NeutralPickHow to choose the best email marketing software for your business: questions to ask vendors
This guide is for a small business choosing software to send newsletters and marketing emails to customers who signed up. The best one is the one that helps you follow email consent rules, gets your emails into inboxes, and has a price that still works as your list grows. The questions below help you compare vendors in the same way.
In this guide, a vendor is a company that sells email marketing software. Your list is the people who agreed to get your emails.
Why a sales demo is not enough
An email marketing demo shows a beautiful newsletter. The problems show up later, for example:
- emails land in spam folders, so few people see them,
- the price jumps when your list passes a size limit,
- contacts who unsubscribed still count towards your price, or your list is hard to take with you.
So ask about these in writing, and ask every vendor exactly the same questions. Then you can compare their answers directly.
Before you contact any vendor
Write down your answers to these four points. They decide which questions in the checklist matter most to you.
- Your list. How many contacts now, how fast it grows, and how they agreed to receive emails.
- What you send. A regular newsletter, offers, welcome emails, or emails triggered by actions such as a purchase.
- Where you and your contacts are. Email consent and unsubscribe rules differ by country.
- What it must connect to. Your website, online shop, CRM (the tool where you keep customer details) or sign-up forms.
The checklist
The questions are in three groups. Must have means a problem here can break email rules, stop your emails arriving, or make it costly to leave. Nice to have means it makes a real difference for many people. Optional means it only matters to some people. When you open the checklist in NeutralPick, you can move any question to a different group to match your answers above.
- Must have
- Helps you follow email consent rulesOften required by lawDoes it record how and when each contact agreed, add one-click unsubscribe and your postal address to every email, and offer double opt-in?Rules differ by country. Many require proof of consent; some require an unsubscribe link and address instead. Double opt-in means contacts confirm by email.
- Emails reach inboxesCan I send from my own domain (the part after @) with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, records that prove emails really come from me, and do you help set them up?Without these records, more emails go to spam. Since 2024, some of the largest email providers require all three from senders of about 5,000+ emails a day.
- A price that works as your list growsWhat will I pay per year at my list size now, and at twice that size, and do unsubscribed contacts count?Prices often rise in steps by contacts or emails sent. Check the next step up.
- You can take your list with youCan I export all contacts with their consent records, tags and unsubscribe status at any time?This is what lets you move to another tool without losing your list or the proof of consent.
- Handles your contacts' data properlyOften required by lawWill you sign a data processing agreement, and can you tell me where my contacts' data is stored?Data protection laws in many countries require a contract with any company that handles personal data for you.
- Nice to have
- Sign-up forms for your websiteCan I add sign-up forms to my website that work with my website platform and look like my site?Forms are a main way lists grow.
- Automatic emailsCan I set up automatic emails, such as a welcome series or a message after a purchase, on the plan I'd buy?Automation is often limited to higher plans.
- An editor you can useCan I build an email that looks right on phones without code, and preview it before sending?Many emails, often most, are read on phones.
- Reports that mean somethingDoes it show deliveries, bounces (emails that couldn't be delivered), unsubscribes, spam complaints and clicks for each email?Open rates are less reliable than they used to be because of privacy features in email apps. Clicks are more reliable, though not perfect.
- Sending to the right peopleCan I send to groups of contacts based on tags or what they did, such as past purchases?Relevant emails get fewer unsubscribes.
- Optional
- AI writing help you controlIf it writes emails with AI, is that included, can I switch it off, and is my contacts' data used to train it?Check the privacy terms before using AI on customer data.
- Help when you are stuckHow can I get help, and is it included on the plan I'd buy?Some cheap plans include email support only.
The button opens this checklist in NeutralPick. There you can:
- Remove the questions that don't matter to you, add your own, and move questions between groups.
- Add each vendor you are considering.
- Send each vendor its own private link, so they answer every question in writing. Or, if you have already had a sales call or a product demo with a vendor, fill in their answers yourself from what they told you.
- See every vendor's answers side by side.
Want to see what a finished comparison looks like first? See an example comparison with three made-up email marketing software vendors.
Answers to look at carefully
Vendors often answer the points below in vague terms. When you get a vague answer, ask the follow-up question shown here. A vague answer often means the honest answer is "no" or "only partly".
- "99% deliverability". Ask: does that mean emails accepted by the receiving server, or emails that reached the inbox and not spam? Do you help set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for my domain?
- "Free up to" a number of contacts. Ask: what is left out, and what does the next step cost?
- "GDPR-ready" or "compliant". Ask: do you record consent, offer double opt-in, and sign a data processing agreement?
- Leaving later. Ask: does the export include consent records and unsubscribe status?
What to do with the answers
- Put all the vendors' answers side by side.
- Look at the Must have questions first. If a vendor answers No to something you marked as a must-have, remove that vendor.
- If a vendor answered "Partial" to a must-have, ask them exactly what is missing.
- In the trial of each one left, set up your domain, send a test email to a few addresses at different email providers, and check whether it lands in the inbox.
Why use NeutralPick to compare email marketing software vendors
- Every vendor answers the same questions. Each vendor gets its own private link to your checklist and answers in writing, so you can compare their answers question by question.
- All the answers in one table. You see every vendor's answer to every question side by side, instead of searching through emails and call notes.
- No vendor can pay to influence it. There are no adverts, no paid placements and no "featured" vendors. No vendor can pay to be shown to you or placed higher.
- Free, with no account. You don't need to sign up or pay anything.