Benchmark Email Marketing Review

Why we chose Benchmark as best for user-friendliness

Benchmark combines a full suite of helpful email marketing features with an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface that simplifies the email marketing process for small businesses. We were impressed that business owners and marketing teams can start building professional, responsive emails in minutes using Benchmark’s drag-and-drop editor, Smart Design AI-powered builder, and 100-plus customizable templates — all backed by clear, step-by-step guidance for new users.

We also like that Benchmark integrates with popular apps such as WordPress, Facebook, Google and Shopify, so business owners can connect the platform to essential tools and grow their email lists seamlessly. Whether you’re new to marketing or ramping up your efforts, Benchmark makes email marketing approachable and easy to manage. For all those reasons and more, Benchmark is our pick for the most user-friendly email marketing platform. 

Benchmark’s easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor helps you create and edit professional email campaigns, even with limited design experience. Source: Benchmark

Ease of use

Ease of use is where Benchmark shines. All built-in features, including contact management and automation tools, come with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Helpful educational videos are also available throughout the dashboard, making it easier to get up to speed quickly. Many competitors we reviewed don’t offer that level of insight into how to use each tool.

During testing, we created polished, responsive emails in minutes using the drag-and-drop editor and Smart Design AI tool, which auto-generates layouts based on your website. We also liked the variety of predesigned templates — over 120 in total — tailored to industries, holidays and campaign types, along with a built-in image library for creating visually appealing messages.

You can easily integrate dozens of applications directly, such as Google Sheets, Zoho, LinkedIn, Shopify, eBay and Jotform, plus there’s a WordPress plugin for email list building and blog post emails. A Zapier integration connects Benchmark with more than 1,500 web services, including Gmail, Evernote and Facebook.

With a variety of customizable templates to choose from, Benchmark ensures that you’ll never be at a loss for email campaign ideas. Source: Benchmark

Benchmark features

Benchmark includes helpful email marketing tools for boosting subscriber engagement and improving your digital marketing ROI. Note, however, that some tools aren’t available with the Free plan.

A/B testing

A/B testing is among the most valuable tools for measuring and improving marketing ROI. Benchmark lets you test subject lines, delivery times and other elements with sample groups, then send the better-performing version to the rest of your list. It’s a smart way to ensure your messages hit the mark.

Campaign analytics

We appreciate that Benchmark helps you glean essential insights into campaign performance. The platform provides immediate, detailed email analytics as soon as your campaigns are sent, including:

• Total recipients
• Email open rate
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Bounce rate
• Unsubscribes

We also like that Benchmark organizes your campaign data in a clean, easy-to-understand dashboard. From there, you can drill into specific metrics, such as which URLs were clicked, where users are located and a visual click map.

Email designer

Benchmark’s drag-and-drop email designer offers a range of tools for creating eye-catching emails. Its customizable templates make it easy to send professional, attractive email newsletters and messages, regardless of your design experience.

We like that you can enhance your campaigns with visual effects, stickers and over-image text. You can also better engage email subscribers with Benchmark’s built-in tools for adding automated responses, surveys and polls within your emails.

Like many email marketing platforms, Benchmark also includes the option to create plain text or custom-coded emails using its HTML editor — a great choice for advanced users who want full design

Choose from three Benchmark email editors to ensure your campaigns meet your goals. Source: Benchmark

Smart design AI-powered email builder

For users who want a faster, more automated email design experience, Benchmark also offers an AI-powered option. Benchmark’s AI-powered email builder, Smart Design, is a great example of how artificial intelligence can simplify marketing campaigns. Just paste in your website URL, and Smart Design will instantly generate custom email templates that match your brand’s colors, logo and messaging. When we tested it with our website, we were impressed by how quickly and accurately the tool produced branded email designs.

Smart Design includes Smart Content, Benchmark’s AI writing assistant, so you can quickly draft compelling email copy without starting from scratch. The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to further customize layouts, insert images, add product blocks and include clear calls to action. 

Benchmark’s Smart Design email builder uses the power of AI to scan your website and generate layouts and content aligned with your brand image. Source: Benchmark

List-building tools

Building a quality email list is the first step to launching successful campaigns. Benchmark makes it easy to add contacts individually or in bulk by importing XLS, CSV or TXT files. Thanks to Benchmark’s integrations, you can also upload existing lists from other platforms. We like that you can embed email pop-ups and signup forms on your website, blog or social channels to grow your subscriber base.

Once your contacts are uploaded, Benchmark’s list-management tools let you segment subscribers by demographics, user preferences or location so you can send the most relevant content to each group.

