Email Marketing Software

Email Marketing Software Overview

Email marketing is designed to help a company maintain communications with customers. This builds loyalty, increases brand recognition, and drives sales.

The challenge with email marketing is to strike a balance between efficiency and personalization so that you can:

  1. Create a one-to-one sense of connection with individual customers.
  2. Reach out to hundreds or thousands of customers at once, at minimum cost.

Email marketing software helps marketers create, send, and track subscriber emails while complying with the regulations that govern email outreach. Most email marketing tools do this on a bulk level, which increases efficiency. These bulk emails are commonly referred to as ‘email blasts’.

Tools range from batch-and-blast products to products that allow users to configure personalized, triggered messages. The messages are based on the behavior or demographics of subscribers. For example, if a subscriber clicks a link to download a whitepaper or buying guide within an email, or if they are part of your target audience. The simplest email marketing services are designed for sending newsletters or advertisements.

All email marketing tools facilitate ‘big’ sends. However, the definition of a ‘big’ email send can vary. For some vendors, a large batch of emails consists of a few hundred, while for others it could mean thousands or even millions. Therefore, make sure the email marketing platform you choose will work for your list size without causing performance issues or breaking the bank.

Most email marketing software offers the ability to design engaging emails without writing code. This is possible by using a drag and drop tool or a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) email editor. Advanced email marketing platforms include a landing page editor as well, and allow for retargeting, triggered drip sequences, and segmented subscriber lists. Many of them integrate with third-party CRM, CMS, and ecommerce platforms to make running email marketing campaigns even more efficient.

Top Rated Email Marketing Products

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2021

These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.

Email Marketing Software TrustMap

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.

Email Marketing Products

(1-25 of 213) Sorted by Most Reviews

The list of products below is based purely on reviews (sorted from most to least). There is no paid placement and analyst opinions do not influence their rankings. Here is our Promise to Buyers to ensure information on our site is reliable, useful, and worthy of your trust.
HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot's Marketing Hub is an all-in-one inbound marketing engine that includes tools for email marketing, landing page creation, social media marketing, content management, reporting & analytics, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (696)
    93%
    9.3
  • List management (361)
    91%
    9.1
  • Dashboards (363)
    88%
    8.8
ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign integrates email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM software into one platform designed for small businesses.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (607)
    91%
    9.1
  • List management (581)
    89%
    8.9
  • Dashboards (529)
    87%
    8.7
SharpSpring from Constant Contact

SharpSpring, a Constant Contact company, is a revenue growth marketing platform that helps small businesses generate leads, improve conversions to sales, and drive higher returns on marketing investment. The platform, open architecture and customer support, along with flexible contracts,…

Key Features

  • List management (484)
    90%
    9.0
  • Email deliverability reporting (800)
    84%
    8.4
  • Lead scoring and grading (476)
    83%
    8.3
Mailchimp

Mailchimp

Customer Verified
Top Rated

MailChimp is an SMB-oriented email platform. A free account is offered with a 500 subscriber limit and with a limit of 3000 sends. There are various pricing models above 500 subscribers.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (601)
    86%
    8.6
  • List management (384)
    82%
    8.2
  • Standard reports (379)
    82%
    8.2
Oracle CX Marketing (formerly Oracle Marketing Cloud)

Oracle CX Marketing (formerly Oracle Marketing Cloud) is a solution designed to enable marketers to plan and execute automated marketing campaigns via email, display search, video advertising, and mobile while delivering a personalized customer experience for their prospects.

Key Features

  • Landing pages (127)
    85%
    8.5
  • List management (130)
    85%
    8.5
  • Email deliverability reporting (240)
    85%
    8.5
Act-On Software

Act-On is an adaptive marketing platform designed to drive personal and purposeful multi-channel marketing. Its foci are inbound and outbound marketing, for enabling a tighter alignment with sales and turning data into actionable insights.

Key Features

  • WYSIWYG email editor (111)
    99%
    9.9
  • Email deliverability reporting (219)
    90%
    9.0
  • Standard reports (111)
    90%
    9.0
Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)

Keap

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Keap is a small business-focused, comprehensive sales and marketing platform which combines basic contact management, CRM, marketing automation, and e-commerce capabilities into a single, subscription-based SaaS product.

