Want to skip the theory and jump straight to the step-by-step email marketing guide? Click here!

Benefits of email marketing for agencies

Email marketing helps agencies to communicate consistently, share insights, and show expertise — all at a reasonable cost. 

But that sounds too hypothetical, right? 

Let’s explore the real benefits of email marketing in more detail. 

1. Offers great return on investment (ROI)

Email marketing delivers one of the highest returns on investment among digital channels. In fact, a recent study by Litmus shows that each dollar spent on email marketing likely returns an average of $36. 

This high ROI is mainly due to its ability to reach a highly targeted audience at a low cost while nurturing relationships over time. 

Unlike other marketing channels that require constant investment, email campaigns reach a targeted audience with minimal extra expenses — provided that the sender reputation and email infrastructure are properly maintained.

For example, you could use a personalized email drip campaign to guide a lead through the sales process. When a potential client downloads a free eBook, an automated email sequence triggers.

The client starts by receiving a warm welcome email. After that, they get messages tailored to their needs, with relevant case studies, and, eventually, an offer for a personalized consultation.

This campaign engages prospects over time without manual follow-up. It increases conversions while keeping costs low.

However, keep in mind that achieving this ROI isn’t easy and can vary considerably. The success of your email marketing campaigns will depend on various factors, including: 

• Quality of your contact list
• Content quality and value
• Email deliverability and sender reputation

For instance, only a well-timed promotion that aligns with your clients’ needs and preferences could encourage immediate responses and drive conversions.

2. Support advanced personalization and dynamic segmentation

Unlike other marketing tools and approaches, only emails let you use all the collected data on your users, and hyper-personalize messages automatically (if you use the right tools). 

For instance, Maichimp marketing platform allows you to segment your email list using demographic data, purchase behavior, engagement history, and custom attributes of your choice. Then, when creating a targeted email campaign, you can layer these criteria and target them separately with curated content. 

GetResponse, another email marketing platform, offers dynamic segmentation, meaning contacts are automatically transferred from one segment (e.g. new users) to another (e.g. loyal customers). 

And the email marketing platform ActiveCampaign offers a dynamic content feature that automatically personalizes sections of an email based on each user’s preferences, actions, or other data.

3. Allows scalability through automation

Email marketing automation allows you to handle repetitive tasks without manual intervention.  Instead of manually sending each campaign, you can create automated workflows that trigger messages based on client actions. 

Here are some of many examples of email automations that companies use:

• Welcome emails
• Onboarding sequences
• Birthday or anniversary messages
• Post-purchase follow-ups
• Re-engagement campaigns
• Upsell or cross-sell recommendations
• Feedback and review requests
• Event reminders
• Lead nurturing sequences
• Drip campaigns
• Seasonal campaigns and holiday promotions

4. Increased customer retention and loyalty

Businesses are ready to invest in personalization and loyalty programs because they pay off. The PwC Customer Loyalty Executive Survey 2023 revealed that businesses delivering personalized experiences see a 1.7x increase in incremental revenue year-over-year and more than double their customers’ lifetime value. 

Retaining loyal clients is far more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, and email marketing helps with that through hyper-personalized, relevant content delivered at the right time. When subscribers receive regular, helpful information, they feel appreciated and develop an emotional bond with the brand—almost as if it were a friend or even a family member. 

5. Revenue expansion from white labelling

Agencies can white label an email marketing platform to charge their clients usage fees in addition to the usual retainer. A white label platform would be hosted on the agency domain and show the agency logo. Top ESPs charge 4-5 times more than some of the lesser known brands, so there’s an opportunity for a healthy markup with white label. Plus, when agency clients use an agency branded tool it can promote client retention as well.

How to get started with email marketing

It’s now clear that there is a lot to gain from email marketing. But where should you begin?

Here is a simple framework for any business ready to hit the ground running. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a digital marketing agency, UX audit agency, a travel agency, or another service provider. 

We’ll cover foundational strategies and best practices that work across industries.

Step 1. Develop the strategy

Start by deciding what you aim to accomplish with your email marketing strategy. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, nurture leads, or drive sales?

You can use a SMART framework to ensure your goals are both realistic and trackable. SMART stands for:

• Specific. Clear and precise goal
• Measurable. Trackable outcomes
• Achievable. Realistic and attainable
• Relevant. Aligned with broader objectives
• Time-bound. Set within a timeframe

For instance, if your goal is lead generation, you can define your smart goals as follows:

• Specific. Generate 100 new leads in December through email campaigns from a website that generates 10k visitors per month.
• Measurable. Track the number of leads collected via sign-ups or downloads.
• Achievable. A website generates 10k visitors, so we need to convert 0.1% of them, which is quite realistic with the right strategy.
• Relevant. Lead generation aligns with the agency’s broader objective of increasing sales.
• Time-bound. Achieve this goal in December.

Having well-defined objectives from the outset will provide direction for each email campaign and allow you to assess its success.

Once you’ve established your goals, the next step is to create content that truly resonates with their interests and needs.

This directly impacts open and click-through rates, as subscribers are more likely to engage with emails that are relevant to them. 

Start by gathering data on your website visitors, looking at metrics like:

• Demographics (e.g., age, gender, location, income level)
• Behavior patterns (e.g., frequency of website visits, time spent on site, past purchases)
• Interests (e.g., preferred product categories, hobbies, or topics followed on social media)
• Engagement levels (e.g., email open rates, click-through rates, social media interactions)
• Browsing history (e.g., pages visited, items viewed, searches conducted on your site)

This information can reveal insights about your audience preferences and help you design emails that capture their attention. 

With goals and audience segments defined, list the tactics you’ll use to achieve them. For example, for lead generation, you might consider:

• Offering a discount or special offer for new subscribers.
• Hosting webinars or online workshops that require registration.
• Using exit-intent popups to capture emails before visitors leave.

As you outline your tactics, consider the tools that can support your execution. Since many agencies also function as consulting partners, it can be helpful to explore software for consultants as these often include features like project tracking and client collaboration that streamline your workflow.

Remember that flexibility is essential, especially for small businesses starting a campaign from scratch. If a strategy isn’t working, adjust as needed. 

Step 2. Build a quality email list

A well-targeted email list ensures that your messages reach people who are genuinely interested in your content. This increases the likelihood of higher engagement and conversions.

Focus on relevance, consent, and engagement potential rather than simply increasing numbers. A small, targeted list with high engagement rates often delivers better results than a large, unfocused one.

For instance, working with 100 people and achieving a 1% conversion is better than sending emails to 1,000 people with no conversions.

Begin by creating valuable content that attracts subscribers. Offering something of interest, such as an informative guide, exclusive discount, or access to premium content, encourages people to sign up willingly. These are known as lead magnets and provide an immediate benefit in exchange for an email address.

When selecting a lead magnet, think about what would most appeal to your target audience. For instance, a downloadable e-book or checklist may work well for users looking for detailed information, while a discount code might attract shoppers to an e-commerce site.

The lead magnet you create will also depend on the distribution channel you want to target. Organic channels are ideal for attracting people who are genuinely interested in what you offer. 

These channels ensure that the list of email subscribers is built with engaged subscribers who are more likely to interact with your content. Some of the organic channels you should consider include:

• Social media
• Referral campaigns
• SEO-optimized blog content
• Google ads
• High-impact landing pages
• Webinars or virtual events 

Avoid the common pitfall of buying email lists, as these lists often contain unqualified leads and can harm your sender’s reputation. Purchased lists can lead to high spam complaints and low engagement, which may damage deliverability and violate regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM. 

Lastly, regularly clean your list to keep it up-to-date and engaged. Remove inactive subscribers, as keeping them can lower engagement rates and harm deliverability. Maintaining good email hygiene keeps your list fresh and focused on engaged subscribers.

Step 3. Send relevant and personalized content

A 2023 research by Statista shows that 62% of consumers are less likely to trust brands with poor personalization. This means that only relevant, personalized content has the power to capture your audience’s attention, leading to higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

Plus, if content appears even slightly irrelevant, email service providers may label it as spam. This could negatively impact your email deliverability and inbox placement of your future campaigns. 

To avoid this, ensure each message resonates with the audience’s interests and needs. That means you need to go beyond using just the recipient’s name and personalize content based on each subscriber’s past interactions, preferences, and interests. This makes subscribers feel understood, boosting engagement and loyalty. 

Timeliness also matters for both transactional and promotional emails. If your email reaches the inbox when it’s most relevant to the subscriber, it’s more likely to be opened and acted upon. 

For instance, a segment of early-morning shoppers might respond better to emails sent in the early hours, while another group may engage more during the weekend.

You can leverage data and automation to find the best times to reach specific segments and send triggered emails that respond to real-time events, like a subscriber’s recent activity.

Most importantly, ensure each email delivers genuine value. Subscribers are far more likely to engage with content that gives them a good user experience. Plus, consistency is crucial for building trust, strengthening client relationships, and boosting open rates.

Step 4. Take care of email deliverability

Even if your content is well-targeted and personalized, it won’t matter if your emails don’t land in your subscribers’ inboxes. That’s why you need to pay close attention to your email deliverability. 

It depends on three key factors: 

• Technical setup
• Content quality
• Engagement signals

Getting each of these right ensures your emails land in the inbox rather than being filtered as spam.

First, ensure to choose a reputable email service provider (ESP) that supports authentication protocols like DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. These protocols are important for:

• Verifying your identity as the sender
• Building trust with email providers
• Increasing the chances that your emails land in subscribers’ primary inboxes.

Email providers also assess content relevance, so each message should engage the recipient. For instance, a clear, compelling subject line captures attention and signals value to providers. Irrelevant subject lines or content full of spam words can lead to low engagement, which negatively impacts deliverability. 

Engagement signals — such as open rates and the frequency of emails marked as spam — are tightly connected to content relevance. If subscribers aren’t engaging with your emails, it signals to email providers that your content may not be valuable. This can lead to lower inbox placement. 

Aim to increase engagement by sending personalized, timely messages that resonate with each segment. For example, if you segment based on a client’s purchase history, you can send targeted offers or product recommendations that align with their specific interests.

Lastly, ensure to test your emails to check for any issues with deliverability before launching a campaign. This proactive approach will help ensure that your emails consistently reach the intended inbox.

Step 5. Test, track, and optimize email campaigns 

Regular testing and analysis help you to know whether your campaigns are resonating with subscribers or if adjustments are needed to boost performance.

Start by running A/B tests on various elements of your emails, including subject lines, call-to-action buttons, images, and email copy.

Test one variable at a time. 

