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At the end of 2009, we created the 30 Useful Email Marketing Apps list for small business owners. It proved a popular post and we decided to revisit the State of Email Marketing Apps and the result is these 24 new additions for you to consider.

I have to state this at the start of every big list post — quite often a company is left off the list because pricing is not listed. Every small business owner I know is slammed trying to fit three days’ worth of work into one day. They don’t have time to hunt for pricing or get badgered by one more eager sales representative. List your pricing and you have a better chance of making the next update.

Overall, these new additions are quite exciting. There are many new entrants in the email marketing space listed here that offer some of the traditional things you expect from a provider. However, there are also some unique approaches and niche services like Boomerang for Gmail, FeedBlitz, and MessageSherpa, to name just a few.

1. Feedblitz is a terrific solution if you also use RSS (really simple syndication) for your blog readership. It is one of the first RSS-to-mail solutions and you only pay for the email portion. If you were looking for a more robust way to share with blog readers, Feedblitz is one to consider. Pricing starts at $1.49 and remember your RSS readers don’t count towards your pricing.
2. CakeMail is probably not for every small business out there, but if you also sell  marketing services then you might want to look at CakeMail. It is a white label, or private label, email marketing platform that you can resell to your clients. Pricing starts at $200/month.
3. Contactology caught my eye because they had a cool spam checker tool that you can use to test your email quality. Quite often, senders have no idea if they are landing in the inbox. Contactology solves that with its spam test.  Up to 100 contacts is free on email marketing plans, then $14/month.
4. CoolerEmail takes pay-as-you-go to a new level by letting you buy “stamps” to send just a few emails versus paying at a full subscription level. Nice if you only send out a handful per year. Up to 150 contacts and 100 emails is free for 60-day trial, then plans start at $25/month. Like many, they have done a good job of integrating social media into the mix, plus they have SMS text message marketing available.
5. Admail.net communicates right away about how important it is to “build your list” and manage it. So their basic package comes with a list builder, email builder (templates, etc), and real-time reporting. They price on an annual basis starting at $149/year for up to 2,000 emails per month.  They do have a less expensive package called Admail XP-Lite that starts at $7.95. You can read more about that plan on the site.
6. Atomic Mail Sender is a standalone package, but comes with a unique approach. According to their site, “Atomic Mail Sender has a built-in SMTP server that delivers all email messages directly to their recipients without using your ISP’s mailbox or mail server (if your provider permits).” This would allow you to make a one time purchase and then manage all your own email campaigns. You need the Email Studio ($299) and the Sender ($79.85).
7. BetterMail is a full service email marketing agency (which means they can do it all for you, for additional fees). I got the sense that you’d get a bit of hand-holding and good tutorials from this team. They focus on “engagement automation” and I understand that to mean they’ll help you with triggered emails, autoresponders, and concepts that should increase your relationship quality via email. Plans start at $49/month (Canadian dollars) that allows for 5,000 emails per month.
8. Boomerang for Gmail is super cool. I installed it in 5 seconds and now can schedule emails to go out when I want them to. It is free for 10 message credits. Once installed, you see a “Send Later” button. There are loads of reasons why sending a message at a specific time is important, but even sweeter than scheduling a send time is Boomerang will remind you about your message (essentially bringing the message back up to the top of your inbox). Further, you can tell it to do this if the recipient does not RESPOND. Pricing starts at $4.99/month.
9. FireDrum does email marketing, but it would be more accurate to call them internet marketing experts. They have a full suite of tools. Their do-it-yourself email packages are tough to beat – prices start at $15/month for 1,000 members, but they also have a free level for 750 members (contacts in your database) and up to 4,500 messages/month. Plus, you can get a custom email template built for $295 if you need a special design.
10. GraphicMail offers a nice template library that they call an eFlyer to make it fast and easy to get started. The paid service has options for social sharing and mobile campaigns, too. They have a forever free account, then plans start at $9.95/month.
11. JangoMail has some of the most advanced features I’ve seen. They allow you to do more than the usual customize the greeting (Hi John…) and insert custom content for each recipient based on their profile. Foreign language capabilities, too.  Last (on my list of “that’s cool”) is that you can initiate the email campaign from your desktop app; Outlook, Thunderbird or Gmail, to name a few. Free trial, then plans start at $15/mo.
12. Mail Blaze does a lot with subscriber list management. I like that you can see a report of your “highest open days” or when you have the most activity for email opens. You can trigger responses based on what your recipient does, too, which makes your email campaign more engaging and interactive. You can send 1,000 emails per month for free. Then $15/month is the basic plan.
13. Mail Dog calls it a “pre-flight analysis” but they’ll analyze your email, show it to you in a wide range of email programs (so you can see what your customer sees in Outlook or Thunderbird or 31 more apps). In fact, they have 240+ tools to help you craft the best email campaign. Pricing starts at $29/mo.
14. Topica has a range of tutorials to help you wrap your head around all the many things you need to do in your email marketing. They have a 30-day free trial, then plans start at $49.95/month.
15. Mail-List is for you if you’ve ever managed a Yahoo or Google Group and want to communicate with your discussion list in an email-like format. Their FAQ explains all the subtle details for group managers here. Pricing starts at $8.95/month.
16. Nourish allows you to turn an RSS feed into an email. Up to 1,000 emails is free, then plans start at $29/month. The free option includes Nourish branding, so if that’s not an option for your communications, you’ll have to do a paid plan.
17. BombBomb solves a big problem in email marketing – what to do if you want to send a video in an email. Most of the time, corporate firewalls will block video attachments and embedded video, but with BombBomb you can do it. They have a test email option so you can see what it looks like. Pricing starts at $20/month with a two week free trial.
18. Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager is the totally free, open-source email list manager. It has a little bit of a learning curve, but if you’re looking for a way to manage discussions with your group or mailing list, then this is worth evaluating. Pricing: free.
19. MessageSherpa lets you take content that you’ve collected from a variety of places (think social: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and easily embed or place it in your email. It is pretty revolutionary. You can also create a “network library” where your contacts or members can see what you’re posting there. You can join for free; then $15/month.
20. Sendloop offers a lot of great educational resources and common sense tips (uncommon really). You can integrate their application with WordPress, Highrise, Eventbrite, and more. Has a free plan, then starts at $15/month.
21. SuccessByEmail has a long list of features that will serve just about any small business. You can integrate your email with SMS/text messaging, too. Free 30-day trial, then $25/month.
22. emBlue is a bilingual email marketing platform for Spanish and English marketing campaigns. You can purchase by number of emails or annual plans. Plans start at only $15/month.
23. YMLP is short for Your Mailing List Provider and has a free plan that is packed, I mean loaded, with features. Then the paid plans start at $3.75/month. Tough to beat. With 230,000+ users spanning the globe, I would urge you to consider them.
24. MailVU is a video email provider and offers a free plan. As soon as you hit their home page, it asks you if you want to allow your webcam to record a video (a little allow or deny popup). This is standard and not some hack or virus. The basic plan is $39.95/month and comes with the ability to customize the branding. Free plan has MailVU branding, but is fully functional and robust despite that small point.

Email marketing is often declared dead these days with all the social media success stories, but don’t be fooled — smart companies are still building and maintaining business relationships with email. Test out some of these tools and share your favorites in the comments. Feel free to email me directly if you want to suggest one that I’ve missed (it is likely that I didn’t miss it, but didn’t list it for a reason). Thanks for reading.

For 30 additional applications, view the original list.

Email Marketing Photo via Shutterstock

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