Getresponse vs Mailchimp vs AWeber vs Convertkit

Email marketing is the go-to method for businesses and entrepreneurs for building and growing their ventures. If you are looking to have a successful email marketing campaign, you have a number of options. And here we decode which one is the best by analyzing GetResponse vs Mailchimp vs AWeber vs Convertkit.

Understanding Email Marketing 

Before we dive into the analysis, we need to understand what exactly email marketing is. It is sending commercial emails to the users that have signed up for an email list and are eager to receive emails from that business, entrepreneur, etc. 

It performs a lot of functions such as building a brand via a newsletter, driving sales, sending information, promotional, etc. According to Direct Marketing Association(DMA), email marketing generates an average return of $42 for every $1 spent on marketing.

When it began, email marketing was all about mass email campaigns. Since then it has come a long way and now focuses on personalization. It allows businesses to build personal terms with their existing and potential customers. What makes email marketing so popular is its cost-effectiveness. 

Above is an example of one of the best email marketing campaigns. It is by Uber, and it has a very clear call-to-action and is very concise and effective. If a subscriber opens this email, it won’t take them more than a minute to know what it is about and another minute to take an action. 

Benefits of Email Marketing

Apart from generating $42 per $1 spent, email marketing offers a lot of other benefits. So, if you are still not sold on getting an email marketing campaign for yourself. The following list contains some more of its benefits:-

1. Converting subscribers to customers – Email marketing is one of the best ways to drive sales and promotions. 
2. Raising brand awareness – The personal nature of modern email marketing campaigns is very effective in creating brand awareness. 
3. Easy scalability – Email marketing campaigns can be scaled to meet your target audience, no matter what the size. 
4. Easy access – Even the most tech-averse people are known to check their emails in the present day and age. Email marketing gives you access to this demographic as well. 
5. Less disturbing – it is less disturbing than telemarketing as the target audience can view the emails when they are comfortable. 

How to do email marketing?

Now that we have covered what email marketing is and its advantages. The next question is how to start doing it for your business. There are multiple tools available in the market that let you create email marketing campaigns.

Some of the most popular ones are GetResponse, MailChimp, Aweber, ConvertKit, etc. 

These are examples of Email Service Providers(ESPs). They provide you with the tools to create, send, edit, monitor, etc. an email marketing campaign. ESPs are needed because using normal internet providers like Gmail, Outlook, etc. is not effective. Gmail, Outlook, etc. are designed for personal use. If you send large bulk emails using these, the chances of them being marked as spam increases. 

Thus, the basic and the foremost requirement of having an email marketing campaign is having access to an ESP. 

The second step is to have an email list. This list is of subscribers that have given you consent to send them your campaigns. These email lists can be generated through landing pages, websites, social media, etc. A user or subscriber has an option to unsubscribe and stop receiving the campaign emails. 

Now that you know everything you need to know about an email marketing campaign. Let us get into our analysis of the best ESPs. We will go about analyzing in a comparative manner of GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit. 

GetResponse

The first email marketing tool in our GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit analysis is GetResponse. GetResponse is one of the most diverse tools available on the internet. It can be used for affiliate marketing, email marketing, lead generation, etc. The email marketing feature of GetResponse is designed to be pretty niche-specific and is easy to use. 

GetResponse Features

• Easy to use and understand interface. 
• GetResponse offers multiple types of messaging such as Newsletters, RSS to emails, and Autoresponders. 
• The ability to create campaigns either by drag and drop method or its HTML editors. 
• Google Analytics integration, A/B testing. 
• Ability to monitor opens and clicks on the email campaign with a geo-tracking facility. 
• Free trial without having to enter any card details beforehand. 

Pros of GetResponse 

• It has more than 500 templates built to suit different purposes with tons of stock images to use. 
• Real-time email marketing campaign tracking ability. 
• Interoperability between different emailing lists. The email addresses can be exchanged from one email list to another. 
• A/B testing of the subject line of emails. 
• The ability to schedule outbound emails.
• Autoresponders are very easy to make. 

Cons of GetResponse

• Automatically creates a campaign when you sign up which might not suit your requirements. 
• Advanced functions are available at a high price. 

GetResponse Plans

GetResponse is available in 4 different price ranges. 

• Basic Plan at $12.30/month.
• Plus Plan at $40.18/month.
• Professional Plan at $80.18/month.
• Max Plan has a customizable price range and allows you to choose the features.

Verdict 

GetResponse offers a wide variety of features at a very reasonable price range. It is best suited for startups, e-commerce businesses. The templates and terminology used can use an upgrade, otherwise, GetResponse is a very handy ESP.

MailChimp

The second tool in our GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit analysis is one of the most used ones in the market. MailChimp is one of the most popular and easy-to-use ESP tools available. It is one of the first email marketing services that most businesses start with and has the largest user base. One of the reasons behind that is the fact that most of its features are free to use. 

