface.
  • Over 180 app integrations.
  • Automation templates (AKA “recipes”), and a marketplace where you can purchase automation recipes.
  • SMS/Text messaging is available.
  • Built in CRM for those who choose the Small Business or Enterprise plans.
  • Excellent price for plenty of features, especially when compared to big CRM solutions like InfusionSoft, Ontraport, and similar platforms.
CONS:
  • You’ll be hard-pressed to find cons with Active Campaign. Since it is a feature-rich platform, it might take you some time to learn how to use all the functions and features in the dashboard.

ACTIVE CAMPAIGN FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE

Active Campaign offers a free trial for 14 days, with no credit card required.

If you want to learn more…
[su_note note_color=”#99cc99″ text_color=”#feffff”]If you want to learn more about Active Campaign’s Lite, Small Business or Enterprise service plans and take advantage or the 14 day trial just click the button below.

[su_button url=”http://promotelabs.link/ActiveCampaign” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#ffffff” color=”#14750f” size=”7″ center=”yes”]Learn More[/su_button][/su_note]

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CONVERTKIT REVIEW

ConvertKit was started with one goal in mind: to help bloggers make more money with their writing. Let’s see how they stack up to the competition…

PRICE

ConvertKit pricing starts at $29 for up to 1000 subscribers, and these plans go all the way up 900,000 subscribers for $2499 per month.

Here’s the monthly pricing breakdown for those who don’t yet have a million folks on their list:

$29 for up to 1000 subscribers

$79 for 5000 subscribers

$119 for 10,000 subscribers

$379 for 50,000 subscribers

ConvertKit Pricing

There is no trial available. However, the service does come with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try it risk free for the first month. Also, you can request a demo if you want to get a better feel for how it works before you sign up.

 If you want to learn more about ConvertKit or request a demo, click the button below…

CORE FEATURES

Now let’s look at what features you get for your monthly fee…

Broadcast: Yes.

Schedule/drip sequence: Yes.

ConvertKit has a fairly powerful scheduler, as you can even choose to eliminate certain days. For example, if you don’t want automated emails to go out over a weekend, you just uncheck Saturday and Sunday.

Newsletter templates: Yes, but very limited. You can choose between text emails, or sending simple “framed” emails.

ck-newsletter-templates

 

ConvertKit keeps these templates clean and simple on purpose, so that your emails will look great across platforms, including desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.

You can also create and save your own custom HTML templates.

Sign up form output: You can choose from Javascript, hosted URL, HTML or WordPress.

Sign up form templates: Yes, in a sense – as you can start building your sign-up form using one of their three different responsive form styles.

ck-landingpage-templates

Take note that while your sign up form is fully customizable, you will need to know a little HTML or CSS to make full use of these customizations.

ck-form-settings

Landing page: Yes.

Landing page templates: Yes, you can start building your landing page using one of ConvertKit ’s four templates.

ck-landingpage-templates

Confirmation email sent regardless double opt-in or single opt-in: No confirmation email if you set your autoresponder to single opt-in.

API available?  Yes.

Blog broadcast (RSS to email):  Yes.

Import contacts without asking them to verify email again?  Yes.

Added bonus: ConvertKit has a concierge service available to make transferring between services easier than ever.

Export: Yes.

Platform: Web.

ADVANCED AUTOMATION FEATURES

Now that we’ve looked at the core features, let’s have a look at ConvertKit ’s advanced features…

List Segmentation: Yes.

ConvertKit does their segmentation just a bit differently than some of the other autoresponders. Other service providers tend to be list-centric. This means that they focus on the lists, so they look at subscribers on multiple lists as being multiple people.

ConvertKit is subscriber-centric. That means they are well aware that even if the same person is on multiple lists, they are still just one person. And that’s why ConvertKit segments by adding information to a subscriber’s profile.

ck-list-segment

One advantage of this focus is that you don’t get charged multiple times for the same subscriber. Another advantage is that it allows you to engage in smarter segmenting. It does take a little longer to learn and set up on the front end (especially if you’re used to the way other platforms work for segmenting), but it’s a powerful way to segment.

AUTOMATION RULES: YES.

ConvertKit automation is fairly powerful, as it allows you to set up sequences based on triggers and actions.

ck-automation-rules

For example, when users finish one email course, this can trigger them starting another email course.

Or if they click a link, then that triggers an action such as receiving an email or getting tagged.

Tagging: Yes.

As mentioned above, tagging is the primary way to segment your lists on ConvertKit . And when you combine tagging with ConvertKit ’s automation, you can do a lot of your segmenting on autopilot.

ck-tagging

Split Testing: No.

While ConvertKit doesn’t have built-in split-testing, there are ways to do a workaround. For example, you can randomly split your subscribers into two groups, and then assign two different tags to these groups. Then create the two emails you want to test, and send them to your randomly split groups. Then use some measure (such as link clicks or conversions) to compare responses.

