The 21 best email marketing programs for creating high-performance, unforgettable campaigns
Emailing has become an essential tool for converting leads into customers and building long-term customer loyalty. More than just a simple communication channel, it is a formidable marketing tool when coupled with a good strategy.
Another important argument is that email is inexpensive, and can deliver very good returns on investment. So it's worth taking advantage of it, whether you're launching your business with little cash in your pocket, or need to rationalise the costs of your marketing department.
To make your research and choice easier, we've selected 21 free and paid emailing software packages, some of which are French (cocorico!). 🐓
Comparison table of the best mailing tools
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ActiveTrail
ActiveTrail is a complete emailing and marketing automation software designed to create a powerful customer journey. Its new emailing editor lets you create professional, attractive emails and then send them to the right person thanks to advanced segmentation.
Automated scenarios make it easy to send campaigns to the right marketing channel based on the behaviour of each contact.
ActiveTrail also supports :
- creating landing pages and forms
- sending SMS campaigns
- WhatsApp marketing,
- mobile push notifications.
Finally, ActiveTrail offers a 30-day free trial to test all its features. Its support is also highly responsive and available in French by phone, chat and email.
ActiveTrail
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a French email marketing software that came out in 2007. It has since evolved into a genuine marketing platform, offering all the tools you need to make yourself visible, attract traffic and convert your visitors into customers. In short, unleash your full potential and grow your business!
With Brevo, you create professional marketing and transactional emails very simply, and personalise the customer journey every step of the way. Plus :
- A/B testing and machine learning to optimise your campaigns ;
- landing pages or Facebook ads to turn your visitors into customers.
Finally, there is a free version offering up to 300 emails/day, with unlimited contacts and chat included.
Brevo (ex Sendinblue)
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is more than an emailing platform. It helps companies to create a memorable experience for their customers, to boost their growth, thanks in particular to automation.
It offers a wide range of tools for reaching your targets, developing relationships with your prospects, converting them more effectively, and building loyalty by satisfying them.
More specifically, the software includes email and newsletter creation functions, as well as :
- a CRM (with scoring system),
- and intelligent dashboards to monitor your performance and aim for continuous improvement.
ActiveCampaign
Benchmark Email
With its attractive pricing and free version that lets you send 3,500 emails a month, Benchmark Email will appeal to organisations on a tight budget.
In terms of functionality, it includes all the essentials for developing high-performance marketing campaigns:
- email creation with templates
- automation,
- landing pages, registration forms, etc.
Benchmark Email integrates with over 300 applications, including Shopify, Zoho, Slack, SurveyMonkey and WooCommerce, to make your processes more efficient and fluid.
Benchmark Email
Digitaleo
Digitaleo is a made-in-Brittany platform specialising in local marketing and communication.
It helps companies make themselves visible online to the right people, i.e. potential customers in their geographical vicinity. It is particularly well suited to retail chains or networks that lack digital expertise.
In addition to emailing tools, it offers :
- functionalities dedicated to communication on social networks,
- a "presence management" module designed to maximise your local visibility on search engines.
Digitaleo
eTarget
eTarget is a 100% French mailing software package with a very attractive free version, which allows you to send up to 6,000 emails per month.
More specifically, the solution features an HTML editor that makes it easy to create professional, responsive and personalised messages. You can then send them at the right time to your list of contacts or post them on your social networks.
What's more, you can use the statistics tool to monitor the performance of your campaigns and the reactions of your recipients in real time.
GetResponse
Are you looking for a comprehensive email marketing solution? Then GetResponse is for you.
It supports :
- importing contacts
- creating personalised fields
- creating responsive emails,
- campaign management, etc.
But GetResponse is also powerful when it comes to scripting and integrating web marketing campaigns. For example, it is possible to produce landing pages, pop-up windows, forms and surveys.
What's more, with the integrated webinar and chat tools, you can optimise communication with your audience anywhere, anytime.
Finally, the platform offers a free version for up to 500 contacts.
GetResponse
HubSpot
The inventor of inbound marketing, a strategy based on attracting customers with quality content, HubSpot has created an all-in-one platform to apply and expand this method.
The aim? To centralise your data and provide you with all the marketing tools you need to exploit it intelligently.
These tools include functionalities linked to :
- marketing automation
- the creation of landing pages, forms and CTAs.
But HubSpot also includes modules for SEO, blogging, social networking, online advertising and online chat.
The icing on the cake is that HubSpot has a whole range of free marketing tools.
