Top B2B Email Marketing Software Comparison

The importance of choosing good software for B2B email marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most important tools for businesses. A staggering 72% of brands utilize it to acquire and engage customers. In fact, almost half of B2B marketers in the U.S. believe that email is the most effective channel to generate engagement in the earliest stage of the business-customer relationship. 

Some high-stakes or very personalized emails can be sent manually. These include individual outreaches to CEOs or company owners. In that case, you can send bulk emails straight from your Gmail or Outlook. But as soon as you need to send more than several hundred emails or send promotional messages, you need a dedicated service.

Email marketing software helps you to expand your audience, differentiate lists based on varying criteria, and unify all of your promotional channels into one powerful tool. It allows you to increase sales, boost revenue, and take your business further than ever before. 

Email marketing software also affects deliverability, costs, and the overall effectiveness of marketing efforts. If you choose an unreliable service that fails at the most crucial moment, you risk ruining an important campaign. In addition, it is better to choose a platform based on the needs of the project — the number of mailings, the size of the subscriber base, the budget, and the functionality you need. 

Here’s one last point to reinforce the significance of email marketing for businesses. Marketers predicted that the revenue from email will grow by 31% over the following years. But you’ll need the right software to achieve that.

What to look for in B2B email marketing services

When searching for the right B2B email marketing services, there are a few key factors to consider.

Key features

Email marketing services vary in the features they offer, so it’s important to find one that meets your specific needs. Look for providers with tools such as automation, segmentation, and A/B testing. 

Automation features like auto-responders and drip campaigns allow marketers to send automated emails based on user behavior or other triggers. For instance, anyone who has interacted with your editorial calendar kit, indicating an interest in B2B content marketing, will receive a personalized invitation to join the webinar.

As the customer flows in B2B are more complex and long-lasting, email automation needs to be prominent. You can use it to set up reminders for clients to stock up on supplies depending on the purchase date and recommend additional products or services accordingly. You can also orchestrate flows for different seasons or weather conditions. For example, at the beginning of winter, remind the clients to stop by your place to change the tiers of their trucks. 

Segmentation allows you to divide your contacts into logical groups, so you can target each segment with relevant messages. If your company offers several products or services, especially at varying price points, you can market them to separate audiences. You can also tailor your communication depending on who the recipient may be; this could range from a vendor contact, sales manager, marketing specialist, or administrative assistant. All of these people may be interested in different products, services, or content. On top of that, all of these specialists can be from one business and jointly responsible for decision-making. Your messaging should reflect that and resonate with each audience convincing customers of various corporate levels. The possibility to segment your email list is a great way to ensure that your message is reaching the right people. 

Moreover, segmentation allows you to approach customers at various stages of the sales funnel differently. You can precisely target unengaged leads or send loyal clients special offers. With good segmentation features, you can build and strengthen lasting customer relationships. 

A/B testing allows you to send different versions of the message and measure their performance, so you can determine which is more effective. For instance, you can test different subject lines, body copy, calls-to-action, or layouts to determine which delivers the highest open and click-through rate. 

Testing makes experimenting easier. An average B2B sale is bigger than a B2C sale, so the cost of the mistake is higher as well. Campaigns need to run like clockwork at all times. That means, making iterations without stress, on a smaller scale is a significant advantage. 

Integrations

B2B email marketing services should offer accurate and reliable integrations with your other business systems. This includes CRM software, project management tools, payment processing platforms, and even customer experience tracking solutions. Seamless integrations will help you to easily move data between different parts of your business in real time. Additionally, it will also help to streamline processes and reduce manual work. For example, B2B enterprise sales and marketing teams can benefit from the integration of social media management tools, allowing them to effortlessly score leads according to social media activity. Moreover, they will also receive automated notifications any time a negative sentiment is expressed online about their brand. 

Pricing

When selecting a B2B email marketing service provider, consider its price. Many platforms offer free plans that have limited features and other restrictions. You can see the interface and basics of the service for yourself before paying the price. It can even be enough for some small businesses. To choose between several paid plans, focus on the size of your subscriber base. Many pricing options are based on the number of contacts you have. If you anticipate growth, look for services with flexible pricing, so you can scale the plan.

Another important aspect is the number of emails you plan to send. If your mailings are sparse or far between, you may prefer an ESP that works on a pay-as-you-go basis. On the contrary, if you need to send bulk emails several times a week, opt for a platform with unlimited emails in a plan. 

Last but not least, check the features included in the plan. Some ESPs, for example, reserve advanced automation and transactional emails for the higher-tier plans. If your strategy requires these, you may need to pay more. And if you’re just starting in email marketing, consider plans that include readily-available support or even a personal manager. 

