12 Best Drip Email Marketing Tools for Small Business (2024 AI Edition)

Last year I invested most of my time learning analytics and social media the right way. Now focused to learn more about drip email marketing automation, no doubt, there is a tremendous amount of work involved in creating and scheduling drip email campaigns, ensuring that the campaign is deployed in the right way to get ROI.

How about smart ways to go with managing email campaigns? With the influx of drip email marketing tools and automation tools, this year I tried the below mentioned seven popular marketing tools.

1.Aweber

Aweber: Let’s have the oldest email marketing services provider first, Aweber is the original autoresponder from last decade, now having more than 100,000+ customers throughout the world.

With the help of this email marketing tool, you can:

• Automate your email marketing efforts
• Create newsletters made with the available pre built template library and send bulk emails
• Analyze the performance of your email campaigns.
• Create an email list and extract data on it. emails

Pricing

The pricing of this email marketing service is divided into two plan free and pro and it is based on the number of subscribers you have. 

• Hosting and emailing a list containing up to 500 subscribers: $19 per month
• 501 to 2,500 subscribers: $30 per month
• 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers: $50 per month
• 5,001 to 10,000 subscribers: $70 per month
• 10,001 to 25,000 subscribers: $150 per month

Pros

• Keeping your email lists organized is easy with this email marketing software where you can create your own rules 
• The template repository is huge
• Offers incredible support options in form of articles, videos, and podcasts
• The email templates are responsive

Cons

• It is a pricey option in terms of the features it offers. Also, I don’t like that even unsubscribed emails get added to your total monthly subscribers. 
• The interface seems to be outdated and some of their templates are way too old school. 
• They lack some of the very basic advanced email marketing features such as A/b testing. 

Who should use Aweber?

Aweber is the best for small businesses that need a simple marketing automation tool with not so advanced features. Although it is not the best in the market still it has features and tools you need that will prove beneficial for new marketers.

The reason I would suggest this marketing service to anyone would be for its outstanding customer support that is worthwhile for anyone just starting out. Aweber doesn’t offer anything that is exceptional when compared to other peers.

Update: Aweber is GDPR and CCPA compliant as per their website “AWeber is already self-certified with both the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, and we comply with lawful transfers of EU/EEA personal data to the U.S. as per our Privacy Shield Certification.”

A detailed review of Aweber and its alternatives can be found here and a comparison of Aweber vs Mailchimp.

2.GetResponse

GetResponse: Another popular email marketing and drip email automation platform which is available as an app for iOs and Android users lets them create plain text emails and send them, preview html newsletter and view detailed reports of email campaigns (email open rate, bounce rate, click report, etc).

It also has more than 100+ integrations available! Sounds pretty interesting?

This tool offers the following features: 

• Email marketing
• Landing page builder
• An in-built CRM
• Webinar hosting landing pages
• E-commerce features
• Advanced automation
• Personalization emails

Pricing

There are four Getresponse plans:

• Basic — $19 per month for sending an unlimited number of emails to up to 1,000 subscribers
• Plus — starting at $59 per month for up to 1000 subscribers
• Professional — starting at $119 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers
• Max — $1099 per month

Pros

• GetResponse is one of the best email marketing software when it comes to advanced and complex automation.
• When you pay yearly or two-yearly then the overall cost is a lucrative deal. 
• The A/b and spam testing with GetResponse is fairly done and at an affordable price
•  The sales funnels and webinar functionality is like an added bonus as you do not get it with every email marketing tool. It is a great tool for business owners who wants lead generation. 

Cons

• Getresponse is not cheap and doesn’t offer any free email marketing services. 
• The analytics may be somewhat hard to decipher

Who should use GetResponse?

GetResponse is a great email marketing service if you want to capture leads as well as nurture them.

The added functionality of webinars and eCommerce features make it even more powerful and worthwhile.

It is a great option for whoever is looking for an all in one marketing service that offers sophisticated automations because Getresponse is the way to go. 

Update: Getresponse is completely free, with features such as email marketing tools, landing pages, and forms for subscribers upto 2000 emails. There are many inexpensive options for small business entrepreneurs who want to jumpstart their email marketing efforts at an affordable or, better put, no price.

Click this link to find more about the feature set offered in this free plan.

3.Drip

Drip: Drip is the new entrant in the email marketing space market and places itself with “more than a basic email marketing tool”. Drip email marketing service is a cloud based solution and caters to the needs of ecommerce businesses.

It has many useful features, and it stands out from the other tools because it’s a complete email marketing tool; having easy to make drip email automation workflow, list management, end-to-end email tracking, subscriber engagement activity monitoring, segment builder, and more.

Drip also has built-in integrations available for instant import of email subscribers and tracking of subscribers from eCommerce platforms.

Drip email marketing service features in a glance:

• Marketing automation
• Personalization based on the unique customer journey
• Marketing for several platforms that include emails, texts, and social media
• Reporting and Analytics
• Split testing
• Lead scoring

Pricing

Drip – email marketing providers offer a plan at $39 for upto 550 subscribers where you can send unlimited emails.  $29 for upto 2000 subscribers.