For instance, you might test the subject lines of two email newsletters to see which one leads to higher open rates. You can also experiment with different CTAs to determine which generates more clicks.

Each test should have a clear hypothesis and measurable objective. This way, you can confidently apply findings to future campaigns.

Once you’re running campaigns, track key performance metrics that indicate how well your emails are performing. Here are what different metrics in your email funnel could mean:

• Open rate — shows how effective and compelling your subject lines are.
• Click-through rate (CTR)  — Reflects how engaging your email content is and whether recipients are motivated to take action.
• Conversion rate — Shows how well your email drives desired actions, like signing up for a consultation or purchasing a service.
• Bounce rate  — might point to issues with email list quality.
• Unsubscribe rate — May suggest the content isn’t aligning well with subscriber expectations.

Use insights from these tests to optimize your future campaigns based on what appeals most to your audience. If A/B testing shows that certain subject line types boost open rates, incorporate that style into future emails. 

Also, adjust your send frequency based on engagement data; if engagement drops with weekly emails, consider moving to a biweekly schedule.

You can also go beyond standard metrics by analyzing user behavior through tools like heatmaps to identify popular click areas and preferred links and align content with audience preferences. Also, assess interaction timing to optimize content delivery. 

Cost of agencies’ email marketing

The cost of email marketing for an agency in general or brand marketing agencies exactly can range anywhere from free to around $5,000 per month. 

Still, email marketing remains more affordable than most other digital marketing channels. For example, paid search ads like Google Ads or PPC can have a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) between $5 and $50, depending on the industry and the services you offer.

In the SaaS development industry, the keyword “saas development” shows a price per click  from $10 to  $38 in Google Keyword Planner as for November 2024

In contrast, email marketing’s CPM is usually much lower, often under $1, depending on factors like:

• The size of your agency
• The volume of emails sent
• The pricing of your email marketing solutions
• The cost of any additional email marketing software
• Whether you handle email marketing in-house or outsource it

Of all the factors, the primary cost driver is the number of emails sent monthly. Higher volumes often require advanced software plans, costing anywhere from $50 to over $1,000 per month.  

Higher email volumes also impact deliverability, which may require investing in dedicated IP addresses. These tools can cost an additional $20 to $100+ per month.

Labor costs are another significant factor. The amount depends on whether you’re using an in-house team or outsourcing. 

Hiring in-house email marketing experts, designers, and developers typically costs $50,000 to $90,000 per role annually. Larger agencies may also need to hire project managers to oversee strategy and execution. 

On the other hand, full-service email marketing agencies typically charge between $2,500 and $10,000 or more per month, depending on the scope of services, campaign complexity, and subscriber list size. The best email marketing agencies in the US  may charge higher fees due to labor costs but bring valuable expertise in:

• Market-specific expertise
• Copywriting
• Content marketing 
• Regulatory compliance 

Other factors that affect how an email marketing company can charge include:

• Quality of current email list
• The complexity of email design
• Frequency of your campaigns
• Platform you use

You could also hire freelancers, who generally offer more affordable rates than agencies. Freelancers typically charge anywhere from $20 to $150 per hour, depending on their level of expertise and the complexity of the tasks.

There are also a few other crucial tools and software integrations that can increase costs. For instance, to track your campaigns effectively, you might need CRM integrations and advanced analytics tools or apps. CRM tools alone can add anywhere between $50 and $200 per month. 

Some companies may also invest in data protection tools, which cost $20 to $200 per month, to comply with regulations like GDPR. 

Best email marketing software for agencies

This is a snapshot of some of the best email marketing software for agencies, focusing on their pricing, core strengths, and customer support ratings. 

*I’ve calculated the prices based on sending 10,000 emails per month to a contact list of 2,000 addresses. These prices are current as of November 2024.

Best choice: Mailtrap Email Delivery Platform

G2: 4.8, Capterra: 4.8

Mailtrap is an email delivery platform for developer and product teams with high inboxing rates and fast email delivery.

The platform lets you send both marketing and transactional emails, has a separate steam for bulk emails. It offers an intuitive template builder with drag-and-drop and HTML editors, pre-designed email templates, a clear campaign scheduler, and other automation features.

Mailtrap provides advanced analytics with a dashboard and visual graphs to track key deliverability metrics. And drill-down reports on each mailbox provider with detailed insights will help you fine-tune email campaigns while maintaining a strong sender reputation.

If your main concern is email deliverability and placement, Mailtrap is the right tool for you. Here are the GlockApps test results of emails sent via Mailtrap. As you can see, more than 90% of transactional and marketing emails landed directly in the inbox or relevant tabs, with less than 6% being sent to secondary tabs.

Pricing

Mailtrap’s free plan includes up to 3,500 emails per month, which is usually enough for fast-growing agencies. For businesses with larger email-sending needs, Mailtrap has very affordable paid tiers that start as low as $15 per month for 10K emails and an unlimited contact list. The full plan description is here.

HubSpot

G2: 4.4, Capterra: 4.5 

Best for: teams that need CRM with marketing automation capabilities

HubSpot is ideal for agencies that need an all-in-one solution to manage client relationships and email campaigns in one place. It offers marketing automation, CRM, email marketing, and analytics — all in one place.

The platform’s CRM allows you to monitor each lead throughout the entire customer journey, ensuring no opportunity is missed. Also, it integrates with popular digital marketing tools like Salesforce, Slack, and Shopify, making it adaptable to various client needs and existing workflows.

Pricing

HubSpot offers a range of pricing plans to accommodate different needs. Its free plan includes basic CRM features, email marketing, and some automation tools — ideal for small-scale users. For more advanced features, you can pick from HubSpot’s premium plans to match your agency’s needs.

BigMailer

G2: 5.0, Capterra: 4.9

Best for: Multi-brand management with role-based user management

BigMailer is an email platform built for marketing agencies and designed for managing multiple brands or locations. It offers advanced segmentation and reporting capabilities, drag-and-drop template editor and template library, image hosting with free stock image search. BigMailer allows you to manage both marketing and transactional email with a unified customer view and offers support for RSS-to-email campaigns as well. For agencies serving clients in the same industry or in multiple locations email template sharing can offer an improved workflow over most ESPs. 

Agencies have an option to white label BigMailer and charge their clients usage fees, which can promote client loyalty and retention while expanding revenue. 

BigMailer customers love it for its timely live chat support and complimentary advisory on email deliverability and strategy.

Pricing
BigMailer pricing plans are based on subscriber list size and include a monthly limit of total emails sent that’s x10 the subscriber count. The plans don’t have locks on any features, making it easy to test and evaluate the platform on the lowest level. Agencies can request a free trial via live chat.

NotifyVisitors

G2: 4.8 Capterra: 4.9

Best for: agencies requiring an all-in-one marketing automation platform capable of enabling multi-channel outreach

NotifyVisitors serves as a versatile toolkit for agencies to manage email marketing and other channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and push notifications, all from one platform. NotifyVisitors is easy to use and supports behaviour-based targeting and personalization to enhance engagement.

The drag-and-drop email builder makes it easy to create responsive branded emails. Agencies can also use pre-built automation workflows like welcome emails, cart recovery, and re-engagement campaigns that save time and enhance conversions.

Pricing

NotifyVisitors offers a wide variety of plans to consider for various agency needs. A free plan is offered, supporting up to 1,000 contacts, email templates, and very basic automation – ideal for smaller teams starting. For multichannel automation capabilities, advanced analytics, and priority support, you can be upgraded to one of NotifyVisitors’ premium plans, depending on how big your contact list is and usage.

Mailchimp

G2: 4.3, Capterra: 4.5

Best for: teams that are looking for a budget-friendly email marketing and automation tool

Mailchimp is a great option for agencies looking for an affordable and easy-to-use email marketing platform. It includes essential tools like email automation, basic CRM, and audience segmentation in a simple interface. 

The drag-and-drop email builder and customizable email templates help marketers create professional emails without much design effort. It has a robust analytics feature that makes it easy to track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. 

Pricing

The free plan includes basic templates, limited automation, and up to 500 contacts — suitable for smaller campaigns or trial purposes. For more advanced needs, it offers other premium plans. 

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

G2: 4.5, Capterra: 4.6

Best for: teams that need multi-channel marketing and personalization

Brevo is great for agencies looking for an email marketing platform with SMS capabilities for multi-channel campaigns. The platform lets you manage both email and SMS in one place, making it easy to reach audiences through different channels. Brevo also has strong personalization and segmentation tools for tailored messages based on customer behavior.

It also provides detailed reports on email and SMS performance. Brevo integrates with various CRMs, eCommerce platforms, and API tools.

Pricing

The free plan lets you manage unlimited subscribers and send up to 300 emails per day at no cost. The Starter plan costs $8.08 per month. It allows you to send 5K emails, includes some basic automation, and support. For other plan details visit the official site. 

How to send an email marketing campaign

You can use any email marketing tool to send your first email campaign, but in this section, I’ll show you how to do it with Mailtrap. Don’t worry, the process is simple and straightforward and will take you less than an hour once your domain is verified.

Set up your Mailtrap account and domain

First, create an account with Mailtrap. After logging in, head to the “Sending Domains” section and add your domain for verification.

Once you’ve added it, go to your domain provider (e.g., GoDaddy) and paste the DNS records that Mailtrap provides. You can find the DNS settings in your domain provider’s dashboard under “Manage DNS.”

After updating the records, click on “Verify all” in Mailtrap and wait for confirmation that your domain is verified.

Import your contacts list

Open Mailtrap web app and go to the “Contacts” section. Select “Import Contacts,” and upload your email list in CSV format. 

Make sure to map the fields correctly so Mailtrap can read them properly. 

Before importing your email list, clean it to remove inactive, invalid, and duplicate email addresses.

Create your email template

Go to the “Templates” tab. Here, you can design your email from scratch using the drag-and-drop builder or an HTML editor. Another option is to choose a pre-built template and customize it to your needs.

The builder has useful tools like AI-powered copy suggestions and a free library of images to help you craft the perfect message. Once you’re done, click “Save” or “Send Test” to send a test email to your own inbox for review.

Please note: merge tags won’t work in test emails because they are only sent to your address, not the full email list. So, there’s no need to worry about that for now.

Set up and schedule your campaign

When your email is ready, click on “Campaigns” in the left sidebar, then select “Create New Campaign.” 

Fill out your campaign details and click “Continue.” Choose the template you created, and add merge tags for personalization!

Select your target audience, confirm your list, and you’re good to go. You can schedule your campaign to send up to two weeks ahead, send it right away, or save it for later use.