Key Features

  • List management (115)
    87%
    8.7
  • Lead nurturing (114)
    85%
    8.5
  • Email deliverability reporting (164)
    83%
    8.3
Litmus

Litmus

Customer Verified
Top Rated
TRUE

Litmus Software in Cambridge, MA offers their email marketing solution Litmus, supporting email campaign building and best practice checklists, spam testing and resolution, proofing and feedback sharing, and email analytics.

Key Features

  • Email Previews (117)
    96%
    9.6
  • Mobile optimization (130)
    92%
    9.2
  • Email deliverability reporting (107)
    84%
    8.4
Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a full-featured email marketing solution with capabilities such as social media integration, drag-and-drop editing, and real-time reporting. It is a bulk email tool designed for SMB customers. Since 2019, Constant Contact also offers marketing automation features,…

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (135)
    86%
    8.6
  • List management (90)
    83%
    8.3
  • Dashboards (87)
    78%
    7.8
Gist

Gist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.

Sendinblue

Sendinblue is a cloud-based marketing communication software which performs tasks related to managing marketing automation, email campaigns, transactional emails, and SMS messages. It is designed to be an all-in-one-tool for all digital marketing needs.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (123)
    74%
    7.4
  • List management (81)
    70%
    7.0
  • Standard reports (80)
    68%
    6.8
Intercom

Intercom

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Intercom is a contextual messaging system that supports live engagement with customers via text, chat, or email. It also supports triggered emails, customer segmentation and analysis, as well as integrations with MailChimp and Salesforce, and further extensibility via APIs and webhooks.…

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Email Studio

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Email is an email marketing platform formerly know as ExactTarget before being acquired by Salesforce in 2014. Its key features include integration with other Salesforce solutions, drag-and-drop tools, A/B testing, real time tracking, and graphical reporting.…

Key Features

  • Dynamic content (44)
    80%
    8.0
  • Email deliverability reporting (6)
    80%
    8.0
  • A/B testing (44)
    79%
    7.9
Bronto Marketing Platform (discontinued)

The Bronto Marketing Platform was an email marketing solution from Oracle which was acquired from NetSuite in 2016. It was optimized for creating automated, yet personalized emails, and subscriber profile segments, analyzing click and visit behavior, and tracking geolocation. It…

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (114)
    94%
    9.4
  • Dashboards (57)
    79%
    7.9
  • List management (56)
    76%
    7.6
Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a growth marketing platform that helps deliver more personalized experiences across owned marketing channels like email, SMS, in-app notifications, and web. The vendor states brands have made more than $3.7 billion in revenue through Klaviyo in the last year alone. Klaviyo…

Key Features

  • List management (55)
    85%
    8.5
  • Email deliverability reporting (69)
    84%
    8.4
  • Mobile optimization (53)
    80%
    8.0
Twilio SendGrid

Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns provides users with segmentation, campaign editing, and deliverability. According to the vendor, Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns is trusted by over 80,000 customers globally, including Airbnb, Spotify and Uber. Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns…

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (75)
    82%
    8.2
  • Standard reports (40)
    76%
    7.6
  • Dashboards (40)
    67%
    6.7
Kissmetrics

Kissmetrics is a customer engagement automation platform. This solution includes behavioral analytics, segmentation, and email campaign automation.

iContact

iContact is an email marketing solution that was acquired by Vocus in 2012. The product is integrated with Facebook and Twitter and is aimed at SMBs with unlimited sending as a key feature.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (48)
    79%
    7.9
  • Dashboards (25)
    78%
    7.8
  • List management (24)
    73%
    7.3
Robly

Robly is an email marketing solution designed for small businesses. It's key features are its ability to auto-resend unopened emails, pop-up widgets, and proprietary AI-powered software that sends emails based on schedules specific to each recipient.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (77)
    96%
    9.6
  • Standard reports (41)
    94%
    9.4
  • List management (42)
    90%
    9.0
Acoustic Campaign (formerly IBM Watson Campaign Automation)

Acoustic Campaign (formerly IBM Watson Campaign Automation) is a scalable, SaaS-based, cross-channel, digital marketing platform providing digital marketers the ability to implement and manage email, mobile, social, and lead management campaign processes.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (20)
    80%
    8.0
  • A/B testing (10)
    70%
    7.0
  • WYSIWYG email editor (10)
    40%
    4.0
AWeber

AWeber is an email marketing and automation solution. It provides support for mobile-friendly HTML email newsletters, autoresponder campaigns, subscriber segmentation and management, RSS-to-email features, signup forms for websites or blogs, and more.

