What Email Service Should I Use?

Answer 8 questions to find the best email service for you

6 followers

Answer 8 questions to find the best email service for you

6 followers

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Launch tags:Email•Newsletters•Email Marketing

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Maker

Picking out an email service is a giant pain in the butt. I get asked “What email service should I use?” all the time. Started noticing every time I got asked that question, I would ask them a series of questions back. Then filter that through my memory of what each email service is good at and what they suck at and give an answer. Figured making a handy little tool that didn’t require my brain and people relying on my bad memory would be a good idea. So - the crew at http://videofruit.com made http://whatemailserviceshouldius.... A few little things… 1. It’s primarily built for info product style businesses. We plan to update it in the coming months to handle SaaS and eCom businesses a little better 2. All of the recommendations are built off of this review series I wrote earlier this year http://videofruit.com/blog/email... 3. There are 5 primary recommended ESPs (Active Campaign, Infusionsoft, Mailchimp, ConvertKit and Drip). There are 100s of other ESPs but these are a) the ones used most by our customers b) the best ones IMO c) the ones that I have personally and exhaustively reviewed. 4. If you’re wondering, “Why didn’t he include [insert any other ESP here] in the tool?” the answer is probably that I haven’t personally had time to review it myself and don’t want to recommend a tool that is unvetted. … Hope this helps you guys! If you have any cool ideas on how to make the app better, please let me know in the comments below.

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9yr ago

@harris_bryan really cool stuff. Congrats on the launch! This comes at such a great time because I'm trying to switch from MailChimp and I'm kinda lost. Really looking forward to those eCom recommendations!

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9yr ago

@nscmnto go Klaviyo for ecom if list size is soon 200k.

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9yr ago

@jcwinter I'm actually testing Klaviyo right now. List won't be 200k soon, but I think the deep integration with Shopify might be worth it.

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9yr ago

@harris_bryan - Why is InfusionSoft recommended based on "live promos" when it's scheduled broadcasts don't use live updated contact segmentation? If I schedule a promo email to go out in the morning it won't include overnight changes to tag suppression (i.e. won't suppress customers that bought after I scheduled the email). This means I have to manually send OR create a complex campaign just to have live suppression... not sure why it would be recommended for live promos.

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9yr ago

Smart Templates by Sarbacane

@harris_bryan Congrats Bryan, as a user I like this kind of approach to save me the hassle of the benchmark process. Did you consider a language criteria (as Mailchimp is only available in English)? Also, what about users who prefer a desktop app (usable offline) or to deal with their email marketing directly in their WordPress instead of using a separate tool? That leads me to recommend 2 different solutions with very different approaches: https://www.mailify.com and a new newsletter plugin for WordPress you'll love: https://www.jackmail.com (I guess a disclaimer isn't needed 😊 )

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9yr ago

I was quite excited by this until i got to the end and it appeared that i had to signup. I was VERY close to just closing the browser, but I opted to click the "no thanks, I don't want them" link and it then gave me my recommendation anyway. I would recommend making it clearer that you don't need to give your email address in order to get the recommendation. Other than that I thought this was a useful, fun tool. Well done!

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9yr ago

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Maker

@angus_halen Thanks Angus! We played around with a lot of iterations of it. Might still change that piece. Thanks for the feedback!

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9yr ago

Ness Labs

@angus_halen @harris_bryan Agreed with this. It's a great tool, but I found the lack of transparency a bit annoying. Except for this, very well designed - thanks for building it!

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9yr ago

Domain Name Inspector

@harris_bryan as a marketeer i think you crushed with signup question about tips. Great job!

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9yr ago

7 Questions

Very slick! Would be quite handy to have a list of the services you're choosing between before you begin though. Still very cool though! 😎

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9yr ago

@darrenmoore488 Yeah and perhaps see them vanish in real time as you go through the process.

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9yr ago

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Maker

@angus_halen @darrenmoore488 ohhhh - that's a really good idea!

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9yr ago

@angus_halen that's an awesome idea (eg removed mailchimp because X)

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9yr ago

I think this is a good idea, though it does seem like it's basically a ploy to get people to... sign up for your email list...

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9yr ago

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Maker

@arkholt meh... Is there a business intent for us in this app? Sure. We're not a non-profit. We ask, "Do you want some list building tips? Yes/No." If you say "Yes" we get your email so we can send you a really good ebook and audiobook. 1. You can say 'no' to that question 2. Once you say 'yes' and see the email opt-in form you can say, "No, I changed my mind." to bypass it. 3. If you say 'no' you can change your mind and say 'yes' on the results page to get the extra material. You get 100% of the promise of the app without entering anything. If you enter your email you get other really solid information including the audiobook and over 20,000 words of teardowns of all the major ESPs (the best on the internet IMO). I personally think it balances lead gen and extreme value at the same time.

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9yr ago

Great idea - I'd make one minor UX fix to the questionnaire though. The first few questions start out with the pro answers on the right and newbie answers on the left (generally). But a few of your questions flip this (The split testing, and live sales questions at least. I haven't iterated through all of your questions). I'd also love to see a page with links to all of your teardowns. No reason not to make that easily accessible to anyone who goes through the process.

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9yr ago

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Maker

@mdavep Good points Menachem! Thanks for sharing.

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9yr ago

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Maker

@mdavep update: got those answers swapped around. thanks for pointing that out!

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9yr ago

Retainly Email Content Spam Checker

So you have just 4 ESP to play with? Have you considered adding Retainly https://retainly.co? At least for those who are price sensitive?

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9yr ago

saasyDB

I'd love to know who I wasn't recommended to use, and what the differences are. I was curious to know who all was a possibility. Beautiful presentation though.

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9yr ago

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