The Hunt for The Best Email Marketing Service

By Shmuel Herschberg

How to Find the Best Email Marketing Service in 25 Minutes

I was at an event last week, and one of the first people that I met asked me what I do. And when he heard I’m in the email marketing space, he immediately wanted to know the best email marketing service – more particularly if his email service provider was a good one.

It’s funny because I get that question a lot.

Having worked with many email service providers, I’ve been privileged to see a lot of their growth firsthand over the years. And let me tell you email service providers have come a long way in the last decade. Just to give you all a sense of what was going on then – and to age myself – I remember when uploading CSV files was the only way to send out a mass amount of emails.

Anyways, back to the question at hand; namely, what is the best email marketing service?

The Best Email Marketing Service Must Fit Your Needs

Well, here’s what you need to do to ensure that you have the best email marketing service for your needs. And that point is important. Just like there are no two snowflakes alike, there are no two marketing needs that are 100 percent identical – believe me on this.

When it comes to sizing up email service providers, it is imperative that you gauge the systems according to your own needs. It’s just like running a marathon – unless you’re a world-class athlete (respect) you are probably racing against yourself and not the rest of the pack.

So, without further ado, here are some top tips for getting the best email marketing service for your business needs. I suggest you get a pen and paper and spend 5-7 minutes on each section, jotting down ideas and your needs pertaining to each category.

The Top 5 Things to Consider When Looking for a New ESP

1. Content, Templates, and Dynamic Text

Naturally, one of the first places people come to look at when analyzing an ESP is that content UI/UX. Decide what type of emails you will be sending. For some, it is a pretty basic newsletter style that can run from a template. You might also want to see what sort of A-B Split Testing tools are offered. Yet, others will require some more advanced personalization tools, for example, an e-commerce site with a-million-and-one widgets on its shelves will need something more robust that can offer customizable AI-based content sections. And of course, there are tons of other needs in between, varying from having the ability to lace in merge fields or dynamic content. Consider what you need first and then put these questions to the test when demoing the product.

2. List, Groups, and Segmentation

The best email marketing service will offer you ways to import your contact list – and you better not have to upload files every time, although, this does come in handy occasionally. So, find out how you can upload and create lists. Many times, people overlook this aspect.

You must also ask about how the email service provider deals with unsubscribes and bounces. Ideally, look for a system that automatically blocks sending emails to unsubscribes and blocked email addresses. GetResponse does this with ease. And as an added bonus, look for a system that has a customizable preference center. The enables you to offer preferences rather than just a yes/no subscribe/unsubscribe option. And allowing more options for your subscribers to stay subscribed – at least to some degree – will help prevent churn.

Another tool that many “beginner-lever” ESPs don’t offer is the ability to build segments based on email metrics like who opened the email vs. who didn’t. This is very important, especially when you want to send a resend campaign out. And this brings me to my next point.

3. Marketing Automation and Journeys

Whether you want to send a full-blown autoresponder series or just a follow-up resend campaign, you have to consider marketing automation. The best email marketing service offers lots of different ways to accomplish all of these feats. For example, I work with one ESP that allows me to create a resend campaign without having to wait to see who didn’t open the email.

And regarding customer journeys, the tools out there are amazing but not all systems offer the same functionality. But do you really need an automation tool that scores your leads and sends qualified ones off to your sales team? If so, great – make sure you bring this up when you have a demo.

4. Report and Query Building

When it comes to reports, figure out which core reports you want. ActiveCampaign offers first-class reporting. Also, if you are looking for a more advanced ESP, you should be able to write SQL queries and extract a wealth of data from the system. But let’s just stick with reports here. Some of the most basic reports that you should have access too – and by access, I mean the ability to download (bonus points if you can automate these) – are the following:

Email tracking send report showing you metrics like open rate and click-through rates
Audience growth report (this might also be referred to as list hygiene)
Aggregated automation reports to show you the effectiveness of your onboarding efforts
Email performance by domain is key because it allows you to detect any issues by domain

5. Domain Reputation and IP Addresses

Finally, having just mentioned domains, be sure to ask yourself about deliverability because the best email marketing service will offer first-class deliverability out of the box. After that, it’s up to you to maintain it! One of the ways to do this is to have the best subject lines in an effort to increase your open and engagement rates.

The other aspect you need to ask yourself is how many emails are you sending monthly and at what frequency. If it is high enough, you will want to opt for a private IP address.

Email Marketing is a Big “Time” Investment

Remember, signing up and integrating for an email service provider takes a long time and is a big investment. I dare say more of a time investment than a capital investment – so do your homework. And if you stick to this script, in 25-35 minutes you should have a good idea of what you need to ask prospective ESPs as you go on the hunt for the best email marketing service. But don’t be fooled, this is just step 1 of many phases! Of course, I’m on hand to answer any questions and assist you with this very important journey.

For more information on email service providers check out:

About the author

A sought-out keynote speaker and KOL, Shmuel Herschberg is a seasoned digital marketing executive, who lives and breathes online marketing channels like email and paid media. He is a fractional CMO and the founder of Shyn Media, a boutique agency that offers creative marketing automation, content strategy, and paid media services.

With over 20 years of experience, Shmuel possesses a unique blend of technological awareness coupled with strategic thinking and customer psychology. This enables him to translate customer needs into actionable, winning strategies. He also enjoys photography and mountain biking.

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Please note, the ideas and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own. My primary goal is to share insights, reviews, and tips that I believe will be valuable to my readers. In addition, certain posts may include affiliate links, meaning I could earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase through them. This supports the blog but does not affect what I recommend. Thank you for your support!

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