It’s not as smooth as other email service providers, but it gets the job done for simple testing.

SMS/Text Messaging: No.

Visual Campaign Building Tools: No.

Lead Scoring: No.

CRM: No.

INTEGRATION WITH THIRD-PARTY APPS

ConvertKit integrates with some of the most popular third-party apps, such as Shopify and Zapier. However, it only integrates with 15 apps total – so if you have a specific app in mind, be sure to check if ConvertKit integrates with it.

ck-integrations

EASE OF USE

Here’s what your dashboard looks like:

ck-dashboard
While even a beginner can jump in pretty fast and get things done, placement of some items is a little awkward and not very intuitive. For example, the email template section is located under “Account,” and the integrations are located in the “Automations” section.

Another problem is that some tasks, such as editing and deleting a form, require multiple steps or scrolling. If you’ve used other platforms before, you may notice that some tasks are a bit more cumbersome.

On the other hand, some tasks are really easy to do – even better than on other platforms. For example, creating a series of email sequences is quick and easy to do. It’s also laid out nicely, so you can see your entire sequence at a glance.

ck-special

SUPPORT

ConvertKit has been instant live chat available, as well as support through the help desk. If you go through the help desk, you can usually receive help within about 24 hours.

DELIVERABILITY

We’ve had good experiences with getting our emails delivered to their intended recipients. While ConvertKit doesn’t specifically note their deliverability rate, they do have a full-time staff member whose sole job is to improve deliverability through ISP relationships, blacklist monitoring, bounce management, and more.

WHO CAN USE IT?

ConvertKit was built for bloggers and authors. All of their features – from opt-in forms to tagging – are built specifically for these two groups.

CONCLUSION

ConvertKit Bottom line: Pros and Cons

PROS:
  • Includes essential features with a modern, clean interface.
  • Automation rules.
  • Includes a time-saving email-sequence function.
CONS:
  • Form managing needs improvement.
  • No built-in split-testing function
 

We’ve just started using ConvertKit in the past year. There is a learning curve associated with the interface. However, we’ve been impressed with their deliverability and open rates.

CONVERTKIT NO FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE BUT…

There is no trial available.

However, the service does come with…
[su_note note_color=”#99cc99″ text_color=”#feffff”]ConvertKit offers a 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try it risk free for the first month. Also, you can request a demo if you want to get a better feel for how it works before you sign up.

[su_button url=”http://promotelabs.link/ConvertKit” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#ffffff” color=”#14750f” size=”7″ center=”yes”]Learn More[/su_button][/su_note]

[su_divider style=”double” divider_color=”#0a730d” link_color=”#287117″ size=”2″]

DRIP REVIEW

With a name like “Drip,” you know this email service provider is focused on automation. In fact, here are the first words that greet you on their homepage: “Lightweight marketing automation that doesn’t suck.” Their goal is to give you a lightweight (yet effective) alternative to bulky programs like InfusionSoft, and you’ll get it a fraction of the price.

Let’s find out how these claims hold up…

PRICE

Drip offers the following plans: Basic, Pro, Business and High Volume. In all cases, you can send unlimited emails. The Business and High Volume accounts give you additional features, such as SalesForce integration and removing the Drip branding from your campaigns.

Here is the current pricing scheme for Drip email marketing:

drip-price

If you’d like to try before you buy, you can take advantage of a 21 day free trial. You will need a credit card to begin your trial.

 If you want to learn more about Drip or try their 21 day free trial, click the button below…

CORE FEATURES

Let’s see what you get for the monthly price…

Broadcast: Yes.

Schedule/drip sequence:  Yes. You can tell by their name that this is one of the service’s main focal points.

Newsletter templates: No. However, both plain text and HTML emails are supported.

drip-newsletter-default

Sign up form output: HTML, hosted URL, and widget (that you can place on any page of your website). You can also choose the option for an exit-triggered pop-up.

drip-form

Sign up form templates: No, but both plain-text and HTML formats are supported.

Landing page: No.

Confirmation email sent regardless double opt-in or single opt-in: No, not if you choose single opt-in.

API available?  Yes.

Blog broadcast (RSS to email):  Yes.

Import contacts without asking them to verify email again?  Yes. Drip offers a tool to help you import contacts, or you can even use their concierge service.

Export: Yes.

Platform: Web.

ADVANCED AUTOMATION FEATURES

Drip prides itself on providing only the tools you need without the extra bloat. Take a look at what they offer….

List Segmentation: Yes.

With Drip you can segment on a wide variety of demographics and behaviors. Drip also helps you with dynamic segmenting, which you can do over time as you learn more about your subscribers.

