The comparison of email marketing tools is a task on every marketing department or entrepreneur's to-do list. There are literally hundreds of options available to the end-user and, at first, few people know where to start.
If you have begun your research you might have found Woodpecker’s name appearing regularly for varying reasons, and you might believe it to be a credible option. It might just be. It would be prudent, however, to see what else is out there and what the best email outreach tools are before choosing a tool.
In this article, we’re going to cover:
- What is an email marketing tool?
- The 5 must-have features of email marketing tools
- Instantly Vs. Woodpecker
- Plus other top Woodpecker alternatives worth considering
What Is an Email Marketing Tool?
Email marketing tools are there to develop and facilitate the process of email marketing. That includes everything from initialization to campaign reflection and analysis. Without these tools, you would be running campaigns manually, sending prospecting emails and follow-ups individually, and having to deal with personalization yourself. This is a huge undertaking, and is unlikely to get completed by the average human!
Email marketing tools present a solution that controls the whole system. Many even incorporate systems that allow you to prospect email addresses, automatically add them to workflows, and really push the limits of your email marketing campaign. They are impressive time-saving, cost-effective, and efficiency-improving devices.
5 Must-Have Features Of Email Marketing Tools
When comparing the likes of Woodpecker to other alternatives it’s key that you’re aware of the most important features to consider in an email marketing tool. Once you have these features clear in your mind you can not only check which tool has them (and how they’re offered) but also consider which features your business actually needs.
It’s safe to say that you might not feel every feature necessary, so concentrate your efforts on what is absolutely required.
AI-Powered Email Warm Up
Arguably the most often overlooked feature of an email marketing tool, but easily one of the most important. The process of email warmup can take an incredibly long time done manually and is therefore usually skipped.
The issue is that this can doom a campaign to failure before it has even started. Email account warmup slowly sends emails from your account incrementally so that, eventually, spam filters are used to seeing your account sending thousands of emails all at once.
Without it, spam filters will likely be triggered when launching your campaigns and your emails will end up in junk folders. No matter what other features the email marketing tool has, without email warmup the campaign will almost certainly fail.
Editable Templates
No one likes to stare at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike. The best tools on the market will share beautifully crafted email templates. Some will come with a selection of impressive images and designs, others will simply draft suggested content. The important factor is how easily editable the templates are, making sure they look on brand should be straightforward.
Email Builder
Following on immediately from templates, once you’ve picked a template the email needs to be editable within an email builder. This means avoiding getting into coding, and instead using something as simple as drag-and-drop instead. This means you can focus on your message rather than a formatting headache.
Mobile Friendly Emails
Mobile users simply can’t be ignored. In many cases, they make up the majority of people engaging with email marketing campaigns. This means that the first time, and potentially the only way, that they’re engaging with your email is through their mobile device’s screen. Your email absolutely has to be readable and engaging on mobile.
Scalable
You might not need to send thousands and thousands of emails a month at first, but eventually, you’d like to be in that position. The last thing you’ll want to do while scaling your business is to change software tools.
It’s important that the tool is able to scale with you as you grow. You should be able to clearly understand how the tool will scale, both in terms of features available and also price.
Comprehensive Analytics
During your campaign’s run, you’ll want to be able to track and analyze a number of core metrics. The best tools will serve a comprehensive analytical suite, ideally, with a simplified dashboard where you can access metrics within just a few clicks.
At a minimum you should be able to track:
- Deliverability Rate
- Open Rate
- Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Unsubscribes
- Bounce Rate
Instantly Vs. Woodpecker
Instantly Entry Tier
- $37 a month
- Unlimited Email Accounts
- Unlimited Email Warmup
- 100 Active Leads
- 5000 Emails per month
- Advanced Sequences
- Email and Account Analytics
- Reputation and Bounce Protection
- General Support Tickets
Woodpecker Entry Tier
- $49 a month (+1 extra slot at no additional charge)
- A/B testing
- Up to 1500 new prospects contacted monthly
- Free Warm-up & Recovery for each slot
- Free email list verification & validation
- Unlimited follow-ups & team members
- Deliverability Monitor & Bounce Shield
- Condition-based campaigns & manual tasks
Woodpecker’s overall aim is to save you or your marketing team time. In fact, they suggest that using their email marketing tool will save you up to 8 hours a week on email outreach. It achieves this through automation, response reading, and automated follow-up to non-replies. This allows you to focus only on the leads who have engaged with your campaign.