Drip doesn’t have specific plans they have a draggable widget where you can see the pricing based on your number of subscribers. 

Pros

• Drip is visually pleasing and at the same time easy to setup
• The automation features are good 
• Range of integration and features for ecommerce businesses

Cons

• The email templates are limited
• A pricier option 

Drip is best for?

If you own a website where you have high amounts of traffic then Drip is a great option.

The automation of this email marketing service and list management is pretty good where you will be able to target the right people to help you scale your business. 

Update:

To be GDPR and CCPA compliant Drip has added several features such as adding checkboxes to opt-in forms, drafting consent copy and making it available wherever needed, sending double opt-in forms to the customers and many more.

You can check the features right here.

Read a review of Drip email automation and comparison of drip email automation software.

4.Encharge.io

If you are a startup, then your marketing needs are slightly different from other businesses. Keeping this fact in mind, with encharge.io you’ll get features specifically meant for startups and digital agencies, especially for email marketing.

It’s a customer relationship management tool with marketing automation and lead nurturing. This tool is designed to make the targeting and marketing processes easy for start-ups. This tool’s one unique feature is the trial Conversion for Startups that help convert free users to paying customers. The pricing starts at $49 /month for up to 0-2000 subscribers.

Some of the features of this tool are:

• User profiles
• User segments
• Broadcasts
• A/b split testing
• Flow builder
• Lead scoring
• Website tracking

5.ConvertKit

ConvertKit: An email marketing automation for bloggers and online creators is definitely worth trying. 

ConvertKit works on tags and always operates all kinds of drip email automation campaigns. A definite lightweight email tool for starters and new content creators on the internet.

You can find ConvertKit Review and a comparison here.

Let us check out the features of this email marketing service: 

• Email editor for creating impressive emails
• Subscriber management and advanced segmentation
• Landing page and form builder
• Autoresponders
• Reporting and analytics 

Pricing

1000 subscribers : $0 per month

1000 subscribers: $29 per month

3000 subscribers: $49 per month

5000 subscribers: $79 per month

 Pros 

• The landing page editor of this email marketing solution is superb and easy to use. 
• The subscriber management feels like a breeze.
• Reporting and analytics are good enough for beginners. 

Cons

• A pricey option not apt services for small business.
• The email editor is very limited with only 3 email templates. 

Who should use ConvertKit? 

Convertkit as already mentioned is an email marketing service for content creators and bloggers.

So, if you are a blogger and want to run well-targeted campaigns and connect with your audience based on specific segments then Convertkit is the best bet.  

GDPR and CCPA update:

With the introduction of GDPR and CCPA ConvertKit has overhauled their infrastructure and also their data processing operations. Some of its GDPR and CCPA features include:

• Find EU subscribers: You can quickly filter your EU customers so that you can find which subscribers need consent.
• Add checkboxes inside the sign up forms to get consent from new subscribers. The text for the checkboxes is easily customizable so the users can make changes as per their specific needs.
• Right to erasure where on request all the data of an individual will be deleted from the database.

6. Brevo

Brevo stands with basic landing page builder and email marketing campaign tools, with new built-in automation for a marketing team to work upon.

More to this, Brevo has worked upon email deliveries and has a good reputation for email delivery to inbox among online marketers.

The features offered by this email marketing service are: 

• Email marketing
• SMS marketing
• Chat
• Segmentation
• CRM
• Landing page builder

Pricing: 

Brevo is a free email marketing service where you can send upto 300 emails per day right away.

It offers 3 paid plans where is pricing is based as below: 

Lite: $25 for 1,00,000 emails

 Premium : $65 for 1,000,000 emails

Enterprise: Contact with the customer support

Pros: 

• The landing page builder is powerful
• The automation workflow is good
• Pricing is competitive given the commendable features

Cons: 

• Only 300 email/day with a free plan is not enough
• Complex automation is okay-ish

Who should use Brevo?

Brevo works well for startups and small to medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable tool that is easy to implement.

With  Brevo one can design campaigns easily based on different triggers such as clicks, page visits, and more. 

You can read the Brevo review here and a comparison of Brevo with MailChimp is here.

7.Mailchimp

MailChimp: It’s not surprising to know that MailChimp is one of the most popular and widely used marketing automation web apps. Not just great features, with its free API, users can integrate with popular third-party services like Google Contacts, PayPal, Twitter, WordPress, Wufoo and many more.

I am already having my hands-on with Mailchimp for last 2 years and many people started with email marketing with Mailchimp service provider.

A lot of people already use email marketing services of Mailchimp for it’s easy and one of the best marketing automation tools. The thing about Mailchimp is that what it does it does best so finding a tool that beats the performance of Mailchimp is hard. The things that I enjoy about this top notch tool is their free plan that offers an in-built Crm , 10000 emails to 2000 subscribers as well as a pay as you go plan. 

