Everywhere you look, marketers and online influencers are touting the advice:
“You need to build a list”!
Why? Because with an email marketing, you have complete control. Not only do you own your list, but you don't have to rely on Google's ever-changing search engine algorithms for website traffic or Facebook's pay-to-play advertising model. If you want to grow and nurture your business, email marketing is the way to go.
If you don't know how to start an online newsletter or aren't sure why you need a list, read on. We’re going to review five of the best free email marketing services, and why you need to start using one.
The Five Best Free Email Marketing Services:
1. Sendinblue
One of the best free email marketing plans I've found. Sendinblue offers 9,000 free emails per month — which include access to their email template designer, unlimited contacts, and mobile-friendly designs. They also have advanced marketing solutions like automated workflow, triggered campaigns, transactional stats, retargeting functions, send time optimization (which sends your email at the best time of day) and they are fully GDPR compliant. However, due to the nature of this plan, there are daily sending limits and you don't have access to custom branding.
If you need a more robust plan, Sendinblue's LITE plan offers users 40,000 emails per month for just $25.00 a month — which is one of the cheaper plans I've seen on email marketing services. And for a limited time, Sendinblue is offering readers of TWAHW a 99% off discount on their first paid month of service when you go through this link here.
2. Constant Contact
One of the better-known email marketing platforms, Constant Contact offers a free 60-day plan which includes professional-looking templates, opt-in forms, analytics, and their extensive online library of marketing tips and strategies. This platform is extremely easy to use, and you don't have to supply a credit card for the free 60-day trial period. If after 60 days you decide this is the right platform for you — the paid version is only $20 a month for 500 contacts. Constant Contact offers a 30-day money back guarantee on their service.
3. MailChimp
Their free plan includes 2,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 emails a month. MailChimp offers both email templates and the ability to create your emails from scratch. Save emails you create as a new template to use in the future. Other features include a what you see, is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor, subscriber profiles, third-party integrations, analytics, sending plain text emails, and more. With MailChimp's free plan you don't get custom branding, pro support, and many other advanced marketing tools. However, it is simple to use and gives the essential features you need to manage and grow your subscriber list.
With MailChimp, you're charged based on the number of subscribers you have, so if you need a larger plan, the next level up (2,001 – 2,500 subscribers) will cost you $30 per month.
4. MoonMail
With MoonMail you can send up to 300 free emails per month. However, this free plan comes with a lot of restrictions like only one campaign per day, only 10 recipients per campaign, and their logo is attached in the footer of each email. But MoonMail does have a (WYSIWYG) editor, list segmentation, basic support, and they are GDPR compliant. If you're looking for a larger plan, the Starter Plan is $23.99 a month and comes with unlimited campaigns, up to 25,000 recipients, and advanced email marketing solutions like automation and transactional email sending.
5. Benchmark
Benchmark's free email marketing software includes up to 2,000 subscribers and 14,000 emails per month. This free plan comes with (WYSIWYG) templates, sign-up forms, basic drip campaigns, as well as 24/7 support via chat. If you'd like a more robust plan with more advanced features, their medium size plan comes with 1,500 subscribers and unlimited sends each month for $27.99.
Email Marketing Can Be Intimidating At First.
- What’s an autoresponder?
- How do I get people to sign up?
- How do I make a newsletter?
Don’t stress yourself. You can create test accounts on any of these services. Play around with them, send out some test emails and learn how everything works. Then pick the one you are most comfortable with for your email marketing.
Whatever you do, sign up for at least one of these services and start building your subscription list today. Having a newsletter is one of the best things you can do for your home-based business.
Why You Need One of These Email Marketing Services?
Why is everyone saying you need to start a newsletter? Simple. Successful marketing is built on visibility and a target audience — two things newsletters give you.
Getting the Eyeballs (Visibility)
- How many people see your Facebook posts? Right now, 7% of your followers on average.
- How about Twitter? Difficult to say, but definitely not all of your followers.
- Your blog? Well, Google Analytics can give you a good idea, but the short answer is: it varies.
- How many people get your newsletter: nearly 100% of the people who sign up.
Your subscription list is a guaranteed audience. Everyone who signs up will receive your email and will make an active decision to read it or delete it. Only a newsletter can do this. Good newsletters routinely get opened and read over by 25% of the people who sign up. Facebook? Twitter? Google Plus? Pinterest? None of them can offer that.
But it gets better.
An Audience Who Wants More YOU
Newsletters don't just get you eyeballs. Your subscriber list is a collection of people who want to hear what you have to say. So not only are people reading your newsletter, but your audience is already interested in what you offer. Your subscriber list is a self-selecting target audience. Audience targeting doesn’t get better than that. Which is why …
Newsletters Have the Best Conversion Rates
Hands down, the best way to make a sale is from your subscriber list. Your customer list is marketing gold — a self-selected target market who wants more and invites you to market directly to them. All you have to do is give them what they want.
There you have it. Five free email marketing services, and the reasons you need to start using one today. It is never too early to start building a subscriber list.
You’ll Also Love These Posts:
Studies have shown if you like this blog post — you will also love the following articles.