Hub Marketing
Mailchimp
Initially a pure player in the email marketing sector, Mailchimp has evolved into a global marketing platform.
Its objective? To help you grow your business by selling more, using a range of different levers.
Even if you're just starting out in marketing or sales, its many tools and support service are there to teach you as you go along how to build a business, make it grow, and evolve with you.
In terms of functionality, Mailchimp is powerful, with features such as :
- A/B testing
- creation wizard
- customer journey automation
- predictive segmentation
- comparative reports, etc.
Mailchimp is also known for its free version (2,500 emails per month for 500 contacts).
MailChimp
MailerLite
MailerLite is a complete mailing tool designed to manage all your campaigns. It incorporates all the features you need to create and distribute your newsletters:
- simplified creation
- personalisation
- automation,
- creation of landing pages and registration forms,
- integration of your online shop,
- management of paid newsletter subscriptions, etc.
And the free version allows you to send 12,000 emails a month!
MailerLite also lets you build your own websites and blogs.
Last but not least, the software's biggest strength is its award-winning support service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Mailerlite
Mailjet
Mailjet is the promise of creating attractive, responsive and professional-looking emails in just a few clicks. And to make the process even smoother, it's possible for several people to collaborate in real time on your productions (suggesting changes, for example).
At the same time, Mailjet offers features such as :
- personalisation
- segmentation
- automation
- A/B testing
- email verification.
Finally, you can take advantage of a free version (up to 6,000 emails/month) and 24/7 support.
Mailjet
Mailpro
Mailpro is a powerful, all-in-one marketing software package. Using this tool, you can generate personalised emails from a library of 600 templates, send them to your segmented database and then analyse your results in detail to help you make progress.
But Mailpro is also :
- CRM functions,
- SMS campaign management
- and the creation of forms, customer surveys and quizzes.
What's more, by hosting the software on a private cloud in Switzerland, the publisher guarantees the security and confidentiality of your data.
Note: take advantage of 500 free email credits to test the solution.
Mailpro
Moosend
Moosend's ambition? To make managing your email campaigns as simple as possible. However, the platform does not neglect the number and quality of features on offer:
- drag-and-drop newsletter editing,
- A/B testing
- creation of landing pages and forms, etc.
The software is also robust in terms of marketing automation, thanks to predefined automation models, numerous triggers (over 100) and the generation of visual workflows.
Finally, Moosend connects to a multitude of applications (WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, HubSpot, etc.), without the need to generate a single line of code.
Moosend
Omnisend
Omnisend offers all the features you'd expect from good newsletter software.
Create emails easily (templates, drag-and-drop, etc.), in which you can integrate dynamic discount codes. Thanks to marketing automation, you can define workflows for each stage of the customer journey, so you never miss an opportunity to generate additional sales. And to familiarise yourself with the solution, take advantage of a free version including 500 emails and 60 text messages per month, for 250 contacts.
The solution also supports the production and management of other conversion tools such as :
- SMS messages
- landing pages
- forms
- pop-ups, etc.
Finally, take advantage of award-winning customer support, available 24/7.
Omnisend
Revue
Revue stands out from the other tools in this comparison in terms of the way it works.
Published by Twitter, its aim is to build a loyal audience by sending out paid editorial newsletters. It is therefore perfectly suited to professionals who make a living from their writing, such as journalists, authors and other influencers.
All your audience has to do is subscribe directly via your Twitter page. You can then manage your followers efficiently and schedule your emails. The solution integrates with WordPress, but also with Facebook and Instagram.
The analysis tools provide you with a wealth of data on audience engagement.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Marketing Cloud, from the renowned publisher Salesforce, is more than just an emailing solution. It's a powerful digital marketing platform for small businesses and SMEs.
Overall, the software enables you to :
- manage your marketing actions across all your channels (emailing, SEO, SEA, social networks, etc.),
- while personalising the customer journey and experience as far as possible.
When it comes to emailing, its Email Studio tool meets these exacting standards:
- Precise segmentation and targeting of your audience, thanks to Marketing Cloud's high capacity for exploiting customer data,
- personalised messages,
- simplified email creation using configurable templates,
- automation of the email path.
In short, you can work smarter and make sure you send the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
Marketing Cloud
Sarbacane
Sarbacane is a French emailing software solution, which has the particularity of supporting its customers in their strategy and in the use of the tool, so as to get the best out of it for their business. A bit like a consultancy agency, the teams will study your market positioning and help you put everything in place to achieve your objectives.
