How we wrote these reviews: We used testimonials and ratings from popular peer-to-peer review platforms G2 and Capterra to give an objective overview and help you find the best email marketing software for your business.
When it comes to email marketing software, many business owners believe that the best tools will cost them a great deal of money. But is that actually true?
Not necessarily.
With the right provider, great email marketing can be both affordable and effective, with a potential return on investment of $47.80 for every $1 spent.
What’s more, email marketing has advanced leaps and bounds in the last few years. It allows brands to not only send blast emails to their customers, but also collect subscribers, automate the communication, segment lists, and combine various channels to make it a full-featured solution for generating sales day after day.
But getting the most out of your email marketing means you’ll need to find the right email marketing software that can help you meet your goals.
We tested the 10 most popular email marketing software to help you make an informed decision.
There are quite a few email service providers (ESPs) and CRMs out there. This can make it quite difficult to figure out which of these is the best fit for your business.
To help you decide, we looked at the following factors to analyze the email marketing software:
Price. We consider various business sizes and needs, favoring email software that offer free-forever plans, free trials, or good bang for your buck.
Ease of use. It’s 2023, and you shouldn’t need technical skills to use email marketing software. We’re favoring email software that allow both novice and experienced marketers to use the software with little to no problems
Deliverability. It’s important that your emails land in your customers’ inboxes. We give higher priority to email software that have excellent email deliverability
Integrations. You should be able to connect your tech stack with your email software, so the number and breadth of integrations is key.
Customer support. You should be able to get timely help. In our review, we asses this based on ratings given on review platforms.
Get the top-rated email marketing software made for ecommerce
It’s a common misconception that getting the most out of email marketing means spending a fortune. Unfortunately, this belief is stopping many great businesses from exploring email marketing and discovering its potential to transform their operations. The good news is Omnisend is on a mission to debunk this myth every single day.
Omnisend is an email & SMS marketing software that’s made to help ecommerce stores build customer loyalty and generate more sales. It has one-click integration with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and more, meaning that not only is it easy to get started but also to sync data with the platform seamlessly.
Omnisend covers the entire on-site marketing funnel: from helping you collect subscribers with popups and landing pages, to engaging and activating them through email, SMS and push notifications. Use automated workflows like abandoned cart or welcome messages to get more sales in less time.
Key features:
Ecommerce-focused email features, like recommended products, direct product listings, unique discount codes, and much more
Branding automatically pulled from your store and applied to your email and popup templates
Popups, signup forms, and landing pages that are pre-loaded with seasonal and goal-oriented templates
Flexible segmentation that lets you target any customers, so you can communicate relevant messages
Customer insights so you can understand what’s working, what’s not, and suggestions on how to improve
Why choose Omnisend?
Omnisend is set up to make it easy for ecommerce brands to get and keep their customers, with loads of high-converting email, popup, workflow and segmentation templates. Plus, it’s consistently 40% cheaper than other leading ESPs, offering merchants a much higher ROI. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why it’s a top-rated email marketing solution, with more than 4,000 five-star reviews on Shopify.
Moosend is both a newer email marketing software, and one that’s often thought of as cheap and effective. It is focused on helping new ecommerce stores get familiar with email marketing, with tools such as their Ecommerce AI that provides useful suggestions to improve performance.
It boasts other features that email marketers will enjoy, including the option to easily customize templates or use one from their library of templates.
Key features:
Their campaign editor will help you create professional-looking emails
You can use forms and popups to build your email list
Get real-time reporting and analytics to help you gain customer insights
Their email personalization features help you target customers better
Ecommerce AI tool that can provide suggestions to improve your email marketing
Drip is well-known for having great automation workflows that you can combine with its segmentation. This allows you to better target your customers and send them relevant messages at the right time.
We really appreciate that Drip’s 20 workflow templates cover the entire customer journey. They’re easy to customize and the ability to use targeted, segmented lists helps ecommerce business owners give the best experience to their customers.
Key features:
Simple but powerful customer journey automation workflows
Email builder helps you build create on-brand emails
A/B testing allows you to see what works and what doesn’t
Audience segmentation
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
Easy to set up and use automated workflows
Lacks some drag-and-drop features for designing templates
Very good customer support
Limited ecommerce integrations
Why choose this email marketing software?
If you want to improve your email marketing automation, Drip offers a good amount of ready-made templates to get started or customize quickly.
HubSpot is an all-encompassing platform, with loads of features that can help not only your marketing, but also sales, affiliates, and much more. For that reason, we find that it’s best suited for larger companies, especially SaaS businesses.
It has a great reputation, especially since it boasts strong deliverability and has native integration with a whole host of popular marketing and sales tools. It allows you to A/B test content and template designs, and use powerful segmentation and personalization.
