Chapter 3 – How to Select the Right Email Marketing Software for Your Business

You want to start off on the right foot.

You don’t want to get 6 months down the road with your email list and discover, “Hey, I can’t even use my email service provider to build a drip sequence.”

Then, scrambling through an email provider change with your existing list, you lose momentum.

The way, of course, to avoid that is by choosing the right email service provider for your business from the very beginning.

Start with the right ESP (Email Service Provider) and you won’t lose momentum down the road.

But how do you choose the right email service provider? How do you know which one will be the best for your business?

Well, it’s really not as hard as it seems.

Read through this chapter and see which of our top recommended ESPs is the right fit for you and you’ll be on your way with the perfect email software before you know it.

Let’s get started!

Note: When you’re choosing an ESP, you might be tempted to choose the one with the most bells and whistles, thinking that all of those gadgets will help you grow your email list. Down the road, that might be true. For now, though, just choose the ESP that is best for your current budget and your current needs. You can always transfer to another service later on if you find the ESP you’re using to be inadequate.

11 things to consider…

Here are 11 things that you should consider before choosing an ESP…

1. Is customer support there to help?

When things go wrong (and they almost always go wrong), it’s nice to have someone there to help you resolve the problem. Maybe you’re locked out of your account for an unknown reason, maybe your bounce rate seems higher than it should be, or maybe the software isn’t responding to your prompts correctly.

Whatever it is, choosing an ESP that offers consistent support to its customers (live chat is a great option to look for in an ESP) will make down-time a whole lot easier.

2. Can you track the necessary metrics?

When it comes to marketing, data is king. And in email marketing, the truth is no different. If you don’t know how your email marketing campaigns are currently performing, then you won’t know how (or which metric) to try and improve.

Knowledge is power, and the right knowledge (knowing the right metrics, in other words) is critical for succeeding in the email marketing space.

So check to see which metrics the ESP you’re considering will track and report automatically. These are the most important ones that you’ll want easy and actionable access to.

• Open Rate
• Click-through Rate
• Spam Percentage
• Bounce Rate
• Complaint Rate
• Unsubscribe Rate

(We’ll talk about these metrics in more depth during Chapter 6)

3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?

Ideally, you don’t want to pay for having 10,000 subscribers on your email list until you actually have 10,000 subscribers.

And you don’t want to pay for extra tools or integrations that you don’t really need. So make sure that the pricing model your choice ESP offers will scale with your business and not over-charge you for fees that you don’t need to be paying.

4. What type of signup forms does it offer?

With your ESP, you don’t just need a database to collect your email subscribers, you need a place for those people to sign up.

Most big-name ESPs offer easy-to-format embed codes that you can include on your website to create your signup form.

(Image Source)

But different ESPs will offer different signup form options. Some will allow you to use more complex signup forms (exit-intent pop-ups, for instance) and some will only allow you to use simple embed forms like the image above.

Choose the ESP that will provide the signup form options you need to get started.

5. What kind of campaigns does it support?

Can you set up drip sequences with the ESP? What about triggered emails, which send after a subscriber does or doesn’t take a specific action? (i.e. shopping cart abandonment emails)

At some point, you’ll probably want to automate at least a portion of your email marketing campaigns, so double check that your ESP offers the kind of marketing campaigns you’ll need down the road.

6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?

Business empires rise and fall based (at least partly) on how much testing data that business’s marketers collect and analyze. If you want to improve your email marketing effectiveness – your open rate, click-through rate, call to action and other email marketing metrics – then you need to consistently test your email campaigns.

And A/B testing is the best way to do that.

Why?

Because no two emails are the same. And A/B testing allows you to experiment with the exact same campaign, change one factor, randomly send each version to a percentage of your subscribers, and then analyze the results.

Want to know which subject line will get more opens? Or which button copy will get more clicks?

Then you’ll want to choose an ESP with A/B testing capabilities.

7. Are you able to segment your list?

Email segmentation is when you split your list into groupings, usually based on an action that subscribers did or didn’t take (did they buy your product, opt-in for a resource, open your last email, etc), and send separate emails to each segment based upon those actions.

And it’s an incredibly powerful tool.

Open rates for segmented campaigns are 14.32% higher on average than non-segmented campaigns. Similarly, click-through rates are 100.95% higher on average for segmented campaigns versus their non-segmented counterparts.

For those reasons, we recommend you choose an ESP that allows you to segment your email list. And ideally, it’ll allow you to do so using tags rather than lists — the difference being that tags “tag” your subscribers based on actions and/or interests and lists are a general compilation of your subscriber base (we’ll discuss this in more detail in Chapter 7).

8. What other software does it easily integrate with?

Do you use any other software that you want to easily integrate your chosen ESP with (maybe Shopify or WordPress, for instance)?

