What are the alternatives to Sign-Up.to?

In March, email service provider Sign-Up.to announced that it would be discontinuing the platform and its services as of 1st July 2020.

For those of you that have invested money and resources in sending your email marketing campaigns through Sign-Up.to, you are probably racing around for a replacement.

As someone who has used the Sign-Up.to platform, and spent time working with clients to migrate them over to alternative platforms, I thought I would share some of the best alternatives to Sign-Up.to, as well as some top tips for migrating over your data and campaigns.

The alternatives

Looking for an alternative is easier said than done. There are slight nuances to all platforms, be that in the way they are configured or the terminology they use. On top of that, many platforms operate a tier-based pricing structure, which means you might sign up thinking you’ve got all the features you need, only to find out later you need to pay more to acquire the additional features.

With that in mind, I thought I would share with you a real-world example of the process we went through with a client, based on a specific set of requirements.

Here’s what the client needed from their new platform, based on their current and projected usage of Sign-Up.to:

• The client needed a platform that had a contact manager, which could handle custom fields and have the ability to update contacts manually rather than solely through list imports
• It needed to be able to manage recipients email preferences, as the client sends out more than one type of email.
• The platform and its management options had to be GDPR compliant in order to comply with EU regulations as the client’s database contains individuals in the EU
• And it must have an open API so contacts could be added to the email database directly from the client’s website

With this information in mind, I went out and found the following three alternatives to Sign-Up.to based on the needs of the client:

MailChimp - Essentials Plan

https://mailchimp.com/

Pros

• Industry leader, and therefore unlikely to be discontinued
• Lots of expertise on this platform among marketing professionals
• Admin access for up to three users
• High number of email sends available per month

Cons

• Can’t manually edit the subscription status of contacts, i.e. if a contact unsubscribes, and then asks you to add them back in, you have to get them to complete a form. You couldn’t go into their contact record and change it yourself.
• Can’t code your own templates on this plan
• Small contact limit

Campaign Monitor - Basic Plan

Case Study: PrimeStox

How we helped PrimeStox treble registrations while reducing spend in just two months.

https://www.campaignmonitor.com/

Pros

• Visual workflow builder – good for welcome emails etc
• Good contact manager interface

Cons

• Limited number of inbox previews
• The more sophisticated automated workflow features are only available at a higher price bracket
• Small contact limit

Sendinblue – Esential Plan

https://www.sendinblue.com/

Pros

• Lots of features, but low monthly pricing
• High number of email sends per month and unlimited contact limit
• Built-in CRM for easy contact management

Cons

• Single-user access
• Least well known of the three
• Limited hands-on knowledge among marketing professionals

What else you need to consider

As you can see, there are some great alternatives to Sign-Up.to., but before you jump on board with a new platform, make sure you complete the following checklist before switching off Sign-Up.to for good:

• Download all of your contact data, making sure to include all of the fields in Sign-Up.to, including unsubscribe information, which will need to be honoured when switching to a new provider.
• To make it easier to recreate your email templates on your new email platform, make sure you take screenshots of your existing email templates in Sign-Up.to. While you might take this as an opportunity to update your email templates, you will still want them to look like your brand's emails, otherwise your email recipients might not recognise them and think they are spam. Remember, your database doesn’t know you are changing platforms!
• Download your previous email reports. You won’t be able to import your email reports on to the new platform, so if you want to keep a record of previous campaigns, now is the time to download them.
• Update your DNS settings. You will need to add new DKIM and SPF records for the new platform before you can start sending. Your existing Sign-up.to ones will not work.

If you need help switching to a new platform, we have a great package starting from £500 where we will get you up and running on your chosen platform. If you would like to know more, please get in touch with our email marketing specialist, Neal Dyer, on 01825 765617 or via email: [email protected].