Key features:
Easy-to-use email editor and well-designed templates that are easy to adapt to your business
Natively integrated with HubSpot’s free CRM integration for better sales outreach and customer support communications
Great A/B testing for different content and template designs
Strong landing page editor to help create quick, campaign-specific pages
Powerful segmentation for personalization to extend customer LTV
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
Collect data on more of your marketing efforts
Can be overwhelming for small or medium businesses
Easy lead generation
Gets expensive quickly
Why choose Hubspot for email marketing?
If you have a SaaS business, HubSpot allows for easier customer management, plus allows you to integrate extra customer support features like live chat and chatbots.
Mailchimp is perhaps the most popular email marketing software, and it’s for a reason: it’s very easy to use and can help all kinds of businesses—ecommerce, bloggers, influencers—communicate with their customers.
Because of its focus on the starting businesses, or the one-man/woman team, this email marketing software doesn’t offer as many advanced features as other tools on this list. For that reason, many brands begin to look for Mailchimp alternatives when they begin to grow.
Key features:
A pretty generous free plan
Content optimizer with suggestions for more engaging emails
Great reporting features to help you quickly track email campaign efficiency
Advanced automation to send triggered emails to subscribers
Segmentation that’s easy to get started, helping you target your customers better
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
A generous free plan
Gets expensive for larger contact lists
Very easy to use and build campaigns
Not for established or advanced marketing
Why choose this email marketing tool?
If you’re starting out, Mailchimp is one of the easiest tools to use, and it’ll help you get the hang of email marketing. However, once you’re established, you might want to use a stronger email marketing software.
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Essentials: $11+ per month
Standard: $17+ per month
Premium: $299+ per month
6. MailerLite — Best for small ecommerce businesses
MailerLite has gained a well-won reputation over the years for its simplicity and ease of use. In fact, its intuitive interface makes it easy to get what you want from this email marketing software. That allows small ecommerce businesses more time to focus on other parts.
It covers the essential features that even established brands will find useful, although it tends to lack more advanced features for bigger teams. We enjoy additional features like a website builder and surveys that can help small businesses innovate against their competitors.
Key features:
Its website builder helps you create landing pages, so you don’t need to pay for other separate apps
Loads of pre-built workflows to help easily automate your marketing campaigns
Its email verifier helps clean and optimize your subscriber list for better deliverability
The drag-and-drop interface makes designing emails pretty easy
A wide selection of email templates to choose from
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
Easy and simple to use
Not a lot of integrations
A good amount of email templates
Take a while to set up account
Why choose MailerLite?
MailerLite has created an email marketing software that’s not just easy to use, but simple enough that small teams or solopreneurs can do essential email marketing with no problem.
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Growing Business: $9+ per month
Advanced: $19+ per month
Enterprise: custom pricing
7. ActiveCampaign — Best for email marketing with built-in CRM integration
Similar to Hubspot, ActiveCampaign boasts a built-in CRM, which includes sales automation. The Sales Suite also includes contact lead scoring, and SMS prospect nurturing.
For brands that need these features, Active Campaign is a powerful workhorse and may mean subscriptions to other sales tools aren’t needed. However, that means it’s also best suited for larger businesses that have more comprehensive needs and bigger budgets.
Key features:
Automation workflows that are easy to customize with a simple drag-and-drop interface
Set triggers that will notify your sales team and create new tasks, or use workflows that will nurture leads automatically.
For email marketing, having professional, on-brand emails is key. Even better is when you can create great-looking emails easily. That’s where AWeber shows most strength, where its email editor integrates well with the popular graphic design tool Canva.
AWeber also has an extensive library of email templates to help you get started more quickly. Beyond that, they have excellent deliverability so you can rest easy knowing that your emails are landing in your customers’ inboxes.
Key features:
A drag-and-drop email editor that comes with 600+ pre-built email templates
The landing page editor makes it easy to create campaign-specific pages
Email segmentation that lets you target specific customers
Automated email campaigns to win back abandoned carts or welcome subscribers
Web push notifications so you can reach your shoppers in more ways
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
Large library of email templates
Limited pricing options
Includes web push notifications
Not great for established brands
Why choose AWeber as an email marketing software?
AWeber has a good set of wide-ranging features, but if you really value extensive options for email templates, this might be the email marketing software for you.
GetResponse has a lot under its hood, but it really shines as with its inbound marketing features. Combined with its affordable pricing plans, it really is suited best for startups and small businesses.
GetResponse has an impressive visual automation builder that helps you easily create custom automated workflows. Beyond that, its pre-built email templates and product recommendations make it a great overall email marketing software.
