Building a list should be your number one priority when building an Internet business. Email marketing is still the most effective online marketing strategy today. It still works better than social media and SEO.

Using email automation tools is the best way to stay in touch with your prospects and customers. A good email marketing system will build your list automatically and automate your email follow up at a schedule you set. It will capture your visitors' email addresses through a web form.

Email automation tools include autoresponders, software that automatically responds to an email it receives at a specific email address.

But today, email automation systems do much more than that.

Some of the most popular email automation systems today include ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, and MailChimp.

So which email automation service is the best?

With many email marketing tools available today, which one should you use?

Which email service provider is best for you depends on your unique needs. It depends on the number of subscribers you plan on getting, on your experience (beginner or advanced marketer), the number of products you're promoting, your audience, and your budget. You want a good system that will automate your email marketing but you don't need to pay extra for features you won't use.

But first, find out why it's important to choose a good email marketing service from the start

If you're serious about Internet marketing, it's important to choose a good email marketing service provider. Choosing a free one can cost you time, headaches, subscribers and money. Here's why:

• You don't want to change providers after you built a large list and set up a lot of email marketing campaigns and email messages.
• It's time-consuming to set up a bunch of campaigns and messages again with a different provider.
• Most good email providers will require the subscribers to import to re-subscribe because of spam regulations. And you may lose some of your subscribers.
• Also, most free email services will either add advertising to your email messages or at the very least add their branding. And that doesn't help you build trust with your prospects.

As a web designer and internet marketer, I’ve worked with different email service providers for my clients and my own sites. I'll review some of the most popular email automation systems here to help you decide on which one will best fit your needs.

Segmentation will help you send more targeted messages and increase your open rates

Email automation has evolved a lot in recent years. Rather than sending the same marketing messages to all your contacts, you can send more relevant content to your subscribers by segmenting your contacts into different email lists.

Some of the more powerful email marketing systems today such as ConvertKit and GetResponse offer sophisticated features for automated segmentation.

Segmenting and tagging your contact list by unique interests, preferences and behaviors gives you the power to send more targeted, personalized emails. By sending messages that are more targeted, you’ll get better open and click-through rates, you'll connect better with your readers, you’ll gain more trust, and you'll get loyal subscribers who are more likely to convert into sales.

You can also send custom-tailored offers for each list. This is especially useful for businesses (and affiliates) that have a variety of offers that appeal to different audiences.

Automated segmentation will also save you a lot of time. A subscriber can be tagged by an action or event.  An action can be a purchase of a specific product. Buyers can then be added to complementary and to new product funnels funnels. Another action can be subscribing from a form on a specific blog post. This action can be tagged with the post category. And subscribers can then be automatically added to a sales funnel for related products.

Optimizing your business funnel is the number one way to increase revenue and profits because it doesn’t require you to find more visitors and prospects.

Lets look at a couple popular email marketing systems and find out which one is best suited for your needs.

AWeber

30-day free trial.
Starts at $19/month for up to 500 subscribers

Try AWeber's Autoresponders for $1

Here are some benefits AWeber offers:

• Unlimited autoresponders, campaigns, lists, follow-up messages, and newsletters.
• AWeber offers excellent, unlimited and expert customer service that includes toll free phone, live chat, email support. Support is very important – especially when you first start using an autoresponder and need help. And AWeber offers some of the best support in the industry.
• AWeber offers 51+ great templates for newsletter and follow-up design that will make your newsletter look professional.  (NOTE: The most successful internet marketers keep their newsletters very simple and don't use fancy templates).
• Great tracking to track your clicks and impressions.
• Split testing.
• Relatively easy to use. However, you still need to insert code in their forms. (Some of the newer systems like ConvertKit make it a lot easier to create opt-in forms.)
• AWeber allows affiliate marketing.
• 30 day risk-free guarantee.
• AWeber's fee for 2000+ subscribers is lower than Mailchimp's.

