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Updated Oct 17, 2024

Best Email Marketing Software and Services of 2024

Our picks for the best email marketing software can supercharge your email campaigns and easily engage your target audience.

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Written By: Sean PeekBusiness Ownership Insider and Senior Analyst
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This guide was reviewed by a Business News Daily editor to ensure it provides comprehensive and accurate information to aid your buying decision.
Adam Uzialko
Business Strategy Insider and Senior Editor
Business News Daily earns compensation from some listed companies. Editorial Guidelines.

Our favorite email marketing software makes it simple to build and segment contact lists, plan email campaigns and monitor performance metrics. Some even offer AI tools that help optimize your strategy and tactics to better engage users and drive more conversions on your calls to action (CTAs). To help you find the platforms that can do these things and much more, we’ve spent hundreds of hours over the years researching and testing leading email marketing software on the market. Our picks below can help take your email marketing campaigns to the next level.

Sponsored Partners
MailChimp
Best for Beginners
Mail Chimp company logo
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Links to MailChimp
  • Starts at $13 per month
  • Includes 500 contacts
  • Includes 5,000 emails per month
Klaviyo
Best for Data-Driven Marketing
Klaviyo logo
Visit Site
Links to Klaviyo
  • Starts at $20 per month
  • Unlimited contacts
  • Includes 500 emails per month
Campaigner
Large businesses
Campaigner company logo
Visit Site
Links to Campaigner
  • Starts at $59 per month
  • Starts at 5,000 contacts
  • Starts at 30,000 emails per month
HubSpot
Best Bundled Marketing Solution
Hubspot company logo
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Links to HubSpot
  • Starts at $15 per month, per seat
  • Includes 1,000 contacts
  • Includes 5,000 emails per day
Constant Contact Email Marketing
Best for Small Businesses
Constant Contact logo
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Links to Constant Contact Email Marketing
  • Starts at $12 per month
  • Cost based on number of contacts
  • Includes 500 messages per month
Table Of Contents Icon

Table of Contents

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At Business News Daily, we’ve spent years researching and testing the marketing software and services entrepreneurs need to reach their target audience, generate leads and drive sales. Our team of small business marketing specialists conducts independent evaluations of the best marketing service providers to determine which are the most effective. We also regularly consult with marketing experts, including social media managers, email and text message marketers, SEOs and public relations professionals, to stay on top of the latest marketing trends impacting small businesses. And every review we publish is evaluated by our editorial staff to ensure objectivity, accuracy and fairness are at the core of our decision-making. Learn more about our editorial guidelines.

How We Decided

When selecting the best email marketing software, our small business marketing experts tested a wide range of options to get a firsthand understanding of the tools available. We started by participating in live demonstrations and accessing free trials to test-run each platform and determine its capabilities. We particularly focused on testing features like email content creations, list builders and AI...

Read MoreRead More

When selecting the best email marketing software, our small business marketing experts tested a wide range of options to get a firsthand understanding of the tools available. We started by participating in live demonstrations and accessing free trials to test-run each platform and determine its capabilities. We particularly focused on testing features like email content creations, list builders and AI support tools. Additionally, we searched for email marketing software with robust reporting features, so you could easily track your email campaign performance and make improvements accordingly. We also closely examined the pricing plans and costs of each software. Finally, we checked out customer reviews to see if real-world users’ experiences aligned with our testing and research.

25

considered

14

reviewed

6

selected

When selecting the best email marketing software, our small business marketing experts tested a wide range of options to get a firsthand understanding of the tools available. We started by participating in live demonstrations and accessing free trials to test-run each platform and determine its capabilities. We particularly focused on testing features like email content creations, list builders and AI support tools. Additionally, we searched for email marketing software with robust reporting features, so you could easily track your email campaign performance and make improvements accordingly. We also closely examined the pricing plans and costs of each software. Finally, we checked out customer reviews to see if real-world users’ experiences aligned with our testing and research.

25

considered

14

reviewed

6

selected

Marketing is all about reaching your target audience in a way that encourages them to engage with your brand. Unfortunately, in today’s world, consumers are flooded with marketing messages at all times. One of the most effective, unintrusive ways to reach your most engaged audience remains email marketing, and using top-tier email marketing software can help you device campaigns to lead to more conversions.

“Email marketing is versatile and effective at every stage of the sales funnel,” said Chris Ferris, senior vice president of digital strategy at Pierpont Communications. “It helps grow and maintain brand awareness, generate interest, foster consideration, drive conversions, retain customers and encourage advocacy.”

Mailchimp performance

The best email marketing software gives you numerous ways to monitor the performance of your campaigns. This example comes from Mailchimp and compares the open rates and click rates of multiple recent email sends. Source: Mailchimp

Compare Our Best Picks

BND Ribbon
Our Top Picks for 2024
MailChimp
Klaviyo
Campaigner
HubSpot
Constant Contact Email Marketing
monday.com Email Marketing
Benchmark Email Marketing
Freshworks Freshmarketer
Rating9.4/109.1/109.2/109.2/109.5/108.0/109.2/109.2/10
Use case

