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

In this analysis, I delve into the best drip email marketing tools available in 2024. My focus has been on their ease of use, automation capabilities, and unique features tailored for small businesses. Each tool is evaluated for its strengths in creating and managing effective drip campaigns, integration options, and overall impact on email marketing efficiency. This guide serves as a comprehensive resource for businesses looking to leverage drip email marketing to enhance customer engagement and ROI.

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.

Top 12 Drip Email Marketing Tools

The 12 drip email marketing tools in 2024

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.

Aweber has a famous $1 account activation for easy customer on-boarding. This year I am planning to give a try to Aweber. Click To Tweet

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

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

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  • The interface seems to be outdated and some of their templates are way too old school.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.

aweber capterra review

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: 

Pricing

There are four Getresponse plans:

  • Basic$19 per month for sending an unlimited number of emails to up to 1,000 subscribers
  • Plusstarting at $59 per month for up to 1000 subscribers
  • Professionalstarting 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. 

getresponse g2 review

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.

GetResponse Free Forever 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

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. 

drip capterra review

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.Aritic PinPoint

Aritic PinPoint: One more entrant into email marketing and automation space is a product from the Aritic platform. Aritic PinPoint places itself as “full-stack marketing automation platform”. It has pioneered marketing communication automation and analysis for B2B and B2C companies which have slightly different requirements when it comes to marketing operations.

For B2B businesses, Aritic offers Sales CRM with Aritic PinPoint, for eCommerce business, it has more advance multi-channel communication automation to work with platforms like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, and OpenCart. The products that you’ll get with Aritic PinPoint include:

Pros

  • The number of features that you get with this tool is immense. 
  • You can always find something that suits your needs. 
  • A great solution for big businesses who want to increase conversion

Cons

  • The customer service is not that good
  • The features can be overwhelming at some times
  • Social media automation has room for improvement. 

Who should use Aritic Pinpoint?

aritic pinpoint capterra review

Aritic PinPoint markets itself as an all in one marketing tool for corporations and big enterprises.

You can get everything ranging from marketing automation, autoresponders, sales CRM, helpdesk under one roof.

Aritic PinPoint in fact is a great option for large businesses and corporate enterprises.

It is an all in one marketing solution that provides advanced automations and helps businesses to target platforms for lead generation ranging from web to phones. 

UpdateAritic Pinpoint has updated and reviewed its internal data processes to ensure compliance with GDPR and CCPA.

6.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.

convertkit

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.

7. 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.

brevo

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. 

Capterra Brevo review

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

8.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.

mailchimp

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. 

UpdateWith  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.

9.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.

10.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.

icontact

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.

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.

Constant Contact

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

constant contact

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?

Our Observation

Our Observation of all the tools discussed in this guide:

Email marketing servicesPricingFeatures Observation
MailchimpThe paid plan starts at $4.63/moWhat is good?
Good number of integrations.
Very easy to use email editor.
 Generous free trial.
What is not good?
Becomes expensive as you scale.
Automation workflows are tough to interpret.
BrevoPaid plan starts at $25/moWhat is good?
Affordable option when it comes to advanced features.
Offers SMS marketing as well.
Good landing page builder.
What is not good?
 Not a tool if you want a lot of complex automation.
GetresponseThe paid plans start at $19/moWhat is good?
Good for advanced and complex automations.
Advanced features at an affordable price.
You get sales funnels and webinar functionality.
What is not good?
No refund policy on annual plans.
The reporting and analytics could be better.
ConvertkitThe paid plans start at $29/moWhat is good?
Powerful automation and segmentation.
Useful and easy to use landing page editor.
Reporting and analytics helpful for beginners.
What is not good?
Newsletter services not that good.
The reporting and analytics very basic but expensive.
Vertical responseThe cheapest plan starts at $13/mo upto 500 subscribers.What is good?
Loaded with features that help newbies and beginners.
Value for money when you are on their lower tier plans.
What is not good?
The pricing scales up quickly
Constant ContactThe paid plans start at $35 per month for 500 subscribersWhat is good?
Deliverability rates are good.
Good for small businesses.
Event management tools that are unique to Constant contact.
What is not good?
Fewer features at a higher price point.
Aritic pinpointThe paid plan starts at $19/moWhat is good?
 A range of features that are helpful for big businesses.
Good for increasing conversions.
What is not good?
With so many features the learning curve is steep.
Customer service can get better.
DripThe paid plan starts at $39/mo that offers unlimited emails .What is good?
Lot of features for e-commerce businesses.
Automation features are good and powerful.
Visually pleasing and easy to setup.
What is not good?
Limited templates.
Expensive.
CampaynThe paid plans start at $19/moWhat is good?
Good option for micro merchants and small businesses.
Affordable option that fulfills basic email marketing needs.
A lot of support available online.
What is not good?
Not for complex automations.
Customer support not responsive enough.
AweberThe paid plans start at $14.99for 500 subscribers.What is good?
 Good option for small businesses.
Huge repository of templates.
A lot of support available online.
What is not good?
Aweber offers basic features at a hefty price.
The templates and the interface is very outdated.
iContactThe paid plans start at $27/mo for 1500 subscribers.What is good?
Split testing with every plan.
700 templates to choose from.
Social media integrations are useful.
What is not good?
Pay extra to get Google analytics integration.
An overview of all the email tools discussed in this guide

