Before we start with the list, let’s put across briefly some of the points to be considered before finalizing on the email marketing software:

Small Business Email Marketing Software Features

1. The software should provide features to improve your email marketing productivity such as auto responders, email scheduling, email template library etc.

2. The email marketing software should make it easy to manage and grow your mailing list.  Features such as mailing list import, bounce address management etc. allow for easy management of list and features like “Forward to Friend” and “Post to Facebook” help you grow the list.

3. Testing and optimization features such split testing, behavioral triggers, action segmentation, conversion segmentation etc. are a must a have to ensure that you send the right message to right set of people.

4. The software should also provide an insight into the core email marketing metrics such as open and click rate and other advanced analytical features such as conversion tracking and past performance comparison.

5. Lastly, look for the ability to customize the software according to your specific needs and to integrate the software with your current systems such as your website’s CRM.

Let’s now have a look at, in no particular order, some of the:

Best Email Marketing Software for Small Business

1. MailChimp – An easy to use, feature packed, web-based email marketing software with lot of focus on social features and integration with other applications such as Salesforce, WordPress etc.  They offer a free account that allows for storing up to 1000 contacts and sending 6000 email per month.

2. iContact – It is another very easy to use web-based email marketing software that boasts of an intuitive interface and strong features.  They offer an all-access 60-day trial.

3. Aweber – Aweber has a very strong focus on email analytics and campaign optimization features.  They charge $1 for the first month as trial price and regular pricing after that.

4. Constant Contact – They offer event marketing and online surveys, which are also sold separately, along with their core email marketing product.  Constant Contact has a very strong integration with PayPal and Amazon that can be very useful for people selling products to their mailing list.  A 60-day trial is available.

5. Emma – They put a lot of stress on making your emails look good and that’s why they make users start with creating a custom design for the email (priced separately based on who customizes the design, you or Emma designers).  They offer a rich feature set too.

6. Benchmark Email – Makes it easy and quick to create and send email campaigns.  Benchmark also has a paid service to outsource your email campaign handling.  They offer a 30-day free trial.

7. Vertical Response – Packs almost all useful features and some great extras such as survey and postcards too but surprisingly misses on Autoresponder.  You can try it free for 30 days.

8. SimplyCast – Like its name, this email marketing system is really simple and straightforward.  On the advanced side, it supports revenue and conversion tracking.  They offer a lifetime free plan that allows storing up to 1000 contacts and sending unlimited emails.

9. GetResponse – They offer almost everything that a marketer can think of with their extensive features.  GetResponse is heavy on making the email and social and engaging by way of video emails and social networking features.  An always free plan that allows storing up to 100 contacts and sending up to 500 email per month is available.

10. Pinpointe – A really powerful email marketing tool that offers best of the behavioral targeting and personalization options to email marketers.  They don’t have a free trial but offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

11. Campaign Monitor – They are focused on designers who create email marketing templates for their clients and if you want to do it yourself then you will need some design skills yourself.  On other side it’s a system that lets you run campaign very quickly.  They let you try the system for free but you will need to pay for sending emails.

12. JangoMail – This email marketing software is meant for power users.  It is extremely feature rich with enterprise grade integration capabilities.  They offer a full featured free account that can be used to send up to 200 emails per month.

13. StreamSend – An email marketing software with all the basic features.  They provide you with a private IP address that boosts your credibility and increases email deliverability rate.  They offer a free 30-day trial that can be used to send up to 200 emails.

14. FuseMail – FuseMail offers their own web-based mail marketing software called Campaign Connect as well as a service called SMTP Direct that allows you to send emails using their SMTP servers with your existing email marketing software.  They offer a 14-day trial.

15. Campaigner – Offers free of cost set up and customization for your first email campaign.  Overall, the system packs in all the basic functionalities required to run an email marketing campaign.  A fully featured 30-day free trial is available.

16. eConnect Email – An advanced yet economical email marketing software which boasts of features like RSS to Email that can be used to include your blog’s content in newsletters and integration with Picnik, an online image editor.  They also offer a managed program for running email marketing campaigns for those who want to outsource this activity.  A forever free plan that allows for sending 150 emails per month is available.

17. EmailBrain – An email marketing software that is easy on price and heavy on social features such as posting to social networks and advanced features such as RSS-to-Email, Email-to-RSS, Microsites etc.  They also allow sending text messages to the same subscriber list if phone numbers are available.  A 30-day free trial is available.

18. EasyContact – Living up to its name, EasyContact makes it really easy to create and run email marketing campaigns for beginners.  They offer a 60-day free trial.