MailChimp Features

• Simple drag and drop templates to design your email marketing campaigns. 
• The user interface is simple and provides a clear call to action. 
• Multiple people can use the account at once to edit and create campaigns. 
• Easy integration of Excel email lists. 
• Integration with Shopify, Instapage, Zapier, Hubspot, etc. 
• Three types of A/B testing even for free users. 
• Easy conversion and social media tracking and analytics. 

Pros of MailChimp

• A vast number of templates.
• The mobile app offers on-the-go accessibility. 
• Free for up to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails per month. 
• The paid option comes with features such as Delivery by Time zone and sending time optimization using analytics of past campaigns.  
• Effective and easy integration with other apps and tools such as Excel. 
• Email segmentation is available for free and paid users. 

Cons of MailChimp

• Email automation is not up to the mark. 
• The templates don’t offer a lot of room for optimization and editing. 
• Free version sends MailChimp footer in your email campaigns. 
• Has a list of prohibited topics such as work from home or earning money online, etc. 
• Prohibits affiliate marketing. 

MailChimp Plans

MailChimp comes in four plans.

• Free Plan – up to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails a month. 
• Essentials Plan – $10.21/month with 24×7 support and customization options. 
• Standard Plan – $15.24/month with automation tools. 
• Premium Plan – $304.87/month with complete features and mobile support. 

Verdict

MailChimp is the best suited ESP for the best small businesses and entrepreneurs that do not have a large subscriber base. It is the most used email marketing tool globally and is chosen by users who do not mind letting go of some features to use the free ESP. 

AWeber

AWeber is the third tool on our analysis of GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit. It is one of the costlier ESP tools available on the internet. Although the features that it offers more than make up for the price tag. AWeber has come a long way from its inception in 1998. Similarly, the features have been adapted and upgraded to meet modern-day requirements. 

AWeber features

• One of the easiest to use and intuitive user interfaces. 
• Live chat support available. 
• Wide variety of templates including 700+ mobile-friendly templates. 
• A/B split testing is available for the email subject line.
• Emails can be built in three ways – using templates, text-only emails, and HTML editors.
• AWeber created Autoresponders and is a pioneer of the service. 

Pros of AWeber

• Text-only emails are perfectly suited for users that do not wish to use templates. 
• Email list management is easy and efficient. 
• Automation features are the best in the market. 
• The ability to add and manage subscribers. 

Cons of AWeber 

• Importing more than 10000 subscribers at a time requires approval. 
• Integration with other tools and analytics is limited. 
• The pricing is too high for users with low subscriber counts and small email marketing campaigns. 

AWeber Plans

AWeber comes with two subscription plans. 

• Free Plan – up to 500 subscribers and only 3000 emails per month. 
• Pro Plan – $16.15/month for up to 500 subscribers with unlimited emails and additional features. 

Verdict

AWeber is one of the oldest email marketing tools available and is really efficient to use. The free feature is best suited for small businesses and entrepreneurs, etc. Although the interface is easy to use, the price for the Pro Plan can be a hindrance for many users. 

ConvertKit

Even though it is the last one on our analysis of GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit. By no means is it any less than the others. ConvertKit is one of the easiest and most popular ESP amongst small businesses, bloggers, and people looking to make money working from home. It is one of the newer ESP, established in 2015. Thus, it is more in tune with the needs of modern-day users. 

ConvertKit Features

• Very simple and light templates that can be used by anyone. 
• Email lists can be migrated between campaigns with ease. 
• Simple integration with Shopify, Zapier, Woocommerce, etc. 
• Easy integration with Instapage. 
• Subject line A/B testing is available. 
• Easy analytics of subscribers and their actions. 

Pros of ConvertKit

• One of the simplest designs available for ESP. 
• The best deliverability to all types of mailboxes. 
• Customer support is available. 
• Email campaign automation is one of the easiest to set up. 
• The ability to tag subscribers according to their actions to your emails. 

Cons of ConverKit

• The best use of ConvertKit can be made with basic HTML knowledge. 
• It is not suited for e-commerce platforms. 
• Difficulty testing the emails for desktop and mobile versions.

ConvertKit Plans

ConvertKit is available in three subscriptions. 

• Free Plan – Free up to 1000 subscribers. 
• Creator Plan – $29/month up to 1000 subscribers with a few additional features such as list migration and funnels.
• Creator Pro plan – $59/month up to 1000 subscribers with a complete list of features like Newsletter referencing, etc. 

Verdict 

ConvertKit is not suitable for big businesses or e-commerce platforms. It is the best suited ESP for small businesses, entrepreneurs, bloggers, etc. The free features that it offers are more than enough for its target user base. ConvertKit is one of the easiest and most simplistic templates. 

Summary

If you are a business with an online presence or a budding entrepreneur or even a blogger that is looking to start using their skills to build a customer base. Then email marketing is the best option for you. It is not about GetResponse vs MailChimp vs AWeber vs ConvertKit, as each has its own advantages and disadvantages. You should decide what is best for you based on your needs. 

If you are thinking of combining email marketing with the landing pages in your strategy then Unbounce vs Leadpages vs Instapage vs Clickfunnels comparison is the best place to start.

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