Email Marketing Services for Your Small Business

Earlier, in my article “Start Email Marketing Right Now”, I wrote about why you should start using email marketing to help your small business. If you were inspired and wanted to start right away, you probably would have wondered where and how to start.
There are certain basics of email marketing that you should be familiar with. For example, collecting email addresses, preparing and sending email campaigns and analyzing campaign results are key aspects that you should know about. I will not discuss those in this article though and will save them for the future.

Instead, I want to run a list of email marketing service providers and give information about their pricing and free trial options. You can register and find how they work hands on. By experimenting with trial accounts you can become familiar with the features email marketing service providers offer. You will also find tons of help and tutorials that will guide you through running an email marketing campaign. I am sure you will find the email marketing solution that fits your needs in no time.

Here is the list in alphabetical order.

AWeber has an entry-level subscription which is $19 month and includes up to 500 subscribers. You can send as many emails as you want. If your subscribers exceed 500 you get charged extra. There is a 30-day money back guarantee and also discounts for non-profit organizations and students.

Benchmark Email offers a 30-day trial period during which you can send 250 emails and use all the available features for free. The regular pricing starts with a $9.95/month plan which includes up to 600 emails per month. There is also 25% discounts for non-profit organizations.

Big Response has a 30-day trial which allows you to send a maximum of 100 emails and add as many contacts as you like. The lowest paid plan starts at $10/month with a 500 emails/month allowance.

Boomerang charges by email volume and the smallest plan starts at $9.95/month for up to 500 emails. When you sign up you get 100 free email credits. There are no contracts or commitment and you can upgrade or downgrade your subscription as you wish.

Campaigner plans start at $10/month. With this plan you can have up to 500 contacts and can send unlimited emails per month. If you want to try the service, you can sign up for the 30-day trial account without a credit card. This will let you subscribe up to 100 contacts and send 500 emails.

Constant Contact prices are monthly and are based on the number of email addresses in your contact list. There is no restriction on the number of emails you can send. The smallest standard pricing plan starts at $15/month and allows up to 500 contact emails. There is a 60-day free trial period which will restrict you to a maximum of 100 email addresses, but you can send as many emails as you want.

ContactPro service plans are based on number of subscribers and let you send unlimited emails. The free plan offered is good for up to 100 subscribers.

EliteEmail charges you only for the emails you send. Fees start at $10 for 1,000 email credits, which translates into 1 cent per email. You get 1,000 free email credits when you sign up.

GetResponse lets you sign up for free and use the service without being charged if you have a contact list of up to 10 subscribers. When you go over 10 recipients it costs at least $18 per month. Non-profit organizations get a 20% discount.

iContact During a 15 day free trial period, you can send 500 messages to up to 250 subscribers. After that you start paying $9.95 per month for up to 250 contacts. Basic plans include sending up to six times your subscriber limit. Non-profit organizations get 20% off.

Jangomail offers an entry-level plan for $30 per month which allows you to send up to 1,000 emails in a month. You can test the service by a free trial account. You can access all the features but can send up to 50 test emails.

Mad Mimi offers a totally free subscription plan that allows up to 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $8 per month with a limit of 500 contacts and unlimited emails. Mad Mimi is a monthly service and can be upgraded, downgraded or canceled any time. If you cancel, you’ll be billed for the current month only, then billing stops.

MailChimp has a forever free plan that allows up to 500 subscribers and lets you send up to 3,000 email messages a month. When you exceed 500 subscribers you start to pay $30 and can send unlimited messages. There is a 15% discount to non-profits and charities.

SimplyCast offers a Free4Life monthly plan which allows you to send up to 300 messages a month. When you exceed this email limit you can send your messages to a maximum of 1,000 recipients at $4.95/month.

StreamSend provides a 30-day free trial plan which is limited to 200 emails. The entry-level paid plan costs $19.90 per month and allows a maximum of 2,000 email messages per month.

VerticalResponse is one of the other services that charge by the email list size. You can send unlimited number of email marketing campaigns and the monthly fee is $10 if you have a subscriber list of up to 500. There is also a free trial offer to check out the system.

YesMailDirect allows you to send 500 free emails for 60 days. The regular fees start at $9.95 for 1,000 emails per month.

For more detailed reviews and comparisons of email marketing services you can visit TopTenREVIEWS or Email Marketing Options.

I will be looking forward to your contributions to this list. Comment if you have any other email marketing services you use or know that you think should be mentioned here.