Beginners

Data-Driven Marketing

Large businesses

Bundled marketing

Small businesses

Campaign management

Ease of use

Marketing integrations

Starting price

$20 per month

$20 per month

$59 per month

$15 per month, per seat

$9.99 per month

$27 per month

$13 per month

$15 per month

Free Plan/Trial

Free Plan

Free plan; 60-day free email support

30 days

Free Plan

60 days

Free Plan

Free Plan

21-day Trial

Contact List Maximum

100,000

Unlimited

100,000

10,000

No

N/A

175,000

5,000

A/B Testing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

50,000

No

Yes

Yes

Live Chat Support

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Review Link
Scroll Table

Our Reviews

Mail Chimp company logo
Editor's Rating: 9.4/10
Visit Site
Links to MailChimp

We selected Mailchimp as the best email marketing software for beginners thanks to its exceptional user experience and minimal learning curve. Mailchimp offers straightforward tools for building an email contact list, creating email marketing content and tracking performance metrics that we found useful for even first-time email marketers. In our testing, we found Mailchimp to be a great choice for small businesses looking to set a strong foundation for an email marketing strategy, even if they have limited experience with the marketing channel.

Mailchimp also makes it easy for beginners with its AL-powered Email Content Generator. The tool enables customers to create marketing email campaigns with the assistance of GPT AI technology. It can assist in tasks like generating and optimizing content to save time and resources. We also like how it helps marketers create email campaigns based on industry and marketing intent—in addition to infusing brand voice.

Mailchimp email creation tool

Mailchimp is not only easy to use when it comes to creating email content, but also provides helpful reports that show you how well your campaigns are performing at a glance. We especially liked the conversion report above, which shows how often users reacted to your CTAs. Source: Mailchimp

Mailchimp offers a free pricing plan and three paid tiers. For the paid subscriptions, pricing increases along with the maximum number of contacts. We’ve listed the starting price of each tier below, each of which includes 500 email contacts.

Subcription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFree500 contact limit, one month of email support
EssentialsStarts at $13 per monthStarting price includes 500 contacts, 24/7 email and chat support, limited reporting, up to four automated customer journey points.
StandardStarts at $20 per monthStarting price includes 500 contacts, 24/7 email and chat support, full reporting and analytics, up to 200 automated customer journey points, generative AI features, custom templates, advanced segmentation, behavioral targeting. Maximum of 100,000 email contacts.
PremiumStarts at $350 per monthStarting price includes 10,000 contacts, 24/7 email and chat support, full reporting and analytics, up to 200 automated customer journey points, generative AI features, custom templates, advanced segmentation, behavioral targeting. Supports 250,000+ email contacts.

  • The free version of Mailchimp offers the most important tools a small business needs to create effective email marketing content.
  • Out of all of the platforms we tested, Mailchimp was one of the easiest to use. Most users can become proficient with the system without additional training.
  • We liked that you can access Mailchimp’s standard plan for free for the first month, so you can determine whether you need the additional features.
  • Mailchimp’s free version limits you to one audience group, so for more advanced email marketing you’ll need to subscribe to a paid plan.
  • Complete reporting and analytics are only available at the Standard and Premium levels.
  • The free plan includes Mailchimp’s branding, which can undercut your own brand.
Klaviyo logo
Editor's Rating: 9.1/10
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Links to Klaviyo

Klaviyo stands out in the crowded field of marketing tools by enabling businesses to deliver targeted messaging across multiple channels: email, SMS, and push notifications. What sets it apart is its data-first approach, which is particularly valuable for businesses seeking to implement data-driven marketing strategies.

One of Klaviyo’s key strengths lies in its AI-powered features. The platform offers predictive analytics, personalized product feeds, and industry-specific benchmarks. These tools allow you to create highly targeted, data-driven campaigns that significantly boost customer engagement and, ultimately, revenue.

Perhaps most importantly for new and very small businesses, Klaviyo is designed with user-friendliness in mind. It integrates seamlessly with over 350 third-party applications, requiring no coding expertise. This ease of use allows you to harness the power of advanced marketing technology without needing extensive technical knowledge.

Klaviyo dashboard

Klaviyo features a clean, easy-to-read dashboard that shows alerts and notifications alongside the KPIs you want to track. (Source: Klaviyo)

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFreeUp to 500 monthly email sends, 150 free monthly SMS/MMS credits, email support for first 60 days
EmailStarts at $20 per monthStarting at 5,000 email sends, mobile push notifications, 150 free monthly SMS/MMS credits, email and chat support
Email and SMSStarts at $35 per monthEverything in the Email Plan, plus thousands of SMS/MMS credits

  • Klaviyo features ecommerce integrations with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento.
  • Klaviyo’s AI tools are useful for predicting customer behavior, including when they’ll next make a purchase, their lifetime value and churn risk.
  • Klaviyo makes it easy to establish benchmarks for your chosen KPIs to gauge your strengths and weaknesses.
  • Pricing scales with your contact list, so as you grow the service becomes more expensive.
  • Klaviyo’s customer support team is often slow to respond, especially for users with lower-tier plans. This could be a problem for new and very small businesses that need help.
  • Some of Klaviyo’s more advanced features may be overkill for new or very small businesses that only need basic email marketing support.

Klaviyo is a trusted solution for many customers, which earned it a TrustRadius score of 9.0 stars out of 10 and a G2 score of 4.6 stars out of 5. Customers often praise Klaviyo’s email content templates and automation tools. There are also frequent mentions of the platform’s integration and segmentation capabilities. Customer support responsiveness is a common source of complaints, and some users found the advanced tools difficult to navigate.

