It’s been a year since I switched from Benchmark Email to GetResponse. My experience with both email marketing services has been positive – but more so with the latter. GetResponse is the best in email marketing and I don’t think anyone can match it in today’s competition.
I like to compare the two in terms of their features, and I believe GetResponse (GR) always comes out on top.
Both GetResponse and Benchmark are all needed to create great email campaigns. Benchmark (BM) allows up to 50k subscribers. GR takes that limit to 100K and even more. Both allow me to send an unlimited number of emails per month. Both have good drag & drop editors, but GetResponse’s editor is more user friendly. You need to try it to understand how simple it is.
In terms of templates, both have responsive templates. But with GR I see that their templates are closer to real world solutions. There is a higher level of complexity to the templates offered by BM.
The templates are sharper and more effective in helping me impress my audience!
A/B testing
With GetResponse I can test everything about my emails. Benchmarks allow me to test subject lines. So it’s easier for me to make the right choice in this case. I’m crazy about testing my campaigns, and spending more and more time testing my emails.
It gives me all the necessary info including clicks and opens, and how the campaign is performing. I can compare different versions of my design. Because I know which works better, it helps put my campaign on a path of success. BM does offer A/B testing features, but they are not very advanced for me.
Will Benchmark let me create webinars? No. GetResponse allows me to create and engage my audience more effectively. This webinar is also responsive. I can customize URLs with titles, create passwords for specific webinars, and create advanced date/time pickers that enable flexible scheduling. There are so many dynamic webinar templates that easily catch the attention of the audience. I can analyze and optimize it and act on it too.
Both platforms let me segment lists, create surveys and polls, and take advantage of Google Analytics. But there’s more GetResponse. It allows me to integrate social sharing and has its own email intelligence feature.
Inbox Preview
This is a unique feature for GR. As you can understand from the name of the feature, this email marketing platform allows me to get a preview of all my emails before I send them.
Benchmark has so many integrations and offers so much, but is lacking in these features. This gives me a huge advantage because I already know how my email recipients will perceive my newsletter before they get it.
Both are great email marketing tools. Both can be used by new and advanced users as well as by professionals and individual businesses. In terms of language support, I’d say once again that GetResponse goes one step further. It supports several additional languages besides the common ones. Polish and Russian users can also take advantage of this powerful email marketing platform.
Price comparison
It is important to know how much you are getting for the different plans offered by these two email marketing tools.
Start with 1000 subscribers and send them unlimited emails per month and costs $15 GR. For the same plan, Benchmark charges over $18. If you have 5,000 subscribers, things balance out and it costs between $44 and $49 per month on both services. GetResponse may look more expensive here, but with plans and annual discounts, it’s still cheaper than the Benchmark plan.
As the number of subscribers grows, the plans are almost as tight! For more information on prices, I recommend visiting their pricing page: GetResponse Pricing And Benchmark Pricing.
So, with about 5,000 subscribers it made sense for me to move to an email marketing platform which offers more features while keeping things simpler. I find it easier and faster to create and run campaigns with GetResponse, and I’m glad I found it. I’ve heard a lot about it, but it took me the free trial to realize it was better than Benchmark.
template
Auto Responders
When it comes to AutoResponders, both email marketing providers are experts. But then again, GR has the advantage with AutoResponder 2.0. This is a bit more advanced and allows me to respond to user events and actions. Sending action-based messages is what motivates me every time! I was able to reach them at the right time and it helped solve a lot!
Form
GetResponse offers a wider variety of forms than Benchmark. There’s something for every type of business and over 500 templates to back up. I can also do A/B testing to determine what works best for me. Privileges are limited in the case of BM.
Webinar
Conclusion
Benchmark is without a doubt one of the top email marketing platforms. It has amazing features. Simple user interface. Their customer support is good and responsive. There is no doubt why it is rated as one of the best in the business and can be used by any size of business.
One thing I’d like to point out is that the Benchmark email builder is almost as perfect as GetResponse’s. It’s hard to tell the difference at some points.
On the other hand, GetResponse is the top email marketing service for me. If you’re already running campaigns with a service like Benchmark, GR can help you take it further. I can create email campaigns faster and with more features including social share buttons, embedded videos and more. It’s also faster when it comes to importing contact lists. And thanks to its powerful auto-responder and inbox preview features, it’s too hard to keep away from it.
It would recommend GetResponse for everyone. But that doesn’t mean Benchmark is far away. It’s also a great email marketing platform with lots of integrations. But GetResponse is just mine and I don’t think I’ll be leaving it for long.
