Email marketing software allows businesses to build and manage their email lists, segment them to target email sends, and monitor subscriber responses. These email marketing tools can be used to design and build customized emails using hypertext markup language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS) or via easy-to-use what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editors. These email marketing tools integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enabling marketers to leverage rich customer data for segmentation, personalization, and triggered campaigns — ultimately improving targeting and return-on-investment (ROI).
Email marketing tools are typically used by marketing teams, growth teams, and small business owners to engage prospects, nurture leads, promote content or offers, and retain customers through consistent and personalized communication.
Email marketing is commonly a feature within broader marketing automation platforms. However, this category includes products that are point solutions dedicated to email marketing and do not generally offer a full suite of automation features across multiple channels. Some email marketing tools may offer additional messaging functionality such as SMS marketing, push notifications, or social media management. These capabilities might not be built-in but enabled through integrations, APIs, or third-party plugins.
While some email marketing products may support additional communication methods, they are only included here if email is the product’s core functionality and they do not meet the qualification criteria for the Marketing Automation category. Marketing automation platforms typically go beyond multichannel messaging by offering advanced capabilities such as lead management, dynamic segmentation, forms and landing pages, and analytics that track campaign lifecycle and ROI. For buyers seeking those features, the marketing automation category provides a more suitable list of solutions.
To qualify for inclusion in the Email Marketing category, a product must:
Enable the creation and sending of emails via HTML or a WYSIWYG editor
Provide email templates
Allow users to preview and send test emails
Store, track, segment, and manage email contact lists
Offer campaign-based reporting and analytics to measure engagement and performance
Support clear opt-in (e.g., signup forms, double opt-in) and easy opt-out options, compliant with global regulations such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, etc.
Focus on email as the primary channel and not be categorized as marketing automation