See how easy that was!

Wrapping up

If you seriously plan to add email marketing to your service list, be sure to check the following materials:

• What is mail marketing: in-depth guide
• Email deliverability explained
• Types of email marketing 
• Email marketing strategy explained

Good luck! 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What data you should collect
• How to collect it legally
• How to use it to improve segmentation, personalization, and automation

Without much ado, let’s start with the basics.

What is data-driven email marketing?

Data-driven email marketing is the practice of using real customer insights (data points) to shape every aspect of your campaign. This includes subject lines, send times, sales, and everything in between. So, it’s not a type of email marketing, but a strategic choice to inform all your campaigns.

You rely on numbers and percentages to define how people interact with your emails, what they click, when they engage, and even what they ignore. Every customer action becomes a clue to what they want, helping you make smarter, evidence-backed decisions.

For example, if a particular age group tends to open your emails on Thursday mornings, send them at the given time. Similarly, if a subscriber keeps clicking product recommendations but skips your newsletters, maybe it’s time to switch up the content you’re sending them.

The goal of data-driven email marketing is to provide customers exactly what they want at precisely the right time.

Importance of data-driven email marketing

According to HubSpot’s 2025 Marketing Industry Trends Report, 31% of marketers say data-driven strategies primarily help them understand campaign effectiveness.

But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Data plays a role in every step of your email strategy. It helps with everything from audience segmentation and personalization to something as granular as optimizing send times and measuring success.

Here’s why it matters so much.

Provides valuable customer insights

First rule of email marketing? Know who you are talking to.

Every open, click, scroll, and purchase tells you what the customers care about (and what they don’t). Tools like Google Analytics or your ESP’s built-in tracking help capture and interpret these signals.

If someone opens your email but doesn’t click, your subject line probably did its job, but your content or call-to-action fell flat.

If they haven’t opened the last five emails? Well, they’re either bored or busy, and that means you can start sending them re-engagement emails instead.

Over time, this data gives you a clearer picture of who your audience is, what captures their attention, and how to communicate with them effectively.

Helps you build better campaigns

According to McKinsey’s Next in Personalization 2021 Report, 71% of customers expect personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when brands don’t deliver that.

Can you blame them? A generic email saying, “Hey there! Check out our new arrivals,” often rings “Hey, we’d like to take your money, but we don’t care.”

However, with a data-driven, personalized email saying, “Hey Erin! Noticed your team’s been exploring workflow automation. Our latest update helps you automate approvals 2x faster. Want a quick walkthrough?” you’re making headways. 

Simply,  the first one feels like a broadcast, and the second feels like a proper service. The better you know your customers, the more targeted your campaigns and messaging will be.

Here’s a post by Kath Pay, Founder of Holistic Email Academy, where she talks about how best practices are not enough to guide your email strategies.

And I agree. Email marketing trends and best practices are great starting points, but your target audience is unique. Only the data can tell you what the best practices are for the audience’s preferences.

Improves deliverability and sender reputation

Inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook pay attention to how people interact with your emails. If your campaigns consistently earn clicks and low unsubscribe rates, it tells them you are a sender worth trusting. This improves your chances of landing in the primary inbox instead of spam or the promotions tab.

That kind of performance is a result of tracking email marketing metrics like opens, bounces, and click rates, and optimizing accordingly.

Similarly, sending irrelevant or poorly timed emails can damage engagement and your sender reputation, not just for one campaign, but across the board.

Improves customer loyalty

Selling is just the start. You want customers who stick around and advocate for your brand. And that means engaging them after a purchase, too.

You can’t send the same message to a new subscriber and someone deep into the email marketing funnel. The right data helps you segment your list, tailor content for each stage of the customer journey, and make every message feel relevant.

Let’s look at one of the best examples of a data-driven campaign that keeps users hooked.

Every December, there’s a recurring trend all over social media: The Spotify Wrapped. You get to see your top artists, the number of hours you spent listening to music, and maybe a personalized video from your favorite artist.

Everyone shares it. Everyone looks forward to it. That is a data-driven campaign done right.

Helps with resource management

Email marketing relies heavily on experimentation and A/B testing different strategies, which can become expensive, particularly when you factor in the human resources. 

Do it without data, and you’re just guessing what to experiment with. A risky business, to say the least.

Therefore, instead of spreading email marketing efforts evenly across all campaigns, use data to prioritize high-impact messages and formats. This helps you make smarter use of marketing budgets, creative resources, and team bandwidth, which increases the chances of a higher ROI.

How to collect data for email marketing campaigns

Collect data across multiple touchpoints. This could include tracking browse behavior on your website, purchase history from your store, and engagement metrics from your email..

Why does that matter? 

Because email is just one part of your larger digital marketing strategy. Each channel influences the other, so having the full picture leads to smarter, more effective decisions.

However, don’t forget that one of the challenges of email marketing is navigating legal implications at every step. And data collection, storage, and management are at the core of this challenge..

Let’s break down the smart (and compliant) way to collect data.

Compliance

Is sending emails to your customers illegal? No, but there is a line you don’t cross.

You can send marketing emails to your customers as long as you comply with the email marketing laws of each country you have customers in. I know that seems overwhelming, but hang on. I’ll also walk you through ways to avoid penalties.

First, let’s look at the four main email marketing laws related to data collection.

1. CAN-SPAM Act (USA)

This act doesn’t require you to have prior consent to send emails. However, you do need to follow a basic code of conduct, like using honest subject lines, making it easy to unsubscribe, and including a valid postal address. The law also holds you accountable for emails sent on your behalf by third parties (like agencies or automation platforms).

Violations can cost up to $53,088 per email. So, if you mass email 1,000 contacts without proper disclosures…well, you get the picture.

2. GDPR (European Union)

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens control over their data, like their browsing behavior, IP addresses, preferences, and purchase history. They can also control how their data is collected, stored, and used.

If you’re sending emails to anyone in the EU, even just one subscriber, GDPR applies. The penalties go up to €20 million or 4% of your global annual turnover, whichever is higher. In short, they don’t play around, so follow the law to the T.

3. CCPA (California)

Californians have the right to know what personal data is collected, why, and who has access to it. They also have the option to opt out or request deletion.

While it is similar to GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) only applies to businesses that meet certain thresholds (e.g., $25M+ revenue or 100,000+ users’ data).

You have 30 days to tackle the issue before facing a $2,500 fine, or $7,500 if intentional.

4. HIPAA (USA)

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) applies to healthcare providers, insurance companies, and any business handling electronic medical records.

HIPAA categorizes compliance violations by intent and correction. Fines range from $100 to $50,000 per violation, with repeat offenders potentially seeing up to $250,000 penalties.

But this is just the financial damage (not that it is not serious). These violations further damage your brand reputation and customer trust. Follow the best practices below to keep your emails within legal bounds.

• Build (don’t buy) your email list: Use subscription forms, gated content, and double opt-ins.
• Get explicit consent (even if it’s not mandatory): Keep records of how and when a user opted in. Your CRM or email marketing tool should help with this.
• Have a visible opt-out button: Don’t hide the ‘unsubscribe’ link. Better yet, offer email preference center.

• Honor opt-outs ASAP: The CAN-SPAM Act gives you 10 business days to process unsubscribes. Don’t procrastinate, automate instead. Most email marketing tools will handle this for you.
• Introduce yourself properly: Use a name familiar to the recipients. It can be a brand name or a personal name + brand name.  Add your contact information and logo in the footer so your email feels legit.
• Don’t clickbait with subject lines: ‘RE: Your Invoice’ might get opens, but it also attracts legal attention and unsubscribes. Keep subject lines honest, clear, and connected to the email content.
• Include your physical address and privacy policy: This is about trust. A real address and a link to your privacy policy help subscribers feel safe and also keep your emails out of spam folders.

Most email service providers (ESPs) provide built-in features for compliance, like double opt-in options, easy unsubscribe links, and data handling tools.

However, you are ultimately responsible for how you collect and use the data. They provide the tools, but you must implement the practices correctly. Always review their terms of service regarding data privacy.

Tools

The right stack helps you track behavior, segment smarter, and automate campaigns that convert. 

Let’s walk through the key tools that help.

Opt-in forms

As we discussed earlier, it’s best to get explicit consent from users before sending marketing emails. Opt-in forms are the most straightforward and legally compliant way to do this.

Create an effective opt-in form and ask only for necessary information. A name and email are usually enough. If you need more context (like job title or company size), capture it later through progressive profiling, behavior tracking, or surveys.

Avoid asking too much upfront. According to the 2023 IAPP Privacy and Consumer Trust Report, nearly 68% of consumers are somewhat or very concerned about their online privacy. 

This means they hesitate to share their information online and might share dummy emails instead.

But there is a way around it.

Avoid placing a form the moment someone lands on your website. That’s the equivalent of a salesperson trying to bill you the second you enter the store. Let users explore, build trust with valuable content, and then ask.

Instead, place your forms strategically. Here are a few places that work best:

• High-intent pages, like pricing pages, product comparison pages, or integration pages.
• Exit-intent popups to re-engage abandoning visitors.
• Blog footers to turn content consumers into subscribers.
• Slide-ins or sticky bars. They are less intrusive and effective.

Tip: Start with one placement and then A/B test email design, copy, and timing. But don’t overdo it. You don’t want to scare customers away by asking for information at every scroll.

Don’t forget to optimize for mobile. The latest 2025 projection from StatCounter shows that 64.35% of website traffic comes from mobiles.

Now, let’s talk about how to create opt-in forms.

Most email marketing platforms (like Mailchimp, Brevo, ConvertKit, etc.) come with built-in form builders or embeddable HTML snippets. These are perfect if you’re on a budget or just starting.

If you want granular targeting, design flexibility, and advanced triggers, tools like OptinMonster and ConvertBox offer more control. That said, some of these might not natively integrate with your CRM, so you may need Zapier or custom code to bridge gaps.

Finally, enable double opt-in. It sends a confirmation email after sign-up to verify the address and the user’s intent. It may slightly lower your subscriber count, but it improves list quality and engagement from day one.

Email marketing platforms

Email marketing platforms usually come with built-in analytics to track email open rates, click-throughs, bounces, unsubscribes, and basic engagement trends.

If you’re using email tools that come with a CRM layer like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Zoho, you also get insights, such as lead scoring, lifecycle stages, and multi-touch attribution.

Most of these platforms integrate with Google Analytics, so you can access post-click behavior like how users navigate your site after clicking a link in an email.