Pros of Mailchimp: 

• The email editor of Mailchimp at far is one of the best. 
• The number of integrations that this tool offers cover everyone from a blogger to ecommerce to business owners. 
• The freemium plan is generous and on top of that you get a built in email marketing and CRM as well. 
• The analytics is quite detailed and thorough

Cons of Mailchimp

• The higher plans become expensive
• The automation workflows are not that easy to understand and implement
• Not a very good option if you want to do complex automation

Who should use Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is an all-rounder tool and offers high-performance features such as a powerful builder, landing pages, and drip campaigns.

The in-built CRM is another feature that has made Mailchimp more powerful. If you are looking for an email marketing service that is all in one, Mailchimp won’t disappoint you. 

Update: With  MailChimp, you can create GDPR and CCPA-compliant forms. All the

GDPR and CCPA fields can be used for hosted, pop-up, embedded or landing page signup forms and then enabled with MailChimp’s API.

Another amazing year in review by @MailChimp https://t.co/R0Aeoh8RdC Most impressive stat, IMO, 265 objects printed by their @MakerBot

— Joseph Flaherty (@josephflaherty)

8.Campayn

With its free account sign-up, Campayn is another email marketing app which I will be trying this year.

This free account allows you to send up to 20,000 emails to 2,000 contacts every month. Impressive!

Campayn specializes in Email Marketing campaigns that send up to 100% daily email messages to thousands of email subscribers at the same time.

Pricing: 

• Free Trial – Free signup is available
• Basic – Send 15000 emails to 3000 contacts at the cost of $19 per month
• Unlimited – Send unlimited emails to 3000 contacts at cost of $35 per month

Pay as you go is perfect if you don’t send emails frequently. Get contacts that never expire and use them as you need them.

Pros

• Quickly send outbound emails and create personalized emails
• Easy to use interface
• Affordable option if you’re a small business

Cons

• If complex automation is what you’re looking for then Campayn is not the right tool
• The customer support is not good. 

Who should be using Campayn?

Campayn is a great option for micro-merchants and small businesses who might want a simple automation with simple emails.

This email marketing service has a simple learning curve so one will not feel overwhelmed with complex features.

9.iContact

iContact: It’s 99% delivery rate sets it apart from its competition and it has emerged as the best tool to engage, educate, and retain your valued customers with effective email marketing campaigns. Perfect your online marketing strategy with advice from the experts, and leverage the email marketing technique to drive advertisements to potential customers.

iContact also has an official app for iPhone or iPad which lets you manage, send and track emails and clicked reports.

@MaruxaMurphy Check out aweber.com and icontact.com – these have best delivery and lowest prices.

— Alexis Neely (@AlexisNeely)

Pricing

iContact is available in two plans Base and pro. The base plan is priced at $30 per month for 500 subscribers.

The pro plan comes at $27 per month for the same number of subscribers. The pricing changes and it is based on the number of subscribers.

In terms of social media integrations iContact is much better than its peers so a great option for managing the social media marketing channels. 

iContact offers the fundamental features that every basic email marketing service does:

• Drag and drop editor
• Reporting tools 
• Email analytics
• Segmentation tools 
• A/B testing
• Salesforce compatibility

Pros: 

• The 30 day free trial is generous
• The email templates repository has 700 design to choose from
• Social media integrations are impressive
• Split testing with every plan 

Cons: 

• You need to pay extra price for integrating Google analytics in basic plan

Who should use iContact?

iContact is a great plus for small businesses as well as professional internet marketers Also if you are someone who does not want complex automation but wants simple ones then iContact knows how to do it.

You can use this tool to optimize your simple campaigns and get the best out of it. Connect with the customer service team in case you need help.

10. Vertical Response

Vertical Response: Marketing your business online, especially using email marketing services should be easy, quick and effective.

You must be able to build emails in minutes using helpful templates, and also find powerful yet simple stats to demonstrate ROI.

That’s exactly what the Vertical Response email service does. You can also check the comments on various review sites.

11. Constant Contact

Constant Contact: Another oldest and most popular email marketing services company, Constant Contact has helped millions of companies reach their customers.

A tool for AI content generation has been launched by Constant Contact for email and SMS communication. This omnichannel AI generator tool is beneficial for small businesses, enabling them to input a few keywords related to their idea and generate message content ideas automatically.

The service also lets them collect, promote and track events, and also publish listings and promote promotions and offers on social media sites.

This innovative service now helps you find new customers, drive repeat business, and generate referrals.

Update:  Campayn, Vertical Response, constant contact, and icontact are all GDPR and CCPA compliant, so one does not have to worry about violating the new guidelines.

All these applications are providing valuable features to take care of the new data protection laws.

Let me know in the comments below if I have missed any of your favourite apps?

12 Best Drip Email Marketing Tools for Small Business (2024 AI Edition)

• 1Top 12 Drip Email Marketing Tools
• 2Our Observation
• 3FAQs