Bed, Wed, or Dead (BWD) is our version of a game you’re probably familiar with. In other versions, you list 3 celebrities and decide which of the 3 you would take to bed, commit to marrying, or kill. In our version, we do this with marketing tools. For our first installment, we’re playing with email service providers.
Bed
Stephen: Campaign Monitor
While I would never use it as my email marketing tool of choice, Campaign Monitor has some great resources for learning more about email marketing. Their CSS Support Guide for email has saved my life more than one time.
Wed
Hami: MailChimp
Let’s be honest, MailChimp is the gold standard for SMBs. With a super-easy user interface, this tool can be used by every marketer, no matter their skill level with email marketing. No HTML or CSS skills are required, but if you have those, you can do even more with this tool.
Hami also loves that they are headquartered in her hometown of Atlanta, GA, but that shouldn’t sway your decision.
Dead
Stephen: Constant Contact
Unless there’s an amazing affiliate program and people are making millions from the Constant Contact logo in the footer, there is NO REASON for it to be there on a tool you pay for. With so many great tools available, Constant Contact lags behind the competition in terms of usability.
It’s Just a Tool
In the end, a tool is just a tool, and if you’re not getting the basics of email marketing right, it doesn’t matter which service provider you decide to use for your business.
Watch the video to hear more about why we decided how to rank these email tools. Let us know in the comments which services or tools you’d like us to compare for a future video.
Stephen Brent May
COFOUNDER