You’ve heard it before, email marketing is a must for any mission-driven organization seeking to engage supporters consistently. Whether you are new to email marketing or a veteran looking to improve your email marketing efforts, this post will help you find the best email marketing platform that fits your unique needs.
Choosing a platform
The sheer number of platforms that exist for email marketing can be overwhelming. Common capabilities that all of these platforms offer are:
- Customizable email templates that allow you to design an email in line with your branding and communication strategy.
- Analytics to track open rates, click-through rates and overall newsletter success
- Responsive for mobile devices and tablets
- Integration with your social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+
- Personalization with your contact’s name in the subject line and throughout the email
- Email sign up integration with your website
Below is a list of our favorite platforms and the unique benefits of each. You can decide which platform works best with your mission and campaign goals in mind.
Most Flexible
MailChimp: We have extensive experience using MailChimp and we love it! One of our favorite features about MailChimp is that it is FREE for up to 2,000 subscribers. We understand that buying software and tools can get very expensive very quickly. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money but still have great value in an email platform then MailChimp is the perfect service for your cause. One of the great tools that MailChimp has is the inbox checker. Using their inbox checker, you can see what your email is going to look like in any browser and email service before you send it. Being able to test each email before you send it is great practice as there are so many email providers available for people to use and the same email can look completely different using different services. MailChimp has many other special features as well, however, several of them do require an extra fee.
Best Value
Constant Contact: Constant Contact has many capabilities past the expected tools that most email services have. It has a toolkit where you can create a survey, integrate with social media, plan an event, collect donations and much more. This toolkit can be used in a very productive way so that you are able to integrate all aspects of the email process while not overwhelming your newsletter subscribers with multiple emails. It also can save you valuable time by being able to do everything in a single platform. One negative of Constant Contact is that you can only fully customize your designs if you want to pay CC to build the custom email design for you. If not, you need to use their drag and drop tools to create your design. We have been able to create nice emails with this, but it does limit your options if you don’t want to add another cost into the mix.
Best CRM Integration
ExactTarget: This platform is powered by Salesforce. If you already have a Salesforce partnership for your cause then you already have access to their email capabilities with great tools at your disposal. If you do not have a Salesforce partnership and are becoming in need of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool, Salesforce is a great choice. Their email capabilities are only one small part of their overall service offerings. On the other hand, if you do not have a Salesforce partnership and are not ready to launch into one, ExactTarget probably isn’t the email service you will want to use.
Best for Engagement
Benchmark Email: Benchmark Email performs all of the normal functionality of an email marketing platform wonderfully but a unique feature Benchmark has is the ability to add video to your email through their drag and drop email templates. Video allows you to be creative with your email. The recent addition of videos to Twitter and the self playing videos on Facebook can increase your organization’s visibility if you take advantage of social sharing icons throughout your email. Being able to have video in your emails could be a huge advantage to engage your audience.
Best for Nonprofits
Emma: Emma is unique and we recommend it because they have a nonprofit package that is designed specifically with your organization in mind. They offer features specifically tailored to nonprofits such as easily integrating donations and listing upcoming events. They also have a highly rated customer service team who are willing to help you create your email. Emma’s nonprofit package is great for small and growing organizations as you receive 20% off every bill! The ease of use and discounts make Emma an attractive platform. However, if price is your main concern Emma may not be the right choice as it can be pricier than some of the other platforms on the list, such as MailChimp, without the discount.
Best Analytics and Measurement
Pinpointe: We mentioned that most platforms have analytics corresponding to your email campaign but Pinpointe does a great job of providing that data in real time including heat maps to see where the most clicks are happening throughout your newsletter or campaign. Being able to measure the results of your campaign is hugely important to improving your plan for the next email. Pinpointe allows you to see advanced insights into your email campaign such as a top performing domain report, building a digital footprint for each contact and detailed SPAM activity reports. These reports can immensely help your strategy.
There are of course other options then what we have listed here, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, which can make selecting a provider a stressful decision. The best first step is to clearly define your audience and set SMART goals. We hope this helps in your marketing efforts but as always, if you have any questions or just want to chat we would love to hear from you.
