People who successfully build an email list go one of two routes:

Route #1: Publish content that people love, promote it like crazy and hustle their face off for 2 or 3 years.

Route #2: They started a blog 15 years ago when there was almost no competition, and now they just bask in the glow of their millions of visitors every month and go on podcasts telling you how easy it is.

Both of these routes suck.

Then 6 months ago, I heard of a guy who grew his list by 25,000 subscribers in 10 days. When I heard those numbers I immediately reached out to learn more about what he had done. I’ve been studying list building and actively growing my email list for 3 years, and I had never come across a strategy that produced those kinds of results.

Here is what I learned after talking with him…

Takeaway #1: It took about 3 months to set up and run this strategy.

Takeaway #2: The overall strategy is extremely effective and repeatable.

Takeaway #3: This can be used by both early-stage companies and solopreneuers and big, thriving businesses.

So, what did the guy do?

He hosted a Virtual Summit. 

Picking an email service provider is a giant pain in the butt.

There are 100s of services you could use. 

What makes it worse is that everyone you follow online is hawking a different service as “the best email system ever made.” And the funny part is, most of them have never used the service they are selling you.

I’ve solved that problem for you.

What I’ve done is this:

1. Spent 2 months reviewing the 6 major email marketing services.
2. Wrote an extremely detailed review of each service.
3. Summarized our findings into a short 500-word summary of each service.
4. Created an easy to use tool that will tell you what service to use.

Each review includes an answer to these 5 questions:

Question #1: What are some of the funnest features?
Question #2: How much does it cost?
Question #3: How does it work?
Question #4: Will it do the things I need it to do or will I have to hack a bunch of crap together to make it work for me?
Question #5: What does it suck at doing and should I still use it?

Ready to jump in?

All 6 reviews are linked below…

1. ConvertKit Review
2. Drip Review
3. ActiveCampaign Review
4. MailChimp Review
5. AWeber Review
6. Infusionsoft Review

…

PS: Do you want me to review an email marketing service that isn’t listed above? If so, leave it in the comment section below and in our next update I’ll take a deep dive into your service.

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MailChimp is the most popular email service on the market.

But is it popular because it’s good or is it popular because it was one of the first to market?

Good question!

In this comprehensive review I’ll give you an unbiased review of MailChimp and show you what it’s good at and where it falls short.

Part 1: What are some of the funnest features of MailChimp?

Cool Feature #1: Free account up to 2,000 subscribers

The single best feature of MailChimp is its Forever Free plan.

If you have less than 2,000 subscribers and send less than 12,000 emails, you don’t have to pay anything. This is great for people just starting out.

No other major ESP comes close to a plan like this.

Cool Feature #2: Easily run Facebook ads to your list and look-a-likes of your list.

At first, I thought this was a silly bolt-on feature. But then I watched their explainer video. I was really surprised and immediately wanted it.

Infusionsoft has a reputation as one of the most powerful email marketing platforms on the market.

It also has the reputation of being extremely confusing to use.

But what’s the truth?

In this comprehensive review I’ll give you an unbiased review of Infusionsoft and show you what it’s good at and where it falls short.

Part 1: What are some of the funnest features of Infusionsoft?

Cool Feature #1: Awesome visual automation builder

The coolest thing about Infusionsoft is their visual campaign builder.

This is where you set up all your automations.

It’s more powerful, fluid and flexible than anything else I’ve seen. And there really isn’t a close second.

Here is what it looks like:

We’ll go more in depth with the builder in the video reviews below.

Cool Feature #2: Huge 3rd-party marketplace for 3rd-party apps 

One of the core things I look for in an ESP is a large ecosystem that has built up around the app.

An ecosystem looks like: A) integrations with all major and many minor 3rd-party software; B) a large base of contractors who specialize in helping people run their ESP (even if this isn’t a current need, it will be in your business at some point, and having a pool of people familiar with the software makes the process of finding someone so much easier); and C) a large 3rd-party marketplace of apps that people have built to add on non-core functionality to the ESP.

Infusionsoft excels in all three areas.

(This is also why I tend to shy away from newer ESPs, because this ecosystem takes time to develop.)

Specifically, their marketplace is amazing.

For anything the app won’t do, stock can be found in the marketplace.

Example…

Drip is one of the newest email marketing platforms on the market.

It has quickly built a reputation of being one of the most advanced and user friendly as well.

But should you use it?

In this comprehensive review I’ll give you an unbiased review of Drip and show you what it’s good at and where it falls short.

Part 1: What are some of the funnest features of Drip?

Cool Feature #1: Email sequence blueprints

This feature is really cool! It grabbed my attention within 5 minutes of logging into the app.

Every ESP allows you to create email sequences. That’s standard stuff. But Drip goes a step further and gives you 11 different blueprints to chose from when creating your sequences.

This is how it works:

1. Chose a blueprint.
2. Press Install.
3. Drip sets up the email sequence for you.
4. You tweak the emails.
5. Done.

This is a great idea and stellar execution.

It takes a formerly frustrating and time-consuming task and makes it brain-dead simple to do.

ConvertKit has a poor-man’s version of this feature, if you’ll remember. The way Drip has built theirs is awesome.

Cool Feature #2: Resend to un-opens with split testing