If you are running a small business and are looking for free email marketing tools, then you are in the right place. In this article, we’ll discuss the best email marketing software. It’s a simple guide on how to find the best online email marketing software for small business. If you want to start your own email campaign, or prefer not to spend money on email marketing software, then you will be inspired by this list of free email marketing tools.
Email marketing software allows you to keep an eye on email campaigns and analyze statistics. There are lots of options in the market and it can be challenging to choose the right one for your company. A quick search on Google will give you lots of free as well as best email marketing software for small business reviews. If you’re looking to choose the best email marketing software, we recommend you to read this article before making a decision.
With email marketing, one can’t simply decide which free tool to use and then start an email campaign. Everything is more complicated than that and the success of a campaign depends mainly on the software you choose and a clear understanding of all its features.
Looking for the best email marketing software? There’s a lot of email software out there. Some are free, some are paid, and all can help get your business’ email marketing strategy off the ground. And once you have an email marketing strategy in place, there’s no looking back. But if you’ve never used email marketing software before, it can be quite a learning curve to figure out which one is best for your needs and goals.
What is Email Marketing?
A simple email marketing definition is the use of email to promote products or services. Even better, email marketing is a way to use email to nurture and develop relationships with your email subscribers to complete an end goal like a sale.
Email marketing is just one form of digital marketing, which also includes things like search engine marketing, social media, SEO, blogging, etc.
Before email, direct mail was a way to reach consumers in their mailbox. Email marketing takes this strategy online by sending messages to users electronically to their email inbox. Unlike direct mail, email requires a user to opt-in to your email list to receive your messages.
Email Octopus
Innovative emailing tool Email Octopus allows users to send out emails through the Amazon Simple Email Service (SES). It comes with powerful yet easy-to-use builders that can generate responsive HTML emails for time-based drip campaigns. Furthermore, this software solution is equipped with tools for bounce prevention and deliverability management so that you can make sure that your emails are reaching their respective destinations.
Other notable features of this tool are its autoresponders, extensive image library, template management, and analytics. In case you are looking for other functionalities, this platform can also integrate with over 500 products and services through its developer API functionality. Lastly, Email Octopus is also fully compliant with the GDPR for your peace of mind.
Detailed EmailOctopus ReviewREAD MORE
Free plan:
Email Octopus offers a Shrimp plan that is completely free of charge for businesses with only 2500 subscribers. It comes with campaign creation tools and other basic functionalities. It can also store your analytics information for up to 90 days.
Paid plans:
Email Octopus offers four affordable plans depending on the number of subscribers you have and the types of advanced features you need. You can opt for their Tuna, Stingray, Shark, and Whale plans that cost $19/month, $39/month, $59/month, and $109/month, respectively. These all come with priority email support and can store your analytics information for as long as you need.
Moosend
Free Plan: Up to 1,000 subscribers and unlimited emails per month
Paid plans: Start at $10 per month
Moosend could be an excellent choice for somebody with a small email list, as it allows you to send unlimited emails to 1,000 subscribers per month. You gain access to all Moosend’s features and only begin paying once you exceed that 1,000-subscriber limit (at which point you have built a successful list).
Moosend provides custom sign-up forms to help you build your email list. You can segment your list to help you better target your emails.
Moosend offers a user-friendly drag and drop editor with a free template library. It includes multiple tools to help you design your emails.
It provides an entire tool chest of automations, simplifying your emailing process, using a three-step process:
- Select the event that will set the automation in motion
- Set the filter(s) you want for the trigger you selected
- Choose from the list the action to be performed
Of course, you will want to know how successful your email campaigns have been. Moosend includes a comprehensive set of analytics.
Sender
Free Plan: Up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails per month
Paid plans: Start at $10 per month
Sender provides a full range of features to help lead to effective email marketing. The free plan allows you to access all the features, with the only limitations being the subscribers and maximum monthly emails.
All the company’s technical servers and legal entities are based in the EU, so it makes a point of being GDPR compliant.
You can use the software to prepare stylish emails in seconds. It includes free newsletter templates and can customize all aspects of the template to suit your unique needs. You simply choose a template from the gallery and drag and drop content elements, such as text, images, or videos. You can personalize your newsletter’s subject line or body.
Sender includes a range of automation features, including drip campaigns, welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, happy birthday emails, nurture-your-subscribers campaigns, and emails to onboard your newcomers.
Campayn
Free Plan: Up to 500 subscribers and 12,500 emails per month
Paid plans: Start at $19 per month
As its name indicates, you can use Campayn to build quality email campaigns. If you only have a small email list (fewer than 500), then you can access their free Basic Plan. This offers all the core features.
As with most modern email marketing tools, Campayn features a simple drag and drop interface. You can set the perfect backdrop for your email message with a beautiful design that reflects your brand. You can use one of their templates or design your own.