If you do – or even if you anticipate using a certain software in the future and wanting to integrate it with your ESP – then it’s in your best interest to choose an ESP that makes integrating with your other software of choice easy.

If you’ve found an ESP that meets all your other requirements, but doesn’t integrate with a tool you’d like it to integrate with, check if Zapier offers a solution.

9. Does it have the option for Personalization (using dynamic merge fields)?

Dynamic merge tags (also known as conditional merge tags) can do lots of cool things. Here’s a list of some of the most important things that you can do with merge tags.

• Personalize each email you send to your audience by using each subscriber’s first and/or last name.
• Add the specific state that each subscriber is located within.
• Translate your email for international audiences.
• Present subscriber-specific special offers.
• Display certain information based on the subscriber’s age.

And lots of other interesting things. If you want to take advantage of any of those merge tag abilities, then make sure you choose an ESP that offers dynamic merge fields.

10. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?

Email always sends from a specific IP address. And each IP address has a certain reputation in the eyes of Internet Service Providers (ISPs — Gmail, Yahoo, AOL). That IP address reputation, then, determines the deliverability rate of emails sent from it.

In other words, if a lot of spam is sent from an IP address, then chances are good that future emails from that same IP address will go to the spam box or have a generally lower deliverability rate.

Why does this matter when you’re choosing an ESP?

Because most ESPs (Mailchimp and Aweber, for instance) use shared IP addresses, meaning that many of their customers are sending emails from the same IP address as yourself. This further means that the behaviors and sending practices of those senders on the same IP address directly impacts the deliverability of your own emails.

The good news is that reputable ESPs that use shared IP addresses have strict regulations, consistently monitor the reputations of those addresses, and throttle any underperformers.

Ultimately, shared IP addresses isn’t a bad thing. Many businesses run successful email marketing campaigns with reputable ESPs that use shared IP addresses.

But if you’re wanting more direct control over the reputation of your IP address and want no one else impacting the deliverability of your emails, then you’ll want to check whether the ESP you’ve chosen offers the ability to integrate your own dedicated IP address, which only you will be able to send from.

11. Can you get kicked out?

It sounds weird, but many ESPs have the right to ban you from their service. The reason is because most ESPs use shared IP addresses for their members and any customers with low deliverability rates hurt the reputation of those IP addresses – meaning other customers on the same IP address suffer the consequences of a bad email reputation.

Many ESPs reserve the right to kick you from their service if they feel you’re email campaigns are going to hurt their other customers. This isn’t necessarily something you need to avoid in an ESP, but it’s at least something you need to be aware of.

7 of our favorite ESPs for you to consider…

Here are some of our favorite ESPs for you to consider and how they measure up to the above 11 considerations.

1.Drip

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Plenty of customization options for signup forms.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
7. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
8. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Tons. Here’s their list.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes – they’re called Liquid shortcodes.
10. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article detailing why they would.
11. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    Yes.

2. MailChimp

1. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
2. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
3. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Simple signup form options available with some customization ability.
4. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
5. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
6. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
7. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Tons. Here’s their list.
8. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes. 
9. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
   No.
10. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article detailing their suspensions.

3. Aweber

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Plenty of customization options for signup forms.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
7. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Tons. Here’s their list.
8. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes – they’re called Personalization fields.
10. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    No.
11. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article detailing why they ban accounts.

4. ConvertKit

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Simple signup form options available with some customization ability.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
7. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
8. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Lots. Here’s their list.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes.
10. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s their terms of service.
11. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    Yes.

5. Campaign Monitor

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Plenty of customization options for signup forms.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
7. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
8. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Lots. Here’s their list.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes.
10. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    Yes.
11. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article explaining how to avoid getting suspended.

6. Active Campaign

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Simple signup form options available with some customization ability.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes 
7. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
8. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Lots. Here’s their list.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes.
10. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    Yes.
11. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article detailing why.

7. Klaviyo

1. Is customer support there to help?
   Yes.
2. Can you track the necessary metrics?
   Plenty of analytical information recorded automatically.
3. Does their pricing model scale with your business?
   Yes. Here are their pricing options.
4. What types of signup forms does it offer?
   Plenty of customization options for signup forms.
5. What kind of campaigns does it support?
   Plenty of campaign options.
6. Can you A/B test your campaigns?
   Yes.
7. Are you able to segment your list?
   Yes.
8. What other software does it easily integrate with?
   Lots. Here’s their list.
9. Does it have the option for using dynamic merge fields?
   Yes.
10. Do you have the option to use a dedicated IP address?
    Yes.
11. Can you get kicked out?
    Yes. Here’s an article detailing why.

Time to sign up…

Spend a little bit of time researching your options, browse through our above list of ESPs that we love using, and then make a decision that best meets your criteria and email goals. Success favors action, remember, so don’t overthink it. Make sure it has the required features, sign up, and move on to the next chapter, where we’ll teach you how to grow your list (the right way).