19. GraphicMail – A low cost system with some advanced functionalities.  It is very similar to EmailBrain in features except that they offer a 60-day trial as compared to EmailBrain’s 30-day trial.

20. SendLabs – It is an advanced email marketing platform geared towards designers, marketing & advertising agencies and resellers who want to offer email marketing software and services to their clients.

21. Savicom – Savicom is one of the few providers that don’t require their clients to get their mailing lists reconfirmed by asking their contacts to opt-in again.  You can try Savicom for free and send emails to up to 10 contacts.

22. myNewsletterBuilder – A web-based email marketing software that you can use to start mailing, even if you don’t have any content.  Yes, myNewsletterBuilder offers a readymade content pieces (paid option) that you can send to your contacts.  A 30-day trial that includes all features and allows sending up to 250 emails is available.

23. NewZapp – You will like NewZapp if you are a fan of rich internet applications.  The interface of this web-based email marketing software is really fast, like a desktop application.  A limited featured free account is available to send up to 100 emails per month.

24. YesMail – Their small business email marketing software is called YesMail Direct.  It is a modular system with advanced features such as segmentation available as add-on modules.  They have another interesting offering called YesMail Prospector that offers specific mailing lists for different business verticals.

25. Ennect – Their core email marketing software is basic and easy to use.  They also offer software for administering online surveys, events, and sweepstakes and you can use the same mailing list for all of them.

26. poMMo – An open source software that you will need to install on your web server.  Once installed it can be accessed using a web browser from any computer.  It is a free email marketing software.

27. Inwise – Offers basic tracking and segmentation features.  Ideally suited for one-off mass mailing campaigns.

28. Mad Mimi – It’s a web-based email marketing software with lot of focus on sending beautiful emails.  Their library boasts of fresh and tasteful templates and they offer free design assistance as well.  They offer a free plan which is full featured but you can’t request support.

29. Contact29 – A web-based email marketing software that focuses on real estate agents.  They offer a ready library of pre-written emails with real estate related content.

Desktop-based Email Marketing Software

A desktop-based email marketing software is one that you download and install on your computer and use it just like any other software on your computer, for example: MS-Office.  Purchasing these types of email marketing software would require you to make one-time payment.  The support options and software upgrades are often priced separately.  You will also need a SMTP mail server for sending emails.  Although a lot of software allow sending emails directly without SMTP server, you should be cautious about using that option as email services often reject emails that don’t originate from a public SMTP server.

30. GroupMail – Allows sending HTML and text emails in bulk.  They offer a limited featured free edition that allows sending 100 emails per send.

31. Email Marketing Director – An intuitive and feature packed email marketing software that offers a library with over 200 templates.

32. e-Campaign – An email marketing software that stresses a lot on personalization.  You can send different file attachments to different people at once within the same mailing job.  A trial version that allows sending up to 200 emails at once and adds a tagline at the bottom of the email is available.

33. SendBlaster – An economical email marketing software with a great feature set.  It also integrates with Google Analytics.  Both free and paid versions are available.

34. Handymailer – An easy to use yet powerful email marketing software.  They offer one of the best WYSIWYG email composer with MS-Outlook like interface.

35. Atomic Email Studio – A modular email marketing software that offers a complete solution to create, manage and run email marketing campaigns.

Have we missed out on any good choice for small business email marketing software.  Let us know in comments!

Choosing the best small business email marketing software

It is no easy task to choose the best email marketing software for small business.  An email marketing software is expected to do much more than just mass mailing a newsletter.  If you are looking for a small business email marketing software, here are some of the aspects that you should look for in the software:

Email Marketing Productivity

A small business has limited manpower and in a lot of cases it is the business owner who is responsible for a majority of tasks.  The small business email marketing software should offer features that enhances productivity and allows to conveniently run email marketing campaigns.  The software should provide features like WYSIWYG editor to compose emails easily, library of email templates, Auto responders for automatically sending follow up emails, scheduled broadcast for scheduling future emails to be sent automatically etc.

Email List Management

The ability to maintain a healthy email list is very crucial for successful email marketing campaigns.  Please check for features like ease of importing list from other programs, single and double opt-in, ease of unsubscribing, automatic deactivation of confirmed bounce addresses etc.

Mailing List Growth

Growing your email list another important aspect and some of the features within email marketing software help marketers grow their list.  Email software, nowadays, are integrating social tools which can help spread the message through the recipients.  Features such as “Forward to Friend” and social sharing widgets that allow users to share the email on their social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can be really helpful in growing the list.