10 best B2B email marketing software options

The right software will help you implement B2B email marketing best practices. We collected the most convenient email service providers and highlighted the key features of each of them to help you choose. 

Selzy — an easy-to-use and budget-friendly email marketing service with maximum functionality

Selzy is an intuitive email marketing platform that provides all the necessary features for any marketer at a very reasonable price. It is designed to help B2B companies generate leads, nurture relationships, increase conversions, and track results. 

It’s an all-in-one solution that makes it easy to create segments based on customer actions, allowing you to send targeted messages. When you segment your emails based on the content your subscribers downloaded, it can give you a strong insight into the types of offers and information that will appeal most to them. As an example, when clients download a white paper that contains in-depth research about the use of a particular technology, you can assign them a tag and target them with more similar case studies or applicable information.

Selzy provides an advanced email builder that allows you to create custom emails in a drag-and-drop editor. This way, you can bring any email marketing campaign ideas to life easily. With its A/B split testing feature, you can quickly test subject lines, content, and images to optimize engagement.

The platform also offers automated workflows from start to finish and a wide range of analytics, including open rates, click-through rates, delivery rates, and bounce reports. 

For small business owners on a budget, Selzy provides excellent value. The service starts at just $7 a month for up to 1,000 contacts and includes unlimited emails. That’s why it’s one of the most affordable options available. Selzy also has great 24/7 customer support via live chat and phone. 

This email marketing service also offers a free package so you can test the platform before committing to any long-term contracts. And if you need additional features like an anti-spam helper and a deliverability boost, try the Standard plan starting at $11. It’s also a great option for those who have more than 100,000 contacts. Register today and send your first campaign in mere minutes.

Sendinblue — the best email marketing service with automation on a budget

Sendinblue is an easy-to-use email marketing service. It allows you to create clean templates, automated welcome emails, and forms to fill out on the site with no effort. 

The platform provides a comprehensive suite of contact management services, featuring real-time reports, SMS marketing capabilities, and personalization options. Plus it has built-in core API functionality and page tracking to ensure that your campaigns reach the right audience in no time. Thanks to the tracker, you can create custom workflows based on visits and actions on specific pages of your website. For example, you can send a targeted email with invitations to industry events to some contacts based on their visit to a specific page.

Sendinblue uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to send emails at the best times of day and maximize engagement. You can also view heatmaps and real-time statistics that show metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates.

One of the best features is email workflow automation. The platform allows you to set triggers and direct subscribers through custom workflows based on the actions they take on your site and their stage of email funnel. To get you started with Sendinblue email workflow automation, here are some possible steps:

1. Introduce new subscribers to your brand or product with welcome email sequences.
2. Follow up on gated content (i.e free downloads or webinar signups) through strategic email marketing sequences. 
3. Tailor messages precisely with if/then/else sequences depending on the lead activity — page views, emails opened and clicked, etc.

Sendinblue provides a free plan that allows unlimited contacts and 300 mailings per day. If you’re serious about growing your B2B list, you can use the Lite plan, which starts at $25 for up to 20,000 mailings per month and has no daily limit. 

SendX — the easiest to use with flawless support

SendX is an intuitive, affordable, and feature-rich email marketing platform for marketers and business owners. SendX prides itself on enabling marketers to use one of the easiest user interfaces in the industry.

SendX allows users to create, send and track professional emails with its drag-and-drop editor. You can also set up automated campaigns and send personalized emails to your contacts. With SendX’s advanced analytics, you can measure your email performance and track open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics.

SendX provides unlimited emails with every plan. It also offers a range of tools like tags to help marketers segment their audiences and target them with more relevant content. This ESP enables users to create segments based on customer behavior or demographic data like age, location, and interests as well as custom properties. For instance, the company role of your prospects is a major factor of communication. You can use this data to transmit relevant messages and offers that are tailored for their positions in the firm. Segmenting this way helps to reach customers who are likely to convert.

SendX has a great customer service team that is fast and efficient. The team will walk you through the challenges of email marketing and teach you how to effectively reach your marketing goals.

SendX also provides easy-to-use APIs that allow marketers to integrate the software with their existing systems. So, integration with WordPress allows you to add forms and pop-ups to your blog or website to expand your B2B email list. And integration with your CRM system will keep your customer data up to date, allowing you to segment your B2B emails and target the right customers. This helps companies maximize their ROI and increase conversions. 

You can start using the service with a 14-day free trial, and the price starts at $7.49 a month for 1,000 subscribers. But there is no free plan option available.