Key features:
Email and SMS marketing that helps you reach customers in more ways
Smart product recommendations that can lead to better upsells and cross-sells
Behavioral targeting for more personalized messaging
Loads of useful ecommerce integrations
Website and landing page builder for more ways to acquire and engage visitors
Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
Great marketing automation that’s affordable
Imperfect drag-and-drop for landing pages and forms
Live chat and webinar capabilities
Limited customer support
Why pick GetResponse?
GetResponse offers a comprehensive email & SMS marketing suite, but it would fit best for startups and small businesses who are also focused on inbound marketing.
Sendinblue can help you combine your email marketing and SMS marketing in order to create better, higher-converting campaigns. However, its most impressive feature is its price, allowing 20,000 emails for $25 per month.
However, there’s a catch. You’ll need the Lite+ add-on, an extra $12/month, to remove the Sendinblue logo and use other features like A/B testing, heatmaps, and more. Nonetheless, for most small businesses on a budget, even the basic Lite plan can get the job done.
Key features:
Both email and SMS marketing to reach more customers
Easy-to-customize email templates
A drag-and-drop editor that requires no technical knowledge
More than 60 advanced integrations
Insightful reporting & analytics
Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Easy to use email marketing
Limited email layout options
A good variety of email templates
Limited customer support
Why choose Sendinblue?
If you’re eager to get started with email marketing software, but are focused on budget, Sendinblue offers a good suite of features for a reasonable price.
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Lite: $25+ per month
Premium: $65+ per month
Enterprise: custom pricing
Methodology: how we chose the best email marketing tools
In order to assess the quality and suitability of these email marketing software we listed here, we analyzed reviews from independent platforms, including the various tools’ features, the channels and integrations, their reputation, price, customer support, and limitations.
We favored apps that have high (4.5 and above) ratings on independent review sites, offer free plans, and have strong customer support reviews. Beyond that, we also personally assessed the ease of use of the various tools and noted that in the reviews.
Honorable mentions
Even though we looked at quite a good amount of email marketing software, we couldn’t review them all. In order to be laser-focused on the best email marketing software for various business needs, we had to leave out some apps that could have overinflated the list.
Some of the top email marketing software that we analyzed but that didn’t make the list include: Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, Ontraport, TotalSend, SharpSpring, Ortto (Autopilot), Rejoiner, InfusionSoft (Keap), Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot by Salesforce, iContact, Emma, MailPoet, Sendloopo, and more.
Best email marketing software: summary
Once again, here are the best tools for email marketing based on reviews from trusted platforms:
Omnisend: great for ecommerce business focused on increasing sales
Mailchimp: an easy-to-use tool if you’re just starting out
Drip: an extensive library of automation workflows
HubSpot: best for SaaS businesses
MailerLite: simplified email marketing for small ecommerce stores
ActiveCampaign: best for both email marketing and CRM
Moosend: an affordable email marketing tool for new ecommerce stores
AWeber: great for lots of ready-made email templates
GetResponse: email marketing that works best with startups and SMBs
Sendinblue: an affordable option for budget-conscious businesses
FAQ
#1 What is email marketing?
Email marketing software helps you to create and send emails, plus track their performance with your list of subscribers. Email marketing includes not only email creation and sending, but also automation workflows that go out based on user behavior. This makes it more personalized and increases the engagement rate.
#2 Is email marketing the same as CRM?
Email marketing is different from CRM. CRM software is focused on contact management with a strong focus on lead scoring for sales teams. CRMs normally don’t have the robust features of dedicated email marketing software.
#3 How to choose an email service provider?
Choosing an email service provider involves looking at its price, customer support, and features. These features should include a drag-and-drop email builder, signup forms to collect subscribers, segmentation for targeting, and automation workflows for greater personalization. A strong email service provider will have good reviews and ratings on independent review sites and platforms.
#4 Which are the best tools for email marketing automation?
All of the tools listed above have strong email marketing automation capabilities. However, the ones that have the best automation features include Omnisend, Drip, MailerLite and Moosend. The rest of the apps have good automation, but lack in either basic features or are not very user-friendly.
#5 Which are the free email marketing tools
Nearly all of the tools have free plans. The best free email marketing tools include Omnisend, Mailchimp, HubSpot, MailerLite, AWeber, GetResponse and Sendinblue. Moosend, ActiveCampaign and Drip don’t offer free plans, but do offer free trials.
Get better email & SMS marketing that’s made for ecommerce with Omnisend
Bernard is the Director of Content at Omnisend, with a passion for good research, helping ecommerce businesses with their marketing automation needs, and beating absolutely everyone in Mario Kart 64.
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