Journal

11 Best Email and SMS Marketing Platforms

21 Dec
2022
11 Best Email and SMS Marketing Platforms

According to G2, there are 346 tools just in SMS alone

With hundreds of options out there, how do you know which email and SMS marketing platform works the best for your eCommerce store?

In this guide, we compare 11 of the best email and sms marketing platforms available today based on their top features, pricing, and what each tool is best for.

Best for Email Marketing 

Emails are the most cost-effective way to connect with a global audience. Here are six exceptional email marketing platforms that need to be on your radar today.

1. Sendlane 

Best for: Overall

email and SMS marketing automation funnel

G2 score: 4.7

Sendlane is an intuitive platform that houses email and SMS marketing under one roof. This is the tool to use if you want to improve deliverability and have access to 24/7/365 support. 

Start your free 60-day trial today.

Top Features:

1. Pre-built funnels

Choose from 50+ email and SMS funnels built with the best eCommerce practices in mind. 

These pre-built funnels include product recommendations, abandoned carts, post-purchase, and re-engagement. You can customize them to meet your needs easily.  

example of pre-built email funnel in sendlane

Our funnels integrate with popular third-party apps like Shopify and BigCommerce, so you never have to change the way you work in your email and SMS strategy.

2. Real-time analytics

Analyze all customer data in a bird’s-eye view.

sendlane sms campaign reporting

Track your email and SMS performance at a single glance instead of clicking through multiple tabs. 

Not only can you identify what’s working right away, but you can also attribute revenue for each campaign and channel to determine ROI with zero guesswork. 

3. Two-way reply for SMS marketing

Two way messaging establishes instant human connection. 

With Sendlane, you can communicate with customers to provide top-tier support in real-time.

sendlane's two-way reply for SMS

Chat history goes back 30 days, so you'll never miss context when chatting with customers.

4. Customer service

Sendlane offers 24/7/365 live chat support in all plans, including free trials. 

Hear from us in just 30 seconds…or less. 

5. Deliverability 

We also handle your email deliverability with our email infrastructure.

Since you get access to our premium IP settings, you maximize your deliverability rate and quality sender reputation. This ensures your emails are reaching customers and increases the odds of them buying your products.

Pricing:

Sendlane offers SMS add-on subscriptions which allow you to purchase credit bundles with your email plan:

  • Growth Plans: Start at $83/month for up to 5,000 contacts. You get access to all features, our all-star Product Support Team, the SMS subscription add-on, and access to eCommerce Academy - Email Marketing Basics & SMS Marketing Basics online courses
  • Pro Plans: Start at $640/month for up to 50,000 contacts. You get access to everything in the Growth plan, plus custom onboarding, access to our Customer Success Team, monthly program reviews, and access to eCommerce Academy - Email Marketing Basics, Novice, and Intermediate, and SMS Marketing Basics online courses.

SMS/MMS subscriptions start from $100 (monthly) for 5,000 credits, or save even more with annual plans!

  • 1 SMS = 1 credit
  • 1 MMS = 3 credits

Start your free 60-day trial today.

2. Klaviyo

Best for: SMS

G2 score: 4.6

Klaviyo is an eCommerce marketing automation platform known for its extensive features (and steep learning curve). For more info, visit our Sendlane vs. Klaviyo comparison post or our guide on alternatives to Klaviyo.

Top Features:

  • Customer segmentation: Send relevant emails and text messages to specific customer segments (e.g., customers with discount code usage, customers who bought from certain brands) 
  • SMS compliance: Send your marketing messages at only compliant times to create a better customer experience (e.g., make sure customers based in the US never receive texts after 8 p.m. and before 11 a.m.). You can also use Klaviyo for your international customers.
  • Benchmark: Compare your email and SMS performance with other similar eCommerce businesses by filtering industry, monthly revenue, and average item value, among others. 

Pricing

  • Free: $0/month for up to 250 contacts + 500 monthly email sends + 150 free monthly SMS/MMS credits
  • Email: $100/month for 3,501-5,000 contacts + 150 free monthly SMS/MMS credits
  • Email and SMS: from $115/month for 3,501-5,000 contacts

3. Mailchimp

Best for: Retargeting

G2 score: 4.3

MailChimp is a complete marketing suite for businesses of all sizes. Thanks to its partnership with Google’s Ad Display Network, it’s best for eCommerce brands that want to merge their email marketing with retargeting ads. 

Find out how Sendlane vs. Mailchimp compares in this post.

