![\"Email](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/problogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Email-Service-Providers-for-Bloggers.png?resize=1430%2C800&ssl=1\")
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This is the third post in our Email Newsletter Series<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n One major sticking point for most bloggers who are setting up a newsletter is deciding what email service to use. There are lots<\/span>\u00a0of different, competing, options out there, and there\u2019s no one perfect solution.<\/p>\n Just in case you were thinking about it … don\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0try to run a newsletter by emailing everyone through your regular email client, using the \u201cBCC\u201d field. If you email subscribers from your own gmail, yahoo, even @yourdomain.com email account, you put your own IP address at risk for being blacklisted by Internet Service Providers if you get flagged as spam.<\/p>\n That means all your emails – not just bulk emails sent to your subscribers but regular everyday communications – could have a hard time getting to anyone. Definitely not a situation you want to find yourself in. You also want to make sure you don\u2019t unintentionally break any privacy or anti-spam laws or you could find yourself in even more trouble.<\/p>\n Most email services have quite similar features, including these basics which really do take away the headache of sending bulk emails by:<\/p>\n What email service is going to work for you depends on what you want out of a service and often what stage of blogging you are at. For instance, having a free or low monthly rate may be more important when you\u2019re just starting out. Whereas a complex array of trigger-based autoresponders based on subscriber activity will be useful to convert your subscribers to become paying customers via an email sales funnel.<\/p>\n An easy trap to fall into is to start looking at email service providers before analysing your own needs and priorities. You can very quickly become overwhelmed by the array of choice and distracted by features that may not be necessary or even useful for you.<\/p>\n Once you have a framework of your own requirements, it becomes much easier to sort through the different features and options to assess what email systems will work for you and whether there is one that suits you best.<\/p>\n The good news is that even if you change your mind at a later stage, it\u2019s possible to switch from one service to another. Most will make it quite straightforward to export your subscriber database to move to a new supplier.<\/p>\n At ProBlogger, we have just finished the process of changing our email service provider. We have used AWeber<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for approximately 12 years, alongside Mailchimp<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on occasion and we continue to do so for my other blog Digital Photography School. We took our time to investigate other email options, trialling a couple of alternatives and working out what will also work best with other systems we\u2019re using. You don\u2019t need to spend as long as we did in this process, but do enough homework to work out what suits you best. I’m an affiliate for the programs we use and the following recommendations include our affiliate links.<\/p>\n The following list is an overview of popular email service providers that we have personally trialled over a long time. Each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses and are suitable for bloggers with different priorities and at different stages. This isn\u2019t an exhaustive list, but hopefully it\u2019ll give you an idea of some of the key options for running an email list. We\u2019ve also compiled a comparison table of key features you can use to benchmark other solutions.<\/p>\n This is\u00a0<\/span>free<\/span>\u00a0up to 2,000 subscribers, and used by a lot of newer bloggers to get up and running. Mailchimp offers a really friendly interface, making it easy to create good-looking emails using their nice templates with a drag and drop editor. The Basic version isn\u2019t so feature-rich as other options, but does offer some neat integration with Facebook and Instagram. Mailchimp charges an extra $199\/month for their Pro add-ons which give you more advanced tracking, targeting and automation.<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED FOR:<\/span>\u00a0MailChimp<\/a><\/span>\u00a0could be a good option if you\u2019re (a) just starting out with email and have under 1,000 subscribers (b) visual presentation and images are important (c) not yet ready to use lots of detailed features like tagging.<\/p>\n ALTERNATIVE<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0You may also want to consider the newer MailerLite which is quite a bit cheaper (once you get past 1,000 subscribers) and offers a few extra features.<\/span><\/p>\n This well-established service costs from $19\/month for up to 500 subscribers, and has slightly different strengths and features from MailChimp.\u00a0<\/a>You can refer to our comparison table below for details. While AWeber\u2019s user interface is a bit dated, it represents increasingly good value for money as your list grows and has useful functionality to take your email marketing up a notch. You can apply tags to your subscribers to segment them, trigger email campaigns and autoresponder sequences. AWeber also offers split-testing allowing you to test different subject line text or message content, even different sign-up forms to increase response rates. Otherwise, the AWeber reporting is a bit clunky to use and doesn\u2019t measure much beyond open and click rates. AWeber do provide good customer service via phone, email and live chat which is above and beyond most providers who just give you an online library of resources.<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED:<\/span>\u00a0AWeber<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is a solid, no-frills option that has worked for many (ProBlogger included) for a long-time. It\u2019s particularly cost-effective as you develop a large list to market to.<\/p>\n \u201cBuilt by bloggers for bloggers\u201d is the tagline of this new kid on the email block. We trialled Convertkit early on and were impressed with the system\u2019s simplicity and recently added functionality which suits \u2018professional\u2019 bloggers. If you want to segment your list in several different ways (e.g. based on what links an individual subscriber has clicked), Convertkit has hosted, customizable landing pages and opt-in forms that allow you a lot of tagging options along with easy to use trigger-based email automations and sequences. However, Convertkit only does text based email. There are no beautifully designed templates here (unless you code it yourself): the focus is on sending simple, straightforward content.<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED:<\/span>\u00a0If you can budget for it, ConvertKit<\/a><\/span>\u00a0allows a lot of power and flexibility, and works very well to deliver a sign-up incentive (e.g. a free .pdf) \u2013 this is integrated with the \u201cconfirmation\u201d email, so when your subscriber clicks to get their freebie, they automatically confirm their email address too.\u00a0It\u2019s simplicity allows you to get up and running quickly and if you are switching to Convertkit with over 5,000 subscribers, they offer a complimentary migration service.<\/p>\n ALTERNATIVE<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0GetResponse offers similar features to Convertkit but with more of a visual focus giving you designed email templates and a stock image library.<\/span><\/p>\n Drip is a bit pricier than the other options we\u2019ve covered so far ($83\/month for 5,000+ subscribers) but it has more features and comes with a money-back guarantee. You can compare it with other options here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 though note this is Drip\u2019s own comparison tool. Ultimately ProBlogger decided on Drip as it gave us the best insights into our readers, beyond email activity. Drip enables us to identify how valuable subscribers are, scoring each individual as a lead and also tracking their activity over on the blog. We can follow up on these interests with very personalized automated email workflows. Many similarly powerful systems require you to hire a consultant to navigate their complexities, whereas Drip is straightforward enough to tackle yourself with great learning resources including a Facebook Group and a supportive customer service team to assist.<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED:<\/span>\u00a0If you have an established blogging business and are looking for a powerful but easy to use CRM-type system check out Drip<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n ALTERNATIVE<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>There are quite a few solutions in this top-end category, but none of them are cheap. Leading options include ActiveCampaign, Ontraport and Infusionsoft.<\/span><\/p>\n Want a handy comparison of the options we’ve used and trialled? Download the ProBlogger Email Service Provider Comparison for Bloggers<\/a>, based on most of the the same criteria we used to choose our email service provider.<\/p>\nWhy Use an Email Service Provider?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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How to Choose an Email Service?<\/span><\/h2>\n
A few questions to ask yourself are:<\/h3>\n
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Which Email Service Should You Use?<\/span><\/h2>\n
MailChimp<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
AWeber<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
ConvertKit<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Drip<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n