So, you’ve set your site up with a quality web host. Your product and contact forms are charged up.. all systems are go. Now.. we just need a way to communicate with our subscriber list.
Good news (forget what you heard). Email marketing is incredibly cost-effective, with potentially massive returns on investment.. The Digital Marketing Association estimates an average 4300% ROI for US business.
In this article we've researched the best marketing platforms for small businesses and rated them based on our own experience (infact we use Constant Contact ourselves).
There are minimal start-up costs. It's increasing in usage. And you have direct contact with your customers, with lots of flexibility in how you craft your message (such as Star Trek memes - hit or miss?)
- Repeat to remind: 3-4 visits needed before a first purchase - on average
- Converse to convert: more effective than SEO & social media marketing
-- See the FAQ section for tips on crafting emails.
Best Email Marketing Platforms (UK) in 2023:
| Service | Basic Price | Landing Page Templates | Our Rating | Best Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Constant Contact | £15/mo | 240+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 2. ConvertKit | FREE | 30 | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 3. Automizy | £15.45/mo | 11 | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 4. Mailchimp | FREE | 100+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 5. SendinBlue | FREE | 60 | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 6. Active Campaign | FREE | 100+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 7. Aweber | FREE | 30 | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 8. MailerLite | FREE | 100+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 9. HubSpot | FREE | 100+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
| 10. GetResponse | £12.88 | 36+ | ★★★★★ | Check Price |
1. Constant Contact: Loved By Small Businesses 💳
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| £15/mo | £30/mo | 240+ | ★★★★★ |
Superb For Small Businesses 
So you have a cool email hosting provider.. We’re not done yet.
In the ever-quickening space race for the ´best email marketing service´ title, Constant Contact is only a few light-bursts away from ConvertKit.
While ConvertKit is a newer kid on the block, CC has been around since 1995. In that time, they have created very cool unique features, including a unique social media marketing tool, and an event management tool. You get more than just a great email marketing service UK ready for business.
Social Media Marketing Tool
That's right... Constant Contact’s Social Share tool lets you promote your emails via your social media channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Schedule your social posts ahead of time, right from your Constant Contact account. The social media Quick Starter Guide gets you started right away with a fast video tutorial.
Action Blocks
(Yes, that’s a chocolate bar emoji above).. Find AB’s in the builder tab. Create compelling emails stop professional design to get customers to perform
There are different types. Just to name 2:
- Shopify action block - sell items from your Shopify account directly in emails
- Eventbrite action block - let customers buy tickets for events directly from emails
Shopify action block - sell items from your Shopify account directly in emails60-day Free Trial
A cool win-win - figure out whether Constant Contact is for you. Create as many campaigns as you like. Try out the Action Blocks. And whenever you choose to become a customer - if you do - what you have created in the trial will be available for use.
You’re limited to 100 unique contacts. CC recommends that you try this out with your close friends or colleagues, to gather honest critique on your campaign skills.
A no-cost practice opportunity.
2. ConvertKit: Advanced Tools To Skyrocket Creators 🚀
Key Specifications
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £24.89/mo | 30 | ★★★★★ |
Advanced Features - Even On the Free Plan
For the money, you get an immense host of features to promote your online business idea - with excellent options. That’s true even on the free plan: up to 500 subscribers, unlimited traffic, over 30 premium landing templates, an unlimited number of signup forms/customizable CTAs, email broadcasts, and the subscriber tagging feature.
Top Tip: You won’t get the integration tools on this plan.
Get Every Advanced Feature On the Next Plan Up
ConvertKit doesn't mess around with lots of fiddly tiers that all look roughly the same… No, it’s very cut-and-dry. Even if you try it out for free, you get great starter features that can serve many creators well
There is no time limit on the free plan. But price points increase based on how many subscribers you want to be able to manage on your list. Whatever number you choose, you gain free migrations, reporting tools, visual automation funnels, automated email sequences - to name a few..
Scotty, that’s a lot of fire power.