Campaigner company logo
Editor's Rating: 9.2/10
Visit Site
Links to Campaigner

We chose Campaigner as the best email marketing software for larger businesses because it offers high-volume contact lists at each pricing tier, as well as six times the number of total contacts in monthly email sends. For larger businesses that conduct email marketing at scale, this is an absolute must. And while Campaigner’s starting price of $59 per month is more expensive than some of the other platforms we reviewed, even the Starter plan offers useful features for larger operations, including dynamic email content, automated workflows and purchase behavior analytics at higher-priced tiers.

Despite these advanced features, we found Campaigner relatively easy to learn and use, requiring minimal training for new users. It offers a lot of drag-and-drop functionality across its tools, making it intuitive to build aesthetically pleasing emails or automated workflows and triggered email sequences. We also liked that Campaigner included a Reputation Defender, which is designed to keep your emails out of spam filters and boost engagement and deliverability rates.

Campaigner workflow builder

Campaigner’s workflow builder offers simple drag-and-drop functionality and makes it easy for you to set up advanced workflows that automate key processes and take the burden off your team. (Source: Campaigner)

Campaigner offers four transparent pricing tiers. Higher-priced tiers include more advanced features, as well as larger contact list and monthly email send maximums. The E-commerce plan is specific to digital retail businesses that need particular features like abandoned cart emails and an Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) integration.

Subscription TierMonthly Cost Features and Tools
Starter$59Drag and drop editor, full code editor, 900+ templates, geolocation, social Integration, landing pages, suppression lists, basic segmentation, recurring campaigns.
Essential$179Everything in Starter plus removal of Campaigner branding, dynamic content, custom footer, exclusion lists

e-commerce integrations,

conversion tracking, localization.

Advanced$649Everything in Essential plus automation workflows,

sales engineering,

purchase behavior,

API access, static segment sampling.

E-CommerceStarts at $79.95Includes specific e-commerce tools, such as integrations with e-commerce software platforms and abandoned cart emails.

  • Campaigner offers a high volume of email contacts and monthly sends, giving larger businesses the capacity they need for sprawling email marketing activities.
  • Advanced features at higher-priced tiers enable sophisticated email marketing campaigns and deep analysis of user behavior.
  • Drag and drop functionality across multiple core tools makes the software easy to learn and use.
  • Campaigner is one of the most expensive email marketing platforms we reviewed.
  • Access to some of the most sophisticated features is only available at the highest price tier.
  • E-commerce customers must access separate pricing plans than other users, which may complicate buying decisions.
Hubspot company logo
Editor's Rating: 9.2/10
Visit Site
Links to HubSpot

We chose Hubspot as the best email marketing software for bundled marketing because its plans include tools for advertising, social media marketing, SEO content, mobile optimization and website traffic analytics. When testing the software, we found it to be ideal for businesses that want a comprehensive marketing platform that goes well beyond just email. We recommend it for startups that plan to scale quickly and mid-sized or large businesses with sophisticated marketing departments. Small businesses can still use Hubspot with the free and Starter plan, which offer a strong slate of features without being overwhelming.

Like all of the best email marketing solutions, HubSpot allows you to easily create effective email campaigns from a series of professionally designed drag-and-drop templates. We like that HubSpot emails can be automatically personalized based on an email subscriber’s stage in the customer journey, list membership, or any information in their contact records, so you can deliver the most relevant campaigns based on that individual user’s behaviors and preferences.

Hubspot reporting features

Although Hubspot provides comprehensive software, its reporting is straightforward and easily digestible. We liked the helpful data visualizations and the color coding that makes it understandable at a glance. Source: Hubspot

Hubspot includes a free plan and four paid tiers, separated by plans “for individuals and small teams” and plans “for businesses and enterprises.” New and very small businesses can rely on the plans for individuals and small teams to get the core marketing tools they need to get started, but businesses looking for a scalable solution may want to get the higher-paid tiers.

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFreeUp to five users, no credit card required. 10 active email lists, 2,000 sends per month, up to three reporting dashboards with 10 reports each.
Starter$15 per month, per seatIncludes 1,000 marketing contacts, 50 active email lists, removes Hubspot branding, provides 5x number of contacts for monthly email sends, includes basic email health reporting, includes 10 basic email automations.
Professional$800 per month ($45 per month for additional seats)Includes three seats and 2,000 marketing contacts. Includes all features in Starter, plus 1,200 active lists, 10x marketing contact email sends monthly and unlimited automation actions. Also includes omnichannel marketing automations.
EnterpriseStarts at $3,600 per month ($75 per month for additional seats)Includes five seats and 10,000 marketing contacts. All Professional features, plus 2,000 active lists, 20x marketing contact email sends monthly.

  • We liked that Hubspot’s email marketing tools are part of a broader marketing module and can be seamlessly integrated into a complete sales and marketing platform.
  • Hubspot’s free plan includes the core tools new businesses need to start building an email contact list and create effective content.
  • Thorough self-help documentation and a robust community mean there are plenty of learning materials available to new users.
  • The free plan includes Hubspot branding, which could undercut your business’s brand.
  • The pricing structure is a bit confusing and plans are separated by “individuals and small teams” and “businesses and enterprises” designations, even though small businesses can benefit from the former.
  • Hubspot can quickly become expensive and some plans may have more features than most small businesses really need.