Key Features

  • List management (29)
    97%
    9.7
  • Email deliverability reporting (56)
    89%
    8.9
  • Standard reports (29)
    35%
    3.5
Really Simple Systems

Really Simple Systems is a customer relationship management (CRM) software deployed via cloud with built-in features like email marketing, pipeline management, and case management.

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (33)
    78%
    7.8
  • Role-based user permissions (28)
    78%
    7.8
  • Custom fields (28)
    71%
    7.1
Autoklose

Autoklose

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Autoklose headquartered in Toronto provides an SEP solution, presenting a combined package of sales email automation and tracking, contact and email campaign management with sequence templates and optimization, sales intelligence with contact verification, follow-up tracking, and…

Emma

Emma is an email marketing solution from Campaign Monitor. Key features include mobile-ready design templates, email automation, audience segmentation, and dynamic content. The software includes integration with third-party CRM solutions, ecommerce platforms, and social networks.

Key Features

  • List management (31)
    99%
    9.9
  • Email deliverability reporting (60)
    99%
    9.9
  • Standard reports (31)
    94%
    9.4
MailerLite

MailerLite is an email marketing software designed to help people of all skill levels create professional and personalized marketing campaigns on their own.Designed to help users connect with audiences and grow business using tools like automation, website builder, landing pages,…

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (39)
    89%
    8.9
  • List management (30)
    88%
    8.8
  • Standard reports (31)
    80%
    8.0

Learn More About Email Marketing Software

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is designed to help a company maintain communications with customers. This builds loyalty, increases brand recognition, and drives sales.

The challenge with email marketing is to strike a balance between efficiency and personalization so that you can:

  1. Create a one-to-one sense of connection with individual customers.
  2. Reach out to hundreds or thousands of customers at once, at minimum cost.

Email marketing software helps marketers create, send, and track subscriber emails while complying with the regulations that govern email outreach. Most email marketing tools do this on a bulk level, which increases efficiency. These bulk emails are commonly referred to as ‘email blasts’.

Tools range from batch-and-blast products to products that allow users to configure personalized, triggered messages. The messages are based on the behavior or demographics of subscribers. For example, if a subscriber clicks a link to download a whitepaper or buying guide within an email, or if they are part of your target audience. The simplest email marketing services are designed for sending newsletters or advertisements.

All email marketing tools facilitate ‘big’ sends. However, the definition of a ‘big’ email send can vary. For some vendors, a large batch of emails consists of a few hundred, while for others it could mean thousands or even millions. Therefore, make sure the email marketing platform you choose will work for your list size without causing performance issues or breaking the bank.

Most email marketing software offers the ability to design engaging emails without writing code. This is possible by using a drag and drop tool or a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) email editor. Advanced email marketing platforms include a landing page editor as well, and allow for retargeting, triggered drip sequences, and segmented subscriber lists. Many of them integrate with third-party CRM, CMS, and ecommerce platforms to make running email marketing campaigns even more efficient.

Email Marketing Software Features

  • Subscriber and list management
  • Contact segmentation
  • Email marketing templates
  • Visual editor or WYSIWYG interface
  • Content/image library
  • Dynamic content/personalization
  • A/B testing
  • Mobile optimization
  • Autoresponders
  • Triggered drip sequences
  • Campaign tracking/reporting
  • CRM integration
  • CAN-SPAM compliance
  • SPAM testing
  • Email client testing
  • Deliverability support

Email Marketing vs. Marketing Automation Software

Email marketing software is closely related to marketing automation software. All marketing automation platforms include email marketing, and many email marketing tools include some degree of automation. But marketing automation tools also include broader marketing capabilities not connected to email. These include lead management, campaign calendars, event management, landing pages, social campaigns, cross-channel campaign orchestration, advanced analytics, and more.

Email Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing

Email marketing is also related to social media marketing activities. Where email marketing platforms govern all aspects of customer communication via email, social media marketing tools provide business with tools to monitor, interact with, and track customer engagement across social media channels. Software tools that specialize in social media advocacy or proportion activities also fall under the umbrella of social media marketing.

Though email marketing tools primarily focus on email communication, some tools provide a handful of social media marketing features as well. These may include capabilities like social posting and creating ad campaigns for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Some email marketing service providers will have integrations with third-party social media marketing products, or directly with social channels themselves.

