78. It's Time to Ditch Your Website's Email Marketing Add-On: Why Small Businesses Should Choose a Dedicated Email Marketing Platform
- Brittany Miller
- Nov 19, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 24
Starting email marketing can feel like navigating a maze, especially if you're trying to manage it through a basic website-based platform. You might find yourself frustrated with limited features, clunky designs, or a lack of tools to truly connect with your audience.
That’s why many successful entrepreneurs turn to dedicated email marketing platforms. These platforms are specifically designed to help you streamline your communication, grow your email list, and convert subscribers into loyal customers. From automation to analytics, they provide the tools you need to build meaningful relationships with your audience while saving time and energy.
As a business coach and host of the Go Get Great podcast, I’ve seen firsthand how transitioning to the right email marketing platform can transform a business. Drawing from my own journey and the insights I’ve gained from coaching other entrepreneurs, I’m here to help you make the leap and harness the full potential of email marketing. Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up, you're in the right place!
Table of Contents
Why Website-Based Email Marketing is a Good Starting Point
The Truth About Website Email Marketing & Dedicated Email Platforms
Key Signs It's Time to Switch to a Dedicated Email Platform
Brittany's Recommendation: Why I Choose Omnisend
Why Website-Based Email Marketing Is a Good Starting Point
When you’re just starting your entrepreneurial journey, simplicity is key. Website-based email marketing offers several advantages that make it an ideal starting point for beginners.
Integration Benefits for Beginners
One of the biggest perks of website-based platforms is their seamless integration. Tools like pop-ups and contact forms are often built-in, allowing you to capture leads directly on your site without needing additional software. This convenience eliminates the learning curve and keeps things simple for those new to email marketing.
Website Email Marketing Costs Are Covered In Your Website Payment
Budget constraints are a reality for most new business owners, and website-based email marketing tools are often included as part of your hosting or website plan. This means you can start building your email list and engaging with your audience without additional costs—perfect for testing the waters before investing in a more advanced platform.
While these features make website-based email marketing a great starting point, as your business grows, you may find yourself outgrowing its limitations. That’s where dedicated email marketing platforms come in to take your efforts to the next level.
The Truth About Website Email Marketing & Dedicated Email Platforms
When it comes to website platforms, email marketing is often treated as a bonus feature—an add-on rather than a priority. Most platforms position email marketing as something you can do, but it’s not their core focus. Their main priority is helping you build your website, create a stunning online presence, and promote your business effectively.
The reality is, most platforms treat email marketing as a secondary feature. They focus on rolling out new website design elements, better customization options, and smoother user experiences for site-building. Email marketing gets left behind, with fewer upgrades, limited features, and little thought given to the evolving needs of businesses that rely on email as a key marketing channel.
If you’re serious about email marketing, you’ll eventually outgrow the built-in options that your website platform offers. While these tools can be helpful in the beginning, they’re often too limited to support the long-term growth and strategies your business needs to thrive. Recognizing this sooner rather than later can save you time, frustration, and missed opportunities in building meaningful connections with your audience.
Key Signs It's Time to Switch to a Dedicated Email Platform
While website-based email marketing platforms can be an excellent starting point, their simplicity often comes at the cost of functionality. As your business grows, so do your email marketing needs. If you’re experiencing any of the following challenges, it’s likely time to upgrade to a dedicated email marketing platform:
1. Struggling with Email Design Options
Website-based tools often lack professional design options, making it challenging to align your emails with your brand’s aesthetic. Customizing layouts, fonts, and colors to reflect your brand’s identity is limited, resulting in emails that may appear plain or generic. These unappealing designs can impact your audience’s engagement and reduce the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Your emails should be an extension of your brand, showcasing your unique aesthetic and professionalism. If your current platform’s design tools feel restrictive—making it hard to customize layouts, fonts, or visuals—you may notice your emails failing to make the desired impact on your audience.
2. Frustration with Limited Automation in Email Marketing
Another significant drawback is the limited automation capabilities. While these tools might handle basic workflows, such as sending a welcome email, they often struggle with more complex triggers and workflows. Advanced automation, like branching logic and conditional actions, allows you to personalize emails based on user behavior—such as recommending products after a click or sending follow-ups to inactive subscribers—but these features are typically unavailable in website-based systems. This lack of segmentation and targeting can limit your ability to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time for them to purchase.
Are you stuck performing repetitive manual tasks, like individually segmenting your list or manually triggering automations? Limited automation capabilities can make scaling your email efforts feel impossible. A dedicated platform offers powerful workflows and triggers that allow you to send personalized emails automatically—saving time and boosting engagement.
3. High Unsubscribe Rates from Lack of Email List Segmentation Options
As your business grows, you'll naturally find yourself sending more emails—but here's the catch: you don’t want to send every email to everyone on your list. Instead, you need to send targeted emails to the specific people who are actually interested in what you’re sharing.
For example, my email list is segmented into categories like social media, email marketing, and podcasting. When I send out updates or communications about podcasting, I don’t blast them to my entire list. I send them only to the people who’ve shown interest in podcasting. This keeps my emails relevant and ensures my subscribers see value in what I’m sending.
Website-based email providers often don't have tagging and advanced email list segmentation features. Without this kind of segmentation or automation, you’re at risk of fatiguing your audience. If people keep getting emails that don’t resonate with them, they’re more likely to hit “unsubscribe.” On top of that, managing your communications manually without proper triggers or automation eats up a lot more of your time—time you could be using to focus on growing your business.
