Short answer
Workflow Compass verdict
Start with Brevo when follow-up and budget control matter.
Brevo is a practical first comparison for small business owners who want bulk email campaigns, customer follow-up, simple automation, and email engagement tracking without moving into a complex enterprise platform. GetResponse is a better fit for small businesses that want email marketing, landing pages, basic funnels, and campaign automation in one place. Mailchimp is familiar and polished for basic newsletters.
Quick picks
Best for budget-aware small businesses that want bulk email marketing, customer follow-up automations, SMS options, and transactional messaging under one account.
Best for small businesses that want newsletters, lead capture, autoresponders, landing pages, and basic funnels in one tool.
Best for beginners who mostly need newsletter sending, simple audience management, and a familiar interface.
Best for creators and solo experts who want simple audience building, opt-in forms, and creator-style newsletters.
How to choose your first email marketing tool
Start with the job you need the tool to do. A newsletter tool is enough if you only send monthly updates. A broader marketing platform makes more sense when you need a landing page, lead magnet, welcome sequence, and follow-up emails connected from day one.
Why GetResponse is recommended
GetResponse is recommended for small businesses that want email marketing and campaign automation in one place. It is a good fit when the workflow includes a signup form, landing page, lead magnet, autoresponder, and follow-up emails.
This makes it useful for owners who do not want to stitch together too many separate tools before they have a repeatable marketing process. A simple setup can capture a lead, deliver a guide or offer, send a short nurture sequence, and point the reader toward a quote request, product page, or booking step.
GetResponse may be more than necessary for a basic newsletter-only workflow. But for small businesses that need lead capture plus follow-up automation, it is a practical tool to compare early.
Simple workflow guide
| Workflow | Tool to compare first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletter only | Mailchimp | Familiar editor and audience basics for regular updates. |
| Lead magnets and landing pages | GetResponse | Better fit when capture pages, autoresponders, and nurture emails belong together. |
| Budget-aware customer follow-up | Brevo | Strong fit for practical campaigns, reminders, and customer interaction tracking. |
| Creator or solo expert newsletter | Kit | Good fit for simple audience building and creator-led email lists. |
| Service business inquiry follow-up | Brevo or GetResponse | Choose Brevo for lighter follow-up; choose GetResponse when lead capture pages are part of the workflow. |
What matters most
- Signup forms: You need a clean way to capture leads from guides, quote requests, webinars, and checkout pages.
- Automation: The tool should send welcome emails, reminders, nurture sequences, and follow-up messages without daily manual work.
- List quality: Look for segmentation, tagging, unsubscribe handling, consent records, and easy list cleanup.
- Landing pages: Useful if you run ads or want a simple page for a lead magnet without building a separate site.
- Reporting: At minimum, track opens, clicks, unsubscribes, conversions, and which pages or campaigns created subscribers.
Common pain points to solve first
- The business collects emails from ads, forms, events, or checkout, but never sends a useful welcome sequence.
- The owner sends one-off promotions and then wonders why subscribers do not remember the offer.
- Contacts are split between a form tool, ecommerce platform, spreadsheet, and CRM.
- The team compares features before deciding what the first three emails should actually say.
- Customer inquiries arrive, but the owner forgets to send a second or third follow-up.
- The business cannot quickly tell whether customers opened, clicked, or ignored the last message.
- The owner wants batch email marketing without adopting a complicated enterprise system.
Mailchimp vs Brevo vs GetResponse vs Kit
| Tool | Best for | Possible friction |
|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Budget-aware teams that care about email campaigns, SMS options, transactional messaging, and simple follow-up automation. | Owners should verify which plan includes the automation, sending volume, and features they need. |
| GetResponse | Small businesses that want email, forms, landing pages, autoresponders, and simple funnels together. | Can feel broad if you only need a basic newsletter and no automation plan. |
| Mailchimp | Beginners who want a familiar newsletter tool with polished templates and audience basics. | Pricing and feature gates can feel confusing as the list and automation needs grow. |
| Kit | Creators, solo experts, and newsletter-led businesses that want simple audience growth. | Less obvious for traditional local service businesses that need broader CRM or ecommerce workflows. |
Recommended first workflow
Do not start by building a complex funnel. Start with one common customer action: an inquiry, booking request, download, purchase, quote request, or event signup. Add a confirmation email, a useful follow-up, a reminder, and one clear call to action. After 100-200 subscribers, review opens, clicks, replies, unsubscribes, and the message where people stop engaging.
Simple follow-up sequence
Email 1: confirm the request. Email 2: answer the common question. Email 3: remind the customer of the next step.
First email workflow to build
Build one short sequence before comparing advanced features. The first version should confirm the subscriber action, answer one common question, and point to one useful next step. Once that works, add segmentation, extra offers, or a longer nurture path.
Need landing pages too?
If the first workflow starts with a lead magnet, checklist, webinar, or focused signup page, GetResponse is a useful tool to compare.
First welcome sequence checklist
| Job | Simple call to action | |
|---|---|---|
| Email 1 | Confirm the signup or inquiry and deliver what was promised. | Read the guide, download the checklist, or confirm details. |
| Email 2 | Answer the question most buyers ask before replying or booking. | View the comparison, reply with context, or choose a next step. |
| Email 3 | Remind the reader of the practical next action. | Book a call, request a quote, browse a product, or ask a question. |
| Review step | Check opens, clicks, replies, unsubscribes, and where people stop engaging. | Improve one message at a time. |
What to check before upgrading
- Whether the plan includes the automation rules, forms, landing pages, and reporting you need.
- How pricing changes as contacts, send volume, and segmentation needs grow.
- Whether the tool handles unsubscribes, consent records, and exports cleanly.
- Whether your form builder, CRM, ecommerce platform, or booking tool can pass contacts into the email system reliably.
Best for / not best for
Best for
- Owners who need batch campaigns and simple customer follow-up.
- Small ecommerce and service businesses that care about open, click, and interaction tracking.
- Teams that want email marketing without committing to a large enterprise system.
Not best for
- Businesses with no offer, list-building plan, or follow-up content yet.
- Teams that need advanced CRM pipelines before email campaigns.
- Owners who only send one occasional plain announcement.
Who should avoid email software for now?
If you do not have a website, offer, lead source, or clear next step, an email tool will not fix that. Create a simple landing page and one helpful resource first. Email marketing works best when it supports a real buyer journey, not when it is used as a place to store random contacts.
FAQ
Should I start with GetResponse or Mailchimp?
Start with GetResponse if you already know you need autoresponders, landing pages, and lead nurturing. Start with Mailchimp if you mostly need a simple newsletter and want a familiar interface.
When is Brevo the better choice?
Brevo is worth comparing when you are budget sensitive, care about transactional email, or want email and SMS options in the same account.
What should my first automation be?
A welcome sequence. Deliver the promised resource, explain the problem you solve, then point readers to one useful guide, comparison, or offer.
Do I need landing pages inside the email tool?
Landing pages help when you run ads, promote a lead magnet, or want a focused signup page without changing your main website.
How often should a small business email its list?
Start with a predictable rhythm you can maintain, such as one useful email every two to four weeks, plus short follow-up sequences after specific actions.
Next reads
Read our Brevo review, compare Brevo vs GetResponse, or learn how to automate customer follow-up.