ExpressPigeon

ExpressPigeon is an email marketing software solution which allows you to capture subscribers via web form or Facebook form. And respond to them automatically with an autoresponder feature which will follow up with an email or series of email which you set up in advance. You can also use their email editor to create your emails and customize them. There are quite a few pre-made templates available for you to use as well which is a time saver because they are a lot of work on their own. This company made my favorites and also my top free software list instantly based on their pricing model which is very transparent and inclusive which I can really appreciate. You get the same features regardless of your plan whether it's free or paid they differ by total subscribers and emails sent only which is great. The user interface is very easy to use. If you've never used an email service before but you've used a rich text editor or placed an ad on a classifieds site online then it's no tougher than this to use almost all of the features. The only features which are a bit trickier to use are the rules for your autoresponder but it's nothing to lose sleep over just tack on an extra couple minutes. It's a very mobile friendly platform with guaranteed compatibility with Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Outlook on tablets, smartphones and computers so that's cool. The editor uses drag and drop technology which is my favorite because it's the easiest. I've been reviewing quite a few software recently and it's surprising when you bump into graphic based designers which don't use it nowadays. They stand out as it's certainly not the norm nowadays drag and drop is, so that's great in my opinion. There's useful integrations available for EventBrite, MailChimp at the moment. You can import your MailChimp lists in so that may useful in terms of diversifying your business, or split testing a different platform for whatever reason. You can also use their API to integrate pretty much any service you want so that's sweet. There's also split testing and the ability to create various types of autoresponder triggers such as via web form, Facebook form, API trigger and link click URL trigger which is outstanding I don't recall seeing this feature in all email services I've checked out. You can use custom fields in your emails along with merge tags which enables you to personalize your emails so the merge tag will be replaced with the individual first name and so on. The analytics may not be the most robust on the market but you could add MixPanel tracking if you're somewhat savvy within a few minutes. There are videos available as well to help you get going with anything you don't know. But honestly, if you've ever used any other email marketing service in the past you will be able to get going immediately. I've not used their customer support but by many accounts it's excellent and they ask for your ideas on their website and I like that.

Email deliverability is the only issue when testing new new marketing automation services. If only a small percentage of your email will land in the inbox it's tough to justify paying for this when there are options with proven industry standards. But with a free plan at hand plus the ability to connect Google Analytics and view the reporting in your account it's possible to get a good idea about this. A lot of this will have to do with your message as well in that it should not be hyped up or spammy in the copy as this will trigger the worst case scenario. Also, how well your email keeps the CAN SPAM terms in mind when writing your email will affect it's deliverability as well. A relevant title to the body message. An opt-out link at the bottom and a physical contract address and so on. So it's certainly not all on the email service to get your emails landing in your prospects.

Honestly, it's great platform to use for your email marketing. I've just bumped into it and have yet to take the deliverability for a test but I will soon. I've been testing several different email softwares and this one certainly has great free value right up there with MailChimp. And they integrate MailChimp so clearly the idea helps them dip into that free user base which will grow into their paid customers. I very happy to have found this service and will be recommending it to others as well.