The platform's features include
- contact management
- email designer
- automated email and SMS campaign creation,
- an advanced analysis tool.
Finally, you can take advantage of completely free support in French, as well as live training.
Sarbacane
SendBlaster
SendBlaster is open source software that lets you create, plan and send email campaigns very easily.
Thanks to its editor, you can create newsletters from A to Z, choosing blocks and colours. You can choose from over 230 templates, or code everything in HTML.
You can also manage your mailing lists by importing contacts from Outlook or a CSV file, and segment your list using multiple criteria and rules.
You can analyse your results by connecting Sendblaster to Google Analytics or using the integrated TrackReports tool.
SendBlaster
SendPulse
SendPulse is a powerful platform that goes beyond emailing.
With its newsletter service, you can edit attractive, professional emails in just a few clicks, then integrate them into a sending workflow using 360° automation features. Thanks to a tagging system, you can organise and segment your contact list as effectively as possible, so that you can always send them a relevant marketing message. What's more, the tool has a free version for up to 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails per month.
But SendPulse also offers :
- SMS text messaging,
- the creation of landing pages, pop-ups, push notifications and chatbots (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.).
And if you're a training organisation or school, you should know that the software also supports the creation of online courses!
SendPulse
SendEthic
SendEthic is a complete marketing platform, including functionalities for :
- email and SMS sending,
- marketing automation
- marketing database management,
- landing page publishing.
But what sets SendEthic apart is its ethical approach. The solution is committed to fighting spam and protecting data, and offers features designed to limit the environmental impact of your email campaigns. It is also hosted in France and complies with the RGPD.
Finally, take advantage of premium support with experts available remotely, collaborative workshops, training, deliverability audits and even the option of delegating the management of your campaigns.
Sendethic
Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is the emailing platform in the Zoho suite. With this software, you can easily create and personalise your emails and marketing automation scenarios.
It incorporates a number of interesting features, including
- dynamic content, allowing you to adapt certain parts of your emails to the target segment;
- autoresponders, i.e. configuring the staggered sending of emails to maintain communication with your database in all circumstances.
And to ensure that your marketing actions are as closely aligned as possible with your sales actions, Zoho Campaigns is perfectly synchronised with Zoho CRM.
A free version of the platform is available for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails/month.
Zoho Campaigns
How do you choose your emailing software?
💡 Download our detailed comparison table now if you'd like more details and a better comparison of the offers between them!
The main features
There's a lot of email marketing software on the market, both free and paid. Which one should you choose to equip your marketing team with?
The range of features on offer will be your No. 1 criterion. Valuable tools generally include :
- a sophisticated email editor
- A/B testing for optimisation
- advanced dashboards for monitoring campaign performance,
- automation,
- connectors with your other software,
- the ability to create landing pages and registration forms,
- a CRM to centralise all your customer data.
Other criteria to consider
While the choice of functionalities takes precedence, there are other components to consider, starting with prices. Clearly define your needs and your budget beforehand so that you can choose the tool that's right for your business, the one that will give you the best return on investment. And if you're really short of cash at the moment, we've seen that there are some very interesting free packages available.
You should also ask yourself the following questions:
- What type of hosting? SaaS or On Premise? The first option is still the most widely used.
- Is the software easy to deploy, learn and use on a day-to-day basis?
- What level of support does the publisher provide? On this point, check whether you have :
- dedicated experts at your service
- training to help you make the most of the tool's potential,
- high-quality support available in the event of a problem.
So, which software should you use for your email campaigns?
As you will have noticed, creating professional emails and setting up automated email campaigns is almost child's play with email marketing software.
In the space of just a few years, they have become platforms that give power to your marketing actions throughout the customer journey. Now it's up to you!
Article translated from French
Currently Editorial Manager, Jennifer Montérémal joined the Appvizer team in 2019. Since then, she's been putting her expertise in web copywriting, copywriting and SEO optimisation to work for the company, with her sights set on reader satisfaction 😀 !
A medievalist by training, Jennifer took a short break from fortified castles and other manuscripts to discover her passion for content marketing. She took away from her studies the skills expected of a good copywriter: understanding and analysing the subject, conveying the information, with a real mastery of the pen (without systematically resorting to a certain AI 🤫).
An anecdote about Jennifer? She stood out at Appvizer for her karaoke skills and her boundless knowledge of musical dreck 🎤.