Hubspot received a 2.6 out of 5 from customers who reviewed the platform on Trustpilot. Complaints generally revolve around difficulty canceling service and hidden fees. However, those who praised the service said it provided a more user-friendly experience compared to other platforms and that training for the marketing hub was helpful to new users.

Constant Contact logo
Editor's Rating: 9.5/10
Visit Site
Links to Constant Contact Email Marketing

We chose Constant Contact as the best for small businesses because it delivers a high degree of value across all its plans at competitive prices. We testing the software, we found that the platform gives small businesses everything needed to run email marketing campaigns, and provides sufficient room to scale up operations and increase in sophistication over time without breaking the bank. We like the level of reporting and advanced features, such as dynamic email content and engagement heat maps, available to higher-tier subscribers. However, subscribers at the Lite and Standard levels will be limited to a maximum number of users.

We like that each plan comes with customizable templates; contact management and list-building tools; popup forms; tracking and reporting features; an image library; a mobile app; a knowledgebase; and support. We were also pleased with the 60-day free trial to test out Constant Contact’s features. Constant Contact also offers an AI Content Generator that effortlessly generates SMS messages, emails and landing page content by utilizing a few keywords, streamlining the content creation process.

Adding a new contact on Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a user-friendly email marketing software that we found incredibly simply to set up and navigate. Here, we were able to easily add a new contact to our email list, an important early step in making sure your audience is configured properly. Source: Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers three paid pricing tiers, the cost of which are based on the number of contacts you need. We’ve included the starting price below. Constant Contact also limits the number of users who can access your account at each tier, so larger teams need to purchase higher cost subscription plans.

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
LiteStarts at $12 per monthOne user, 1 GB storage, 10x total number of contacts for email sends, phone and live chat support.
StandardStarts at $35 per monthEverything in the lite plan, plus three users, 10GB storage, 12x the total number of contacts for email sends, scheduled email sends, A/B testing, subject line recommendations and personalization, detailed reporting and analytics, and a newsletter archive.
PremiumStarts at $80 per monthEverything in the standard plan, plus unlimited users, 25GB storage, 24x the total number of contacts for email sends, dynamic content, and an engagement heat map.

  • We found Constant Contact to offer cost-effective plans relative to the other platforms we reviewed.
  • Constant Contact’s Lite plan includes everything a small business needs for basic email marketing campaigns at a low cost.
  • A 60-day free trial gives you plenty of time to test Constant Contact and decide if it’s right for you.
  • We didn’t like how Constant Contact’s lower tier plans limited the number of users who could access the system. Teams with more than three members would be required to purchase the Premium plan.
  • There is no free version of Constant Contact, which we found in many other platforms we reviewed. Free plans are great for new and very small businesses.
  • The A/B testing feature is limited to email subject lines and not broader content elements.

Constant Contact received a 4.2 out of 5 from users who reviewed the platform on Trustpilot. Customers often applauded the company’s customer service quality and responsiveness. Some users complained about difficulty canceling service after the free trial or obtaining a refund, though Constant Contact appeared responsive to these complaints.

monday.com logo
Editor's Rating: 8/10
Visit Site
Links to monday.com

We chose monday.com as the best platform for campaign management because it provides the tools needed for businesses to plan email sends, assign related tasks and track projects before the campaign goes live. Monday.com offers useful integrations with other email marketing software, including some on our best picks list, to bring together the project management and marketing execution aspects of running a successful campaign. We recommend integrating monday with a dedicated email marketing platform like Mailchimp for best results and treating monday as a project management and support tool.

When testing monday, we liked how you can create granular, detailed views of each campaign request and organize each line item by account, priority, goal, audience, send date, reviewer and request status. The software also includes helpful workflow automations to cut down on the manual work you have to do when handling requests and updating campaign progress. Examples include sending notifications to the involved parties and automatically updating the status of a request. This functionality streamlines campaign management and gives you more time to work on other projects.

monday CRM projects tab

Monday.com is a flexible project management tool that can be used to support your email marketing campaigns. While the platform can send and receive emails, we recommend pairing it with dedicated email marketing software as well. Source: Monday.com

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFreeIncludes up to two seats and three project management boards. There are 200+ templates and mobile apps for iOS and Android devices. Email features are lacking, however.
Basic$27 per month ($9 per seat, per month)Includes three seats and unlimited free viewers. Includes prioritized customer support. Unlimited items and a dashboard summarizing one of your boards.
Standard$36 per month ($12 per seat, per month)Includes Timeline and Gantt views, a calendar view and guest accounts. Create a dashboard that combines data from up to five boards. Automations and integrations (up to 250 actions for each per month.)
Pro$57 per month ($19 per seat, per month)Private boards, chart view and time tracking. Automations and integrations (up to 25,000 actions for each per month.) Formula column. The dashboard that combines data from up to 10 boards.
EnterpriseRequires a quoteCustom plan intended for large businesses that need a flexible, tailor-made solution.

  • Monday offers work management tools that significantly improve workflows and project management capabilities for planning and tracking email marketing tasks.
  • The platform is highly flexible. There is a wide selection of customizable templates and automations that can help teams work more effectively.
  • A 14-day free trial means you can test Monday out and see if it’s worthwhile for your email marketing campaign management.
  • Monday is not technically an email marketing software, so you may have to get creative with how you configure the platform to make it work as an end-to-end email marketing tool.
  • The platform has a bit of a learning curve, and we recommend that new users undergo some training to familiarize themselves with some of its features.
  • The free plan does not include the email management features we considered during our review, so if you plan to use it for that purpose, you’ll need to pay for a subscription.

