This is for everyone who has an email list, big or small. (And if you don’t have an email list, do you really have a business?)

Before we get to the review, a little lesson on terms:

UI — User Interface — This refers to the screen you look at when you’re using an app or program.

UX — User Experience — This refers to your experience as a user, how easy or difficult is it to use?

Automations — Automations automate stuff. For example, if someone signs up for your email list, they’ll automatically get a welcome email

Integrations — How nicely this software plays with others. Can you connect it to other services to give you superpowers? Can you integrate it with your website?

Segmentation — Email lists can be divided (segmented) into different lists based on different criteria, like purchase history, click rate, or demographics. How well you can segment translates into how precisely your message will match your audience.

BEST: Hands-down Winner: Active Campaign

Free 14-day trial — no credit card required.

4 levels of plans with different features depending on plan, includes 500 contacts; price ranges from $9 – $229 a month

20% off for nonprofits

Excellent UI and UX, everything is just easy, from signing up to importing lists, it just flows. It also comes with great features like built-in automations and landing pages. And get this, when you sign up, they call you! Not to upsell you, but to guide you through the service so that you get the most out of it.

Worst Ever: Mailerlite

1-1000 subscribers, you can send 12,000 free emails

1-1000 subscribers, unlimited emails — $10 a month

Don’t. Just don’t. Signing up is a pain, they ask a million questions, and then you have to wait 24 hours to be verified. And you might not be accepted, they do reject users. It might seem like an exclusive club that you want to be a part of, but once you have access, you think, “This is it?” It has bad UX, the email designer is not intuitive, it feels clunky to work with, and it’s missing fundamental features like split conditions. Skip.

Great for Marketing — Drip

Free 14-day trial, no credit card required

$19 for 500 contacts — no limit on segmentation (which, if you’re a smart marketer, you’ll utilize heavily)

Got an ecommerce site? Drip might be the thing for you. It has good integrations with other platforms, like Shopify and EventBrite, as well as many automations. They have expiring URLs which is great for limited time only offers. The UX could be better, but all things considered, it serves marketing needs well.

Middle of the pack — Get Response

Free 30-day trial

Up to 1,000 subscribers — $15 monthly

For those of you with who like vanilla, Get Response won’t hurt you. Pros: onboarding, is easy, the email designer is great, everything is editable, and there’s a save-for-later option. Cons: There’s no abandon-cart option and the basic plan offers only one automation.

The BIG guy, for no reason — Mailchimp

Free for up 2,000 contacts

$15 for up to 100,000, but only 5 “audiences,” which limits segmentations

It’s got a big name but they don’t live up to it. UX doesn’t seem to part of their belief system. Its names for everything are so confusing: Lists are audiences (of which you can only have one in the free plan), and what’s the difference between a tag, group, and segment? Takes too long to figure out. The designer is not intuitive at all, and the automations take too long to pull together. It’s really popular, but shouldn’t be.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 839)