Top Features:

  • Content optimizer: Improve your email copy, images, and layout based on personalized suggestions. MailChimp draws its suggestions from millions of data points in top-performing campaigns.
  • Predictive segmentation: Segment your list based on customer behavior, activity, and traits. This ensures you’re always sending highly relevant emails at the right time (note: this feature is only available in Standard and Premium plans).
  • Ad builder: Quickly create product ads, set an ad budget, publish them on Google Ads, and view your ROI—all on MailChimp. 

Pricing:

  • Free: $0 for up to 500 contacts + pre-built email templates + basic reporting and analytics + email support for first 30 days, and more
  • Essentials: from $10/month for everything in Free + 24/7 email and chat support + email scheduling + A/B testing, and more 
  • Standard: from $17/month for everything in Essentials + predictive segmentation + send time optimization + dynamic content, and more
  • Premium: from $302/month for everything in Standard + multivariate testing + phone and priority support + dedicated onboarding specialist, and more

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4. ActiveCampaign

Best for: Sales engagement

G2 score: 4.6 

ActiveCampaign is an automation and CRM platform that works not only for eCommerce brands but also agencies and companies with tightly aligned marketing and sales departments. 

With its recent acquisition of Postmark, users can now send transactional emails at $10/month for up to 10,000 emails. ActiveCampaign also offers SMS marketing for users on Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans. 

Read our comparison post on Sendlane vs. ActiveCampaign for more info. 

Top Features:

  • Sales engagement automation: Automate flows in every marketing and sales touchpoint. For example, combine your product marketing emails with 1-on-1 email follow-ups to nurture customers down the funnel. 
  • Integrations: Integrate with 800+ third-party apps to deliver a stellar customer experience and streamline your marketing and sales workflows. 

Pricing:

  • Lite: from $9/month for unlimited email sending + marketing automation + segmentation, and more
  • Plus: from $49/month for everything in Lite + contact scoring + SMS marketing + eCommerce store integration, and more 
  • Professional: from $149/month for everything in Plus + website personalization + marketing attribution + conversion reporting, and more
  • Enterprise: Custom quote for everything in Professional + custom domain, free design services + custom reporting, and more

5. Drip

Best for: Beginners

G2 score: 4.4

Drip is built for beginners who don’t want to spend too much time figuring out email marketing. This eCommerce revenue engine platform shines in its visual builder and workflow split tests.

Check out the comparison between Sendlane vs. Drip in this post.

Top Features:

  • Visual Builder: Drip boasts a beginner-friendly visual workflow builder. It takes seconds to grasp the tools.
  • Dynamic segmentation: Quickly segment your list based on specific scenarios (e.g., avoiding general discounting). You can also create unique tags with ease. 
  • Workflow split tests: Easily determine which version of your email performs the best based on your goals and metrics.

Pricing:

Starts at $39/month for up to 2,500 contacts + unlimited email sends, email support, pre-built playbooks, and more

6. Constant Contact

Best for: Social posting

G2 score: 4 

Constant Contact is built for eCommerce brands with a unified email and social media marketing strategy. Start scheduling social posts and engaging your target audience without leaving the platform.

The email marketing tool also recently introduced an SMS text marketing service.

Top Features:

  • Email templates: Choose from over 200 branded and mobile-responsive templates. Drag and drop elements to customize them using Constant Contact’s intuitive builder.
  • Email tracking software: Analyze your best-performing emails at a granular level (e.g., which links attracted the most clicks in click-tracking heat maps).
  • Social posting: Share your emails on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn directly within Constant Contact. You can even schedule your posts in advance and respond to comments without leaving the platform.

Pricing:

  • Core: from $9.99/month + hundreds of email templates + sign up forms, social media posting, and more
  • Plus: from $45/month + everything in Core + list growth tools + dynamic content personalization + automated communications, and more

Best for SMS Marketing 

SMS messages catch customers at the best possible time, even when they’re offline from emails or social media. Here are five great SMS marketing platforms to boost your mobile sales today.

7. Attentive

Best for: SMS reporting and analytics

G2 score: 4.8

Attentive is one of the most popular SMS marketing platforms today. It’s widely used by big-name companies like Coach, Samsung, and Crocs.

