How to pick an email marketing service (for business e marketing)

When it comes to any e marketing, digital marketing, or social media marketing, your e-mail marketing service provider is a critical choice for your business. Why? Well, because that provider is going to help you connect with your list (your leads and customers)! So let’s talk about how to choose (and who to choose), whether you’ve already got a provider already or not.

If you’ve already got an email service provider, odds are you’ve wondered if you’ve got the “right” one for your business. And, in many instances, business owners I talk to aren’t using the right e marketing and email services. So let’s go through it and make sure you’re set from the start.

An e marketing heads-up: the CAN-SPAM Act

Now, before we dive too far into choosing the right or best email marketing services for your business…

We do need to be aware of a federal law, called the CAN-SPAM Act. Basically, this law helps customers better control their inboxes.

If your leads and subscribers are worldwide, there are some international laws that can be more strict. So you’ll want to be aware of those laws, too.

There’s more to it than just that, but one of the perks of using a reliable email marketing service is that they’ll handle a lot of the details for you. The email service will manage subscription sign-ups, unsubscribes, and talking to your other systems.

In other words, hiring a first-rate email marketing service is well worth the cost! But first, let’s determine a few more details so we can make the right choice in your email marketing service provider.

Picking the perfect email marketing service: know your priorities

Before you can pick the right email marketing service, you have to know your business’s priorities. Why? Because that will impact which is the best email option for your business.

Some of the most frequently listed priorities include:

• Budget. No matter how new or established your business is, you need to have an email service provider that you can afford!)
• Time. Once you’re ready to free up some time, it’s going to be time to beef up your marketing with sequences, drip emails, and more.
• Tools. Do you want to use a variety of tools? Or do you want a “one ring to rule them all” all-in-one toolkit?

Once the top priorities are established, we can run you through the list of usual suspects to pick the best email marketing services for your business.

The best starter email services for e marketing

Ready to see my short list of the best email marketing service providers? Here you go!

When you’re just starting out and budget is your biggest concern, I recommend MailChimp. It’s free (up to 2,000 subscribers), allows for growth, and is superbly user-friendly.

Once you’re ready for a more sophisticated automation (and you’re putting more systems together), I recommend ActiveCampaign. In fact, this is the system that I use.

Other commonly used services include: Infusionsoft, AWeber, ConvertKit and Drip. Of those, Infusionsoft tends to be the one most easily recognized.

Now, I’ve got to tell you a little secret that could save you a ton of money… As I chatted in depth about the available options, cost, and perks of each system with an Infusionsoft trainer, they quickly conceded that ActiveCampaign could do everything that Infusionsoft could – and for a very reasonable price point. So please don’t feel like you have to jump into the biggest, most expensive option first. Some other options may be better, more cost effective, and allow for the exact same growth and options as the “big dogs”.

If you’re an online quiz fan, the fine folks over at Video Fruit (Bryan Harris and his band of merry men & women) created the Email Service Picker. You just answer a handful of questions and it recommends one for you. I tried a few iterations and largely agree with their assessments.

Bonus: What you need to know when importing your list

Once you’ve chosen your email marketing service or provider, it’s time to import your existing list! As you do that, know that there’s two ways to do it.

There’s the wrong way, which I don’t recommend. Not only does it violate federal law, it can also get your business branded as a spammy spammer. Nobody wants that.

There’s the right way, which may take some time upfront. But your provider will walk you through it step by step, ensuring that both your business (and theirs) keep a great reputation. This is the only way to do it if you want to get off to a great start with email marketing and communicating with your audience!

Can’t get enough digital marketing awesomeness? Ready for some more help getting things going? Or maybe you’re just ready to hand this whole thing off to your favorite FieryFX expert? No matter which, be sure to connect with us here.

Ready to do this? Then let’s chat.

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