When it comes to email marketing, there are tons of options available and cloud based apps are one of the options growing increasingly popular. But what is cloud based email marketing and why should you consider investing in this solution? Let’s take a look and find out.

What is cloud based email marketing?

The cloud. You’ve probably heard of it. But what exactly is it? The cloud is a hosting server that stores digital data on a number of servers via the internet as opposed to one local server like a PC. In the case of a cloud based email marketing application, this software is completely available on the internet.

Benefits of cloud computing in email marketing

There are many advantages to using cloud computing for your email marketing. Typically, most cloud based apps are more secure than the alternative where your computer might break down or be stolen. The cloud uses encrypted servers and two-factor authentication to keep your data secure. Here are some of the other benefits of cloud based email marketing:

• Work anytime, anywhere. With the cloud you don’t need to be tied to one machine, you can use any PC or laptop to access your email marketing app and work from there.
• More advanced tools including analytics.
• Create, schedule and send email more efficiently.
• Archive your emails and easily retrieve them in the future.
• Most email marketing platforms don’t just do email marketing and include CRM and other marketing tools.

Finding the right app

With most business and marketing apps, there is no one size fits all solution. Finding the right app for you takes a little bit of research and requires you to know what features you want and need before going in. If you’re not sure exactly what features you need, browsing the market to get a feel for what sort of features you can expect from an email marketing app is a great place to start. You can do this by looking at individual sites or, save yourself some time and try a comparison site like Piesync where all the research is done for you. Deciding factors are more than just looking for the cheapest solution, remember to look at what features you get for your money.

The best cloud based email marketing apps on the market

Mailchimp

Key Features

• Behavioural targeting
• Lookalike audiences
• Segmentation
• Tags
• Advanced real-time analytics
• Email automation
• Transactional emails
• A/B Testing
• Drag and drop design studio
• Learning resources – tips and tutorials

Price

Mailchimp offers a wide range of price points for different needs. The most basic package if free and paid subscriptions start at £9.99 per month, making it an affordable option for small and large businesses alike.

HubSpot

Key Features

• Drag and drop editor
• Detailed insights
• Schedule emails
• Security and regulations ensure customer data is protected

Price

Because HubSpot’s email marketing is powered by their CRM, it’s free to get started, allowing you to send up to 2000 emails per month and requires no credit/debit card details to sign up.

Zoho

Key Features

• Subscriber management
• A/B Testing
• Pre-Designed Templates
• Drag and drop editor
• Automated workflows including autoresponders
• Tags
• Real-time analytics
• Mobile app

Price

Zoho price their email marketing a little differently to most providers. The basic package allows users to purchase email credits, whereby you only pay for the amount of emails you actually need and you can increase or decrease as is needed, this is best for smaller businesses who don’t send out many campaigns to many people.

The next subscription step costs £28 per year and includes a lot of the most important features but if you want to go all in and have access to all of Zoho’s email marketing features it will cost you £43 for the year which is really affordable.

Active Campaign

Key Features

• Segmentation
• Triggered emails
• Scheduling
• Autoresponders
• Targeted emails
• Subscription forms
• A/B Testing
• Dynamic content
• Mobile app

Price

Active Campaign allows you to start with a free trial, giving you a chance to see if this platform is the right fit for your needs. After that you can select a package based on the number of contacts you have and whether you prefer to pay monthly or annually.

This will then provide you with the best package for you. Most prices are affordable if you don’t have a large volume of contacts. If you have a substantial amount of contacts this might not be the solution for you.

Mailerlite

Key Features

• Drag and drop editor
• Segmentation
• Personalisation
• Tagging
• Promo pop-ups
• A/B Testing
• Campaign reports

Price

Mailerlite’s starts with a free subscription that allows users up to 1000 contacts and the ability to send 12,000 emails per month. After that paid subscriptions start at $10 per month and go up to $50 per month, every paid level gives users unlimited emails per month. And each paid level allows for more contacts starting from 1000 and going up 10,000 contacts.

Final Thoughts

The cloud has revolutionised the way we interact our business apps,by allowing users to gain more efficient results with their strategies. Email marketing is no different and when adopted, users have seen the difference when compared to old means of email marketing services via local servers.

If you’re thinking about upgrading your software are just starting out with your email marketing efforts, going cloud based is the way to go.