By setting up proper segmentation and automations, you’ll not only save time but also create a better experience for your audience. It's a win-win that helps nurture relationships without overwhelming your subscribers or yourself.
4. Lack of Actionable Insights because Analytics for Email Marketing are Scarce
Understanding the performance of your email campaigns is crucial for growth, but website-based platforms often lack robust analytics tools. While you might see basic metrics like open rates, you miss out on deeper insights, such as click maps, subscriber demographics, and engagement trends. Without comprehensive data, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the ROI of your email campaigns or optimize strategies for maximum effectiveness.
If your analytics feel barebones—showing only basic metrics like opens and clicks—it’s hard to make data-driven decisions. A more advanced platform provides in-depth insights, such as click maps, subscriber behaviour, and ROI tracking, giving you the tools to refine your strategy and achieve better results.
These limitations often become apparent as your email marketing strategy matures, prompting the need for a dedicated email marketing platform that can keep up with your growing demands. Recognizing these pain points is the first step toward elevating your email marketing efforts and unlocking the full potential of your campaigns. I recently worked with a client who was using a combination of Squarespace, Shopify, and other tools to run their business. While that setup worked for their storefront and online ordering, we ran into major issues when it came to tracking where their sales were actually coming from.
The numbers weren’t categorized properly, which left us unable to determine whether sales were coming from our email marketing efforts, social media, or organic traffic from Google. Talk about frustrating! When you don’t have clear visibility into what’s working in your business, it’s nearly impossible to know where to focus your time and energy. You might be pouring effort into strategies that aren’t delivering, while missing opportunities to double down on what’s actually driving results.
This is why having a clear system in place to track your sales—and knowing how to use that data effectively—is so critical. Without it, you're essentially flying blind, and that can cost you time, money, and growth. Take the time to get organized, evaluate your tools, and ensure your business is set up to give you the insights you need to thrive. Omnisend's analytics are top notch, which is one of the reasons why I use Omnisend as my email provider.
Brittany’s Recommendation: Why I Choose Omnisend
As someone who has spent years refining email marketing strategies, I can confidently say that Omnisend is one of the best platforms I’ve worked with.
Here’s why I choose it for my email marketing:
Top-Tier Design Features: Omnisend makes it easy to create professional, on-brand emails with minimal effort. Its customizable templates and drag-and-drop tools allow you to design emails that match your brand without needing a design background.
Powerful Automation: The platform’s automation is a game-changer. From welcome emails to re-engagement campaigns, Omnisend lets me create targeted, personalized workflows that run on autopilot, saving me time while improving engagement.
Advanced Analytics: Omnisend’s analytics tools give me the insights I need to track performance—open rates, clicks, conversions, and more. With this data, I can refine my campaigns and improve ROI, making it easier to know what’s working.
Choosing the right platform depends on your current needs, but as your email marketing evolves, transitioning to a more robust solution like Omnisend can provide the tools and support you need to take your campaigns to the next level.
As we’ve discussed, there are clear signs that indicate it’s time to switch from a website-based email marketing solution to a more dedicated platform. If you’re struggling with limited design options, feeling frustrated with automation constraints, or not getting the insights you need to optimize your campaigns, it might be time to upgrade.
Take a moment to assess your current email marketing strategy:
Are your emails reflecting your brand’s aesthetic and engaging your audience?
Are you manually managing most of your tasks, when automation could save you time?
Are you missing out on key analytics that can drive your decisions?
If you identified any of these red flags, consider making the move to a dedicated platform that will empower your business to grow. If you are wondering where to begin with, grab my Email Set Up Checklist and get everything you need to know gathered in one place, or consider a done-for-you email marketing setup.
A Complete Rundown of My Email Marketing Setup
When it comes to email marketing, having a clear and functional setup is essential for your business. Here's a quick overview of what's included in my email setup process, which aligns perfectly with the checklist I provide to ensure you're building a strong foundation for your email strategy.
The setup includes everything from:
1. Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform
2. Uploading and Segmenting Your Existing List
3. Creating a Lead Magnet
4. Building Opt-In Forms
5. Designing an Email Template and Welcome Sequence
6. Tutorial and Transition Support
Email Marketing Is a Must-Have for Your Business
Email marketing is a powerful tool that can make a huge impact on your business. It allows you to communicate with your audience directly, nurture leads, and generate consistent sales. In fact, email marketing often outperforms social media when it comes to conversions. Plus, it’s a safety net—if your social media accounts are ever compromised, your email list ensures you still have a way to reach your audience.
Even if you’ve been doing email marketing for a while, setting up a lead magnet or refreshing your strategy can elevate your efforts. Whether you’re ready for a full email setup or want to book a coaching session to brainstorm lead magnet ideas, I’m here to help you build a system that works for your business. To take the next step, book a clarity call with me.
Thank you for tuning in to this week’s episode of the Go Get Great Podcast. I can’t wait to help you unlock the full potential of email marketing for your business. See you next week!
Go Get Great Episode 78 References
Ep. 68 - Turning Email Data Into Dollars https://www.brittanymillersocials.ca/post/what-to-do-with-your-engaged-subscribers-for-email-marketing
Free Email Setup Checklist https://www.brittanymillersocials.ca/email-marketing-checklist
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00:00 Intro
1:50 Using a website's email options
3:30 Red flags for web providers email marketing tools
4:00 Designing emails through your website
6:30 Limited automation options & their impact
9:00 What you're missing from insights and analytics
11:40 How to know when you need a dedicated email platform
15:30 Wrap up
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