Monday received a 3.1 out of 5 from usrs on Trustpilot. Customers were pleased with how easy the system is to learn and use. However, others felt misled by the unclear pricing and hidden fees. Pricing is listed on the company’s website as “per seat, per month” and includes three seats, which we found a bit strange. However, Monday does list the total monthly cost below this figure as well.

Benchmark company logo
Editor's Rating: 9.2/10
Visit Site
Links to Benchmark Email Marketing

We chose Benchmark as the best email marketing software for ease of use because of how user-friendly the platform is, even for new users. When using the software, we found that Benchmark requires no training, in part thanks to its drag-and-drop functionality that makes it simple to build email content even for users who have never engaged in email marketing before. Benchmark also offers extensive customer support options via multiple channels, so if you do get stuck at all, you can easily get support. We recommend Benchmark for new and very small businesses that want quick and easy software to use that requires virtually no training to get started.

Benchmark Email customers can also use Smart Content, a new copywriting feature, to make drafting excellent email marketing campaigns easier. Smart Content creates new written content for users from scratch. It can also revise existing content by having the user input a few simple items. The feature is designed to save marketers time by drafting copy for e-commerce, B2B, and B2C audiences. It is available in both the free and paid subscriptions of Benchmark Email.

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFreeIncludes 500 contacts and 3,500 emails per month. Basic forms and reports are also included.
ProStarts at $13 per monthIncludes 500 contacts at base price. Can include up to 100,000 contacts at an increased monthly rate. Includes 7,500 emails, email automation, landing pages and A/B testing.
EnterpriseRequires a quoteEverything in Pro, plus managed account setup, deliverability tools, send-based pricing and volume discounts.

Depending on how many emails you intend to send per month, you may also need to purchase an email plan. Here’s a breakdown of what Benchmark charges for additional email sends.

Email Add-OnPriceMonthly Email SendsOverage Fee (Per Email)
10,000$39/mo10,000$0.0040
50,000$149/mo50,000$0.0030
100,000$249/mo100,000$0.0025
250,000$449/mo250,000$0.0018
500,000$799/mo500,000$0.0016
1,000,000$1,299/mo1,000,000$0.0013
2,500,000$2,499/mo2,500,000$0.0010
5,000,000$4,499/mo5,000,000$0.0009
10,000,000$7,999/mo10,000,000$0.0008
15,000,000$9,999/mo15,000,000$0.0007

  • The platform is easy to use and learn, requiring minimal training for new users.
  • Cost-effective pricing plans make Benchmark a good choice for new and small businesses on a tight budget.
  • Benchmark offers effective and responsive customer service across multiple channels.
  • Benchmark’s free plan is missing some features we found especially desirable for planning and managing email marketing campaigns.
  • Additional media storage is a paid add-on.
  • Text formatting bugs can occur, resulting in unformatted or incorrectly formatted email content.

Benchmark received a 3.8 out of 5 from users who reviewed the company on Trustpilot. Users applauded Benchmark for its intuitive interface and the drag-and-drop functionality that supports straightforward email template creation. However, it’s worth noting the sample size of reviews is rather small, so while negative feedback is lacking there weren’t many customer reviews to consider.

freshmarketer company logo
Editor's Rating: 9.2/10

We chose Freshmarketer as the best email marketing software for marketing integrations because it is a cost-effective solution that offers robust integrations typically only found in higher-priced software. We were impressed with the slate of features Freshmarketer provides for just $15 per month, and we liked the option to include add-ons to improve the platform’s functionality as your business grows and your marketing needs become more sophisticated. In our review, we found Freshmarketer to be an effective tool for mapping a customer journey and then tailoring email marketing campaigns to be as effective as possible in converting leads to customers.

We were impressed with Freshwroks’ AI-powered assistant, Freddy. With this tool, marketers can save time and money to accomplish customer-facing tasks more efficiently. Freddy includes new GPT-based conversational enhancements that mimic human marketers’ tone, creative copy and communication style. Using this, customers can experience more conversations and fewer clicks.

Freshmarketer interface

Freshmarketer offers a clean user interface that is easily navigated, even by new users. Here, we see a customer’s profile, which includes information about their past behavior, their stage in the life cycle and recent communications. Source: Freshworks

Subscription TierCostFeatures and Tools
FreeFreeIncludes 100 marketing contacts and 500 email sends per month. Offers contact and list management, basic segmentation, web tracking and forms, email campaigns, social media campaigns, marketplace integrations and 24×5 support including live chat.
Enterprise$15 per monthIncludes 500 marketing contacts and 20x contact list email sends per month. Offers Whatsapp and SMS/MMS marketing, social media custom audiences, advanced segmentation, customer journey automation, landing pages and custom reports and dashboards.

