The Best Email Marketing Software of 2022

This article will show you the best email marketing software this year, the pros and cons of each, and how to get started. 

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Did you know that email marketing has existed since 1978 and resulted in a massive $13 million in sales from only 400 recipients? Gary Thuerk sent an email to promote his company’s computer systems; today, $13 million would be around $59 million. Pretty impressive for the first marketing email ever, right?

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It’s been 44 years since then, and much has changed with email marketing, but there’s one thing that hasn’t: its potential to make your company massive amounts of money. 

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What is email marketing software?

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You can create, send, and track emails to subscribers using email marketing software. Whether you want to send announcements, a newsletter, coupon codes, or special offers, it will be almost impossible to send those emails out to hundreds or thousands of people by hand. 

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Why should I have a mailing list?

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Over the past several years, email marketing has had its detractors that say it’s a dying method to make money online with your business, but that’s simply not the case. Older marketers have long noted that “the money’s in the list,” and not much has changed. Even in 2022, every email you have on your list is invaluable to your business. 

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Email marketing matters because…

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It’s universal

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Do you know anyone who doesn’t have an email? There aren’t many people outside the digital space, especially in the United States, where around 254.7 million email users exist. Worldwide, there are approximately 4.26 billion email users, and with a global population of nearly 8 billion by the end of 2022, that’s over half. Email isn’t going to fade any time soon; it’s only going to grow. 

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Branding

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Branding is critical for growth. On average, it takes around seven times to see or hear your message before anyone decides to do business with you. This is known as “the rule of seven. While it originates in the 1930s film industry, it’s still relevant to today’s marketing campaigns. 

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Relationship building

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Who doesn’t like to get a coupon code in the mail for no reason whatsoever? When you can contact your customers directly through their inbox, you can surprise them in unexpected ways and develop a solid relationship with them long-term. Your goal as a business is not only to make money but to help your customers solve their problems and get what they want. 

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High conversion rates

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You’ll get a higher conversion rate through email marketing than you will through various other marketing channels. In 2020, the average conversion rate across all industries was 15%. Consider that pay-per-click conversion rate across all industries is around 3.75%, and the value of email marketing becomes apparent. 

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Inexpensive

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Compared to other revenue streams, email marketing is inexpensive. Most email marketing software is available monthly; some even have free plans if your list stays under a specific number. 

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Targeting

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Being able to target only specific portions of your email list at one time is a valuable thing. Maybe you want to target only people who have been on your mailing list for over six months or perhaps only those customers who have purchased a specific product already. Either way, sending emails only to certain people increases your conversion rate. 

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Timing

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Want to send an email at 5 AM? Do you have customers in different time zones? You can schedule them to go out at a different time. 

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You own it

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The most important reason you want to have an email list is that you own it. Suppose you base your business around any other property, such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads, etc. These revenue streams could be eliminated at any time. 

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When you’ve built a list of email clients, that’s a tangible asset you own and can continue to make money off of, even if you lose your Facebook page or ad account. 

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What email marketing software features do I need?

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What software is best for you will depend on what you intend to do with it and your needs. You may want something general like Mailchimp that almost any online business can use, or you may want something a little more specialized like Salesforce. 

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Here are the basics that you want in email marketing software.

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Customizable web forms for collecting email

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Even though most email marketing software will allow you to connect to various form builders such as WP Forms, Gravity Forms, and Contact Form 7 on WordPress, you still want it to provide the ability to design a form if you need one. 

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If you’re just starting out, you may not have yet purchased WP Forms or any professional-level form creator, so the free builder with your email software is greatly beneficial. 

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Ability to segment your lists

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Segmenting your email list is key to producing the high conversion rates your business needs. You can segment your subscribers by any criteria you can gather or measure, such as age, interests, preferences, location, activity level, abandoned cart, and more. When you can effectively target emails at this granular level, your open and conversion rates will explode. 

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Ability to send automated campaigns

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You should be able to plan out a sequence of emails to drip out over time and choose which emails to send based on the subscriber’s interaction with the previous email. 

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CAN-SPAM compliance

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When you use email marketing software, they will ensure that your emails comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 passed by the US Congress. Your software will also let you know if spam filters will likely block your email. 

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WYSIWYG editor

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When creating the emails that you want to send to clients, you shouldn’t have to code what each email looks like from scratch. A good email marketing software will provide you with templates and a WYSIWYG editor that you can use to create the emails exactly how you want them. 

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Email analytics

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The more analytics you have access to, the better off you’ll be. When you’re dealing with email analytics, you’re looking for two primary metrics:

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• Open rate. This is what percentage of people opened your email to see its contents. 
• Click-through rate (CTR). This is the number of people who clicked a link within your email. 

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These are the basics, but you’ll want to be able to see these broken down by segment, as well. 

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What email marketing software should I use?

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What email software you need ultimately boils down to what features you will need now and in the future. Before deciding on any particular software, you should consider what functionalities you need now and what you believe you will need later because you don’t want to be forced to switch. 

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Mailchimp

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Mailchimp is a great place to start if you’ve never used email marketing software. One of its best features is its free plan, which lets you have up to 2,000 email contacts. This is more than enough contacts to start making money when you’re a beginner. If you’re not a beginner and have thousands of contacts already, skip this one.

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Pros:

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• Free forever up to 2,000 contacts
• Campaign customization
• Hundreds of software integrations
• Great reporting options

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Cons:

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• Not for expert-level email marketers
• Expensive for contact lists over 15,000
• Can’t send to more than one list at a time
• Not enough segmentation options for large companies focused on email marketing
• No custom automation

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GetResponse

GetResponse is one of the biggest names in email marketing today and for a good reason: their functionality ranges from beginner to expert and everything in between. One of their most unique features is their webinar builder, which starts as a $40/mo add-on for the Email marketing package for 100 attendees or $99/mo for 500 attendees.

