Email marketing is a must in ecommerce: it drives revenue, maintains customer relationships, enables better customer care, and is just fun. But who can you trust to help you build your online retail business? We’ve been around the block a time or two, so allow us to introduce you to 5 ESPs you’ll need to know as you navigate the ecommerce email landscape.
MailChimp
Started in 2001 as a side project, MailChimp has become one of the most famous names in email marketing services. The company boasts over six million users, cost-effective campaign options, and a super easy-to-use interface with absolutely adorable monkey-themed graphics. MailChimp software has excellent features, such as customized subscriber profiles and automation options, that make ecommerce email marketing easy and fun. They also have many apps that make it easy to use on the go, including MailChimp Mobile, MailChimp Editor, and Chimpadeedoo.
Bronto
This dino-inspired platform is a beast (no pun intended) in the ecommerce space – its segmented targeting feature and workflow automation allow ecommerce retailers to easily attribute sales revenue to email marketing campaigns and create drip campaigns that drive more dollars. It boasts integrations with many of the top ecommerce platforms and the ability to build custom APIs to hook up your software, too. Best of all: Bronto works with many well-known retail brands, so ecommerce is their sweet spot.
iContact
iContact from Vocus has many of the same features as other leading providers, but its benefit in the ecommerce space is its integrations with Magento, Bigcommerce, XCart, and other software platforms. If you don’t have an email designer on staff or your marketing department isn’t email marketing savvy, you can employ marketing advice to help you develop campaigns and fully utilize their services. They also offer some social media marketing tools, too!
Constant Contact
A straightforward user interface combined with excellent customer service, competitive pricing, and 60 days of free trial service makes Constant Contact one of the best email marketing providers available in the market. Not ideal for large-scale senders, it’s the best solution for a start-up or small online business that wants to jumpstart its digital marketing campaigns without a huge list or a big budget.
Benchmark
This email marketing service provider has a Free4Life program; sounds good already. Yep, all features come accessible to all users for life. The only catch here is that you cannot import your list to its platform – you can have only those on your list who sign up through their online forms. On the plus side, the software interface is super easy to use, and nearly anyone can start an email marketing campaign from scratch. With some excellent features like social networking integration, online surveys and polls, and a free iPhone App, they are a provider worth checking out.