For example, when your subscribers first sign up you might just ask them a question or two for segmenting purposes. If you ask any more than that, people won’t complete the sign up process. Then later on in the sales funnel you ask more questions – a question or two here and there until you have a good picture of what each subscriber wants. Add that to actual subscriber behavior, such as whether they click on certain links or buy something, and you’ll have a well-segmented list. And if you do this using automation, then the whole process becomes easier.

You can even segment according to lead score. That means you can try to warm up some leads that aren’t very responsive, or you can reward your most engaged leads.

drip-list-segment

Speaking of automation…

AUTOMATION RULES: YES.

This is where Drip really shines, because their business is built on offering powerful automation workflow and rules.

It’s all built on a visual platform so you can better visualize how your subscribers and customers will move through your sales funnel.

drip-automation2-workflow

One feature that makes Drip different from its competitors is that you can create a workflow that lets you reward subscribers for specific actions by letting them jump ahead in the workflow. That’s because you can design your workflow around goals, which isn’t something you’ll find in very many other platforms.

You can also set up automation rules, where you pick a trigger and then choose what action to perform based on that trigger. Currently Drip has 11 triggers and 14 actions that you can mix and match to create your own automation rules.

drip-automation3-rules

 

Another feature of Drip is that you can automate things like tagging, which brings us to the next point…

Tagging: Yes.

Drip automates the process by letting you tag users who engage in a specific activity, such as opening an email or clicking a link.

drip-automation4-rules-tagging

Split Testing: Yes.

You can split test delivery time, the subject line and the from name.

drip-split-test

SMS/Text Messaging: No.

Visual Campaign Building Tools: Yes. And in fact Drip prides themselves on offering an intuitive and powerful visual platform.

Lead Scoring:  Yes. Their algorithm tracks a number of activities so that you can quickly and easily identify your best and most-engaged leads.

CRM: Yes, you can integrate with SalesForce.

INTEGRATION WITH THIRD-PARTY APPS

Drip integrates with over 30 apps, including popular ones such as Zapier, Shopify, PayPal, Authorize.net, and more.

drip-integration2

EASE OF USE

Here’s what you’ll see when you log into your Drip dashboard:

drip-dashboard

Drip is extremely user-friendly and newbie friendly. There’s no learning curve since it’s so intuitive, so anyone can jump in and start building their lists and managing their leads right way.

SUPPORT

Help is available through the help desk, where you can expect a reply within 24 to 48 hours.

DELIVERABILITY

Drip’s reliability and deliverability rates are as good as the big guys. That’s because Drip uses the email sending service sending Mandrill, as well as Rackspace’s mail service Mailgun. Both of these services are rated as extremely fast, secure and reliable. That’s why top companies such as GitHub, Uber and Stripe use them, among others.

WHO CAN USE IT?

Drip is a good choice for small business owners, bloggers and software developers. If you’ve tried other platforms like InfusionSoft and felt like you were paying too much for a lot of features that you didn’t even use, then you may consider Drip as a lightweight alternative.

CONCLUSION

Drip Bottom Line: Pros and Cons

PROS:
  • Super powerful, loaded with features with a clean, simple, and beautiful interface.
  • Super easy to use, with little-to-no learning curve.
  • Gorgeous visual workflow builder.
  • Time-saving email templates.
  • Excellent price for the included features, especially compared to big CRM solutions like InfusionSoft.
CONS:
  • There aren’t too many negatives with this platform. However, they don’t cater to affiliate marketers, so you’ll need to look elsewhere if you fall into that category.

DRIP FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE

If you’d like to try before you buy, you can take advantage Drip offers a free trial for 21 days.

Or just visit the site to learn more…
[su_note note_color=”#99cc99″ text_color=”#feffff] Just click the button below to find out for yourself what advantages Drip offers.

[su_button url=”http://promotelabs.link/GetDrip” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#ffffff” color=”#14750f” size=”7″ center=”yes”]Learn More[/su_button][/su_note]

CLOSING THOUGHTS ABOUT THESE FIVE AUTORESPONDER REVIEWS

You may have noticed as you read these reviews that we use several of these services, including Aweber, Get Response and ConvertKit.

There’s a reason for that: diversification.

No matter how good a particular email service provider is, bad things can still happen. Your autoresponder can go down right when you’re about to send a product launch email. A service might completely shut down. You might even lose your account (perhaps through no fault of your own). Or you might just struggle with deliverability issues.

In all cases, you can protect yourself by not putting all your eggs in one basket. Use multiple service providers, and you can spread out the risk. If one service provider goes down, you can still get your emails out using another provider.

That’s why we encourage you to pick two or three service providers from those we’ve reviewed.

YOU CAN GET STARTED RIGHT NOW USING THE LINKS BELOW:

Learn More About Aweber Learn More about Active Campaign Learn More About Drip
  Learn More About ConvertKit
Learn More About Get Response
 
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