Email service providers. When you think about finding one that suits your needs, your eyes glaze over. There are so many choices. Everyone has an opinion. They are all a financial investment. Changing over is such a pain so you want to get it right the first time.
I get it.
Hopping from ESP to ESP is no fun. That’s why I’ve created this page for you. While by no means comprehensive of every email service out there, I’ve done a ton of research {not to mention my own real life experience} and put together some thoughts about what I call – the big six. These are the email providers who consistently come up in conversation as great options for marketing campaigns, automation, and more.
Drum roll please…
- Mailchimp
- Aweber
- ConvertKit
- Active Campaign
- Infusionsoft
- Ontraport
So who’s not included?
GetResponse, Constant Contact, Mad Mimi, and probably a lot of other little guys
Why not? Because in all my research, the six I listed above show up far more frequently in blogs, forums, groups, and reviews. GR, CC, and MM all have similar features to the great six, but none of them stand out enough to warrant a separate discussion.
The Heirarchy
I should mention that the above six are not all equal. The whole apples to oranges thing. When it comes down to it, I see these combinations typically pitted against each other:
- Mailchimp vs. Aweber
- ConvertKit vs. Mailchimp
- ConvertKit vs. Active Campaign
- Active Campaign vs. Aweber
- Infusionsoft vs. Ontraport
Mailchimp and Aweber are your standard email service providers.
ConvertKit and Active Campaign are more advanced and offer different perks {ConvertKit is geared for content upgrades on blogs, Active Campaign lets you trigger automation sequences based on purchasing habits, abandoned shopping carts, etc.}
Ontraport and Infusionsoft are full service customer relationship managers. They are far more expensive than the other options, but also come built in with many more features than just email marketing.
No Playbuzz quiz should have the final say in whether or not you should invest in a particular platform, but maybe it’ll help you decide?
So the quiz spit out an answer. And while no quiz should determine something as important as your email list, I hope it got you thinking about the things you need from your provider.
Would you like to see all six answers from the quiz? I have them, plus everything on this page, plus links to reviews and pricing – all in one easy PDF downloadable. It’ll be right in your inbox when you sign up to my list below.
[convertkit]
Best selling features of each email service provider
MAILCHIMP
- Free up to 2000 email addresses
- Integrates with almost any other major platform
- Star rating allows you to segment your list based on open rates
- Robust segmented lists
- Custom RSS campaigns
- Automated email series based on visiting a webpage or website
- Great mobile app
AWEBER
- Unlimited sign-up forms per list
- Ability to track effectiveness of various opt-ins
- Aweber has both email and phone support
- Premium designers who can convert PDF’s to email templates
Who wins? Mailchimp
CONVERTKIT
- Custom forms via WordPress plugin to provide content upgrades on a per-post basis
- You can have a duplicate email address in multiple lists and you’re still only charged once
- Allows you to show a custom note or advertisement to people who’ve already subscribed in the place where your content upgrade would be on your site
- Link clicks turn into automation triggers
- Integrates with Opt-in Monster and Zapier
- Great for people who want to send auto-email courses
- Creates landing pages to feature your e-books and products
ACTIVE CAMPAIGN
- Attaches gravatar photo to your contact when it’s imported
- Unlimited extra fields
- Automatically detects the contacts timezone and location through IP Address when they opt-in, open an email or click a link
- Easily connects to your Gmail to converse back and forth during a “deal”
- Conditional email content that can send different content to the same list
- Email preview tool to see how it looks with different email clients
- If/Else series can happen in one autoresponder series
- Auto text messaging capabilities
- Auto-emails based on clicks or replies
- Automated email series based on visiting a webpage or website
Who wins? It’s a tie – ConvertKit for infopreneurs, authors, coaches and ActiveCampaign for product driven sales businesses
INFUSIONSOFT
- Good for people who have e-commerce stores
- Full email service, affiliate management, shopping cart integration
- Great for businesses that sell services/products that are more complex (demos, proposals, quotes, follow-up)
ONTRAPORT
- SMS and postcard delivery options
- Amazing mobile app
- Lead collection directly from Facebook
- Membership site plugin for WordPress
- Great for online businesses and solopreneurs
- Comes with Ontrapages to create sales & landing pages
- Personalized URLs for tracking via postcards
Who wins? It depends! Infusionsoft is great if you have the time and resources to learn and integrate all its features. If you have a tendency to like platforms on the cutting edge, you’ll like Ontraport better – super intuitive, simple, and powerful.
So who do I use? I’m a diehard Mailchimp fan and recent ConvertKit convert. I’d love to know what you use and what you think in the comments below!
Matt says
These aren’t email service providers, they’re email marketing services