Top Features:

  • Campaign templates: Set up new campaigns with pre-built templates. Attentive offers a wide range of templates for all use cases. Take your pick from site-wide sale, product launch, winback, and more.
  • Smart recommendations: Improve SMS campaigns based on what you have and haven’t done. Attentive identifies hidden revenue opportunities in existing flows to make sure you’re never leaving money on the table. 
  • Analytics: Analyze your revenue to spot trends. Attentive boasts an intuitive and straightforward dashboard that lets you view your revenue chart by subscribers, revenue, message send volume, and billable spend. 

Pricing:

Custom quote

8. Postscript

Best for: Fully managed SMS strategy

G2 score: 4.9

Postscript provides personalized support for your SMS strategy from start to finish. Look no further than this text marketing platform if you’re an eCommerce brand with zero marketing expertise. 

Top Features:

  • Advanced segmentation: Send text messages based on specific criteria (e.g., SKU-level segmentation). Postscript offers 65+ event triggers and 40 user filters.
  • Template Library: Choose from automation templates instead of starting from scratch. Postscript helps you increase revenue in all kinds of use cases, including onboarding, shipping, and relationship building.
  • Postscript Plus: Outsource your entire SMS strategy to Postscript’s launch specialists. Its team of experts can help you with campaign and automation copywriting, custom pop-ups, and more. 

Pricing:

  • Free: $0/month with $0.015/SMS, $0.045/MMS, and carrier fees (avg. $0.0025/msg) + basic features like campaigns and automations and unlimited segments
  • Growth: $100/month with $0.01/SMS, $0.03/MMS and carrier fees (avg. $0.0025/msg) + everything in Free + unlimited opt-in keywords + live support, and more
  • Professional: $500/month with $0.007/SMS, $0.024/MMS, and carrier fees (avg. $0.0025/msg) + everything in Growth + “Powered by Postscript” removal, and more 
  • Enterprise: Custom quote + everything in Professional + Postscript Plus discount + dedicated customer success manager, and more

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9. SMSBump

Best for: Event promotions

G2 score: 4.3 (listed as yotpo)

Running multiple SMS marketing campaigns can get overwhelming… fast. Fortunately, with SMSBump’s campaign planner, you can launch and stay on top of all your event promotions easily.  

Top Features:

  • SMS campaign planner: Customize your SMS marketing campaign with pre-built campaign drafts. This SMS marketing software also gives you an overview of all your important events in one interface, saving you the hassle of switching through multiple tabs.
  • Subscriber collection: Grow your SMS list across a wide range of opt-in tools, like Shopify checkout, pop-ups, and QR codes. 

Pricing:

  • Free: $0/month for $0.0165/SMS, $0.0578/MMS + campaign builder and planner + one free opt-in keyword, free 10,000 emails for every month, and more
  • Growth: $19/month for $0.0149/SMS, $0.0522/MMS + everything in Free + unlimited A/B testing + unlimited free opt-in keywords, and more
  • Prime: $59/month for $0.0142/SMS, $0.0497/MMS + everything in Growth + smart predictive segmentation + click to buy, and more
  • Powerhouse: $199/month for $0.0130/SMS, $0.0455/MMS + everything in Prime + onboarding specialist + monthly SMS strategy sessions, and more
  • Enterprise: Custom quote for everything in Powerhouse + API access, multi-domain, and more

10. Emotive 

Best for: Lead generation

G2 score: 4.5 

Emotive is an SMS messaging platform unlike any other. One cool feature is the conversational ads. It gathers data from Facebook Ads and grows your SMS subscriber base, right from the first touchpoint. 

Top Features:

  • Conversational ads: Collect email addresses and phone numbers directly from Facebook ads. This lets you generate leads at the very top of the funnel, retarget them, and attribute revenue—all within the Emotive interface.
  • Text message automation: Respond or route messages with AI-driven automated SMS text messages.
  • Text to pay: This SMS marketing automation platform lets customers pay for their orders through a text message without requiring them to switch between apps (note: this is an upcoming feature).

Pricing:

Custom quote

11. Voyage

Best for: Real-time text conversations

G2 score: 1.5

Unlike most SMS services in the market today, Voyage uses human-powered conversations. Take a look if you want to create a 1-on-1 experience in real-time.

Top Features:

  • First Mate: Engage live agents to assist customers personally in real-time. Build brand trust and drive engagement and conversions.  
  • Compass: Hire consultants and DTC eCommerce experts to optimize your SMS marketing strategy.

Pricing:

Custom quote

Email and SMS marketing platform FAQs:

What is the average cost of SMS and email marketing platforms?
How to choose the right marketing automation platforms?
Is email marketing effective?

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