#1 most frequent
United States of America
39.4%1,843 installations of 4,682
What is Benchmark Email?
Benchmark is an email marketing platform on a global mission to help businesses everywhere ignite relationships with their customers, from the company of the same name in St.Louis, Missouri.
Categories & Use Cases
Media
Top Performing Features
Dynamic content
Users can tailor email, website or landing page content depending on the viewer or recipient (e.g., email salutations that include the recipient’s name).
Category average: 8
Landing pages
Users can create web pages that are customized to a particular email or campaign. Landing pages often include web forms which can capture visitor information and integrate it back into the MA software.
Category average: 8
A/B testing
Users can experiment with different variations of a campaign and measure results. Testable aspects might include subject lines, header images, or landing page copy.
Category average: 8.2
Areas for Improvement
WYSIWYG email editor
Users can create html emails through a drag-and-drop interface, without html coding knowledge.
Category average: 8.4
Dashboards
Users can create, customize and share dashboards, which provide an overview of the most important metrics.
Category average: 8
Custom reports
Users can create custom reports.
Category average: 7.3
Who Buys & Uses Benchmark Email
#2 most frequent
Japan
18.9%887 installations of 4,682
#3 most frequent
Spain
4.2%198 installations of 4,682
Benchmark Email - Wired For Profitability To A Start Up Business
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use Benchmark email personally in my affiliate marketing endeavors. I use it to email prospects and to interact with members of my downline (my customers) drawn from the affiliate networks I work with. Benchmark Email has served me well in my formative period in affiliate marketing, thanks to their time-limitless 2,000 contacts free trial. Now that I am growing, I am ripe enough to consider upgrading to the 10,000 contacts level.
Pros
- 2,000 contact list space available with no time limit to those who can't upgrade.
- The AB Testing feature helps to improve the performance of your emails by experimenting with different content and send times to determine what works best. Thus great emailing objectives are easier to achieve.
- There is a feature where website and email engagement trigger an automatic email series. For example, the automatic flow of a subscriber from a leads list to a customer list upon making a purchase is awesome.
Cons
- The prices for upgrades are far too high compared to similar software doing the same things.
- Because of the expensive upgrades, Benchmark Email remains more relevant only to a small size user and an already well-developed and grown user. A growing (mid-level) user like me would easily be inclined to look elsewhere as more and more such software becomes available: I will think twice before I pay for an upgrade which I can quickly get three times cheaper elsewhere. The only reason I may upgrade on Benchmark Email is simply that their generous and timeless free trial has helped me grow; simply as a matter of appreciation.
- Of late I have been using Zoho CRM for my Sales Management processes. I hate to realize that I cannot integrate Zoho CRM with Benchmark email while much other software is integratable. If my Zoho CRM contacts, for example, can easily be exported into Benchmark email with a click of an icon, Benchmark email would score very high with me because that way, my leads and customer management would be ten times more handy.
Return on Investment
- With Benchmark Email, I emailed a cold list of 2,000 leads to sell a $10 program and got 10 sales from 24 opens. That, to me is 1000% ROI because I spent nothing to put 2,000 cold leads into this software.
- Because of the expensive upgrades, when my affiliate marketing business started to grow, I had to look for an alternative email marketing software to handle my growing list more profitably. That has impacted negatively my communication consistency and slowed my growth as I must learn the new software enough before I gain traction.
- The ease with which I have been able to execute my email marketing with Benchmark Email has helped me work in less time. I have saved time. With time being money, I have seen my time translating into money. When a tool is easy to use and efficient in it results, money flows in easily. I now have managed to accumulate 733 hot buyer leads to whom I keep selling offers from time to time.
Other Software Used
GetResponse, Zoho Mail, Zoho CRM, Bounceless
A solid SMB or midsize email newsletter and marketing platform
Pros
- Great native split testing for a/b groups.
- Automation of list cleaning is a breeze -- very easy!
- Native analytics are decent, but not amazing.
Cons
- List maintenance -- navigating multiple lists is a cumbersome activity.
