Online sales and marketing options have evolved and grown exponentially within the past two decades, and one of the most powerful for small businesses is email marketing. With so many platforms available today, it is hard to choose which email marketing service fits your needs best. Having used several email delivery options on the market, the best I’ve found to date is SendPulse. I signed up about a year ago, so I figured it was time to write up a review of their service.
SendPulse was formed in early 2015 and by 2019 it had over 1 million users. Over time, the company has expanded its features, which now include much more than just digital marketing and email tools. As the company continues to grow, both small and large businesses continue to give SendPulse high ratings. Keeping in mind that every small business and their email marketing strategy is unique, of course not everyone will agree. But for my situation, and perhaps yours, their service is a great fit. Here’s why.
What Can SendPulse Do?
SendPulse offers many different features that can be integrated with one another so there is less administrative work to be done, which leads to more time saved and higher revenues.
Email Capabilities
Email campaigns are a huge part of SendPulse’s expertise, as the company offers useful features such as a “drag and drop” email editor to help even the most novice of users create attractive emails, automation capabilities that allow users to choose what messages go out, tags, and other personalization features. We’ve all seen the subscription forms that pop up on various websites, and SendPulse can develop these for its users, too.
What I especially like about the Sendpulse email service is that it’s pay-as-you-go. So instead of paying a monthly fee (usually based on the number of subscribers you have) whether you send out any emails or not, with SendPulse you simply buy a chunk of emails upfront and them use them whenever you’re ready. I have a list of about 5000 subscribers. Formerly, with Aweber, I was paying $60 per month even if I sent out no emails! Now, with SendPulse, I buy a block of 10,000 emails for $32. I don’t send out a lot of emails. I just send out a message to my subscribers every one or two months. So SendPulse makes a lot more sense to me.
SendPulse also offers email campaign analytics to track the open- and click rates for subscribers. This information can then be easily integrated with Google Analytics for businesses if applicable. Perhaps one of the most useful tools available with SendPulse is the Email Verifier, which helps users filter out invalid email addresses and increase their deliverability rates.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Platform
In contrast to many CRM platforms that are very technical and difficult to navigate, SendPulse’s CRM platform is simple to use. It is easy to create customer databases, manage campaigns, and aggregate data that can then be exported into a clear analytics report. Users can seamlessly set up automated email blasts that will keep them relevant in their customers’ inboxes in no time while giving customers information and updates they want to know.
Automated emails can also include “thank you” messages after information is requested or an order is received. The software can also be used to automatically intake requests and assign them to the proper team member(s).
The CRM database houses all of a business’s customers’ information in one spot such as their names, email addresses, relevant tags, open deals, current status, and the dates they were placed in the system. Users are able to contact their customers directly via whichever communication platform previous contact was made with, whether that be a typical email or a different platform such as Facebook.
The CRM platform also makes it easy to share information throughout a business’s entire team – from sales and marketing to human resources and the finance group. They can then use this data to convince prospective customers that their company is the best in the business and also that it is well-organized. Being able to distribute data to everyone helps companies stay transparent with all employees and allows them to then analyze what processes are working and brainstorm new ideas for those that are not.
Landing Page and Webpage Creation
Many website-designing platforms make it complex to create a great landing page, but SendPulse promises users can have their landing pages up and ready to share in just 15 minutes. Like the email feature, this feature also has the “drag and drop” functionality that allows users to place text, photos, icons, links, and more and see them display exactly how they would appear to customers.
Widgets such as subscription widgets are available and users can also place so-called buttons where customers can get a hold of them via different messaging apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Another extremely useful feature is that SendPulse allows users to integrate payment platforms including PayPal, Stripe, Fondy, and LiqPay right on their websites.
As with the CRM platform, users are also provided with analytics to assess the success of their websites.
SMS Campaigns
We’ve all gotten text messages with promotions and advertisements from companies we follow, and they may have been sent using SendPulse. This feature allows users to send promotional and informational text messages to over one thousand mobile networks in over 200 countries worldwide. The platform can translate text into any language, and users can also customize texts with their customers’ names and other personalized information.
Web Push
SendPulse helps users direct customers back to their websites using web push notifications, which are supported in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera – including these apps on smartphones. These can be personalized, and users can track how successful different templates are with SendPulse’s click-tracking capabilities.
Chatbots
Chatbots can save businesses a lot of time, and SendPulse can luckily integrate chatbots into messages on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and WhatsApp. Bots are able to answer questions, provide quotes, and provide information on products and services without any engagement from a business’s team. SendPulse’s software walks users through creating a “trigger,” formulating an automatic reply, creating logic of the chatbot, and testing and launching the chatbot.
Online Course Creator
While this feature is the newest, it has the potential to be very useful for schools and teachers. This allows users to build out entire courses, track students’ progress, and share the course across multiple channels. Of course, tests and quizzes can be built out and automatically graded, and completion certificates can be issued using SendPulse.
Plans and Pricing
As with most services like SendPulse, the overall price you pay for the service will vary based on which plan you sign up for. It will also vary based on how many users are in your audience and if you choose to pay monthly or yearly.
There are, however, free trials of all of the company’s offerings so you can try them out before making a purchase. The company is extremely transparent with its prices, which can be found at www.sendpulse.com/prices.
What If I Need Help?
Luckily, SendPulse’s team is available to users all day and night – that’s right, 24/7 – and offers a live chat and a “Contact Us” box for email correspondence. Agents are scattered throughout several continents and are able to communicate in English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, and Ukrainian. SendPulse also offers a YouTube channel, a blog, and a so-called knowledge base that have all kinds of information, ranging from subscription information to helpful hints for the platform.
Overall, if you are looking for a new digital platform to help your business succeed, SendPulse may be right for you. The platform offers features to help you with everything from digital marketing to analytics and website development. Reaching out to the company is recommended for any business, as the support team is responsive and helpful and can assist you in putting together a quote for your needs.