When new businesses enter the market, their first action is to opt for social media or digital marketing to boost visibility. Many startups do not realise that, in their initial stages, email marketing can prove to be a vital tool in their marketing efforts. Below is a curated list of affordable yet powerful email marketing platforms that can help startups tailor their email marketing strategies to meet their specific needs and drive business growth.
1. MailChimp
Starting strong with the most renowned all-in-one marketing platform, Mailchimp enables startups to manage and communicate with clients while establishing strong connections. Besides being intuitive and easy to use, it also offers a wide array of services and products that can aid startups in the early stages.
Features
- A wide variety of robust email marketing tools.
- Runs multiple campaigns simultaneously.
- Includes sign-up forms that facilitate the efficient collection of subscriber information.
- Creates tailored emails with various personalization tools.
- Extensive range of pre-designed, customisable templates for email and landing pages.
- The drag-and-drop editor and basic layout options reduce the need for manual editing.
- Tracks open rates, click rates, and the impact of email on sales.
Ease of use
- Simple and intuitive platform.
- Ideal for beginners and those new to email marketing.
- Effortlessly build landing pages using an easy-to-use builder that is fully connected with Mailchimp.
- Automatically saves information from the new sign-up into the Mailchimp list, eliminating the need for manual work.
- The Mailchimp mobile app makes on-the-go campaign management a breeze, ideal for entrepreneurs who frequently travel for work.
Pricing
- Mailchimp’s pricing increases as your contact list grows, meaning the more subscribers you have, the higher your costs will be.
- The paid plans start at approximately $350 per month for up to 10,000 contacts.
- There is a free plan, but it’s bare-bones and only allows you to store 500 contacts.
2. Brevo
If you’re a startup on the rise and need a marketing tool that does way more than send emails, Brevo is the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. It’s your all-in-one powerhouse; think email campaigns, landing pages, CRM, and transactional messages all working together like magic.
Formerly known as SendinBlue, Brevo has undergone significant upgrades, offering premium features at a more affordable price. It’s built for ambitious teams that want to scale smart, move fast, and keep things simple. Brevo’s the sidekick you want on your team if you’re building something extraordinary.
Features
- Keeps things simple with a clean, easy-to-navigate sidebar that gives you quick access to everything you need.
- Starting a new campaign is a breeze; just a few clicks, and you’re good to go.
- Easily create custom sign-up forms that match your brand and help you collect leads effortlessly.
- Intelligent audience segmentation enables you to gain a deeper understanding and connect more effectively with your audience.
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp, and automation campaigns all in one place; no need to bounce between different platforms.
Ease of use
- You can easily add contact details, use behavior triggers, and tweak content to make every email feel custom-tailored for your audience.
- Suggests the best time to send your emails based on how your audience is interacting.
- Even if you’re on a basic plan, you get detailed reports to track your campaign’s performance and monitor your progress.
- For startups ready to take their business to the next level, the Business plan provides access to advanced tools, including click-and-open details, as well as device and location tracking.
Pricing
- The free plan is a great starting point. It includes transactional emails and has a daily limit of 300 emails per day.
- Ready to scale? For just $ 8 per month, you can send up to 5,000 emails a day, which is ideal for growing businesses.
- The starter plan is free, but it does not include Brevo’s branding, which enhances the look of your emails.
- For serious players, the Business plan unlocks awesome extras, including landing pages, A/B testing, Facebook ads, and advanced reporting, to take your campaigns to the next level.
- The Enterprise plan offers tailored pricing and features to fit your business’s unique needs.
3. Later
Later is the ultimate social media sidekick, especially for Instagram! It’s an all-in-one platform that makes editing, scheduling, and auto-publishing your posts a breeze. Additionally, it doesn’t stop at Instagram; it integrates seamlessly with Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. So you can keep your content flowing across all channels without the hassle.
What’s incredible is that Later offers a range of plans to fit your needs, whether you’re just starting or scaling up. While it works for all kinds of businesses, it’s clear that Later is built with Instagram content creators in mind. If you’re looking to elevate your social media game and stay organized, Later has got you covered.
Features
- The drag-and-drop calendar is a total game-changer.
- It lets you organize all your images and videos in one spot, making content management super simple.
- If you’re running an Instagram shop, Later makes it easy to manage everything in one place.
- It even provides basic analytics to track your engagement, reach, follower growth, and the performance of your posts after they go live.
Ease of use
- Super user-friendly with a drag-and-drop interface.
- Ideal for startups seeking to save time, stay organized, and effortlessly manage their social media.
Pricing
- It starts at just $16 per month, with the premium plan costing around $50 per month. This is great for getting started, but it can become quite expensive for small businesses.
- It may be necessary to pair it with a third-party email marketing tool to access advanced email marketing capabilities.
4. PosterMyWall
With a suite of powerful tools, PosterMyWall simplifies digital marketing, enabling small businesses to manage their social media and email campaigns effortlessly. It’s a game-changer for startups ready to take their marketing to new heights.
Features
- Provides access to a massive library of professionally designed email templates, so you no longer have to start from scratch.
- The Brand Kit integration ensures that your emails always maintain a sharp and consistent on-brand look.
- Let’s you link your social media directly to your emails.
- Complete freedom to customize your emails however you like, add images, videos, stickers, tables, CTA buttons, and even brand elements to make your content your own.
- Editing emails is a breeze with the AI Background Removal tool.
- Track your campaign’s success with the performance metrics dashboard.
- The built-in publishing platform enables you to manage sender profiles, upload mailing lists, and send campaigns without requiring additional software.
- Audience Insights helps you understand your audience’s engagement patterns, allowing you to tweak your strategies for even better results.
Ease of use
- Customizing emails is a breeze with the drag-and-drop editor.
- Thanks to built-in mobile responsiveness, your emails will look great on any device.
- You can create, edit, and publish emails without jumping between platforms with an all-in-one workflow.
- Test your emails with a preview before sending them to ensure everything looks perfect.
Pricing
- The free plan is ideal for getting started, but it restricts you to a single social media account connection.
- For just $9.95/month, you unlock powerful features like running email campaigns, creating custom sign-up forms, setting up custom email addresses, and even using an AI writer to boost your content.
Final takeaway
Mailchimp is a powerful tool that can benefit startups, but the hefty price tag for enterprises can hinder new companies that are still developing a more formal structure. Another strong contender is Brevo, with its immense potential and potent tools; however, it still lags in the templates department, making it a bit challenging for new users. Later, with its robust social media marketing and management tools, it can be an ideal addition to the mix.
For startups seeking to elevate their email marketing strategy, PosterMyWall streamlines the process of creating, sending, and analyzing campaigns that genuinely connect with your audience.