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Communications
Email Management
Role-based inboxes, forwarding, listservs, and newsletters — configured for reliability and low admin overhead.
Program Overview
Email is the operational backbone for sign-ups, receipts, announcements, support requests, and internal coordination. We set up a clean, maintainable email structure so your organization can grow without inbox chaos, lost messages, or “who owns this account?” problems.
Inboxes, Aliases, and Role Addresses
We avoid putting operations on personal accounts. Instead, we create role-based addresses (like info@, orders@, support@) that forward to the right people and can be reassigned cleanly as staffing changes.
- Shared visibility: use group inboxes when multiple people need to see and respond.
- Clear ownership: keep domain + admin accounts controlled by the client.
- Operational continuity: preserve history when staff turns over.
Broadcasting, Newsletters, and Consent
For bulk announcements and newsletters, we recommend using a dedicated sending platform (instead of sending from a normal inbox) to protect deliverability and keep unsubscribe handling automatic.
- List hygiene: manage bounces and unsubscribes automatically.
- Segmentation: target audiences (customers, volunteers, donors) without duplicate lists.
- Compliance: ensure opt-in, footer requirements, and suppression lists.
DNS and Deliverability
Email reliability depends on correct DNS. We configure the essentials (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and align sending sources so messages land in inboxes instead of spam folders.
Email Management Options
Forwarding, shared inboxes, listservs, and outbound newsletter platforms
Comparative table across typical plans, operational limits, and admin overhead.
Google Groups note: Google Groups (included with Google Workspace) functions as a traditional listserv. It doesn’t belong in the “marketing email” category because it lacks core CRM features: you can’t build drag-and-drop graphic templates, you can’t track who opened an email or clicked a link, and you can’t set up automated welcome sequences.
| Provider | Plan | Monthly Fee | Sending Limits | Seat/Member Limit | Storage | Custom Domain | Internal Routing | Auto-Unsub | Setup Effort | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Business Starter | $7.00 / user | Standard Google limits | Unlimited | 30 GB / user | Yes | Full | Yes (Groups) | High | All-in-one suite; advanced admin console; Drive & Meet |
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Nonprofits (501c3) | $0 | Standard Google limits | 2,000 users | 30 GB / user | Yes | Full | Yes (Groups) | High | Requires official verification; full suite access |
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Premium | $20.00+ | Unlimited | 400 (scales up) | 2 GB | Subdomain | Full | Yes | Low | Modern listserv; daily digests; wiki & calendar features |
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Free Tier | $0 | Standard | 100 | Basic | Subdomain | Full | Yes | Low | Embeddable sign-up snippets; basic list management |
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Starter | $9.00+ | 5,000 / mo | Unlimited contacts | N/A | Yes | No | Yes | Medium | Drag-and-drop newsletter builder; API access; no daily limits |
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Free Tier | $0 | 300 / day | Unlimited contacts | N/A | Yes | No | Yes | Medium | Customizable website forms; marketing analytics |
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Pro | ~$2.50 / user | Unlimited | Unlimited (scales) | N/A | Yes | Full | Yes | Low | Streamlined group inbox; customized message templates |
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Free Tier | $0 | Unlimited | 20 | N/A | Yes | Full | Yes | Low | Great for small core teams; simple interface |
| AWS SES | Custom Cloud | Pay-as-you-go | Infinite (Scalable) | Unlimited | S3 Dependent | Yes | Custom | Programmatic | Very High | $0.10 per 1k emails; complete control over routing rules |
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Email Routing | $0 | Unlimited | Unlimited aliases | N/A | Yes | Forward Only | No | Medium | Best paired with Brevo/AWS for outbound; totally free forwarding |
Images represent platform branding only. Prices reflect base tiers as of 2026.
Marketing & Campaigns
Dedicated Newsletter and CRM Platforms
Comparative table across outbound marketing platforms. Pricing for these services typically scales strictly by the total number of contacts/subscribers on your list.
Officially: Google Groups belongs firmly in the first table because Google Workspace acts as a traditional listserv. It doesn’t belong in this marketing table because it lacks core CRM features: you can’t build drag-and-drop graphic templates, you can’t track who opened the email or clicked a link, and you can’t set up automated welcome sequences.
| Provider | Plan | Starting Fee | Contact Limit | Monthly Email Limit | Template Builder | Automations | E-commerce Sync | Vendor Lock-in | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Essentials | $13.00/mo | 500 (scales up) | 5,000 | Advanced | Basic | Yes | High | Industry standard; integrates with almost everything; A/B testing |
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Free Tier | $0 | 500 | 1,000 | Basic | No | Limited | High | Good for starting out, but branding is forced on emails |
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Core | $12.00/mo | 500 (scales up) | 12,000 | Standard | Basic | Yes | High | Excellent customer support; strong event management features |
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Advanced | $18.00/mo | 500 (scales up) | Unlimited | Advanced | Advanced | Yes | Medium | Very cost-effective as list grows; modern drag-and-drop builder |
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Free Tier | $0 | 1,000 | 12,000 | Standard | Basic | No | Medium | One of the most generous free tiers for growing community lists |
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Flat Rate | $38.00/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | Premium/Design | Standard | Shopify only | Medium | Never penalizes for list growth; highly aesthetic templates |
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Creator | $15.00/mo | 300 (scales up) | Unlimited | Text-focused | Advanced | Yes | Medium | Built for content creators; excellent visual automation builder |
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Launch (Free) | $0 | 2,500 | Unlimited | Modern/Clean | No | No | Low | Best for pure newsletters; web-hosting included; very generous free tier |
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Standard | $0 (Takes 10% of paid subs) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Text-focused | No | No | Low | Incredibly simple; acts as both a blog and an email blast; no CRM features |
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Standard | $20.00/mo | 500 (scales up) | 5,000 | Advanced | Advanced | Deep Integration | High | Industry standard for e-commerce; tracks highly specific purchasing behaviors |
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Free Tier | $0 | 250 | 500 | Advanced | Advanced | Deep Integration | High | Allows testing complex store automations before committing |
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Lite | $15.00/mo | 500 (scales up) | Unlimited | Advanced | Enterprise-grade | Yes | High | Incredibly powerful conditional logic; visual automation builder; high learning curve |
Prices reflect starting tiers based on minimum subscriber counts as of 2026.