But, Direct Support Is Limited
Customer support is available 7 days a week, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. Unfortunately, they do not offer phone support, but you can directly email them at help [at] convertkit.com or support [at] convertkit.com.. Alternatively, grab help in the automated chat account window.
3. Automizy: Fast Automations 🤖
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| £15.45/mo | £24.89/mo | 11 | ★★★★★ |
Automation Features
Another relative newcomer. This stellar email marketing service is making strong headway.. As the name suggests, you’ll find powerful automated workflow features that connect your marketing channels efficiently.
The Automation Builder looks like a workflow diagram. Connect a visual “blocks” of actions. Arrange a flow system for them, based on link clicks, what email has been sent, and so on. Overall great system - the visuals of a cool web design software combined with the power of systemization.
Easy Drag-And-Drop Editor
To be fair, everything in Automizy is click and drag-and-drop.. Whether you are creating action blocks or setting up the design for a signup form, the system is very visual and intuitive in that way.
No programming is needed. Just drag blocks of information on to your email template, and click away - to edit text and the arrangement. Very hands-on and fast.
Track Results
You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. Likewise, the hallmark of a top-tier email marketing service is the ability to track your results.
There is a full range of analytics available for you to measure your success and errors:
- Email performance metrics
- Campaign analytics
- Automation analytics
- Form analytics
4. Mailchimp: For Growing Businesses 🦍
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £8.58/mo | 100+ | ★★★★★ |
Very Advanced Features For Growing Businesses
Segmentation tools let you organize contact information. Base it on single conditions or up to 5, incorporating positive and negative relationships - so that every contact choice is optimized for every campaign. Target audiences based on activity levels for a chosen workflow (completed, not completed, unopened, etc).
MC has many customisations. Very handy for growing businesses who need to sharpen the razor’s edge.
Advanced Features Expensive
It should be said that MailChimp has been around for a long while and offers a very competitive set of advanced features. However, unlike ConvertKit, to access them you have to pay a steep price that is not based on the number of subscribers.
This starts at £250/month, after which the service will give you additional options - such as advanced segmentation, phone support, and multivariate testing.
Must Disclose Privacy Policy
Some people have gone off MailChimp due to the need for privacy policy disclosures. It’s up to you to make sure that your mailing list and newsletter activities are compliant with EU/Swiss Privacy Shield laws. For those located in the UK, you must make it very clear that you keep all data you collect private.
Can get a bit complicated, but here is a guide that runs you through the process.
5. SendinBlue: Budgeter’s Choice 👓
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | FREE | 60 | ★★★★★ |
*Coronavirus Offer - 1000 Emails
Normally, SendinBlue offers 300 emails a day on the free plan.
In what the review team considers a sign of good customer service, they have offered to more than triple this - to 1000 per day - in recognition of the challenges people are facing as a result of the coronavirus.
Generous Free Plan - Unlimited Contacts
You have to settle for a lack of advanced features on the free plan, which is pretty much the trend with every premium email marketing service tool.
Where SendinBlue stands out - in its selling-point - is that it doesn't price plans based on the number of contacts. This is very unusual, and almost means you have unlimited contacts. You have to keep the total number of emails that you send per month at 300, however. This naturally limits contacts.
SMS Marketing
To be a top email marketing service UK - or elsewhere for that matter - you need to do more than email marketing.
SBA allows you to promote time-sensitive, promotional events by sending bulk SMS marketing campaigns to contact lists in your database who have provided their number. SendInBlue also ranked number 1 on our Mailchimp alternatives list!
Personalize your messages based on segmentations. And figure out your success by looking at key engagement metrics.. Possibly the best cheap email marketing service UK wide.
6. Active Campaign: Seller’s/Manager’s Choice 👨💼
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £14.59/mo | 100+ | ★★★★★ |
Awesome Support For Training & Troubleshooting
Because Active Campaign focuses on the selling side of marketing so intensely, they have invested in a strong support and training infrastructure.
