You started your business (maybe even got an LLC). Check.
You bought a domain. Check
You also found hosting. Check.
Have your website. Check.
Now… build your list. Hmmmm
Once you started your own business – there’s still a lot to learn. Building a list is great for the health of your business. You “own” it. They are your people. And you can communicate with them when and how you want. (Unlike Social Media – which you do NOT own and you are subject to their whims…)
There are a wide-variety of platforms that offer a lot of different options.
But how do you choose an email marketing service?
Here are a couple of considerations:
1) Budget
While I don’t believe budget should be the only consideration, at the beginning of your business it often is a top concern. There are times when you need to pay for quality services to help move your business forward. But if you’re just starting out and learning, budget should be considered.
Many people start with Mailchimp because of the “free” version (up to a certain point of subscribers). Mailerlite also has a free option. Both allow for landing pages – which is great at the start of your journey. Even if you don’t yet have a website, you can still start building your email list!
There are some other low-cost options – especially when you don’t have any subscribers. My tip would be to look at the pricing schedule. Some services ramp up their pricing per subscriber quite quickly.
2) Integrations
Are you a blogger? Or an e-commerce store? Well, you may want your shopping cart to integrate with your email service. If you already have the shopping cart – see what email service providers it integrates (natively) with before you start with an email service. It will save you time and money.
Other integrations may be for your payment processor (so they play nicely together), your course/membership sites, scheduling service, forms, etc.
Since Aweber and Mailchimp has been around for a long time, it integrates with many programs. Active Campaign has quite a few for big e-commerce platforms – and they do “deep” integrations.
3) Ease of Use
Everyone of us works differently, thinks differently and learns differently.
So one email service that may be great for me and how I think – may not work at all for you.
If you can, try to make use of a “free trial” for those that have them. That way you get a look at the back end – a feel for how their system works. Go with the one that seems “easy” to you. Even if it doesn’t have all the fancy automations. If you don’t like it or understand it – you won’t use it. Or you’ll have to hire someone else.
Mailchimp and Mailerlite are free and easy to start with.
ConvertKit/Seva is also a good starting point, but a little more complex.
Active Campaign has a lot of complex automations – but you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.
So I hope you will use these 3 factors when evaluating various platforms. I do recommend building your list right from the beginning. You will get in the habit of connecting with your audience, customers, clients, tribe – whoever. And having your own list of your people – is vital for business success!
Want to see behind the scenes of 3 different email service providers?
Join me on my free webinar “Email Marketing Showdown” where I’ll give you a sneak peek to help you make your decision!
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