TGL Tested: Our Takes on Email Marketing
ICYMI: TGL Tested is our new series exploring the newest and trendiest digital marketing tools for tasks, including skills such as video editing, post-scheduling, and website design. We’ve tested them so you don’t have to, so you’ll know what’s worth trying and what can be ignored.
This week, we’re diving into the realm of email marketing, what we use, and how we use these tools. At TGL, each team member has a unique work style tailored to their roles and client's goals, so strap in while we spill the tea!
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the top email marketing platforms, known for its user-friendly software that simplifies creating automated campaigns. With affordable pricing, including a free plan for up to 1,000 email sends per month and competitively priced paid plans, it caters to businesses of all sizes. Its features include advanced automation, segmentation, and A/B testing, making it a popular choice for marketers seeking effectiveness and ease of use.
Pros:
Free forever plan with essential features, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes
User-friendly interface
Integration with other platforms like Squarespace and Shopify
Cons:
Free plan drawbacks - Limited email sends, cannot schedule emails with the free plan, not all templates are available, and includes Mailchimp branding
As your subscriber count grows, the cost of using Mailchimp can also increase, especially for businesses with large email lists
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
“I would recommend Mailchimp for smaller teams and businesses. It’s easy to use, affordable, and offers several templates and layouts to suit any marketing need.”
Tested by: Consultant, Erin Mishkin
“I do find that it's cumbersome when you're designing an email with images or graphics, but I like that it keeps mailing lists clean, and it's easy to segment out audiences/customize emails to these different audiences.”
Tested by: Slice Author and Social Media Coordinator, Jade Martin
“I’ve strictly used Mailchimp for our Fresh Squeezed Newsletter; not only is it relatively affordable, but the website includes a bunch of free in-house resources to help you better understand the platform and its tools/features, which is pretty helpful when deciding to try something new with your emails!”
Marketo
Marketo is an Adobe Cloud Experience tool making it another popular marketing automation platform that allows you to automate and manage marketing tasks and processes like email marketing, lead generation, customer engagement, and analytics. It provides tools for creating and managing marketing campaigns, nurturing leads, and analyzing campaign performance. Marketo can be used by businesses of all sizes to streamline their marketing efforts, improve efficiency, and drive better results.
There are a few plans to choose from, such as Prime, Ultimate, Select, and Growth. Pricing is customized based on request and your needs. You can see what your plan would look like and get a quote here.
Pros:
Easy to set up
Great customer support
Salesforce integration
Cross-channel marketing
Cons:
Analytic reports might be slow without a third-party extension
Each new tier to your plan gets pricier
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
“Marketo is my favorite just for the data and tracking abilities alone. However, it is on the pricier side.”
Flodesk
Flodesk is designed to simplify the process of creating visually appealing emails and nurturing customer relationships. It offers a range of features, such as customizable email templates, a drag-and-drop email editor, automation workflows, segmentation tools, analytics, and more. Flodesk aims to provide an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it accessible to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and creatives who may not have extensive technical knowledge or design skills. It's often praised for its aesthetic templates and ease of use.
Pros:
User-friendly
Affordable
Small team friendly
Cons:
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
“I would also recommend Flodesk for smaller teams and businesses. Like Mailchimp, It’s easy to use, affordable, and offers several templates and layouts.”
Pardot
Pardot is primarily used for B2B marketing purposes. It’s part of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud suite of products. Pardot allows you to create and manage campaigns, track and analyze campaign performance, and generate leads through various digital channels such as email marketing, social media, landing pages, and forms. Pardot has three subscriptions: Growth, Plus, and Advanced, ranging from $1,250 to $4,000 a month.
Pros:
Integrates with Salesforce data
Highly customizable to fit your specific needs
Cons:
Expensive
Not user-friendly
Limited functionality
Tested by: Boss Lady, Katie Stanton
“One of its major advantages is that if your company or organization uses Salesforce, Pardot integrates with your other Salesforce functions for better collaboration and efficiency across your teams, making lead management easier and potentially more effective. The downside is that Pardot can be hard to learn and complex to set up exactly to fit your needs; there is a steep learning curve in order to fully realize what it can do, and that can mean a major investment of time and resources. It also has some limited functionality compared to platforms like Mailchimp, and, while there are workarounds for certain features, it may not be worth the effort versus syncing your Salesforce data to another easier platform.”
As a team, our overall consensus is that Mailchimp takes the cake for small to medium-sized nonprofits and business owners. It's the best bang for your buck as you’ll get everything you need with affordable pricing and great resources always at your fingertips. Now if you’re a hardcore Salesforce user, we suggest getting to know Pardot a bit more as your data will integrate seamlessly.
If you're curious about the TGL team and what we do or want to get more familiar with the voices behind these suggestions, check out our team page. And let us know what other tools we should try!