As a starting caveat, there is no phone support.. However, you get very close assistance with implementing Active Campaign’s highly advanced tools.
Choose from a knowledge base, email, and a live chat window - note that AC is the only top email marketing tool, so far on this list, that offers live chat - to get your answers hot and freshly delivered to your doorstep, when needed.
Sales CRM Automations
Active Campaign exemplifies the email marketing tool that is much more than an awesome email marketing service.
Create systems that are integrated with your sales team, for example when a new contact subscribes using a form, a campaign will be sent out and your sales team can also be notified automatically.
Put together sales-oriented workflows, such as triggering a task for a particular team member if interest is made in a particular product of a particular value. For example, client interest might trigger the team member to call that customer.
Powerful Organization
You’ll probably have the best in dedicated hosting if you’re thinking of AC. That is, high traffic. For big or medium-sized companies with lots of contacts and tasks to manage, Active Campaign has great visual structures to make sense of the madness.
Slide around cards - containing practical pieces of information - and look at your whole process at a glance. Ensure nothing slips by you.
7. Aweber: Huge Resources, Terrific Support 📞
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £24.89/mo | 30 | ★★★★★ |
Solid Support - With Live Chat
Aweber joins the short list of heavyweight email marketing service tools with support. It also joins the even shorter list of great email marketing services that also have the line chat function.
Oftentimes, the sort of help you want out of your email marketing client is something specific. Being able to quickly get an answer from a real person is incredibly valuable.
Note that operation times are Monday to Friday, 5 to 8 p.m. EST.. That said, stand-up support.
Incredible number of email templates
No other email client comes close here. Sure, some of the templates look a little bit outdated. However, everything is customizable with drag-and-drop simplicity. So, there's no problem with tweaking things to suit yourself
While the advanced features have an upper limit compared to some of the most advanced marketing clients, AW offers a large variety of pre-made design customisations. Quickly alter the look of your emails.
99% Deliverability Rate
Email deliverability rates have to do with a measure of if a sent email reaches the target inbox - or if it bounces back or is sent to the spam box.
It's important to have a good delivery rate as this might affect your reputation. More than this, you just want to be able to reach your target audience. In fact, 1 out of 5 emails never reaches the target inbox. According to Aweber, they have a deliverability rate of 99%, which is phenomenal.
8. MailerLite: The Essentialist’s Tool 👙
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £8.58/mo | 100+ | ★★★★★ |
The Essentialist’s Tool
We've mentioned Seth Godin twice now and counting. Let's see what number we can get to - this is prescient, considering that he is a monster of the minimalist email marketing. A contender for greatest cheap email marketing service - for sure.
If you want to keep things simple, it's all in the name, lite. The editor is drag-and-drop, making constructing a form super simple. Despite that, you can still find automation, pop-up tools, survey tools, and there is a landing page builder. Create eCom campaigns, use tags, and segmentations.
All-in-all, there's a lot of power in this machine.
Related Read: Best Survey Sites UK
Free 1000 subscriber Plan
The review team is always shocked when we see this, as the standard number of subscribers is typically 500. Get permission to email 1000 contacts with MailerLite - for free. You will be given a limit of 12,000 emails per month.
What’s more, they offer live chat and email support 24/7. What we also like is that - the moment you step onto a premium plan - almost every feature is available on any paid tier.
Track your results
A critical piece of capability needed for successful email marketing campaigns.
You are welcomed with an analytics panel that uses various visuals such as pie charts. Using it, you can see how many people clicked your email, how many are subscribed, and the total number of emails sent.
9. HubSpot: A Company Favourite 🖱️
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| FREE | £25.75/mo | 100+ | ★★★★★ |
Free CRM Sales Tools
CRM is short for “customer relationship management.” These sales tools are designed to give your customers an extra level of service and value.
Hubspot are following their own lead. Even if you don't have any paid dealings with the company, they claim you the CRM will be available for free forever.