And yes, I know,  it’s a bit more work to set up and integrate everything so the data flows smoothly across the sources. But after the initial setup, it’s mostly maintenance and tracking. 

Email analytics tools

While most email platforms come with basic tracking, standalone email analytics tools offer data-driven insights across multiple campaigns, channels, or tools.

The two kinds of tools that can help here are pre-send testing tools and post-send analytics tools.

Pre-send testing lets you inspect emails even before you send them, often using a fake SMTP server. You can check headers, validate content, and make sure the setup behaves exactly the way you want.

It’s especially handy during QA testing or when you’re debugging tricky templates. I’ve found it helpful in staging environments or when managing multiple ESPs, basically any time you want peace of mind before hitting send.

Also, there are post-send analytic tools that let you monitor inbox placement, analyze email heatmaps, and catch rendering issues across devices and clients.

These are useful when you manage high-volume sends or need to optimize every part of your email workflow.

Website analytics tools

Google Analytics is the go-to for tracking what happens after someone clicks your email. You can monitor page visits, bounce rate, time on site, conversions, and more. It gives you a clear view of how emails drive real business results.

If you’re using SMTP or tools like Amazon SES to send campaigns, GA is your best option. Just add UTM parameters to your links manually or through Google’s Campaign URL Builder, and track email performance in the Acquisition report. Segment by ‘email’ to isolate your campaign results.

GA4 also supports event-based tracking for deeper funnel analysis. You can even build custom dashboards to compare email traffic with other sources like search or social.

Data enrichment tools

Sometimes your email list just doesn’t have the full picture. That’s where data enrichment tools help.

Clay is a great option here. It pulls in missing info like job titles, company names, social links, and even intent signals from sources like LinkedIn, Clearbit, Apollo, and Hunter.

You can set it up to send this data straight to your CRM or email platform, and build simple, logic-based workflows without having to code anything.

This helps you understand who you’re reaching out to, segment better, personalize more, and ultimately send emails that make sense to the person reading them. It’s useful if you’re working with cold email leads or minimal form data.

Survey and feedback tools

You don’t always have to go digging for data. Sometimes, the best way to understand your subscribers is to just ask them. Survey and feedback tools help you collect direct input about your content, products, or overall customer experience directly from the subscribers.

Typeform is a solid pick for creating engaging, mobile-friendly surveys that don’t feel like a chore to fill out. Google Forms is also good if you want something free and fast. Other great options are Jotform and Tally. They give you plenty of templates and automation options to work with.

These tools also integrate with both CRMs and ESPs, so you’d have no trouble pulling that data in to refine email marketing strategy.

E-commerce platforms

If you’re running a D2C brand, the chosen e-commerce platform is where most of your customer data resides. Tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce help you manage products, orders, payments, and the respective data.

With the right setup, you can automate everything from welcome emails and post-purchase flows to abandoned cart nudges and product recommendations.

Most of these platforms support event tracking, dynamic content, and list syncing out of the box. However, features like advanced segmentation, A/B testing, or customer lifetime value analysis might need add-ons or third-party integrations.

Just make sure your store and ESP are tightly connected so that the data flows both ways. That ensures relevant and timely emails.

CRM systems

A CRM stores all your customer relationship history. It brings together contact info, sales activity, past email interactions, and customer notes in one place, all ready to be used for smarter marketing.

This helps you segment customers by where they are in their journey. You can target better, send emails at the best times, and tweak your messaging to fit their interests. Of course, they integrate with ESPs too.

Platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce give you built-in dashboards to track performance across sales and marketing. But you don’t need a big setup to start.

Numerous free or affordable tools do the job well. HubSpot’s free plan is a good place to start. It’s clean, reliable, and also connects with Mailchimp and Constant Contact. If you’re running a lean team, Zoho CRM or Freshsales work well and offer basic automation.

Examples of data sets

Email platforms and analytics tools provide various metrics. Here are the key data points that you should pay attention to.

Demographic data

This is basic user profile information like name, age, gender, location, language, income level, and occupation.

It’s useful for personalizing subject lines, segmenting by region, or targeting specific age groups.

Psychographic data

This is a more advanced dataset that covers interests, lifestyle, personality traits, values, and motivations. You can use it to tailor content to resonate emotionally.

Example: Sending eco-friendly product emails to environmentally conscious users.

Performance and deliverability data

This is the most important dataset to track because if you aren’t sure your emails reach your customers, every strategy is a shot in the dark. Here’s what it includes.

• Email deliverability rate: These are emails that reached primary inboxes. An excellent deliverability rate is 95% or higher, but anything above 85% is acceptable.
• Bounce rate: Emails that failed to deliver. Keep this under 2% to avoid being flagged as spammy.
• Sender reputation score: This rates IP addresses, and it shouldn’t go below 80%
• Spam complaint rate: This shows how many subscribers marked your emails as spam. Should be below 0.1%.

Engagement data

After deliverability, these are the data metrics you cannot ignore. They tell you how users interact with your emails:

• Open rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email. According to Campaign Monster’s 2022 Email Marketing Benchmark’s Report, the average across all industries is about 21.5%, with top sectors like education and financial services reaching between 27% to 28%.
• Click-through rate (CTR): This is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on a link. A healthy CTR in most industries is above 2%.
• Click-to-open rate (CTOR): This is the percentage of email openers who clicked on a link. The average range across industries in 2025 is 2.93% to 10.71%.
• Email reading time: Tracks whether your email was skimmed, glanced at, or read in full. It’s an auxiliary metric, often outside the scope of email providers. 
• Frequency of interaction: How often users engage with your emails over time (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). Again, an auxiliary metric that doesn’t come out of the box. 
• Unsubscribe rate: Tells you if your content is turning people away. The industry average in 2025 is 0.08%.
• Revenue per email: Calculates the return on investment (ROI) of each campaign. And one more auxiliary metric, often calculated manually. 

Device and platform data

This tells you how and where users open emails:

• Device type: Reveals mobile vs. desktop usage and helps guide responsive design.
• Browser, email client, OS: Useful for spotting rendering challenges and ensuring cross-platform compatibility.
• Platform-specific open rates: Shows how different devices and clients impact the customer engagement rate.

Transactional data

Tracks the actual buying behavior of customers:

• Past purchases: What they’ve bought before.
• Average order value: How much they usually spend per order.
• Purchase frequency: How often they buy (monthly, seasonal, etc.).

Customer lifetime value (CLV)

An estimate of the total revenue you can expect from a customer over the long term. This helps you prioritize loyal and high-value audience segments for retention-focused campaigns.

Zero-party data

This is information that users voluntarily share with you over time, such as:

• Email preferences: Frequency, topics of interest.
• Birthday or special dates: For timely offers or greetings.
• Survey responses: Valuable for personalization.
• Product preferences: Shared through quizzes or sign-up forms.

How to use data in email marketing: strategies

I’m sure that by now, you’ve realized that there’s a lot of data to track. You also need to use the data to improve your strategies.

So, how do you do that?

According to Coupler.io’s 2024 research, most (55%) of the email professionals do their data analysis every week.

That is a solid habit, especially if you are a beginner in email marketing. But even with regular check-ins, the sheer volume of numbers can get overwhelming.

I don’t want you to get a brain freeze and decide to quit. The trick is to know which data to focus on at a particular time. To use the marketing lingo, you need to match the right insight to the right goal.

For instance, psychographic data isn’t relevant for re-engagement emails because the subscriber has already stopped interacting. Behavioral signals like last-click dates are far more useful here.

But if you’re personalizing content for active subscribers, knowing what they care about (psychographic data) would make all the difference.

Now, let’s see how to apply different data points across key email strategies.

For analytics

This is where you step back and assess how your email strategy has been performing so you can identify what is wrong and fix it. Check the curated guide on how to do it.

Deliverability and inbox placement

Email deliverability tells you whether your email successfully reached your subscriber’s inbox. Inbox placement refers to where exactly it landed, in primary, promotions, or spam.

Here’s how to use data for better deliverability and inbox placement.

• Clean your email list regularly. Keep a close eye on bounce rates and remove invalid or unengaged addresses. High bounce rates can damage your email sender’s reputation and worsen your deliverability and inbox placement.
• Monitor engagement across domains: Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook all have different filtering systems. Check domain-specific performance data to identify hidden deliverability issues.
• Track unsubscribe and spam complaint rates: Email feedback loops alert you when emails are marked as spam. If you notice more unsubscribes or complaints, revisit recipient targeting, adjust send frequency, and ensure your opt-in process is solid.
• Verify authentication protocols: If data shows frequent blocks or your emails being flagged as suspicious, ensure your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols are correctly set up and compliant. These are foundational elements of a healthy email infrastructure.
• Test your email: If you consistently see poor inbox placement, use Email Sandbox to test your emails before making them live. This simple step would reveal whether it’s your subject line, content, or send reputation that’s causing the problem.

Metrics monitoring

Once your emails land in the primary inbox, it’s time to track how they perform. Use these data to evaluate and refine your strategy:

• Track subject line performance: Since Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) is also in the picture, club open rates with click-to-open rate to measure performance.
• Use click-through rates to evaluate content relevance: A low CTR usually signals weak CTAs or unengaging content. Try changing your offer, layout, or messaging one at a time so you can determine what works.
• Measure click-to-open rate for message effectiveness: This shows how compelling your content is after an open. A low CTOR means your email isn’t delivering on its promise.
• Check device and location insights: If most users open emails on mobile or in certain time zones, adapt your design and send time accordingly.

KPIs achievement

Your KPIs reflect the goals of your email strategy. Here’s how you can use data to stay on track and make smart adjustments when needed.

• Define the right KPIs: Align data metrics with the goals you want to achieve. If you’re aiming for more conversions, track post-click activity like purchases or downloads.
• Align KPIs with campaign type: Newsletters aim for engagement (opens, clicks), while promotional emails focus on conversions. Remember, your goal guides the metrics.
• Track performance over time: Use data trends to see if you’re improving or plateauing. A declining trend signals a need to revisit your strategy.
• Compare against benchmarks: Use industry or past campaign results to understand what ‘good’ looks like for you and set goals accordingly.
• Use attribution data: If your email is one of several touchpoints, look at assisted conversions or multi-touch attribution to assess its true impact.
• Set realistic targets: If your previous CTR was around 3%, don’t aim for 10% overnight. Use your historical data to set achievable goals and scale from there.

For campaign optimization

The goal of campaign optimization is to make every email better than the last. That’s only possible when you know what data to consider.

Check some ways you can use data to optimize your email campaigns.

