We get asked this question all the time. What's the best email automation system? How do you pick one? And you might be surprised, but there's not one single universal answer to this question! So... want to know exactly what you need to do when you're looking for the best email marketing platform for your business?Then check this out! SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (4:02) What's an email automation system?(5:45) Always get the best-in-class product for your budget.(8:36) Pay now for the business you want to have in the future.(11:40) Cost vs ROI.(13:40) How to pick your email automation platform.(13:59) Why you should try out a few email automation platforms.(14:59) Check that the email automation system you want meets your needs.(15:52) Pick the email platform you prefer.(17:40) Our email automation system recommendations. (19:00) Subject line of the week.What is an email automation system? So first of all, what is an email automation system? Back in the day, they were called autoresponders - and some people still use the term. But in short, an email automation system is a platform that allows you to do clever stuff with your email list, like making decisions based on their behaviours or creating automated sequences of emails. Very handy! Always get the best-in-class product for your budgetWhen it comes to any software platforms, you have to bear in mind that none of them will do everything you want them to do. We once almost switched to one of these all-in-one platforms that will host your membership site, allow you to deliver your programmes, do your appointment scheduling, your email marketing, etc. But in the end, we found the platform was mediocre at everything and made email marketing too difficult. So our policy is to get the best-in-class product that your budget will allow. For email marketing, we use what we think is the best-in-class for the budget we have. It has to meet certain requirements around list size and email automation, for example, but it also needs to meet our budget. And we follow the same approach with all the other software products we use. So we always advise you choose the best you can afford. Because there are always going to be bigger and better things out there. But it doesn't mean they're right for you and your business.Pay now for the business you want to have in the futureHere's something we swear by. Pay now for the business you intend to have in the future and remember that email marketing will get you the highest ROI. If you’re going to do email marketing  seriously and put effort into it,  it will make you money. The problem with some of the marketing platforms out there though is that they might lure you in with a free or super-cheap account. But once you get to 10k subscribers, hosting a list with them becomes more expensive. And moving platforms then is a real pain in the neck.So the best thing you can possibly do is to commit to taking email marketing seriously right now and invest in it accordingly. Our top tip? Invest for the list you’re going to build and get an email platform that will be affordable then. Cost vs ROIThis might surprise you, but we only have a list of 4,500 subscribers. It may be sound small, but we make about $500,000 from our list. So if our email automation platform costs us around $1,800 a year ($150 per month), we're still making a large ROI. In fact, we make on average  $12 per subscriber per month (and that’s our EPSPM – or...