Negatives

• AWeber is one of the oldest (most established) autoresponder services on the market. Normally, that's a good thing. And I've been recommending them in the past. But Aweber has not added some of the new powerful features that some of the newer systems like ConvertKit and the updated GetResponse are providing today.
• Although AWeber provides some automation and integration, they don't work as well as the systems from GetResponse and ConvertKit.
• AWeber charges for un-subscribers which makes your cost go up.

Rates

AWeber costs $19 per month for up to 500 subscribers, $29 per month for 501-2,500 subscribers, $49 per month for 2,501-5,000, and $149 per month for up to 25,000 subscribers. They have a 30-day free trial. 

Click here to check out GetResponse.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is great for serious bloggers. It helps you use your list through attractive opt-in forms, trackable data, and simple but powerful automations.

A huge benefit of ConvertKit is that you can track the exact interests and purchases of your audience through tags.

Segmentation is important to send targeted messages to your subscribers.

If you have different topics and products, then you'll want to be able to send targeted messages to your subscribers and buyers. For example, I would not want to send messages about autoresponders to people who want to make money doing paid surveys.

With tagging you can also separate subscribers from buyers and make sure you won't promote a product to someone who has already bought it.

If you send the same messages to all your subscribers, then you don't need this and can go with a more basic system.

Some of the benefits:

• You can keep your list organized with tags and segments.
• You get super-easy-to-build landing pages. You'll save money because you don't need LeadsPages to create landing pages.
• You don't need to know any code to create beautiful opt-in forms or add them in your landing pages. I have not seen another system that makes it that easy to create opt-in forms.
• Integrates with Unsplash to quickly find and place images in your landing pages.
• They do NOT charge for unsubscribers (Aweber and MailChimp do).

Negatives?

ConvertKit is one of the best systems out there today. I don't know any negatives other than the price which is good ($29/month) if you have less than 3,000 subscribers but goes up substantially when your list grows. And it may have more features than you're ready to use.

Rates

The $29/month price is very reasonable to get started but gets pretty high when you get over 3,000 subscribers but that's the case with most providers. (Aweber has the same rate for 501-2,500 subscribers but only up to 2,500 subscribers)

Click here to check out ConvertKit.

Looking for a free autoresponder?

MailChimp

MailChimp is free for up to 2,000 subscribers
and up to 12,000 emails a month.

Benefits of MailChimp:

• You can get started for free (up to 2,000 subscribers and the amount of emails you can send with the free version is limited to 12,000 a month).
• You can upgrade to a paid version as your list and mailing needs grow.
• Easy to use.
• Provides a wide variety of drag and drop templates to help you design your newsletter.
• MailChimp has a free a drag-and-drop landing page creator for their subscribers that you can customize. You can NOT use your own domain name when using their landing pages and they only have 2 landing page templates.

Disadvantages:

• MailChimp is more expensive than most other popular autoresponders after you outgrow the free plan.
• You don't get personal support with the free plan.
• The free plan will show MailChimp advertising in your email messages.
• MailChimp has restrictions about affiliate marketing and has shut down people who are using affiliate links. https://mailchimp.com/help/about-affiliate-links-in-mailchimp/
• Their reporting is not as streamlined as other systems.
• It has limited email segmentation features, customization and flexibility for advanced users.
• Mailchimp has low deliverability and many emails will land in the receiver's junk mail.

Rates

• It is FREE for the first 2000 subscribers but the amount of emails you can send is limited 10 12,000 a month.
• They count unsubscribed email addresses towards your 2,000 contact limit.
• Once get 2000+subscribers, you'll pay $49.99/month and the price goes up depending on the number of subscribers you have.
• MailChimp's pricing plans are confusing. They have an “Essential” plan and a “Pro” plan.  The Essential plan comes with just the basics. And even the Pro plan has some contact and email sending limits and is expensive.
• New plans have restrictions such as email sending limits and a cap on the number of different “audiences” (lists) you can have.
• If one person signs up for several newsletters, they are counted several times. This increases the number of subscribers faster and you'll need the higher-prices plans faster.