Segmentation

Every subscriber is unique, and so should be your emails. Segmentation helps you group users by shared traits to send more relevant content.

You have many options when it comes to segmenting your list.

• Demographics: Use age, location, or language to tailor tone, timing, and offers. For example, send emails based on time zones, not one global email blast.
• User behavior: Track how users interact with your product or website. Someone exploring help docs or integrations may be evaluating a tool. This is the perfect time for onboarding tips or case studies.
• Purchase behavior: Consider plan type, renewal cycles, or feature usage. New users might need guidance, while loyal ones could get upsell offers or beta invites.
• Email engagement: Reward your most engaged users with exclusive offers or sneak peeks. For inactive users, trigger re-engagement sequences to win them back.
• Signup source of intent: Tailor campaigns based on where users signed up. A webinar lead expects different content than a pricing page visitor.

This is how you move from a spray-and-pray approach to giving customers exactly what they need in a particular customer journey stage.

Personalization

No, personalization doesn’t mean simply adding ‘Hi [First name].’ It is more about leveraging data to understand what your customer will need next and being proactive with it.

Here’s how you can personalize your emails based on the data you have:

• Match their journey stage: Use funnel data to understand if someone’s new, exploring, or ready to buy and customize emails accordingly.
• Speak their language: A CTO wants scalability, while a marketer looks for integrations and performance metrics. Send emails that directly solve their exact problems and maybe even offer something extra, like a gift card.
• Act on behavioral signals: Track metrics like pages visited, products viewed, or time on site to send contextual follow-ups.
• Time it right: Use open and click-through rates to send emails when users are most active, and reduce sends to low-engagers.
• Use AI to refine: Let AI pull insights from your past subject lines, CTAs, click behavior, or segment responses to optimize future sends. A/B test what resonates most.

Automation workflow

Not automating your emails is like owning a car but choosing to walk in the heat. Automation saves you time, yes. But more importantly, it uses data in real-time to ensure your message lands when it matters most.

This plays a significant role in nudging a subscriber toward a desired action.

Here’s how to use data to automate emails.

• Start with a trigger: Every workflow needs a reason to fire, like a signup, a download, or a cart abandonment. Use event data to define this.
• Map the journey, not just steps: Think beyond a welcome email. Consider what users need in 3 days, a week, or a month based on their behavior and drop-off points.
• Add logic with conditions: Use engagement metrics (opens, clicks, site visits) to branch flows. For example, if they clicked, send an offer. If not, resend with a new subject.
• Use delays intentionally: Base this upon behavior and average conversion times to add delays that feel natural, not robotic.
• Test and optimize flows: Monitor key metrics like CTRs and conversion rates at each step. Experiment with different subject lines and content to improve results.
• Don’t forget exits: Set clear exit conditions so users aren’t stuck in irrelevant loops once they convert, churn, or respond.

When in doubt, follow the data

This guide isn’t theory. It’s what I’ve used to lift open rates, improve conversions, and re-engage entire segments. If your emails aren’t driving results yet, it’s not because email is dead. It’s because your strategy isn’t smart enough, yet.

When you use data, your campaigns get sharper, and your growth becomes predictable, scalable, and repeatable.

And when things stall or feel unclear, go back to the data. It rarely lies.

Ready to implement data-driven email marketing? 

The free plans I go over are generous enough that you can try out the platform to its fullest extent or use them to get your email marketing strategy off the ground.

I’ll point out the free features, as well as the pricing plans, in case you wish to scale your business as it grows in the future.

So, let me provide you with a snapshot of the platforms I’ve researched and compared, then I’ll break down my comparison criteria, and finally, get down with detailed reviews.

Disclaimer: The references to software ratings, available features, and pricing were valid at the time of writing this article but could be subject to change in the future.

Best free email marketing platforms: a snapshot

Click on a platform name to jump ahead to the detailed review.

• Mailtrap Email Delivery Platform is best for product companies with large email sending volumes looking for a high inboxing rate and industry-best analytics.
• Brevo for teams who plan to send a small amount of emails every day or those who want to send newsletters.  
• GetResponse for small and medium sized businesses, due to its robust list of features and scalable plans.
• Mailchimp for small businesses looking to kickstart their email marketing.
• MailerLite for businesses new in the email marketing world and those who plan to send newsletters.
• Moosend for SMBs that are looking for advanced automation workflows, a wide variety of email template designs, unlimited email sends, and scalable pricing.
• Omnisend for online store owners who are looking for email marketing software geared towards e-commerce. 
• Klaviyo for those who want to send SMS messages and push notifications along with their email marketing campaigns.
• HubSpot for people who need a CRM, plethora of integrations, automations, and a marketing suite all in one place. 

And for your convenience, here’s a table with a brief overview of each email marketing platform:

Free email marketing services comparison criteria

Email Infrastructure

I think that a solid email infrastructure is the core of any email marketing platform out there, and a solid infrastructure consists of three key components: deliverability, reliability, and scalability.

Deliverability

In short, email deliverability is the actual ability of an email marketing platform to get your emails to reach the recipient’s inbox. To achieve this, a platform needs to have proper authentication protocols in place, use dedicated IPs and warm them up before sending, and more.

It’s also important to note that some email marketing platforms upsell this and make deliverability a part of their paid plans. And since I want your emails to land in inboxes, I won’t be including such platforms in this article.

Reliability

In short, reliability is the ability of a platform to consistently deliver your emails without hiccups, downtimes, or other major issues. The platform you choose needs to have an infrastructure that will reliably perform even during peak times.

Frankly, it’s 2025, so, naturally, you expect uptime to be 99.9%. And you’re absolutely right. However, I’ve checked the status pages like this one just in case and scoured the web for comments saying a platform is down, like this one, for example. Fortunately, everything works as intended.

Scalability

Scalability, or how an email marketing platform can allow you to scale and grow your business, is concerned mostly with the higher plans and operations with plans of sending large volumes of email.

However, I take it into consideration here because, more often than not, people will use a free email marketing campaign to get their campaigns off the ground, then switch to a paid plan to scale up.

It’s also important to note that scalability is not just the number of emails sent but also the number of emails delivered. So, you can also look at scalability as “cost per delivered email.”

AI, email automation, and integrations

AI in email marketing

AI is widely used in email marketing for automatic audience segmentation or generating email content and subject lines, for instance.

Moreover, email marketing platforms leverage AI for:

• Landing page builders
• Template builders
• Workflow builders
• And more

That’s why I’ve tried to include as many email marketing platforms that offer free AI features. I’ve tried them out, compared them all, and can now tell you with certainty whether a platform is offering a gimmick or an actually useful AI tool.

Automation

Automating your email workflow is like setting a plane to autopilot. Not only does it do the work for you, but it operates more efficiently than you—after all, you’re not really going to wake up at 5 AM to send a welcome email when a user from a different timezone registers for your website.

The platforms I included in this article allow you to automate:

• Welcome email series
• Re-engagement emails
• Abandoned cart reminders
• Customer retention emails
• Order confirmation emails
• And more

Also, did you know you can use AI for email automation? Yep, that’s right. Feel free to check out the video our YouTube team prepared on the topic:

Integrations

Integrating other apps with your chosen platform is typically free and allows you to improve your marketing funnel in various ways and get one step closer to your customers on their journey.

Some platforms on this list have a wide range of integrations, while others, for example, have only those specific for e-commerce. Whatever your preference might be, I’ll be sure to mention them so you can keep an eye out.

Email design

Drag-and-drop email builder

Even if you’re someone who likes creating HTML emails from scratch, you can’t deny that drag-and-drop email builders make life easier.

With a good drag-and-drop email builder, you can quickly rearrange your email according to your liking, play around with the layout, and preview mobile and desktop versions—all without having to go anywhere near your preferred code editor.

So, I’ve made sure to include only free email marketing software with drag-and-drop email builders that allow you to do all of the above and more. However, keep in mind that they all have email branding, which has unfortunately become the industry standard.

Important: All email marketing platforms insert branding for free plan users. This means that if you want to send emails without having, for example, ‘powered by Brevo’ at the bottom of them, you’ll have to switch to a paid plan.

Email templates library

Some email marketing platforms might say that they offer a plethora of email templates, whereas they lock them for paid plans. On the other hand, there are platforms that let you use all of their templates for free, but they are not that great.

However, if you’re into email templates, there are a few platforms on this list that don’t tick either of the boxes above and instead offer great free templates for every occasion.

Email analytics 

Launching campaigns and sending out emails without any analytics or reporting would be like shooting in the dark. To ensure your campaigns are doing well, that they’re healthy, and to see if there’s something you can improve, you need to know key email marketing metrics. Some of these include:

• Open rate
• Click-through rate
• Bounce rate
• Unsubscribe rate
• Conversion rate

For example, if you see that your bounce rate is high (~2% or higher), you should try cleaning your email list or checking if there’s a weak link in your email infrastructure.

However, different platforms leverage analytics differently; so I tested them to find the most insightful ones. It’s pretty subjective, still, I tried to evaluate dashboards as objectively as possible.

User experience

When I talk about user experience, I talk about 4 different aspects of it, primarily:

• Ease-of-use – How easy is it for a new user to get the ropes of a platform, how convenient is it to launch the campaign, and how much time do I spend launching one?
• Ease-of-integration – Do I need to be a developer to integrate my favorite app with the email marketing platform? Or, can I integrate it in a few easy clicks?
• Documentation – Does the email marketing platform offer a knowledge base with articles that can help me along the process of sending email campaigns or dealing with potential issues I encounter along the way? Is there documentation my dev team can consult to use the API or any of the other technical components of the platform?
• Customer support – Can I get in touch with the platform’s customer support team in more than one way, preferably via live chat or a ticket system? Will the customer support answer if need be and do they work around the clock to meet the needs of users all around the globe? 

Legal compliance and security

To spare you the technical details, I’ve made sure to include only email marketing platforms that can help you comply with regulations like GDPR (EU), CCPA and CPRA (US), and so on.

But how can an email marketing platform help you comply with a regulation? Well, for example, if it includes an obligatory unsubscribe link in your emails, you will automatically be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act.

As far as the security goes, I’ll check which email encryption the platforms on this list use (e.g., TLS, HTTPS, AES 256, etc.).

Customer experience

For each email marketing solution, I will go through online customer testimonials and reviews on websites such as G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot.

Additionally, I’ll make sure to check out what the comments on social media say about each of these platforms because you can find a great deal about a platform that way. For instance, no platform will admit they have unresponsive customer support, but the customers will definitely report that on social media. 