- Analytics about user engagement could be better. It's not super robust, especially if you're used to Google Analytics.
- Customer support is kind of slow to get back to us.
Return on Investment
- We were able to reduce recurring costs by 20% per year by buying an extended contract plan.
- Benchmark is more robust than our previous software, and we've been able to increase newsletter sales by about 10% per year.
- We were able to introduce split a/b testing into our newsletter mix, as it's a native feature of Benchmark.
Other Software Used
Evernote, Dropbox Business, AutoCAD
Marketing Genius
Pros
- User-friendly
- Easy to create email templates
- Very detailed tracking information
Cons
- Multiple subscription list managements
- Click-throughs details for each URLs
- Difficulty in uploading new subscribers list
Return on Investment
- Increase our subscription
- Overall business awareness increased
- Allow us to do segmented (targeted ) email marketing
Other Software Used
Vertical Response, Mailchimp, ON24
Benchmark Email a good option for education-related non-profits
Pros
- Ease of use - required minimal training to get started.
- Value - free service for non-profits, with powerful features.
- User Experience - flow of the process is logical and easy to follow.
Cons
- Glitchy editor - powerful drag and drop features, but precise formatting can have issues.
- Stagnant platform - few notable features or fixes over the past two years.
- Delivery Success - anecdotal customer reports suggest high percent of emails are diverted by spam filters.
Return on Investment
- Enabled our organization to increase communication reach from less than 2% of our audience to over 30%.
- Provided a distribution channel with minimal training.
- Given the free cost for our non-profit, the ROI was undoubtedly positive; however, a fee may have turned minor frustrations into deal breakers for the value proposition.
Alternatives Considered
MailChimp
A good alternative to Zoho Campaigns and MooSend
Pros
- Price: This one was a major Pro for us as we had zero budget for email marketing, so finding an email marketing service that was free for up to 2000 subscribers was a major win for us.
- Ease of use: Benchmark Email was simple to use, and while it might have to do with the fact that I had tested out over 5 other email services prior to signing up, its simplicity was noteworthy. While ease of use wasn't among my top 3 qualities I needed our ESP to have, it was nice to use one anyone else could use. Creating an email was simple and the drag and drop elements were great and allowed for flexible design.
- Responsive Emails: This one was a biggie for me. I needed an ESP that made my emails look good on a laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet. I created a test email and opened it on all my gadgets [laptop, desktop computer, windows smartphone, Kindle tablet and android tablet] and I was really impressed by its responsiveness.
Cons
- Limited branding on signup forms: I think MailChimp ruined most free ESPs for me as most free email marketing services have limited design and branding options on signup forms. I wanted my signup form to have an image header with the company's logo on it. This feature was important to me so I asked the live customer support at that time if this feature was available and he said yes. Sadly unlike MailChimp that allowed an option for image headers in signup forms (which made it act as a simple landing page) Benchmark email did not. Benchmark now allows the option to add a logo to the top of the form. It wasn't until I went back to SendinBlue that I remembered a workaround to get image headers which was editing the signup forms' HTML code and including an Of course this, also meant constant tweaking to get the right image size.
- Limited signup form design: Compared to most ESPs both free and paid, Benchmark's signup forms are not very attractive,. The form's design needs an urgent upgrade as it is rather unattractive.
- Automation: I wouldn't call this a major con as Benchmark does have basic automation which is limited to welcome messages and similar one-off messages but, I suppose SendinBlue and MailerLite are to blame for running free ESPs for me by giving me a rather high expectation.
- Form publishing: After designing my signup form, I was presented with three options: Place Signup Form directly on your website, Pop-up from a button on your website, Pop-up from a text link on your website. While option one was good and option two was much appreciated, I wanted the form to have a link I could share on social media.
Return on Investment
- Unfortunately we switched to a different email service provider so Benchmark has not had any impact on our business objectives.
Alternatives Considered
MailChimp, Mailerlite, SendinBlue, Zoho Campaigns and Moosend
Other Software Used
Mailerlite, MailChimp, SendinBlue