  • Freshmarketer offers marketing integrations across various platforms, with the option to integrate Freshsales CRM.
  • You can try Freshmarketer free for 21 days or take advantage of the company’s free (though more limited) plan.
  • We liked Freshmarketer’s Freddy AI tool, which incorporates generative AI for content creation in a way that aligns with your brand voice.
  • Customer support can only be reached via live chat, not phone, and some users reported slow response times and unresolved issues.
  • Add-ons, like a dedicated IP address or conversion optimization tools, can become expensive and quickly drive up the total cost.
  • Large businesses may find Freshmarketer’s scalability lacking with only two pricing plans suitable for small to mid-sized businesses.

Alternatives To Consider

If none of our best picks seem like the right fit for your business, consider the following platforms. While these weren’t among our best picks, they’re reliable, effective tools that many businesses may find suitable instead.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign’s marketing solutions are perfect for online sellers, thanks to a wide array of tools to streamline sales and marketing efforts. Recently, ActiveCampaign made platform speed enhancements to decrease the time spent building or designing emails and campaigns. The company also recreated its email designer function with more features that can be added to emails to make them stand out. We like that ActiveCampaign integrates with more than 850 customer engagement solutions, including Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. This means your sales data from those platforms automatically feeds into your ActiveCampaign e-commerce dashboard, which allows you to create effective and personalized email campaigns based on your customer data. With over 125 templates to choose from and unlimited email sends to up to 250,000 contacts, it’s easy to develop targeted marketing communications for every customer on your list.

“Tools like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign are great because they offer automation workflows and A/B testing, which helps you customize your content and see what your audience likes best,” said Mark Hayes, head of growth at TASK Group. “This data-driven approach can really boost your campaign’s effectiveness and overall ROI, best of all they have industry leading deliverability and are intuitive to use.”

iContact

iContact is a great email marketing solution for businesses that want to start free and scale up in the future. With 500 contacts and up to 2,000 sends per month, the free version of iContact offers everything you need to get started with email campaigns as you build up your subscriber base. We like iContact’s drag-and-drop email designer and its professionally designed template library. Both iContact pricing plans grant access to the company’s template and stock image library; landing page creation and hosting option; A/B testing capabilities; real-time campaign reports; API integrations; and automation features. However, automations are limited in the free iContact plan; if you want features such as Smart Sending (which optimizes send times based on your contacts’ time zones), audience segmentation, engagement follow-ups and multiple event series campaigns, you’ll have to upgrade to the Advanced plan, which starts at $23 per month for 1,500 contacts.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an excellent tool for midsize and large companies that want to improve their email campaigns and marketing strategies. Email Studio is just one of the many marketing tools in Marketing Cloud, which helps businesses leverage powerful data and email personalization to maintain relationships between their customers and sales teams. Salesforce is a feature-rich platform with some of the best CRM software functionality to allow deep customization of your emails. Email Studio alone has a variety of features with practically limitless options to digitize and customize your workflow. You can easily target your campaigns to as small or as large of an audience you need. Salesforce’s data-driven email customization features offer plenty of unique and engaging options for your campaigns.

Email Marketing Software Costs

Most email marketing software providers offer a range of plans with monthly fees based on the number of email contacts you have or the number of emails you send. Free options typically provide limited features and cap you at a certain number of contacts and/or monthly email sends, while some paid plans allow you to send an unlimited number of emails each month.

If you know or can estimate the number of emails your company will send each month or how many subscribers you expect to have, these numbers will dictate which pricing tier you should choose. Depending on your estimates and the features you want in your software, you can expect to pay anywhere from $9 to $400 per month for premium email marketing plans. For businesses that need an email marketing service only occasionally, some providers offer per-email or pay-as-you-go pricing. This is a flexible option that lets you pay only for what you use, rather than for a monthly subscription with features that may go to waste.

Most email marketing services offer a free version of their software or a free trial so you can test the software and see how it works for you. The free trials we found range from 14 to 60 days. We recommend trying as many free trials as you can during your search.

TipTip
Pay attention to how easy it is to design emails with the software you’re considering, what marketing automation features it includes, and which other services it can integrate with.

Email Marketing Software Features

An email marketing platform may offer a range of features, but there are some core tools you should always look for.

“Look for features that allow segmentation, personalization, and automation,” said Martin Purmensky, founder of theVideoCards. “The software should also provide compliance tools to adhere to regulations.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the key features we looked for in the email marketing software we reviewed.

Email Creation Tool

Most services provide a library of customizable templates or an intuitive drag-and-drop tool that allows you to customize your emails. Some providers have templates that show you how your email will look on multiple devices (such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones) to help you design a flexible and responsive email.

Mailchimp email creation tools

The best email creation tools are easy to use but flexible enough to help you design eye-catching, unique content. Mailchimp’s email creation tool, pictured above, also offers a creative assistant that can automatically generate recommendations of how to build your content. Source: Mailchimp

Analytics

Many email marketing services offer analytics on your email open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, audience geolocation, conversion tracking, customer behavior trends and more. Some integrate with Google Analytics, while some provide their own analytics that present the information in easy-to-read charts and graphs.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is the ability to send specific, targeted emails to customers when they complete a certain action. For example, if a visitor to your website signs up to receive emails from you, your marketing automation tool triggers a welcome email to go to that customer’s inbox.

Did You Know?Did you know
Marketing automation can save you time, and many email marketing services offer ways to make automated emails more personal, which increases engagement and your return on investment.