Pricing

While you’re using the free plan, you can check how the platform performs deliverability-wise, and how you like it overall. Then, if it turns out it fits your business’ needs, you’ll probably want to get a paid plan to get the most out of it.

Also, when you’re paying for email marketing software, you want it to allow your business to grow and you want it to be able to handle different email-sending volumes. That’s why I’ve included pricing tables so you can compare the different tiers yourself and see what’s within your budget.

Best free email marketing service provider: Mailtrap Email Delivery Platform 

G2: 4.8 🌟 Capterra: 4.8 🌟

Free plan: 3,500 emails per month (Sending), 100 contacts

Mailtrap is a high-deliverability email platform for product companies who are looking to send marketing, mass, and transactional emails at scale with industry best analytics. 

Speaking of analytics, you get helicopter view dashboards and drill-down reports with which you can keep an eye out on the performance of your campaigns from various angles.

Additionally, we’ve recently tested several platforms to see what % of emails will reach the recipients. The tests were as fair as possible, meaning we used the free plans, didn’t warm up domains, used the same email template, and more.

Here’s how Mailtrap performed in the benchmark: 

For the full results and insights into the methodology we used, check out our dedicated blog post on email deliverability comparison. ⬅️

And yes, you’ll hit inboxes even on the free plan, as high deliverability rates are included by design. This makes Mailtrap great for startups and solopreneurs who are looking to save a few bucks but still have their emails land in their recipients’ inboxes.

Moreover, with the the free plan, you get access to:

• Drag-and-drop editor
• Email templates
• Email logs
• Contacts list management
• Campaign scheduling
• Email API/SMTP

Lastly, I must mention that all customers get access to 24/7 human customer support regardless of their plan.

Pricing

Now, when it comes to actual paid plans, you can choose from a variety of them. Namely:

Pros & cons

Pros:

• High deliverability rates
• In-depth analytics
• Straightforward setup process
• In-built AI for generating images and text
• Extensive documentation for your development team 
• 24/7 customer support
• Scalable pricing 

Cons:

• Free plan accounts are limited to only one user and don’t allow team members
• There is no dedicated IP or SSO on the free plan

User experience

Overall, setting up Mailtrap is quite easy as all you have to do is verify your domain, which takes ~5 minutes. Then, you can proceed to create and launch your email marketing campaign. This, if you have a campaign in mind already, can take as little as ~15 minutes. 

The drag-and-drop editor is super straightforward to use, importing your contacts and segmenting them into lists takes 2 buttons, and you can also have the in-built AI generate images or texts for headings and such.

There’s also the huge Knowledge Base that’s regularly updated with new articles, as well as a plethora of helpful videos on all things email on the official YouTube channel. 👀

Customer experience

It’s always nice to see that Mailtrap gets love on the web, so here are my favorite love rants I found:

Brevo

G2: 4.5 🌟Capterra: 4.6 🌟

Free plan: 300 emails per day, 500 contacts

Brevo is a five-in-one platform for relationship marketing, with one of its suites being dedicated to email marketing. The platform’s free plan is perfect for small-time senders or those who want to send newsletters.  

Namely, with Brevo’s free newsletter software you can:

• Create mobile-friendly emails using the intuitive drag and drop editor
• Code emails from scratch using the HTML editor
• Use one of 40+ newsletter email templates (these all look great, and there’s one for every occasion)
• Generate subject lines with AI assistance
• Analyze your newsletter’s performance in real-time 

Additionally, you can set up abandoned cart reminders or integrate Brevo with your WordPress website using the official WP plugin.

Pricing

Brevo has scalable pricing that should accommodate most businesses. Check it out:

Pros:

• Automation templates for every occasion
• Free e-book about B2C marketing automation
• Transactional emails
• SMS marketing
• WordPress plugin
• Free sales CRM

Cons:

• Multiple users are allowed only on higher-tier plans

User experience

Brevo has one of the cleanest dashboard’s out there, and everything is laid out nicely. I didn’t have to spend much time searching for anything and launched a test campaign in ~15 minutes. Yes, there were a few hiccups with templates, but besides that, everything went smoothly.

Additionally, in an industry where some platforms make automations super complicated (looking at you, Mailjet), Brevo does the opposite. Its automation builder is one of the most straightforward ones I have ever tried. Check it out:

Overall, I’d say Brevo is one of the most user-friendly platforms out there. It’s not trying to waste your time with a steep learning curve and it also has an extensive knowledge base, free e-books, and more.

Customer experience

In terms of online love, Brevo is similar to MailerLite since it has outstanding reviews on Trustpilot and other review websites.

Moreover, I’ve noticed that people praise Brevo’s free plan on social media.

GetResponse

G2: 4.3 🌟 Capterra: 4.2 🌟

Free plan: 2,500 emails per month, 500 contacts

GetResponse is an email marketing and marketing automation platform that helps businesses grow through owned channels, including email, popups, landing pages, SMS, and more. 

The platform’s most suitable for small and medium sized businesses, due to its robust list of features and scalable plans.

If you’re just getting started, you’ll want to try GetResponse’s free plan, which includes:

• Drag-and-drop editor
• Email reports
• Forms and popups
• Contacts
• 30 day access to premium features

In addition, you can create autoresponders and marketing automation workflows, which you can save as drafts until you commit to a paid plan.

Pricing

GetResponse offers several pricing plans which also scale as your list grows:

Pros:

• Multichannel automation capabilities
• Ecommerce automations and integrations
• Built-in lead generation tools, including popups, landing pages, and webinars
• Transactional emails
• SMS marketing

Cons:

• Features like SMS and transactional emails are only available in the custom Enterprise plan
• Steeper learning curve than with some other email-only platforms

User experience

GetResponse offers a modern and intuitive dashboard, which includes customizable widgets you can adjust to fit your business’ needs.

If you’re just getting started, the platform might feel a bit intimidating due to the number of features available in the Tools tab. However after spending several minutes clicking through them, you’ll know which ones you’ll most frequently use.

And if you ever get stuck, you can visit the Explore tab, which includes personalized tutorials and checklists, or you can book a free onboarding session available with all paid plans.

As for drag-and-drop editors, which include the email builder, landing page builder, and automations, they all feel modern and work smoothly. Naturally, they also come with prebuilt templates and all the necessary documentation you’ll need to get around.

Customer experience

Looking at GetResponse’s reviews, you can see that their customers especially value their responsive customer support and comprehensive features. At the same time, some users report that the tool has a steeper learning curve than some other, more simpler platforms.

Mailchimp

G2: 4.4 🌟 Capterra: 4.5 🌟

Free plan: Up to 1,000 sends per month and 500 contacts

Mailchimp started out in 2001 as an email marketing service for small businesses and has since grown to own 60% of the market. The platform is still most suitable for small businesses looking to get their email marketing strategy off the ground.

This is primarily because with Mailchimp’s free plan, you get reports on your campaigns’ performance, and you can create landing pages and forms, amongst other things. The selection of landing page templates is also a nice touch.

However, automation features and inbox previews are locked, but you still get the quirky branding and user-friendliness for free!

Pricing

Although you can make good use of Mailchimp without paying a dime, if you’re considering upgrading in the future, keep in mind the price jump. 📈

For instance, you start off with 500 contacts at first to get the feel of the platform. One month passes, you want to import the rest of your contacts, and, let’s say, you have 5,000 contacts — not too shabby, right?

However, for 5,000 contacts, you’d have to pay $110/per month for the Essentials plan.

Nonetheless, here’s a table with compared pricing plans:

Pros:

• A variety of easy-to-edit automation templates
• User-friendly drag-and-drop editor
• Tips for content optimization and design
• Stable infrastructure with low downtime
• SMS support
• AI email writer

Cons:

• Price jump when you move to a paid plan
• No campaign scheduling nor customer support with the free plan

User experience

When it comes to creating campaigns, Mailchimp really is straightforward. You have everything laid out for you on a clean user interface, and after some clicks, you get what you want.

However, you can reach out to Mailchimp’s customer support team only during the first 30 days from the moment you create your account and only via mail. 

MailerLite

G2: 4.6 🌟 Capterra: 4.7 🌟

Free plan: Up to 1,000 sends per month and 500 contacts

MailerLite is an email marketing platform that, as its name suggests, offers a simple-to-use service that does its job as promised and doesn’t require expert knowledge.

Due to its short learning curve, MailerLite is best for beginners in the email marketing world, as well as those who plan to send a decent amount of emails every month to a limited number of contacts on the free plan.

However, the free plan is generous in features, as you can:

• Build landing pages
• Create automation workflows
• Insert surveys into your campaigns

Additionally, for the first 30 days, you get to explore all of the premium features before you get switched to a stripped-down free plan.

Pricing

Although they’ve gone up in pricing lately, MailerLite is still affordable. Check it out:

Pros:

• Super straightforward to use
• Generous sending limit
• Automation tools (available for free)
• Easy segmentation with lists
• Basic reporting
• Autoresponders
• Basic website builder

Cons:

• No email templates on the free plan
• You cannot test your emails against spam

User experience

Personally, everything went smoothly with MailerLite, from the moment I created my account to the moment I sent out my first campaign. 

However, I’ve noticed people nagging online about their onboarding process:

And while MailerLite’s onboarding process is albeit complicated to some extent (you have to complete a form, verify your domain, and a couple of other things to get going), it’s there so the platform can comply with the international guidelines. 

Customer experience

As far as online reviews go, MailerLite is seeing a whole-lotta love all over the web. First, I noticed that it has one of the best ratings on Trustpilot among its competitors. 

People also seem to think highly of the platform’s customer support:

Moosend

G2: 4.7 🌟 Capterra: 4.6 🌟

Free plan: Unlimited email sends for the first 30 days

Moosend is not only an email marketing platform, but also a marketing automation platform. It has a short learning curve, which makes it particularly appealing for SMBs looking for enterprise-level tools that are easy to master and won’t cost a fortune.

Its free plan gives you 30 days to try out all of the core features the platform offers—from advanced pre-made automation workflows and plug-and-play email templates to real-time reporting and A/B testing options.

One of Moosend’s selling points is its drag-and-drop email builder and the vast email library, with templates that actually look good and aren’t there only for show.

Pricing

Moosend’s pricing model is subscriber-based, and each email address counts as a unique subscriber (even if it’s in multiple lists), making it quite scalable. More specifically:

Pros

• Unlimited emails 
• Clean and easy-to-use UI
• No-code functionality on both workflow and email builder
• GDPR-compliant
• Affordable pricing as your list grows
• Built-in AI writer that generates copy for emails and landing pages

Cons

• Limited native integrations
• No phone support

User experience

Moosend has a sleek, minimal dashboard that doesn’t overwhelm you with too many bells and whistles upfront. I was able to sign up and explore the key features without having to go through an onboarding maze or endless tutorial pop-ups.

