The purpose of email marketing is to inform your customers and leads of what’s new at your business – be that offers, new stock, what’s best for the season or as a means to get them to engage on your website.

To best engage your leads, content must be relevant, personalised and be a clear representation of the brand. Email marketing software can help your business achieve this, with easy-to-se drag and drop editors, personalisation tools and AI-generated content to help when you’re struggling for words.

What is email marketing software?

Email marketing software allows businesses to create, send and track emails to their customers and leads.

To maximise the effectiveness of email marketing, your business will need email software that is best suited to its needs. Factors to consider include the number of recipients you need to mail out to, easy-to-use design customisation that allows you insert your logo and colourways, integrations with other relevant software and data migration.

Email marketing software providers offer varying levels of all these factors with price points to match.

7 best email marketing software for UK businesses

Brevo

Brevo’s marketing platform is a relatively cheap option if you’re a small business at £16 a month for a starter package which allows upwards of 20,000 emails a month, customizable email templates, basic reporting and email support. Brevo also has a CRM platform which you can integrate with the email software.

Highlights:

• Automation tools
• Drag and drop editor
• Campaign analysis

Price: £16 a month (starter package for smaller businesses)

Campaigner

Campaigner has a list verification tool that every now and then scans your contact list, rating and flagging any that could result in bounces.

Its drag and drop editor is easy to use (though there’s also an HTML editor) and is completely compatible with all mobile devices, without compromising on quality or functionality.

Highlights:

• Personalisation tools, including by geo location and buying behavior
• Drag and drop editor
• 24/7 support

Price: From £42 per month (starter plan)

Get Response

Get Response offers an affordable software solution from just £10 per month. With that, you get unlimited monthly emails, an AI-powered email generator, A/B testing and Google Analytics tracking.

Highlights:

• AI-powered newsletters
• AI-powered analytics
• Data-driven segmentation
• Integration with over 170 e-commerce platforms
• 24/7 support

Price: From £10 per month

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor One helpful feature is how easy it is to customise to fit your branding. By inserting your URL, the editor will automatically import the brand colours and logo. Another unique feature is Campaign Monitor’s link review, which detects any broken links and flags any that need your attention.

Highlights:

• Drag and drop editor
• Mobile optimisation
• AI tools
• Segmentation and personalization
• Automatic transactional emailing
• Email analytics
• Software integrations

Price: £16 per month (for essentials package)

HubSpot

Like other email marketing software on this list, HubSpot offers a drag and drop editor for ease of use. One differentiator, though, is what HubSpot claims to be superior email deliverability, ensuring it hits the right folder in the customer inbox. HubSpot also has AI tools which can generate copy for you if you’re suffering from writer’s block. The downside is if you take just the email marketing product from HubSpot, it is far more expensive than the others on this list. If you already use the platform as your CRM, however, it is free.

Highlights:

• A/B testing
• Analytics
• AI copy generation

Price: Free with CRM (£702 a month without CRM)

Klaviyo

Like Mailchimp, Klaviyo has a range of templates which make it easy for a beginner to email marketing to get started.

Klaviyo offers advanced segmentation tools for personalization and makes good use of AI with subject line automation, predictive analytics and user recommendations based on their browsing history.

Highlights:

• Advanced segmentation
• Integration with over 300 software providers
• AI tools for personalised send-outs

Price: From $45 per month

Mailchimp

Mailchimp has drag and drop editor tools, meaning it can be easy to pick up for an email marketing beginner. It is also highly rated when it comes to email deliverability – i.e. avoiding the customer junk folder.

Mailchimp offers over 300 integrations with software providers – including Google Analytics so you can measure the success of your campaigns – as well as a host of AI tools such as abandoned cart notifications to help you achieve successful campaigns.

Highlights:

• 24/7 customer service
• 300+ integrations
• AI automation tools

Price: $20 per month (first month free)

More on email marketing

Reactivate your email list and re-engage subscribers – Inactive subscribers can be a drag on your email list. But a re-engagement campaign can get them involved and provide useful intel for your business

Ten tips to master an email marketing campaign – Tom Gottlieb of Wix.com advises on some best practices for email marketing.