FAQs

Questions asked for Drip Email Marketing Tools for Business:

Which is the best drip email marketing tool?

The best drip email marketing tools as per my observation are:
ActiveCampaign: For small businesses
Drip: For Ecommerce website owners
ConvertKit: Bloggers

What do drip email marketing tools do?

Drip email marketing tools help businesses to increase their ROI by helping them create the best drip email campaigns.

Who should use drip email marketing software?

Drip email marketing software can be used by marketers, e-commerce store owners, bloggers or anybody looking forward to building up their email lists. It can be used to nurture your leads, or get back your lost customers or increase sales.

How often should I create a drip email marketing campaign?

The frequency of creating drip email campaigns depends on the kind of email you are trying to send. The ideal frequency to send out emails is twice to thrice a month. But, if you have ever changing offers or promotions you can send the emails twice to thrice weekly.

How do you create a drip email marketing campaign?

A drip email marketing campaign need to include following steps: 
Step 1. The idea behind your email campaign
Step 2. Draft the content of the email as per the priority
Step 3. The content should be informative/should have a CTA button or anything that can
Step 4. prompt the user to take action
Step 5. Decide the right time and frequency 

Why do people need drip email marketing tool?

Reaching out to your customers, nurturing the leads and  keeping them informed about your product offers and promotions is a tedious task. Marketing campaigns make everything easy and quick.

What are some different types of email marketing?

Popular email marketing types are email newsletters, acquisition emails, retention emails, and promotional emails.

Which is the best email marketing tool?

The best email marketing tool will vary as per your business needs. Some common examples are Mailchimp, Mailerlite, and Activecampaign.

What are things to keep in mind about email marketing?

Do not spam your user with unwanted emails. Try to target the right people for your product or service and on top of that be authentic.

What is an effective marketing strategy?

An effective marketing strategy should follow three things:
1.) Get personal
2.) Ditch the one size fits all approach
3.) Send out emails at the right time.
4.) Keep short and sensible subject lines.
5.) Segment your audience.

What are spam and unsolicited emails?

The unsolicited email means that the recipient has not given the sender the authority to send emails to them.

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

Pritha Bose
Pritha Bose

I am an accomplished content marketing and communications expert with over 10 years of experience in the EdTech and SaaS industries. In my current role as a content marketer, I create engaging stories and campaigns focused on #marketingb2b, #contentdesign, #marketingdesign, #contentmarketing, and #marketingautomation. I have deep expertise in marketing automation, ecommerce tools, email marketing, project management, and content strategy. I have a proven track record of working cross-functionally to build brand awareness and promote products through immersive storytelling and campaigns. Previously, I have led content and communications initiatives for various EdTech businesses and internet products. I am skilled at developing content that resonates with key stakeholders while positioning brands strategically. With my passion for team collaboration and hands-on approach, I thrive at managing freelancers, designers, and engineers to deliver impactful campaigns across digital channels and domains. My breadth of experience allows me to be a trusted advisor to companies seeking to amplify their message and connect authentically with target audiences.

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  1. Did you try Sendinblue and Moosend? I find them more easy to use and have good deliveries too. Sometime, I got banned from Aweber to send email to my list.

    • Ankit Prakash July 19, 2015 at 8:38 AM

      Helen, didnot get chance to try Moosend. But, the website looks impressive. May be later I will tryout 🙂

  2. Looking forward for your in-depth reviews. If you are still considering such services I would also recommend adding Campaign Monitor to the list. Some of my clients have been using it lately and I must say it’s quite a solid and comprehensive platform.

  3. Know the tricks to manage email marketing campaigns smartly. Email marketing campaigns are one of the toughest jobs to pull of perfectly. You can make it easy though by using the easy-to-use email marketing tools like Aweber, MailChimp, Campayn, iContact, Vertical response, Get response and Constant Contact.

    • Shari, I personally think that Aweber could offer you a lot in an email kind of promotion. Even though this kind of marketing is not that easy, I really thought that it won’t just disappear because the idea of sharing your new product info and brand via this configuration is simply fantastic.

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