As a small business, you need your tools to be efficient and reasonably priced. If you’re working with a small team (or a mighty team of one), you don’t have the time to navigate clunky, complex tools. You need something simple and easy to use.

Email marketing is a smart move for any small business owner. The return on investment is many times greater than expenditure across industries.

But how do you choose what email platform to use among the plethora of tools available?

Here, we’ve rounded up the top four email marketing service providers for your small business. Whatever your needs are, one of these tools will be the perfect fit for you.

Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email uses a drag-and-drop intuitive email builder to make creating gorgeous emails seamless. 

The built-in photo editor helps less-experienced users design visually stunning email designs without the need for more advanced photo editing software like Photoshop.

They also offer web-integrated sign-up forms, automated email campaigns, A/B testing, and detailed reporting that help grow, retain, and convert loyal customers.

In short, Benchmark Email is an all-in-one solution to add to your tech stack for businesses large and small.

Pricing Plan

Benchmark has three pricing tiers, ranging from free to customizable (for enterprise customers).

Their free plan offers the email builder, sign-up forms, reports, 500 contacts, and 3,500 emails per month.

Verdict

Benchmark is a great email marketing service provider option for any small business, eCommerce, or hospitality business. Its reserve of visually-focused email templates makes it especially good for visually-focused businesses or retailers, such as wedding photographers, landscape designers, bakers, etc.

MailChimp

MailChimp is starting the list because it has the best brand recognition as a popular email marketing service. You’ve likely heard the most about it and wondered if it’s worth the hype.

MailChimp is great for independent users. It’s straightforward and easy to learn. A versatile drag-and-drop email builder and built-in data analytics tools make it easy to track and adjust your email marketing strategy.

It’s accessible enough for beginners and robust enough for advanced email marketers. Over 300 integrations with third-party tools make it easy to create a marketing hub.

MailChimp also offers multi-factor authentication (MFA) as an added security measure. Without solid security, hackers can quickly gain unauthorized access to your email accounts. As a result, they can compromise sensitive data or even send fraudulent emails on behalf of your brand.

In short, MailChimp is a central platform for all-in-one marketing, easy for beginners, and advanced enough to support your business as it grows. 

Pricing Plan

MailChimp has four payment plans. You can use MailChimp for free up to 1,000 email sends and 500 subscribers, but the price starts to climb after that.

As has become standard in the email marketing industry, the more your email list grows, the more costly your monthly plan becomes. Rightfully so, as you need to pay for advanced features like unlimited contacts. 

Verdict

If you’re new to email marketing software and are just beginning to grow your contact list, MailChimp is a solid choice to get some experience under your belt.

However, as you grow, the price tag won’t be worth the functionality unless you’re a luxury brand or sell high-ticket goods and services.

MailChimp isn’t the most cost-effective option if you only need a monthly newsletter. 

Constant Contact

Constant Contact was created specifically for small businesses. Its powerful features lean towards small business needs more than email marketing solutions of greater complexity.

Constant Contact offers 100+ pre-built email templates that make aesthetically appealing emails simple to create.

Additionally, they offer a whopping 3,000 software integrations to third-party tools. This makes Constant Contact the most versatile email marketing provider on the list.

They primarily excel at email drips, which can be crucial for small businesses who want to: 

• Simply send out Happy Birthday emails to their customer base
• Run a limited-time offer
• Market an event

Pricing Plan

Constant Contact is one of the more affordable email marketing service providers out there. Their simplest plan starts at only $12 a month. They’ve also adopted the model of charging per subscriber, but their highest-paid plan is still much lower than many alternatives.

Verdict

Constant Contact is a good choice for small business owners who want simple, clean efficiency and a solid platform to grow their email marketing efforts.

Klaviyo 

Klaviyo is built for eCommerce businesses but also markets itself to the wellness and dining industries.

It offers seamless integration with the most popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Square, Wix, and Adobe.

Klaviyo also offers audience segmentation and list management to make common email marketing tasks simple.

You can effortlessly create welcome email sequences for new clients, automate reminders about bookings and appointments, run special and seasonal promotion deals, create members-only list segmentation, and more.

They also offer robust SMS marketing capabilities, including 20+ pre-built automations, mobile-optimized form builders, QR codes, and a comprehensive analytics dashboard.

Pricing Plan

Klaviyo has a three-tiered pricing plan. The free plan gets you 250 contacts, 500 monthly email sends, 150 SMS messages, and free email support for 60 days. 

The tiers increase from there from $45 a month to $60 a month. Like the other email marketing platforms, those monthly fees increase as your list grows. 

Verdict

If you run an eCommerce business, this is the email tool for you. Klaviyo makes it simple to integrate with your online shop. You can also expand into SMS marketing at affordable rates. 

This platform is also a good option if you handle a lot of bookings, reservations, or memberships.

Grow Your Small Business With An Email Marketing Service

Whatever your needs are for your small business, there’s a tool that’ll help you organize, consolidate, and grow your client base without making a huge investment upfront.

To learn more about choosing an email marketing service provider, setting up your first email marketing campaign, and growing your mailing list, read our email marketing guide.

Which email marketing tool will you add to your tech stack?