Multimedia Email

To be able to capture the interest of the readers, emails need to be engaging and marketers are now using images and videos in emails.  The email marketing software should provide an ability to embed images and videos in the email content and attach files to the email.  In case of web-based software, check for the image and video hosting space that the provider offers.

Email Marketing Analytics

There is no point running an email marketing campaign if you can’t  track its effectiveness and measure the returns.  While choosing the small business email marketing software do look for features like ability to track conversions and revenue, comparison of past campaign performances, and the ability to track core metrics such as email opening rate, clicks, bounces etc.

Email Marketing Campaign Optimization

All marketers use campaign analytics to optimize their campaigns and email marketing is no different.  Your email marketing software should allow you to test, target and optimize campaigns based on various parameters such as email opening, clicks, forwarding, conversion etc.  Look out for features such as split testing for finding out which type of content drives better conversion, action segmentation, conversion segmentation and behavioral triggers that allow to send follow up emails based on actions such as clicks.

Customization

The ability to customize the software according to your needs is an important feature to consider.  The customization, though minimal, can have a great impact on the campaigns, for example, the ability to add a custom demographic field relevant to the business for running campaign or the ability to customize opt-in confirmation pages.

Email Marketing Software Integration

Integration of email marketing software with the existing programs that you already use to run your business is one very important aspect.  Does the email marketing software offers plugins for your website’s Content Management System (CMS) or your shopping cart software.  Does it allow for generating web forms that you can embed in your website?  Does it have an API? Don’t forget to ask for these features!

Email Marketing Software as a Service (SaaS)

An email marketing software delivered as a service or simply a web-based email marketing software is one that you can use with just a web browser and does not require you to install anything.  Deciding on whether to use a web-based email marketing software or a  desktop based version is a key consideration in terms of cost, effort and skills.  Keeping all features constant, a web-based email marketing software is easier to operate as it does not require any installation and maintenance effort.

Email Deliverability & Spam

A good email marketing software will always ensure high email deliverability.  This is perhaps the most important metric to look for because there is no point buying an email marketing software if it can’t make sure that your emails are delivered in the inbox.  Spam and how various email providers and ISPs deal with it is one of the key factors that affect email deliverability.  The email marketing software that you choose should offer tools to check if the email looks like spam.  It should also ensure that your emails are sent through IP addresses that are not blacklisted.

A general rule for choosing right software is to not get confused and carried away by the endless list of features.  Have your objectives clearly defined and see which features will help you achieve those objectives.  According to eMarketer, in a survey conducted in November 2010, 65% of the total marketing executives surveyed plan to increase their email marketing spend.  This clearly shows that email marketing is going to gain strength only and it is worthwhile investing your time and effort in choosing the right small business email marketing software.

List of 35 best email marketing software for small business.

Google Apps is a fantastic service for small businesses as it provides a hassle-free solution for majority of small business requirements such as email, scheduling, document storage, publishing, collaboration etc.  Businesses, however, continue to use specialized applications for tasks like accounting, payroll, CRM, sales and marketing etc.  With the introduction of Google Apps Marketplace and the availability of business applications integrating with Google Apps, the users will not be required to use different applications.

In this post, we will look at web based business applications as well as desktop applications that integrate with Google Apps and can serve different small business requirements.

Finance, Accounting and Payroll

1. FreeAgent – A simple accounting application targeted at freelancers and small businesses.  It can be used to manage expenses, invoicing, time tracking and tax preparation.  Allows using Google Contacts data for invoicing and exporting invoice and tax payment dates to Google Calendar.  Available as a pay-as-you-go subscription.

2. Freshbooks – A web-based time tracking and invoicing solution for small businesses and teams.  Freshbooks offers several customization features such as using company’s logo on invoices etc.  The pricing is based on the number of clients invoiced using the application.

3. Intuit Online Payroll for Google Apps – An online payroll solution from Intuit, Inc. that allows for anywhere anytime access to payrolls. Payrolls can be processed from anywhere.  Integrates with Google Calendar, Gmail & Docs and allows employees to generate paystubs themselves.  Pricing starts from $39 per month for one employee and $1.50 per additional employee.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

4. Zoho CRM – A web-based CRM solution that now integrates with Google Apps.  Zoho CRM allows for complete Sales Force and Marketing automation starting from lead generation to reporting.  It is free for up to 3 users and $12 per user per month from the fourth user onwards.

5. BatchBook Social CRM – A simple CRM application that differentiates itself with its social networking capabilities.  Apart from usual CRM functions, it allows for tracking activities of your contacts on several social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr etc.  Batchbook offers a free account with limited features and the paid plans start from $9.95 for a single user.