There were a couple of moments where I had to poke around to find specific information, but the platform offers answers to the most common questions right at the moment you might find yourself stuck somehow.

I was pleasantly surprised when I worked with Moosend’s automation builder. It’s visual, flexible, and it makes setting up triggers and conditions feel intuitive. It also offers automation templates that cover the most common workflows, which you can adjust to your goals.

Plus, Moosend backs everything up with a solid knowledge base that’s clearly designed to keep things frictionless, even if you’re new to email marketing.

Customer experience

The simple and intuitive platform along with the affordable price tag have built a loyal fanbase, especially on review websites like Capterra and G2.

Omnisend

G2: 4.6 🌟 Capterra: 4.7 🌟

Free plan: 500 email sends per month, 250 contacts, and $1 free in SMS 

Omnisend is an email marketing and SMS platform that’s best for people who want to combine their e-commerce and email marketing efforts. With the free plan you get a lot of advanced features geared towards online store owners, and some of them include: 

• 250+ email templates
• 50 reviews on Shopify
• Pre-built workflows and segments
• Popups, signup forms, and LP creator
• More than 130 integrations
• Sales and performance reports
• A/B testing and automation splits

Now, I must note that the majority of 130+ integrations Omnisend offers are to e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify or WooCommerce. This is a big plus if you’re an online store owner, but if you need CRM or tracking software, you might want to look elsewhere.

Pricing

When all is said and done, Omnisend’s pricing is quite fair. Check it out:

Pros:

• Great segmentation and customer breakdown
• High-quality email templates and forms
• Easy automations
• SMS, push notification, and email tracking
• Free marketing playbook
• 24/7 live chat and email support for all customers
• Basic website builder

Cons:

• Limited email sends and contacts on the free plan
• Few non-ecommerce integrations 

User experience

The email templates and forms Omnisend offers look super good, considering they’re free. The only platform that I can think of that has similar ones is GetResponse, which unfortunately didn’t make it on the list.

Moreover, the editor is also quite easy to use, regardless of whether you’re designing an email or a landing page. You’ve got your typical elements, like CTA buttons on the left, and you’ve got your theme, audience, and scheduling options on the right.

Customer experience

Omnisend seems to take great pride in its customer support, and after spending some time on the web, I can see why. They’re quick to answer, always active, and they’re quite funny on social media.

Klaviyo

G2: 4.6 🌟 Capterra: 4.6 🌟

Free plan: 500 email sends per month, 250 contacts, and 150 SMS/MMS credits

Klaviyo is an email marketing platform for online store owners who want to implement push notification functionality and send SMS messages along with a limited amount of emails on the free plan. 

With the free Klaviyo plan, you get access to over 350 integrations, ranging from the usual CRM and e-commerce platforms to shipping & logistics. For example, this allows you to easily sync your customers actions with product data.

You also get the following marketing features:

• Free monthly SMS/MMS credits
• Signup forms, LPs, email templates
• Email marketing automation
• List segmentation
• Email support for the first 60 days
• AI tools for customer behavior

If you’re interested in learning more about Klaviyo’s free plan, they have a nice article on the topic.

Pricing

Recently, as you might know, Klaviyo has decided to upmarket. Here are the updated monthly costs:

Pros:

• Minimalistic design
• SMS support
• Push notifications
• Super easy to use email builder
• Loads of email and form templates 
• Automations included in the free plan
• A/B testing for campaign emails
• Solid selection of over 350 integrations
• Great onboarding experience

Cons:

• Not cheap if you have a lot of contacts
• AI tools are unfortunately locked to paid plans

User experience

The first thing I noticed about Klaviyo is its super minimalistic, no-frill dashboard.

The platform also has a great onboarding process that guides you through everything from connecting the platforms you use to importing your contacts and inviting your team.

Additionally, I found it’s quite easy to send targeted product recommendations or even user-triggered transactional emails.

I must also say a word or two about Klaviyo’s form templates, since there’s so many good looking ones. Plus, the editor allows you to play around with mobile and desktop versions and it’s super intuitive to use. You click on an element you want to edit, tweak it on the left-side menu, and you’re off!

Customer experience

I have also noticed that the customer support team from Klaviyo is always quick to answer on social media platforms, but unfortunately, it’s available only during the first 60 days after you sign up for Klaviyo.

HubSpot

G2: 4.4 🌟 Capterra: 4.5 🌟

Free plan: 2,000 email sends per month and 1,000 contacts

HubSpot is a ‘customer platform’ that, as its name suggests, offers various hubs, one of which is the Marketing Hub, designed to not only deliver emails but also help you with each step of your customers’ journeys.

It’s safe to say that no other platform can beat HubSpot in terms of integrations and number of products. This makes it best suited for businesses and teams who want to have everything in one place.

Even the free plan is generous to some extent and allows you to send a limited number of emails every month. You also get an additional feature or two or get a feel of the platform before you settle for a paid plan.

The free email marketing tools you get with HubSpot include: 

• CRM integration
• Form builder
• Basic automation workflows
• HubSpot mobile app
• And some more. 

You can find out which features from other hubs are available for free by clicking on this link.

Pricing

Switching to a paid plan with HubSpot is similarly expensive to Mailchimp as the former is an all-in-one platform. However, you need to pay for each ‘Hub’ separately.

Pros:

• More than 2,000 integrations
• CRM integration
• Email automations
• Form customization
• Audience segmentation
• Solid customer support
• Can be used by up to 50 accounts, depending on the plan
• Social media management tools

Cons:

• Has a high learning curve
• Pricier than some other platforms out there

User experience

From all of the platforms on this list, HubSpot is probably the hardest one to get a grasp of. However, I will go as far as to say that this is even expected of a platform that has so many suites and features. 

I can compare this steep entry level with ActiveCampaign. So, if you have a team at your disposal or plenty of time to spare, you won’t have an issue with this. Like I said, HubSpot is more for teams than anything else.

Although I have to admit that integrating apps with HubSpot is super easy and straightforward. You can integrate almost any app in ~5 minutes, and I know that’s not the case with many other platforms. 

There is also the HubSpot Academy, where you can learn a bunch of useful webinars, lessons, and helpful articles. 

Customer experience

Although it has mixed reviews on Trustpilot, HubSpot seems to be loved by its targeted audience. For example, I found out that Sam Parr, one of the founders of Hampton, used HubSpot for everything related to the project:

Wrapping up

And we’ve come to the end of our list!

Hopefully, you now have a general idea of what the free email marketing platforms in the industry have to offer. The keyword here is free, so don’t be afraid to try them all out, see which one fits your business the best, and start sending them emails! 📨

P.S. If you’re interested in expanding your email marketing knowledge, be sure to check out our blog, where you can read articles such as:

• Why Email Marketing Is Important
• 19 Email Marketing Best Practices
• 7 Best SMTP Service for Email Marketing

Want to explore more free email marketing platforms? Check out our dedicated video linked below:

The idea is to leverage data-driven processes to fine-tune segmentation and content structure and keep testing marketing strategies. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an enterprise marketer or a solopreneur; the sooner you start, the better. 

Here, I’ve listed seven strategies for effective email marketing optimization. I’ll walk you through the key areas of optimization, which include analyzing vital metrics, designing email templates, and automating email campaigns.

Email marketing optimization: a snapshot

Email marketing optimization is the continuous process of refining the elements of your email marketing campaign to maximize ROI and overall campaign performance.

The iterative workflow combines behavioral insights, customer data analysis, and A/B testing to optimize send times and enhance automation. Each adjustment in email subject lines, calls to action, content formats, and personalization approaches aims for higher email engagement.

At its core, optimization mainly focuses on:

• Subscriber retention
• Conversions
• Intent signals
• Post-click behavior
• Responsiveness

According to The State of Email 2025 report by Litmus, one-third of companies achieve an email marketing ROI between 10:1 and 36:1, and another third achieve an ROI above 36:1.

Such ROI depends on how well-optimized every facet of your email strategy is. Let’s get a closer look at the key areas that contribute to it.

Email list management optimization

Email list management optimization refers to refining your subscriber list based on the analysis of their behavior and responsiveness.

Metrics for optimization

• Bounce rate: Emails that did not reach the inbox due to server issues and invalid email addresses. Keep it below 2%.

• Growth rate: Percentage of new email subscribers added after filtering the list. Calculation goes like this: (New subscribers – Unsubscribes / Total subscribers) x 100

• Spam rate: Percentage of recipients marking your email as spam. Must stay < 0.1%.

How to track metrics

• ESP reports: Leverage email service providers like Mailtrap to use built-in tools for tracking email open rates, bounce rates, and deliverability in real-time.

• UTM: Implement UTM codes in URLs to connect email clicks to on-site actions via Google Analytics.

• Dashboards: Export metrics (e.g., open, click, and bounce rates) to BI tools like Looker Studio, Tableau, or Microsoft Power BI. These external dashboards help you spot trends by cross-referencing email performance with CRM or sales data. This makes it easier to understand engagement patterns and manage your list more effectively.

How to optimize

• Double opt-in: Apply a double opt-in framework to validate subscribers joining your list. 

• Prune disengaged subscribers: Preset disengagement thresholds, such as not opening emails for 90 days. Then, remove inactive users to enhance list quality. You can also try a reengagement campaign before the 90-day period expires, which may allow you to prune unresponsive recipients even sooner. 

• Segmentation tags: Segment recipients based on predetermined factors like engagement history, demographics, and purchase patterns.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Statistical significance: Use statistical methods and calculations to ensure reliable test results and not random choices. Here are the standard formulas to interpret campaign performance. 

• Iteration: Consider insights of both pre-and post-optimization metrics to make informed adjustments in the next round of optimization. For example, if pruning inactive subscribers improves open rates but increases unsubscribe rates, adjust your list cleaning frequency and re-engagement email timing. A/B testing and segment analysis help you do that efficiently.

Email deliverability optimization

Email deliverability optimization is a dedicated process to improve the probability of your emails landing in the recipient’s inbox.

Metrics for optimization

• Spam rate: Percentage of emails marked as spam by in-built mechanisms of the mailbox or by the recipient.

• Sender reputation: Domain’s credibility as evaluated by mailbox providers.

• Deliverability rate: Percentage of emails reaching inboxes, showcasing sender reputation.