Woodpecker does offer an impressive suite of tools, including email validation (at upload) plus a built-in automatic account warm-up. Both of which help with deliverability significantly. When paired with personalization and multiple-path campaigns, you can build impressive campaigns with a plethora of automations. It doesn’t, however, offer anything all that impressive or out of the ordinary.
Instantly offers a slicker and more comprehensive version of Woodpecker, essentially doing everything that Woodpecker does but in a more succinct, user-friendly way with additional features too.
It’s true that Woodpecker includes email warmup as a feature, but it is nowhere near as robust or as efficient as Instantly’s AI-powered warmup. If you’re planning on leaving your account warmup to an automated tool it makes sense to go with one that is reliable and has an impressive track record, as Instantly does.
For businesses that are serious about email outreach, Instantly offers the ability to add an unlimited amount of email accounts to a single subscription. This is vastly superior to Woodpecker’s single seat (with one additional seat for free).
At first glance, it looks like A/B testing is included as standard with Woodpecker, but this is actually an optional extra that adds an additional $10 a month to your bill. Another optional extra is the use of API keys and integrations. It goes for an extra $5 a month and is a feature one would expect to be in the standard package. Especially when the list includes the likes of Pipedrive, Zapier, and Hubspot, tools that many businesses use as standard.
Weighing the two together, Instantly versus Woodpecker, the decision over which to go with depends entirely on what you’re looking to achieve. If you’re planning to grow a business that needs an email marketing tool that can grow with it, sending thousands of emails a month reliably without hitting spam filters, then Instantly is the choice.
If you’d like everything Instantly does but at a higher cost, choose Woodpecker.
Other Woodpecker Alternatives of 2022
Apart from Instantly and Woodpecker, there are many other options to choose from. While Instantly provides all the tools an email marketer needs and more, the following list compares some of the best alternatives to Woodpecker that the market has to offer.
GetResponse vs. Woodpecker
GetResponse is an affordable entry-level email marketing tool at only $19 a month with a free version available too. It focuses on sales automation alongside 24/7 customer support in case you get stuck.
The interesting thing about GetResponse is it’s a more holistic marketing tool than solely email marketing. It also offers a website builder, conversion funnels, marketing automations, live chats, and more.
OneHash Vs. Woodpecker
OneHash calls itself the world’s first Faas (which is a SaaS + FOSS). For $99 a month you are able to add unlimited users to the platform, and if you upgrade to the enterprise level you can access an on-premise version rather than the cloud.
The tool includes the email marketing features that you would expect but doesn’t mention email warm-up in any of its marketing blurbs. It does offer a full CRM plus some project management tools.
SendGrid Vs. Woodpecker
One of the market leaders in customer communication, SendGrid starts from a low $14.95 a month plus a free version and a free trial. They service small and large businesses with an aim of increasing sales engagement and growth using email.
It boasts email marketing features such as simple segmentation, fully-editable campaigns, and an analytics dashboard.
Campaign Monitor Vs. Woodpecker
Campaign monitor starts from the lowest price on our list at only $9 a month. It is a simple email marketing tool, without any bells or whistles. It allows you to create and then send well-crafted emails, with personalization.
There are suites of templates, plus a robust drag-and-drop builder. The analytics are useful, especially when combined with the segmentation tool. It’s a solid choice for those with minimal technical expertise.
ActiveCampaign Vs. Woodpecker
At $15 a month, ActiveCampaign is a leader in email automation. The platform is able to create impressive flows of emails based on a number of variables, running automatically once the campaign is launched.
It slots into many businesses thanks to its 850+ integrations, so chances are it will align with your stack. For those looking to branch out from email marketing alone, it has a robust CRM and other marketing automations too.
Key Takeaways
The right email marketing tool can supercharge your business and is a decision not to be taken lightly. Getting it right means that your email marketing can essentially go on autopilot, allowing you to focus on the strongest leads, converting at higher rates.
Instantly offers that solution, and is a great fit for the majority of businesses, including the necessary AI-powered email warm-up. When choosing the right email marketing tool, remember:
- You can only truly compare tools when you know precisely what features your business will benefit the most from.
- Making use of free trials is a helpful way of trying out potential candidates for your tool
- Be sure that any tool you pick is able to sufficiently scale with your business plan.
Wondering if Instantly is right for you? Why not try the 14-day free trial?
