You may already be aware that Benchmark Email provides two different types of plans for your email marketing needs. However, there seems to be some confusion when it comes down to the specifics of those plans and ultimately deciding which type of plan is the best choice for you and your business.

Let’s do a bit of “head-to-head” action between our Email Plan vs. List Plan to see who will come out the winner. I cannot guarantee this battle will be as entertaining as the movie Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus though. Nothing can quite compare to that epic battle. But I promise that by the end of this match up, you’ll feel more confident about your knowledge of the two different plan types.

Email Volume Plan

We’ll start out with the Email Plan. This option allows you to pay based on the total number of emails you wish to send within your 30 day billing cycle. I like to compare this to a cell phone plan. I know that for every month I have 1000 minutes available to me. It doesn’t matter how many different phone numbers I call. In fact, there is no limit to how many numbers I can call. As long as I keep my usage to 1000 minutes or under each month, I am good to go. One month I may decide to call 1000 people and talk to each one for 1 minute at a time (not advisable by the way). Another month I may decide to call 200 numbers and talk for 5 minutes each. I am given that freedom and I like it. If you decide to go with the “Email Marketing Plan,” you will have that choice as well. You just need to watch your email usage throughout the month. If you send any emails over your limit, you will be charged for the overages.

Email List Plan

My cell phone company also offers another kind of plan for me, just like Benchmark Email offers another kind of plan for you. It is a sort of “Frequent Contacts” plan, or here at Benchmark we call it Email List Plan. Users who decide to go this route will be paying based on the number of contacts they have in their account. This is helpful for clients who email the same group of people multiple times in one month. It removes the worry of “How many emails am I at now?” and instead allows you the freedom to contact them when you need to. The plan with the cell phone company works in the same way. Some consumers only call 4-5 contacts every month. For them, they are allowed unlimited minutes to those specially selected contacts. If you decide to go with the “List Plan” option, you will be able to have a specially selected group of contacts that you can email many times in one month.

Unfortunately, we do still set a limit to how many times you can email that same group of subscribers. The limit is 7 times per month and this is because anything more than that might result in higher levels of spam complaints. If you feel you need more than 7 times per month, you can contact us and we might be able to work something out.

Which Works Best for Your Email Marketing?

When making the decision between paying for the emails sent or paying for the number of contacts, try to keep in mind what your needs are at this specific moment. We do offer the flexibility to change from one type of plan to another, so you are never locked in with your choice. Anytime you feel the need to switch over from one type to the other, simply contact us by either email, phone or through live chat and we can make that adjustment for you. As always, any time you are changing plans, please do so before your next billing cycle to avoid being charged twice.