• Bounce rate: Percentage of emails not delivered due to invalid email addresses or server issues.

How to track metrics

• Deliverability tools: Use analytical platforms to perform advanced tracking, ensure inbox placement, and maintain sender reputation.

• Authentication reports: Monitor DNS settings, which include SPF, DMARC, and DKIM through domain management tools to reduce spam filtering.

• Framework: Set up bounce handling and feedback loops to track rejections and spam flags programmatically.

How to optimize

• Content quality: Don’t include spammy language, misleading subject lines, irrelevant visuals, and misaligned formatting.

• Testing: Run A/B tests on subject lines, content, and send times to identify what improves deliverability.

• Audit: Regularly remove invalid, inactive, or bounced addresses to reduce bounce and increase deliverability.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Identify patterns: Spot similar trends by comparing the before and after outcomes of optimization. For example, improved open rates after subject line optimization.

• Monitoring: As discussed earlier, optimization is a continuous process, which means you must continuously track metrics over time for early identification of issues to keep pace with evolving mailbox algorithms.

• Negative signals: Track upward shifts in negative signals, such as bounce rate, spam complaints, or unsubscribes, to identify negative consequences of optimization, if any.

Email sending optimization

Email sending optimization refers to refining how and when you send emails to maximize engagement and improve KPIs.

Metrics for optimization

• Engagement patterns: Monitor how recipients engage with emails based on distinct sending frequencies. This includes actions like opening emails, clicking on links, and converting to a paid customer. 

• Click-to-open rate (CTOR): Percentage of people who click on the link in the email. This metric is generally larger than the click-through rate (CTR).

• Performance: Measures open, click, and conversion rates based on the time and day emails are sent. It also includes the percentage of recipients who complete a desired action after receiving the email.

How to track metrics

• Heatmaps: Use heatmaps and visualize the location and time of emails being opened and clicked.

• Marketing dashboards: Utilize a reliable ESP, like Mailtrap, that offers built-in analytics dashboards to closely monitor send times, frequency, and other engagement metrics discussed earlier.

• API integration: Integrate the ESP dashboard with CRM, ecommerce stores, and automation tools to facilitate real-time tracking of list growth and conversions.

How to optimize

• Manual segmentation: Export analytics data into a spreadsheet or a BI tool to analyze engagement and send trigger actions based on recipient behavior.

• A/B testing: Consider A/B testing to experiment with sending frequency. Compare engagement across different sent times and cadences to determine an optimal pace. At the same time, pay attention to unsubscribe and spam rates.

• Isolate variables: Continuously run controlled experiments, adjusting only one variable at a time (send time, frequency, segment) to isolate impact.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Contextual insights: If a new send time improves open rates but not conversion rates, examine the alignment of your email content with user pain points.

• Performance analysis: Analyze which send times or frequencies yield the highest open, click, and conversion rates. Look for consistent patterns across multiple tests.

• Statistical approach: Once the tests reach a sufficient sample size (e.g., ~1000 recipients per test, or more, depending on your scope and reach), apply statistical methods to validate the reliability of the observed results. Here are the methods you could use.

Email content optimization

Email content optimization is the process of improving the structure, layout, and language of email messages based on measurable outcomes.

Metrics for optimization

• Scroll depth: Measures how far recipients scroll through your email content, indicating content engagement.

• Time spent reading: This showcases content relevance and readability by measuring the average time spent reading the email content.

• Reply rate: Refers to the number of direct replies from recipients, which is important for conversational and feedback analysis.

How to track metrics

• Web analytics: As mentioned earlier in the article, implement UTM codes in email links to track conversions and time spent on the page using Google Analytics.

• Custom tracking: Embed tracking pixels, a tiny, invisible image embedded in the HTML of an email, are useful for measuring time spent and scroll depth. However, some providers, like Apple Mail and ProtonMail, block or pre-load these pixels, inflating the open rate and distorting time-spent data. To account for this, review provider policies to adjust your approach and prioritize more reliable action-based metrics like click-through rates.

• Manual tagging: For reply and share rates, use unique reply-to addresses or share buttons with trackable URLs. For example, instead of a generic email address, like reply@yourcompany.com, use reply-campaign1@yourcompany.com.

How to optimize

• Personalization: Gather the recipient’s data and include their names, preferences, and personalized content blocks, like product recommendations, banners, or images tailored to their interests or past behavior (reverse image search tools can be helpful in this case). These blocks add visual variety and break up walls of text, making the email more engaging.

• Content hierarchy: Follow a standard content structure. A typical content hierarchy looks like this:

• Header: Benefit-driven headline
• Subheader: Extend the headline and lay the foundation of the main message
• Email copy: Scannable content with straightforward points
• Visuals: Images relevant to the main message
• CTA: A big, action-focused button

• Readability: Test different font sizes, contrast ratios, and alt text to ensure content is accessible and engaging for all users.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Isolate impact: Compare the performance of variants by considering CTOR, conversion rates, and time on page. Identify which variant drives the most conversions.

• Segmented insights: Analyze results by audience segment (e.g., device, location, behavior) to uncover content preferences within subgroups.

• Holistic engagement: Ensure alignment throughout the email. For example, a good CTOR with reduced conversions indicates a disconnect between email content and the landing page.

Email design optimization

Email design optimization refers to enhancing your emails’ visual and structural elements to drive more engagement.

Metrics for optimization

• Time spent: This indicates the average time spent viewing your email, which showcases the effectiveness of the email design. (Tip: Email mapping software typically also provides time spent viewing data)

• Unsubscribe rate: Percentage of subscribers who unsubscribe after viewing your email. This signals user experience (UX) issues and poor content structure.

• Load times: Monitors image load times within the email, indicating successful rendering of visuals.

How to track metrics

• Testing tools: Use advanced tools to test diverse design elements and examine how the combination of changes impacts user engagement. Mailtrap Email Sandbox is one such tool, providing hints on how to improve individual email elements. 

• Tracking tools: Employ analytical platforms to identify elements that receive the most traction from users.

• ESP dashboards: Leverage built-in analytics to automate tracking of essential metrics like unsubscribe rates, CTOR, and CTR.

How to optimize

• Visual hierarchy: Refine the order of visual elements. The key aspects of visual hierarchy are:
  • Header: Captivating headlines
  • Content layering: Place the main message above the fold
  • Typography: Distinct font sizes for each element
  • Color and contrast: Highlight CTAs and key pointers
  • Whitespace: Improves readability

• Mobile optimization: Adjust layouts, font sizes, and visuals to ensure optimal responsiveness and successful rendering on smaller screens.

• Branded visuals: Align design elements with your brand guidelines and test the impact of consistent vs. experimental visual styles.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Behavioral insights: Analyze heatmaps and scroll data to identify design bottlenecks or areas of high engagement, informing further iterations.

• Iterative refinement: Treat each optimization as a new baseline, continuing to test and refine based on evolving engagement patterns and user feedback.

• Benchmark comparison: Regularly compare your design-driven metrics against industry standards to contextualize performance and set realistic goals.

Email conversion rate optimization

Email conversion rate optimization focuses on increasing the percentage of recipients who complete a desired action after opening your email.

Metrics for optimization

• Conversion rate: Percentage of recipients who complete a predefined goal (e.g., purchase and sign up) after clicking through from your email.

• Revenue per email (RPE): Average revenue generated per email sent, useful for e-commerce and direct sales campaigns.

• Post-click conversion rate: Percentage of users who convert after landing on your website from the email.

How to track metrics

• ESP tracking: Utilize email platforms like Mailtrap to leverage their built-in mechanisms for tracking conversions. 

• Event tracking: Preset custom events, such as form submissions and purchases, in the analytics platform to record micro and macro conversions.

• Funnel visualization: Build funnels that show each step from email open to final conversion, highlighting where users drop off.

How to optimize

• Landing page alignment: Ensure alignment between the email’s message, landing page, or social media profile. Test landing page variants to assess email traffic.

• Offer optimization: Experiment with different incentives, like discounts, free trials, and limited-time offers, to measure shifts in conversion rates.

• Follow-up sequences: Optimize and test automated follow-up emails to recover conversions for abandoned carts or incomplete signups.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Funnel analysis: Don’t just prioritize the final conversion rate. This means assessing micro-conversions and drop-off points to make necessary improvements.

• Segmented insights: Break down outcomes based on predetermined segments, like demographics, purchasing history, and user lifecycle, to uncover hidden issues.

• Isolate impact: To know what caused the change in conversions, test one element at a time, like CTA buttons or headlines. Use a control group to compare results and measure the real impact accurately.

Email automation optimization

Email automation optimization is about automating logic, timing, personalization, and email triggers to achieve maximum impact without manual intervention.

Metrics for optimization

• Flow engagement rate: Combined performance of all emails within an automated workflow. It is calculated as: Flow engagement rate = (Total engagements/ Total emails delivered) x 100.

• Completion rate: Percentage of recipients who complete the entire sales funnel through automation without unsubscribing.

• Drop-off rate: Percentage of recipients who exit or stop engaging at each step of the automation.

How to track metrics

• Cohort analysis: Monitor performance for discrete audience segments or entry points to identify trends and optimization opportunities.

• Revenue attribution: Integrate your ESP with your e-commerce or CRM platform to directly attribute revenue to specific automation flows.

• Automation analytics: Build and test your automated flows using Mailtrap’s sandbox environment, which lets you safely validate the email template, CTAs, personalization, and relevant content before going live.

How to optimize

• Refine triggers: Ensure workflows are activated by meaningful, behavior-based events (e.g., cart abandonment vs. just visiting).

• Timing adjustment: Experiment with delays between emails to find the optimal time that maximizes engagement and minimizes drop-off.

• Content personalization: Leverage user data to deliver automated emails tailored to different audience segments.

How to interpret the results of optimization tests

• Step-by-step attribution: Spot the changes that yield measurable improvements in engagement, RPE, and conversions.

• Drop-off analysis: Examine cohort and funnel data to pinpoint points where recipients usually disengage. Focus on optimizing these drop-off points.

• Cumulative assessment: Evaluate the total value generated by the entire automation sequence and the incremental lift provided by each optimization.

Turning metrics into action

Email marketing optimization isn’t a one-time fix but a continuous process focusing on the right metrics. You have to build a robust system that learns, adapts, and performs in real-time to improve key metrics.

I believe optimization really happens when you consider it an iterative framework for testing email variants and aligning with your business goals. Focus on the key areas of optimization outlined in this blog to empower your email marketing efforts.

Visit Mailtrap.io today and optimize emails with advanced analytics and actionable dashboards.