While they focus on different methods of communication, the ultimate goal of these two types of marketing is similar. They both seek to help marketers gain a deeper connection to their customers or subscribers, nurture leads, and drive brand loyalty and revenue.

Email Marketing Platform Comparison

To more easily compare Email Marketing tools, consider evaluating different options based on these three key factors:

1. Contact List Size / Number of Emails: Make sure your email marketing software can support the number of contacts you have. The price of different email marketing tools will vary depending on the number of subscribers you have on your contact list, or the volume of emails you send per month. Typically, the larger these numbers are, the higher the cost.

2. Ease-of-Use: This means more than just having an intuitive interface, it involves actually having the features that make email marketing software cost-effective. Features like pre-designed email templates that are mobile-responsive, drag-and-drop editors, and native signup forms will make life easier for your marketing team and allow them to be more productive.

3. Use Case Support: Think about whether you’ll be using emails for different purposes and identify which tools cover all your intended use cases. For example, will you primarily be sending direct emails? Or will you also use your email marketing software for website, social media, or event marketing? If so, make sure you invest in a tool that will help you achieve your goals across these programs.

Start an Email Marketing software comparison

Pricing Information

Email marketing software is typically priced on a monthly subscription model. Pricing depends on the number of email contacts you have, and the number of emails you send each month.

There are a few free products available or paid products that offer free plans, though these tools usually limit the number of emails businesses can send per month. Free tools may also require senders to keep the email marketing tool’s branding in the footer.

On the lower end, an email marketing service can cost as little as $25 for up to 2,000 contacts. Mid-tier service runs up to $500/mo. for lists of up to 50,000 contacts. The cost of enterprise-level email marketing software goes up from there. Depending on the scale and complexity of your email marketing needs, your organization may find that investing in a comprehensive marketing automation solution may be a more suitable choice.

More Resources

Email Marketing Software Best Of Awards

The following email marketing software offer award-winning customer relationships, feature sets, and value for price. Learn more about our Best Of Awards methodology here.

Best Email Marketing Software Products

Frequently Asked Questions

What is email marketing software?

Email marketing software allows marketers to create, plan, execute, and track the performance of email campaigns. This helps achieve outcomes like greater customer loyalty, increased brand awareness, and sales pipeline growth. Standard email marketing platform features include:

  • contact list segmentation
  • email templates
  • WYSIWYG email editor
  • content personalization
  • campaign builder
  • batch and blast email campaigns
  • email A/B testing
  • campaign analytics and reporting

What is the best email marketing platform?

There are plenty of email marketing software options available, here’s a list of the top-rated email marketing products based on end-user ratings and reviews:


While all of these products have a customer satisfaction score of 7.5 or higher, some may be better suited for either SMBs or enterprises. To see which products are more highly rated by SMB or enterprise reviewers, toggle between the ‘Small Business’ and ‘Enterprise’ view of the Email Marketing Software TrustMap.

What are the main benefits of using an email marketing service?

Email marketing software helps users automate parts of the email outreach process, such as sending mass amounts of emails at once, and tracking the performance of email campaigns. This allows marketers to save time executing their email campaigns so they can spend more time planning their email marketing strategy and personalizing content.


There are also several important outcomes email marketing tools help drive:

  • stronger relationships with customers
  • increased brand recognition
  • email campaigns optimized for performance and deliverability
  • affordable email outreach at scale
  • increased revenue growth from nurturing leads

Is email marketing the same as marketing automation?

Email marketing software and marketing automation software both offer email marketing capabilities. However, marketing automation provides a wider range of features covering areas like:

  • landing page creating
  • lead management
  • cross-channel campaign orchestration
  • social media marketing
  • advanced digital campaign analytics


One helpful distinction to make is that email marketing tools can be more budget-friendly for micro and small business than marketing automation software. Since marketing automation platforms have more extensive capabilities, they typically cost more than email marketing products designed for small businesses.

How much does email marketing software cost?

Some vendors like Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor offer free versions of their email marketing platform, but with limited functionality. Paid email marketing software can start as low as $10/mo for smaller list sizes (around 500 contacts) for basic plans. This can range up to multiple hundreds of dollars per month, depending on the number of contacts and level of functionality required.


‘Professional’ and ‘Enterprise’ tier plans will cost more but include advanced features like A/B or multivariate testing, retargeting ads, advanced contact segmentation, and premium customer support.