Segmentation

Segmentation is another helpful way to deliver more relevant messages to your prospects and customers by grouping them according to age, location, gender, industry, interests or other factors. Segmentation allows you to send different emails to different groups, rather than sending one mass email that may not be relevant to your entire customer base.

Contact Management

A contact management tool helps you acquire, sort and manage email contacts. It also provides features such as automatic deletion of dead or duplicate contacts; importing; exporting; grouping; and integration with other management tools, like a CRM or CMS.

Social Media Integration

Most email marketing services integrate with social media platforms, allowing you to grow your contact list, schedule posts, and track your followers’ engagement to determine what’s popular. Integrating your social media with email marketing helps you make the most of multichannel marketing by providing more information about your customers as well as more opportunities for them to see messages from you.

Hubspot Marketing Hub

Hubspot Marketing Hub includes all the tools marketers need for effective email marketing campaigns and ongoing social media management. It is one of the best platforms when it comes to an all-in-one tool that provides seamless integrations between marketing software. Source: HubSpot

How to Choose Email Marketing Software

If you’re looking for an email marketing solution, follow this step-by-step guide to help you choose the right one.

1. Define your budget, parameters and goals for your email campaigns.

As with any marketing strategy, you’ll want to define the scope of your efforts before searching for a software solution. Figure out how much of your marketing budget you want to allocate to email marketing, and establish your plans for campaign frequency and the overall goals of your campaigns (brand awareness, sales, customer loyalty, etc.).

2. Read reviews to narrow down your options.

Read reviews from customers and best picks lists like this one to learn about the pricing, features, limits, pros and cons, and customer support of each service you’re considering. This will help you eliminate providers that are outside your budget or that don’t offer the right mix of features and value for your needs.

3. Sign up for free trials.

Many popular email marketing solutions offer free trials or fully free versions of their software. Create an account to try out each of your top contenders, and play around with the templates, email builders and other features. Consider ease of use, API and integration options, automation features, and the contact or send limits of your preferred plan. You may also wish to contact customer service to ask any additional questions and to test the level of support you might receive as a customer.

“Look for software that offers attractive templates, customer segmentation based on purchase behavior, and automation for personalized messages like birthday greetings or promotions,” said Baruch Labunski, founder of Rank Secure. “The ability to customize emails with recipient names and unique preferences is crucial.”

4. Decide on your email marketing software, and begin running campaigns.

Once you’ve tried out your top software choices, commit to one and begin building your email list to start running campaigns.

Advantages of Email Marketing Software

There are many benefits of email marketing software for businesses that want to develop strong, direct relationships with their customers.

Personalized, Automated Customer Engagements

The best email marketing software allows you to use customer data to create and deliver personalized campaigns that will resonate with each recipient. With automation tools, you can set up workflows to automatically send tailored emails to certain customers based on metrics such as purchasing behaviors and special dates, like birthdays, anniversaries, and approaching contract milestones.

Constant Contact email campaigns

The best email marketing software provides insights that support your email campaigns and help drive better results. In the example above, Constant Contact’s optimization tool identifies the best times to send your email to boost user engagement as much as possible. Source: Constant Contact

Reports and Insights

Email marketing software offers a treasure trove of data to help you improve your marketing campaigns. You can see which subscribers opened, ignored or deleted your emails, as well as which campaigns were opened multiple times and led to website click-throughs. With A/B testing features, you can send two versions of a campaign to see which one elicited the most engagement.

Scalability

Most email marketing solutions offer multiple pricing tiers that allow you to scale up your contact lists and email sends as your business and subscriber base grow. You can reach and manage hundreds of thousands of contacts from one easy-to-use platform.

Integrations With Other Marketing Solutions

Email marketing platforms that are part of larger marketing software products, such as CRM solutions, allow you to manage your contacts and communications throughout the customer journey. When your email marketing software integrates with your other systems, your whole team will have access to important customer data and insights.

Methodology

At Business News Daily, our team of small business marketing experts have been researching and testing email marketing software for years, comparing some of the leading solutions across more than 30 key metrics. We considered 25 email marketing software platforms and closely reviewed and tested 14 of them before selecting our six best picks above.

Below are the factors we considered when determining our best picks. Each is weighted according to how much the criteria typically influences business owners’ buying decisions.

  • Pricing (30%): We considered not just the base cost of the software but also the number of pricing plans available, additional fees, and add-on costs to determine which provide the best overall value.
  • Features (25%): We evaluated each email marketing platform’s dashboard, as well as key features like contact lists, content creation tools, audience segmentation, workflow management tools and artificial intelligence support such as generative AI features. We also considered available integrations to other popular business software.
  • Usability (20%): We paid close attention to the ease with which each platform could be set up, how intuitive we found the navigation and use of key features, and the training and informational resources available to new users. We also considered whether the software offered a responsive mobile app or mobile browser.
  • Customer Support (15%): We examined the ease with which customers can contact a customer support team when in need of help. We reviewed customer feedback to determine how well the customer service team meets the needs of existing customers.
  • Expert Insight (10%): Our product reviews are conducted by software and industry experts who are deeply familiar with email marketing solutions. Given their institutional knowledge of different platforms and firsthand experiences using these programs, we take their judgment into account when determining our best picks.

In addition to scoring each email marketing software we reviewed based on this criteria, we also determined the best use case scenarios for each. No two businesses are exactly alike, so we put ourselves in the shoes of different types of small business owners and identify the best email marketing software for a variety of needs.