- 8 Bite-Sized Tips to Learn Email Marketing
- How to Develop an Email Marketing Strategy
- 10 Ways to Build a High-Quality, Opt-in Email List
Originally published February 16, 2015. Content updated August 16, 2018.
After working as a massage therapist, flea market vendor, and customer service representative, Jessica Burde has found success as an online marketer and self-published author. Today she helps other stay-at-home moms start their dream businesses. Jessica’s Creative Home-Based Business Ideas worksheet is available as a free download.
This post includes affiliate links. Please be aware that we only promote advertising from companies that we feel we can legitimately recommend to our readers. See our disclosure policy for further information.
Spencer says
February 25, 2016 at 7:46 amGreat article Jessica Burde ! Often when doing email advertising, it is very simple to miss the various email marketing tools that are vital to the progression. Many people think that sending advertising emails is all about having an auto-responder and that’s it. The truth is that you necessitate extra email marketing tools than just an auto-responder to be successful as a professional marketer.
Chris says
February 20, 2016 at 3:19 pmDid you consider http://FreshMail.com ? I recently made the switch and find it to be very easy to use and priced more flexibly for growth. But I haven’t done nearly the amount of research and comparison you did!
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
February 22, 2016 at 9:24 amThat one is new to me, Chris. What is their payment structure?
adrian says
January 28, 2016 at 1:07 pmActually MadMimi does not have a free plan. It’s kind of a test plan for 100 e-mails which is not enough event to get a glue if it works properly or not… I’ll try other suggestions but I’m kind of disappointed right now
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
January 28, 2016 at 1:33 pmDo you already have 100 email subscribers on your list? If not, Mad Mimi is a good starting point offering 100 free subscribers.
SendInBlue has a free plan that includes up to 9,000 emails a month: http://bit.ly/1KI5Ta6
Constant Contact has a free 60 day trial period, then it’s only $15 per month for 500 contacts: http://bit.ly/20vvBrI
Mailigen offers a free 30 day trial period, then it’s only $10 per month for 500 subscribers: http://bit.ly/20vwGzQ
As your list grows — you’ll need to pay for more robust options. But hopefully at that point your business is generating significant revenue, so it’s not an issue.
Suzie Buzzie says
December 27, 2015 at 8:21 pmI love this article! I’m very new into blogging and in the midst of starting up my home based business. I was looking for an email subscription but was very confused what to choose. This comparison really helped. Thank you!!
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
December 28, 2015 at 5:10 pmGlad you enjoyed the list, Suzie. Good luck on your blogging journey!
ایمیل مارکتینگ says
November 12, 2015 at 10:52 amI have done lot of SEO to increase traffic to my blog but never tried Email Marketing because I thought it was useless. After reading your post, I have changed my mind and decided to do Email Marketing for my blog. I hope it will work. There is only one problem for me. How can I get good list of Email for email marketing.
Reply
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
November 12, 2015 at 4:34 pmThis article explains how to build your subscriber list: https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/10-ways-to-build-a-high-quality-opt-in-email-list/ Good luck!
Tony says
May 8, 2018 at 5:36 pmHolly, thanks a lot for this info. I had been putting off email marketing for years, until someone asked me to include them in my email list. Can’t put it off anymore.
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
May 9, 2018 at 1:49 pmHey Tony,
Glad you enjoyed the list!
Yes, I wish I would have focused on growing my list from the start.
Good luck with your email marketing strategies!
Acaro says
August 21, 2015 at 8:23 amThanks for sharing! Now I’m using free trial version of GetResponse and I’m satisfied.
Terry says
September 11, 2015 at 7:03 amAcaro would you be so kind and tell me something more about GetResponse? I want to try software to manage my newsletters but I really don’t know which one is the best (and not so expensive!).
Victoria says
July 22, 2015 at 10:25 amActive Campaign’s free plan is not listed on their website. Don’t know how to sign up for it. Did they discontinue it since this was posted?
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
July 22, 2015 at 1:17 pmLooks like they only have a free 14 day trial now: http://www.activecampaign.com/free/
Constant Contact offers a free 60 day trial: http://bit.ly/20vvBrI
Anna says
April 13, 2015 at 2:18 amFor Mailigen epic free account I would suggest to put this link http://www.mailigen.com/solutions/free-mailing because only with this landing page you can actually sign up for Epic Free account.
Unfortunately regular sign up wont work as it will be for paid customers.
Please make the changes to not to confuse potential users.
Thank you.
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
April 13, 2015 at 11:36 amThanks Anna – I’ve updated the link.
Leiann Lynn Rose Spontaneo says
April 3, 2015 at 7:01 pmThanks for the article! It’s nice that there are people out there who know just how poor some people are so they offer free things to get us started. I hope one day I may be able to pay it forward.
Luke says
February 16, 2015 at 2:39 pmTry http://growmail.co.uk they have free account and great templates
Phil LaNasa says
June 17, 2016 at 12:50 pmI’ve been using StreamSend for a couple clients. It’s not as well known, but they’ve been around a while and the pay-per-email model really works if you have a large client/prospect base and only email once or twice per month. They’re also currenlty running a 30-day free trial.
https://www.streamsend.com
Holly - The Work at Home Woman says
June 20, 2016 at 11:13 amThanks for sharing, Phil.