What’s more, it allows unlimited uses for free, allowing you to add your entire marketing team.
Real-Time Customer Interaction Insights
The CRM has an automatic tracking of customer interactions. It gathers data into the behavior of your customers, giving you clues of when to take action or when to wait.
Use the Outlook and Gmail extensions to easily track the number of emails that are opened and clicked. You can do this in real-time. If you get the free version of this CRM, this shows only the first 7 Days of tracked website analytics.
100+ Super Professional Templates
Grab a plethora of templates, organized into categories. Find everything from monthly marketing reporting templates, to templates for advertising, branding,, agencies, course, and calls to action.
10. GetResponse: Personal Branding Champion 📛
Key Specifications:
PROS
CONS
| Starter Price | 1000 Subscriber Price | Landing Page Templates | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| £12.88/mo | £12.88/mo | 36+ | ★★★★★ |
Webinars
This is generally useful in lead generation. Just make sure you have an awesome wordpress host running that landing page.
Sell a product - with a time limit to the window. Give your audience a taste of a course. Offer paid subscribers a promised live session. This is not available on the basic plan, but you can host up to 100 participants next plan up.. This jumps to 300 on the Professional Plan and the upper limit is 500 on the Enterprise Plan.
If you want to stick to the basic plan, buy this functionality for an additional cost.
Squeeze Pages
The landing page creator, also known as the “squeeze page” creator, lets you generate pages where visitors can submit contact information into data capture forms.
There’s a good range of functionalities here, with the option to test out conversion rates in real-time, though the actual building interface is not particularly smooth.
Related Read: Best Secure Email
UK Email Marketing Buying Guide
Winners By Category 🥈
Emails not Ending Up in Spam Folder
Go with ConvertKit or Aweber - 98.2% & 99% respectively..
(CK even published this figure in a December 2019 report - “deliverability rate”).
Personalized Bulk Email Campaigns
Avoid the bulk hassle with Constant Contact and Active Campaign.
Price
Best free email marketing service...? Send up to a 1000 emails daily - for free - with SendinBlue, Hubspot, or MailerLite.
UK Email Marketing Service FAQs
No-Nonsense Lightning-Round 🌩️
How Do I Bulk Mail?
Bulk mails are good for special promos, sending info to customers, and promoting webinars/new products:
- Choose your email editor
- Create a campaign
- Preview on several devices
- Set a target audience of many subscribers (bulk)
- Check before sending
- Wallah - make sure to personalize the email (subject line, custom fields, etc)
What Is the Best Free Email Marketing Service?
Here, at Hosting Data, we’re experts in free stuff - free attention, awesome free web host connects.. You get the idea...
Before making this recommendation, we feel obliged to mention that just about any premium/paid service will get you closer to where you want to be business-wise.
So... Don't be a cheapskate when it comes to your business.
ConvertKit ranks as our overall best free email marketing service - with SendinBlue at its heels, especially with the coronavirus special.
Do I Need a Website for Email Marketing?
Not at all; not a website, not even a website builder:
- Standalone landing pages hosted by the email client
- Send visitors to social media pages
- Do regular newsletter updates
- Deliver content direct to inboxes, along with optimized sales integrations
- Generally keep subscribers engaged!
How Can I Make My Email List Grow Faster?
Read Seth Godin’s newsletters.. Okay, we’re being half-serious. Point is, learn from the best what works.. There are copywriting courses out there.
Tips:
- Split-test signup forms
- Do contests and giveaways
- Offer discount deals
- Make sure you’re using contact forms
- Offer upgrades to content
- Use social proof
- Use exit popups
- Make better content!
Conclusion 👇
Pick One, Try it Out.
And that’s all.
ConvertKit is the most well-rounded client - and maybe the top cheap email marketing service UK wide around.. Still, there are lots of niche alternatives, depending on your business size, budget, and customization needs.
If unsure, go for one with a long trial period and see how it plays out. Making mistakes - and experimentation - is definitely part of the learning curve.
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