Learn what marketing automation is, what good Email marketing automation looks like, and how to make it work for your business.
What is Email Marketing Automation?
Email Marketing Automation is all about using software to automate marketing activities. Many marketing departments automate repetitive tasks such as email marketing, social media posting, and even ad campaigns -- not just for the sake of efficiency, but so they can provide a more personalized experience for their customers. The technology of marketing automation makes these tasks easier.
Best Free Email Marketing Automation Software tools for Your Small Business
Mailchimp: Extensive email, social media marketing features in free version.
Mailchimp is an email marketing and marketing automation solution for businesses of all sizes.
The free version of Mailchimp offers the following:
A/B testing module that lets you compare different variations of emails and select the most optimal one.
Segmentation on attributes, such as age, gender, and location, to help you create customer lists.
Date-based email automation for events such as birthdays and anniversaries.
Social media management for Facebook and Instagram campaigns.
Landing page designer to create web pages for sign-up requests.
We’ve included Mailchimp in this article for the breadth of email marketing automation and social media marketing it offers in the free version.
Pros: Capterra reviewers find Mailchimp easy to set up and use. They like its detailed reporting functionality. They also like the breadth of email marketing features in the free version, with different email types such as for cart abandonment, welcoming new users, and birthdays.
Cons: While reviewers like the number of template options, they feel that the templates could be more fashionable and appealing.
Cost to upgrade: The free version supports up to 2,000 subscribers and lets you send up to 12,000 emails per month. If you need to manage more subscribers or emails, you need to upgrade to one of the following plans:
Grow: Starts at $10 per month for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited emails. The pricing goes up if you need to add more subscribers.
Pro: Charges you a premium over the “Grow” plan. This plan charges an additional $199 per user (over the Grow plan) for access to premium support, advanced segmentation, comparative reports, and multivariate testing features.