Mailchimp’s free plan is not bad if you have a small list, if you don't mind having their advertisement at the bottom of your emails and if you don't focus on affiliate marketing. You won't get dedicated support. And if you're new to autoresponders, you will probably need some help.

There are other companies that provide more benefits for better prices once you reach 2,000 subscribers.

You can check out MailChimp here.

Ready to grow your business with email?

Conclusion:

ConvertKit and GetResponse are great options for serious marketers.

They allow you to send an automated series of emails and personalize email campaigns based on your readers' preferences.

MailChimp is popular because it provides a free option. And although it's cheaper to start up with MailChimp, it will cost you more as your list grows. MailChimp can help you get started if you're on a limited budget and have limited email needs. Only go with MailChimp is your email needs are very limited and you don't plan on growing your list.

Building a list and using a good email automation system is a must if you are serious about making money online.

EMAIL SERVICES / AUTORESPONDER PROVIDERS

• Aweber 
• ConvertKit
• Getresponse
• Mailchimp

LANDING PAGES

Landing page creators make it easier to set up landing pages. They save time and provide templates that are set up to improve your conversion rates. They also integrate with your email autoresponder.

Tracking visitors and conversions is absolutely crucial. You need to know which landing pages are working and tweak or replace the ones that don’t. So, when looking at landing pages, make sure they allow tracking.

LeadPages

LeadPages is the best known system for creating landing pages. It is a great system that makes it easy to create landing pages. But some of today’s powerful email marketing platforms like GetResponse and ConvertKit now include landing page builders. So, when using one of those, it will save the money you may otherwise pay for a landing page creator such as LeadPages .

• 14-day free trial. Plan starts at $25 per month. The pro version provides A/B testing (48/month).
• Provides landing pages, pop-ups, alerts.
• Easy single-click integration.
• 40+ integrations.
• Facebook and Instagram ad builder.

ConvertKit’s Landing Pages

• With ConvertKit you can create beautiful landing pages without knowing any code.
• Their landing page builder provides quick metrics updates for conversion rates and subscriber counts, and you can also easily set up your favorite tracking methods.
• With the data the system collects, you can learn how your audience interacts with your landing page to improve your conversions and keep creating irresistible pages to grow your thriving business. For more advanced tracking options, add your Google Analytics, Segment, and/or Facebook business IDs to connect powerful analytics to your ConvertKit landing page builder.

GetResponse’s Landing Pages

• GetResponse has 100’s of page templates, including landing pages, popup, exit popup, sticky sign-up form.
• Uses drag-and-drop editors.
• Automation templates, scoring and tagging, automation segmentation.
• Track page insights instantly.
• Improve your landing pages with A/B testing and analytics.
• Connect any popular analytics and remarketing platform with your landing pages.
• Provides countdown timer.

LIST BUILDING RESOURCES

• Popular autoresponders: ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, and MailChimp.
• Read my review of some of the most popular autoresponders today.
• 30 Surefire Ways to Build and Grow Your Email List Fast.
• How To Build a Profitable eMail List on Autopilot and Turn Visitors Into Buyers.
• OptinMonster is the best lead-generation software on the market. It allows you to create lightbox popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll trigger boxes, sidebar forms, after-post forms and in-line forms while giving you the ability to A/B test, add page-level targeting, and much more. Check out OptinMonster here.
• Leadpages is one of the best-known tools to easily create attention-getting landing pages that boost your conversion rates.
• Check out this planner bundle to help you plan your newsletters, social media and your marketing.

BLOGGING RESOURCES

• Landing pages: LeadPages
• Domain name registration: godaddy.com and namecheap.com
• Hosting: Bluehost
• WordPress themes: ElegantThemes and GeneratePress.
• OptinMonster is the best lead-generation software on the market. It allows you to create lightbox popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll trigger boxes, sidebar forms, after post and in-line forms while giving you the ability to A/B test, add page-level targeting, and much more. Check out OptinMonster here.

Disclaimer: I only recommend products I believe in. If you purchase a product through a referral link, I will get a commission. It won’t cost you a dime extra, and it helps keep this blog going.