What to Consider when choosing an email marketing platform

Choosing the best email marketing platform can be challenging because of the varying needs of each business. What is ideal for one business may not be suitable for another business. Therefore, instead of us telling you which email marketing software is the best to use, we have decided to provide a list of key factors that you should consider when choosing an email marketing platform. 

Getting Started 

Before we go any further, you should have a registered domain, and a valid email address to use for email marketing. You can use a free email address like those provided by Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. but it is recommended that you use your domain email address, for instance, john@example.com for high email deliverability.

List of Factors to Consider 

Below is a list of the most important factors to consider before choosing an email marketing platform: 

• Email Automation: This is a very important factor in email marketing for customers engagement. Always look at the Automation features of the email marketing platform you intend to use and whether the automation features fit your business needs. Examples of Automation features include Autoresponders, Workflow Series, Customer Journey, Sales Funnels, etc. 
• Pricing: Consider looking at the cost of using an email marketing platform in the short term and long run. Do not be deceived by free trials, offers, and promotions because they can easily mislead you. Consider the actual price of using the platform without discounts. 
• Plain Text and HTML Templates: Consider whether the email marketing company you want to use has a variety of email marketing templates that are mobile responsive and free to use.
• Integrations: Look at the number of email marketing tools, website applications, WordPress newsletter plugins, software, sign up forms, and content management systems that the email marketing plaform that you want to use can integrate with. The more API integrations the better for your business. 
• Exporting and Importing email list: You should choose an email marketing platform that makes it easy to import or export your email list without any hurdles just in case you want to change to another company.  
• Branding: Look at whether the platform allows you to customize email campaigns or templates to reflect your brand. For instance, footer logos, from name and mailed by website.  
• Email List Segmentation and tagging: Consider checking whether the platform allows you to segment your email list or audience and at what cost. Look at the segmentation features that are available and whether they match with your business needs.  
• Reporting: Select an email marketing platform that provides detailed stats that make it easy to analyze how your email marketing campaigns are performing and monitor ROI (Return on investment). For instance, click-through rate, open rate, bounce rate, etc. This is vital for both small and large businesses. 
• Legal Compliance: Consider using an email marketing platform that makes it easy for you to comply with country or territorial laws on privacy and data handling. Some of the most popular privacy and anti-spam laws that you should be aware of as an email marketer include GDPR, CAN-SPAM Act, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) etc.
• Limitations: Almost all the reputable email marketing platforms that you have heard of like MailChimp, Convertkit, Aweber, HubSpot, Infusionsoft, ActiveCampaign, Drip, etc. can be ideal to get started with. Not until your account is suspended as soon as you send your first email campaign.  

You need to read every email marketing service provider’s Acceptable Use Policy to understand whether your business’s content falls in the prohibited content list. You might want to also read 34 Reasons why your Mailchimp account will be suspended to understand what we mean. For instance, some companies do not allow bulk mailing or cold mailers while others do allow.  

You might be interested read about the Best Email Marketing Platforms used by Successful bloggers.

Important: You should be able to balance between price, features, and email deliverability. An email marketing platform might have minimal features, affordable price, and high email deliverability. You can choose to use such company if the minimal features it has meet your marketing needs. On the other hand, a company might be affordable but with a poor history of email deliverability. You should avoid such company and consider its alternative.