There are multiple ways to upload and grow your lists in Benchmark, including file imports, manual entry, copy and paste, or pulling contacts from integrated services. Source: Benchmark

Marketing automation 

Benchmark’s Marketing Automation Pro lets you build customer journeys to create automated email sequences based on triggers such as dates, events or user behaviors. Just choose a trigger — when someone subscribes to your list, for example, or clicks a link in a prior email campaign — and Benchmark automatically sends a follow-up email you designate. 

We like that the tool supports multiple automated journeys using a template or custom email format. Benchmark’s featured templates include welcome messages for new subscribers, promotional follow-ups based on opens or clicks, and feedback requests. That level of automation is more advanced than what we found in many other platforms.

Benchmark allows you to create customer journeys so you can automate emails based on specific trigger dates or user actions. Source: Benchmark

Benchmark pricing

Benchmark’s Free plan — which few competitors offer — impressed us. It may be a good option for small businesses just starting out with email marketing. That plan and Benchmark’s other two plans all include the following core features:

• Drag-and-drop email editor and plain text editor
• Templates
• RSS emails
• Smart Content
• Email authentication
• Signup forms
• Basic segmentation tools
• Smart Sending and device previews
• Basic automations
• Image gallery storage
• Email reports
• Access to Benchmark’s online help center and live chat support

Here’s a deeper breakdown of how Benchmark’s plans differ, including subscriber limits and maximum sends: 

Additional pricing considerations include: 

• Send-based pricing. Benchmark offers send-based pricing, starting at $39 per month for 10,000 monthly sends. 
• Add-ons. You can also add the following features to lower-tier plans for an additional monthly fee:
  • List verification: $3 per month per 1,000 contacts
  • Image hosting: $5 per month for unlimited storage
  • Dedicated IP: $28.95 per month
  • Inbox checkers: $14 per month per 100 tests
• Nonprofit discount. Registered nonprofit organizations receive a 25 percent discount on any paid plan.

Implementation and onboarding

Signing up for Benchmark begins by creating a free account. Once you’ve entered your name, company name, phone number and email address, you can begin building email campaigns with the easy-to-use drag-and-drop email editor. 

The platform’s interactive interface walks you through creating your first campaign and selecting your ideal workflow. The simple onboarding process is intuitive enough for beginners to pick up quickly.

Businesses that sign up for an Enterprise plan, which requires a minimum of 25,000 contacts, receive extra support through a managed account setup process.

Customer support

Benchmark’s customer support was excellent each time we tested it. 

• Channels: Users can contact Benchmark via live chat, email or phone, but dedicated phone support for platform issues and questions is available only to paying customers. When we reached out via live chat, the customer-service representatives were prompt and courteous, and answered all our questions about the product.
• Online resources: Benchmark offers a great mix of self-service support options that make the platform even easier to use. We like the helpful blog articles, step-by-step guides, tutorial videos and monthly newsletter — all designed to help you get more out of your email marketing efforts.

Limitations

Benchmark is a great option for small businesses that want a user-friendly email marketing platform. We did, however, identify some limitations. 

• Free plan limitations: Although not unexpected, Benchmark’s free plan is limited in scope. You’re capped at 500 contacts and 3,500 email sends per month, and you can’t access A/B testing, surveys, polls or advanced automations. Those restrictions may make it harder to grow your email list.
• Limited integrations: Benchmark’s 1,500-plus Zapier-enabled integrations provide strong overall connectivity, but its limited built-in integrations may be a drawback for users who prefer direct connections. Read our review of Constant Contact if you’re looking for an email marketing platform with extensive included integrations.
• No CRM features: Some businesses prefer a platform that includes robust CRM functionality alongside email marketing. Read our review of Salesforce Marketing Cloud to learn about a CRM with integrated email marketing tools.

Methodology

​​To identify the best email marketing services, we compiled a list of popular platforms based on online research. We carefully examined each service’s online reputation and narrowed the list to a group of finalists. We spent several weeks researching each email marketing service by exploring its offerings, watching tutorials and how-to videos, testing the software (when possible), and reading user reviews. We also evaluated each platform’s pricing structure and customer support. When selecting our pick for the most user-friendly email marketing service, we focused on how intuitive the platform was for time-strapped small business owners, comparing free and paid features and evaluating how easy it was to get up and running.

Bottom line

We recommend Benchmark for …

• Small and midsize businesses with tight budgets.
• Business owners who want an intuitive user interface, customizable templates and interactive list segmentation.
• Businesses that want powerful, easy-to-use AI-powered email marketing tools at a low cost.

We don’t recommend Benchmark for …

• Businesses that need robust automation features in a free plan.
• Businesses that want a CRM and email marketing on the same platform.

Sean Peek contributed to this review.