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Here are some features you’ll get when you go with GetResponse.

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Pros:

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• No credit card free trial
• Pricing starts at $15.58/mo for 1,000 contacts
• 18% discount for paying by the year, 30% for 2 years
• You don’t get charged for unsubscribed contacts
• Modern automation tools
• Flexible data segmentation
• Webinar builder
• Dashboard customization

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Cons:

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• No phone support except for Max plan
• Split testing is only for subject lines and content
• No GDPR compliance with Facebook pixels on GetResponse landing pages
• Drag and drop interface is touchy

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Aweber

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Aweber is a legendary email marketing software that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. They’ve been around since 1998 and have paved the way for every email marketing software. Older email marketers are very familiar with it, and even though they may have moved on to newer services, Aweber still has the basics.

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Pros:

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• All features are available on all paid plans
• Largest number of HTML templates available
• You can use 11 different web fonts in your emails, plus 8 standard
• AMP for email

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Cons:

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• Free account only includes 500 subscribers/3,000 emails per month
• Aweber Pro starts at $19.99
• If you have more than 25,000 subscribers, you must call Aweber for a quote on cost
• No automation on free plans
• Aweber will continue to bill you for contacts that have unsubscribed unless you delete them from your list
• English-only customer support

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ActiveCampaign

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Active Campaign is a solution for those who want more than just email marketing at their fingertips. Even if you’re a beginner at marketing online, you can start with Active Campaign and never have to switch providers due to their robust feature set, pricing, and excellent customer service. 

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Pros:

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• It starts at $29/mo, paid yearly or $30/mo paid monthly
• For beginners and advanced users
• Extensive automation options
• Extensive marketing features, including CRM
• 1:1 training on their Professional package
• Messaging (SMS, on-site chat, and Facebook audiences)

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Cons:

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• Too much functionality for simple campaigns

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Drip

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Drip is one of Mailchimp’s primary competitors in ecommerce emailing software. If your goal is to turn your customer’s emails into cash, Drip is where it’s at. When it comes to automation functionality, nothing else is a close match. This software is best for e-commerce companies that have a high level of traffic, lots of contacts to manage, and wants to use advanced marketing techniques. 

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Pros:

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• 14 day free trial, no credit card required
• Great for high traffic e-commerce
• Advanced automations
• Advanced marketing techniques
• 100+ integrations
• Unlimited email sends up to 27,500 contacts

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Cons:

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• Built specifically for e-commerce websites
• $39/mo for up to 500 emails
• No split testing in email content
• You have to design your own templates

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Keap

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Keap is formerly known as Infusionsoft. It’s an all-inclusive CRM, sales, and marketing software. It’s not specifically for email marketing, but it’s popular enough that we felt we should include it here. If you need the ability to manage customers, sales, and marketing efforts in one place and you don’t have more than 2,500 contacts, Keap is a great place to be. 

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Pros:

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• 14 day free trial, no credit card required
• CRM, sales, & email marketing platform
• Email templates
• AB testing
• Auto-responders
• Social media integration

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Cons:

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• Not built explicitly for email marketing
• It starts at $129/mo annually or $169/mo monthly
• 2500 email contacts without needing a custom plan

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Omnisend

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Omnisend is another email marketing platform designed specifically for ecommerce emails and SMS. It’s simple to use, has excellent pricing, and has unique features. You can use their product picker to insert products directly into your emails and save time without needing to code anything by hand; plus, they have around 30 integrations, such as WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Shopify, and more. 

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Pros:

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• Free plan at $0/mo for up to 250 contacts and 15,000 emails per month
• Great for small ecommerce businesses that want to grow
• One-click integrations with ecommerce platforms and other software
• Pre-built automation workflows
• You can design your own templates
• Great customer support

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Cons:

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• SMS is only available on their Pro plan at $59/mo for 500 contacts
• The hefty price jump from $16/mo for Standard to $59/mo for Pro
• Lack of email templates to choose from

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ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a marketing platform targeted toward creators such as podcasters, musicians, authors, artists, and more. If you create digital products, you can sell them directly through ConvertKit, or you can integrate it with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. 

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They have relatively customizable pricing that uses the number of subscribers you have as the determining factor. You can begin with a free account that you can use for up to 1000 subscribers or pay $15/mo (paid monthly) for up to 300 subscribers. As your subscriber count goes up, so does your cost. 

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One unique feature that ConvertKit offers is a newsletter referral system on their higher-end plan, which incentivizes subscribers to refer other people to your mailing list. 

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Pros:

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• 14 day free trial, no credit card required
• 2 months free when you pay annually
• Unique newsletter referral feature on Creator Pro plan
• Can upload your own templates
• Flexible list management and segmenting
• Excellent customer support via ticket or live chat

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Cons:

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• Specially designed primarily for content creators
• Not enough email templates built-in
• Automation isn’t robust
• No spam tester
• Basic reporting on lower-level plans

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Moosend

Moosend is a reasonably new player in the email marketing arena, but don’t underestimate them. They’re a very affordable option with a fair amount of built-in templates, detailed reports, and high-level features. 

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Pros:

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• Free trial for 30 days with all features except SMTP server
• The monthly price for the pro plan is $9/mo, $7/mo if paid by the year
• Scalable up to at least 1,000,000 subscribers
• 70+ customizable templates for emails
• Drag and drop email builder
• Advanced reporting

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Cons:

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• No CRM
• Only average email deliverability
• Not many integrations

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Conclusion

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This is far from the only email marketing software available, but in 2022, these are some of the major players. Whether you’re looking for email marketing software targeted at content creators like ConvertKit or one with extensive automation capabilities like Active Campaign, there’s software to fit your needs. 

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