To learn more about how we review and test marketing products and services for small businesses, read about our editorial process here.

Email Marketing Software FAQs

As with all marketing channels, no two email marketing strategies are the same. An email marketing strategy is designed to help you reach your marketing goals, such as improving brand recognition, increasing sales or keeping your customers up to date. Once you identify your marketing goals, you can create a series of emails and workflows with tools such as automation, email templates and list segmentation.

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your products and reach your customers. If executed correctly, email marketing campaigns can build trust with your customers, encourage users to visit your website, and ultimately result in more sales and satisfied customers.

The best email marketing services have extensive reporting and analytics. To determine if your email marketing campaigns are successful, check the recorded data once an email is sent. The reports should indicate how many people received your email, the click-through rate, bounces and other metrics.

Email marketing services offer several tools to help you obtain and manage email addresses from your customers. Most software options integrate with your current email address book to start your list. In addition, many provide the ability to embed sign-up forms on your website and social media accounts to grow your contact list.

Automation tools allow you to set up recurring emails that automatically go to certain subscribers based on the actions they take. For example, if you set up a welcome series, a contact will receive a welcome email once they subscribe to your list.

One of the biggest reasons email marketing is so popular with businesses is that you can track its success. Services typically provide details such as who opened your email, who immediately deleted it, who forwarded the email to others, and who bought your product or service. You can drill down into the data by looking at the days and times emails are being opened and the demographics (e.g., male, female, old, young) of customers who engage with your emails most. All of this information helps you increase the success of future campaigns.

Yes, most email marketing services let you take advantage of the social media following you’ve built. Many providers let you connect your campaigns with your social networks, so your emails automatically post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms. In addition, the services let you collect email addresses for your contact list with prebuilt social media sign-up pages.

Traditional email marketing is designed to communicate with many people. These emails can share information about your business, such as news, promotions and special events. You can send these emails to your entire subscriber list or certain segments of your list.

Transactional emails are sent to individual customers after they perform certain actions. For example, when a customer makes an online purchase from a business, the confirmation email they receive is a transactional email.

Yes, most email marketing services integrate with at least some popular business applications. The most common integrations are with Salesforce, WordPress, Shopify and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento). These integrations save you time and resources by automatically transferring content between your email marketing platform and your other software. Some providers also let you tap into their application programming interface to build custom integrations.

What to Expect in 2024

In 2024, much of the world’s population is still stationed at home and the sending of emails shows no sign of slowing down. Data from The Radicati Group estimates over 376 billion emails will be sent by the end of 2025. Knowing how valuable this medium continues to be, the Digital Journal predicts a massive CAGR growth of 11.6 percent by 2029 for the global email marketing software market.

The increased need for digital advertising at a cheaper rate is impacting the future of the market. Additionally, many major brands are focusing their messaging to include their company mission or adapt to industry trends. They are aiming to include a more personal style of messaging to better connect with their consumer base.

We expect email marketing software providers to continue to focus on adding more automation and personalization tools. Both will help streamline the email marketing process while also increasing the critical engagement businesses are looking for when using email marketing as a key component of their overall marketing strategy.

We also expect artificial intelligence (AI) to play an increasingly important role in streamlining the email marketing process. In fact, 57 percent of marketers in large organizations have incorporated artificial intelligence into their email marketing strategies, as reported by MarketingDive.

With the explosive growth of generative AI, more businesses will likely adopt it in 2024 to brainstorm campaign concepts, draft marketing copy and even create visuals to incorporate into emails. Companies can also use AI to develop alternate campaign materials and copy to facilitate A/B testing, as well as leverage its analytics to further personalize and tailor messages to customers. However, Email marketers should remember that AI is not designed to replace the human element or other marketing tools and strategies. Using AI as one tool in the toolbox, rather than the only tool, will likely drive the best results.

Another industry change that will affect some marketers is the new sending requirements for campaigns going to Gmail and Yahoo/AOL Mail! addresses. As of February 2024, qualifying users who send over 5,000 messages per day or 150,000 monthly on these platforms will need to adhere to these new guidelines aimed at bolstering security. The requirements are set to protect recipients from potential email frauds like phishing, while also ensuring that messages reach actual, interested users.

As part of these changes, senders who meet the criteria will need to verify their email identities using DomainKeys Identified Mail. In addition, the unsubscribing process for recipients must be simplified, with a mandated one-click option in emails and adherence to unsubscription requests within 48 hours. Moreover, there will be a new standard for maintaining a spam rate below 0.30 percent to confirm that emails are sent only to willing recipients, although the platforms recommend a more stringent target of 0.10 percent.

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Written By: Sean PeekBusiness Ownership Insider and Senior Analyst
Sean Peek is the co-founder of a self-funded small business that employs more than a dozen team members. His years of hands-on entrepreneurial experience in bootstrapping, operations management, process automation and leadership have strengthened his knowledge of the B2B world and the most pressing issues facing business owners today. Peek uses his expertise to guide fellow small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in the areas of marketing, finance and software technology. At Business News Daily, Peek primarily covers a range of business tech, such as email marketing platforms, document management programs, payroll services and project management software. Peek also excels at developing customer bases and fostering long-term client relationships, using lean principles to drive efficiency and cost-saving, and identifying growth areas. He has demonstrated his business savvy through collaborations with Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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