6. Salesforce for Google Apps – Salesforce for Google Apps integrates Gmail, Google Talk, Calendar, Docs and Start Page with Salesforce data.   This solution is not available in the Google Apps Marketplace but it is available for all Salesforce subscribers free of cost.

Workflow & Process Automation

7. Cordys Process Factory – This application allows for creating rules based applications and workflows for data recording, collection etc. using Google Apps.  Small businesses can use it to create workflow for processes like leave requests, time reporting, filing claims etc.  Pricing starts at $95 per user annually.

8. frevvo Live Forms – frevvo is a web form building application using which anyone can create rich web forms.  With Google Apps integration, frevvo connects forms with Google Spreadsheets for saving forms data.  The integration is available for free for all frevvo users.

Calendar, Scheduling and Appointments

9. Tungle.me – Lets you publish availability online and lets people view and schedule time with you for meetings, even those who don’t use Tungle.me.  With the integration, it will allow for scheduling right from Gmail or Google Calendar and sharing with Outlook, iCal and Notes users.

10. Appointy – An ideal solution for professionals such as Consultants, Yoga Instructors, Technicians and businesses like salons and fitness centers.  When integrated with Google Apps, Appointy allows for publishing your Google Calendar using which people can view your schedule and request appointments.  A free (ad-supported) version with limited features is available to start with.

BookFreesh is another similar application that integrates with Google Apps

11. TimeBridge Meeting Manager – This application automatically finds the best possible meeting time that is suitable for all the participants.  Allows publishing and sharing Google Calendar privately or publicly with people outside the organization to view availability and request appointments.  Has advanced features like SMS alerts, phone and web conferencing, delay notifications etc.  The basic version is free and paid versions start from $12 per month.

12. Google Calendar Time and Activity Report – This application integrates with your Google Calendar and calculates and charts time spent on various calendar activities across event and activity owners.  It is a free application that can be used by people who don’t want to use complex time tracking and reporting solutions.

Document Management

13. Box.net Cloud Content Management – Google Apps integration with Box.net allows for accessing and sharing files stored on Box.net from within Gmail and Google Calendar.  It also tracks revisions to Google Docs and the final versions can be easily published to Google Sites.  The service is free for existing Box.net business users and for new users it is $15 per month per user.

14. OffiSync – A Microsoft Office add-in that lets people who are hooked to MS-Office applications continue using MS-Office applications while enjoying the benefits of Google Apps.  OffiSync lets MS-Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 users to save files online as Google Docs, search for files using Google Search and use the collaboration features of Google Docs from within MS-Office.  OffiSync is a free MS-Office add-in.

15. Harmony for Google Docs – A Microsoft Outlook add-in that allows for easily accessing, editing, and sharing Google Docs from within Outlook.  You can open Google Docs in Outlook, share Google Docs as links eliminating the need to attach files and save Google Docs in MS-Office formats using Harmony for Google Docs.  This add-in is available free of cost.

Project Management & Collaboration

16. ManyMoon – A fantastic web-based project management and collaboration application that is available free of cost.  Allows for attaching Google Docs to projects and individual tasks, share Google calendars and use gadget for managing tasks in Google Sites.  ManyMoon is very promising product and has been around since 2008.  I had an opportunity to talk to ManyMoon team and demo the application in its initial stages and it really has progressed a lot since then.

17. Smartsheet Project Management for Google Apps – Extends Google Docs for managing projects.  Lets the users use Google Spreadsheet data in Smartsheet online project management, use Google Docs in the Smartsheet as attachments and view attached MS-Office Docs as Google Docs.  Available as a monthly subscription starting from $9.95 per month.

Sales and Marketing

18. MailChimp – A great web-based email marketing system for small businesses.  With Google Apps integration, MailChimp allows importing contacts data from Google Spreadsheets and Google Contacts for sending emails and newsletters.

19. SlideRocket – An online presentation solution that now allows for using Google Docs data in presentations.  The benefit is that the data shown in the presentation will always remain updated and eliminating the need to update presentations with changes in the data being displayed.  The integration also allows for using client’s contact details stored as Google Contacts to share presentations.  Pricing starts at $12 per user per month.

20. OggChat – A chat solution for websites that routes all chat requests to a designated Gmail or Google Talk account.  The chat operator can access chat using Gmail or Gtalk on any computer or mobile phone.  It’s a great solution for small businesses that want to provide sales support or customer service through chat.  OggChat is free for a single operator.

While the marketplace is targeted towards businesses using the Google Apps Premier Edition, most of the available applications can also be used by organizations and individuals using the free Google Apps Standard Edition.