It includes a contact manager that helps you keep your contacts up-to-date and track how they’re interacting with your emails. You can segment your list.
Campayn provides numerous options for designing sign-up forms, including website forms, hosted forms, Facebook forms, and pop-up lightbox forms.
It also makes life easier by enabling you to automate your most popular email marketing campaigns based on triggers for key customer activities.
Once you’ve started sending emails, you can track the success of every email campaign with detailed, real-time reports that allow you to see who opened it.
SendPulse
Free Plan: Up to 2,500 subscribers and 15.000 emails per month
Paid plans: Start at $9.85 per month
SendPulse calls itself a multi-channel marketing platform – more than just an email service. With the paid plans, you can coordinate a range of services on the central platform – email, web push, SMS, SMTP, Viber, and Facebook Messenger. You can send different types of messages separately or combine them into autoresponders.
SendPulse splits its plans up by the services you require. For example, it has a free email marketing plan, if you have fewer than 2,500 subscribers and don’t need any professional services. It also offers a free Web Push service to unlimited subscribers and unlimited web push notifications. Similarly, it provides unlimited free messages on Facebook Messenger. You can send up to 12,000 emails via SMTP or API for free.
Its email marketing is sophisticated, with a drag and drop email editor. It includes over 100 ready-made templates. You can use Automation 360 to set up email send-out, web push notifications, and SMS flows depending on variables, events, and the actions your users take.
HubSpot
Free Plan/Trial: 2,000 emails/month
Best for: SMBs, SaaS, Agencies
Unique feature: Free CRM
If you want a free email marketing tool to fuel your entire marketing funnel, HubSpot is the one for you. The tool is an all-in-one growth platform that helps you grow and scale your business.
What’s interesting about HubSpot’s free email marketing software is that it comes with many other marketing tools that make your email marketing all the more powerful. HubSpot is known for its CRM and powerful marketing automation platform designed to give you insight into your audience and how your marketing efforts influence them.
Apart from the CRM, you also get beautiful newsletter signup forms to capture leads, a customizable landing page builder, social media, Facebook ads management, and more. On top of all the optimization, the free plan will give you access to analytics tools to improve your strategy.
All in all, HubSpot is among the best free email marketing services to increase your lead generation, manage your lists, and ensure your email deliverability, despite its quite restrictive monthly email sending limit.
HubSpot Features
- Subscription forms to capture your leads
- Contact management features
- Facebook, Instagram, Google, and LinkedIn ads
- Reporting and conversion analytics
- Landing page builder to boost conversions
HubSpot Pricing
HubSpot’s free plan is ideal for small business owners who want all the tools to start email marketing. For more, paid plans start at $50/month, giving you form follow-up emails, email health insights, and upgraded functionality.
Sendinblue
Free Plan/Trial: 9,000 emails/month (300/day) for unlimited subscribers
Best for: eCommerce, Publishers, Agencies
Unique feature: SMS personalization features
Sendinblue is a free email marketing platform that started as a transactional email platform and then expanded its reach into email marketing and marketing automation. The tool will give you access to a drag-n-drop builder to customize your email templates and create your newsletters.
While the template library isn’t rich, Sendinblue is great if you need mobile-responsive campaigns. Apart from its email creation abilities, the free email newsletter service equips you with SMS marketing features to engage with mobile users.
Email and SMS personalization are also available on the free plan, along with various segmentation options to manage your contact list more easily. Marketing automation is also included in the free plan. You can create workflows with the workflow editor, but you can only target up to 2,000 contacts.
Overall, Sendinblue is a great email marketing tool with SMS marketing options and a good sender score. However, you should keep in mind that your email campaigns will include the Sendinblue logo.
Sendinblue Features
- Mobile-friendly newsletter campaigns
- SMS marketing personalization for targeted messages
- Advanced segmentation options to group subscribers
- Contact lists and details to keep your contacts organized
- Send transactional emails and SMS sending
- Online form builder to boost lead generation
Sendinblue Pricing
Which drip email software should you use?
Whether you simply want a drip campaign that welcomes new subscribers to your email list, or you’re looking for a way to optimize your funnels with personalized automations, there’s a tool for you to get started with drip email marketing.
That tool might be part of the email newsletter app you’ve already been using, or it might be worth switching to a new platform for more features (and better pricing). Either way, there’s a world of opportunity for you to start upleveling the email side of your business.
Sendinblue’s free plan has all the necessary features you need but with a strict daily email sending limit of 300. Paid plans start at $25/month, offering A/B testing tools and more advanced features.
Conclusion
Email marketing and online marketing are similar. Although, email marketing is a bit more direct and is great for targeting your audience. Marketers should aim for reply rates in the 20% range or higher. You can also use email as a way to offer free products or trials.
Email marketing software and tools can help businesses reach their marketing goals. Email software is great for campaigns, promotions, and newsletters. Achieve the best email marketing results with these programs.