Moosend — great all-in-one email marketing automation tool

As a B2B email marketer, you’ll find Moosend to be an indispensable tool for constructing emails and expanding your mailing list. Moosend helps personalize your messages and automate tasks so you can focus on customer relationships.

The campaign builder has an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface. This tool allows you to add images, text blocks, social icons, and more to your emails. There is also a large library of email templates with different layouts. The templates are responsive and look great on desktop and mobile.

What makes Moosend stand out are the automation features. With the Moosend flow generator, you can automate your entire user journey with custom-made flows and triggers. For instance, when someone registers using a form on your website, you can take advantage of this feature to send them an automatic welcome email followed. And follow it with a reminder if they don’t open the email within 24 hours. The possibilities are endless with this dynamic tool at your disposal. Using pre-made marketing automation templates, you can guide customers through the purchase funnel to increase sales, customer engagement, and loyalty. 

The service only has a free 30-day trial which includes sign-up forms, reporting, and unlimited emails. Pricing depends on the number of subscribers on your email list. 

Moosend’s paid plans start at $7 per month for up to 500 subscribers and increase as the number of subscribers grows. Paid plans include access to transactional emails and landing page builders. For B2B marketers with advanced needs, the Enterprise plan provides migration and launch support as well as Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). This allows for single sign-on protocols across multiple networks, ensuring a secure and consistent user experience.

Omnisend — the best omnichannel email marketing service for e-commerce

Omnisend takes email marketing one step further by combining email marketing with social media marketing, text, push notifications, WhatsApp, and more. 

Omnisend has been created with e-commerce businesses in mind, offering users the ability to segment their audience based on multiple transactional events and purchase habits. Doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or an expert when it comes to personalizing your messages, Omnisend’s segmentation is quite simple yet powerful. You can combine various rules, select from loads of filters, and finesse your targeting so that only those contacts who would find your messaging most relevant will receive it. Say, if you want to push potential B2B customers to buy, you can create a VIP list to offer small demos. Omnisend will gather all the customer data and help you build a list of those customers who would benefit most from the experience.

The service is also integrated with all leading e-commerce platforms. Whether you use BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, or another e-commerce plugin, you can connect it to Omnisend to boost sales.

You can start for free and reach up to 250 contacts with 500 emails per month. The cheapest paid plan starts at $16 a month. With this option, you can send 6,000 emails a month and reach up to 500 contacts. 

AWeber — the best email service for small businesses with helpful support

Over 100,000 email marketers use AWeber which has features best suited for small businesses. With high-quality email and phone support, as well as helpful articles and videos, you’ll get answers quickly and be able to focus on growing your business.

Like the other services on this list, AWeber offers an email builder, list management tools, and analytical reports. The service makes it easy to automatically manage lists with any rules you create. As you add contacts to the database, customize each field for a personal touch. For example, position at the company and gender are great options for tailored marketing strategies. To save time in the future, AWeber goes one step further by auto-suggesting possible tags and campaigns based on your past entries. This helps to streamline contact management. 

Another advantage is the 700 email design templates — compared to only 80 for Mailchimp. Moreover, AWeber provides multiple options for generating emails, depending on your preference and time constraints. Its Smart Designer feature is particularly impressive. It’s an AI-driven email builder that allows you to generate a broad variety of templates in seconds simply by entering the URL of your website. Gather as many templates as you want before editing — AWeber makes creating professional emails quick and easy. In other words, you will have customized B2B email templates in minutes.

If you’re just starting with automated workflow campaigns, AWeber provides many templates that will ease the initial setup. With this feature, constructing a custom automated campaign is simple. The email sequence can be triggered when new users enter the list or according to specific criteria used for tagging customers. It makes this ESP an invaluable tool for segmenting clients.

You can get started with the free AWeber plan for up to 500 subscribers, which gives you access to almost every feature, including unlimited landing pages, sign-up forms, automated email campaigns, and hundreds of powerful integrations. AWeber’s Pro plan starts at $16.15 per month for up to 500 subscribers.

Mailchimp — one of the biggest names in email marketing

The service is positioned as an all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses. In addition to email marketing tools, Mailchimp has a website builder, an ads launcher, and the ability to post on Facebook and Instagram.

Mailchimp makes it a breeze to craft beautiful emails. With its user-friendly email builder that requires just dragging and dropping elements, you can have an attractive email ready in no time. Plus, Mailchimp comes with some fabulous pre-built templates so all the hard work is done for you.

With Mailchimp, you can nurture your B2B leads through an automated drip campaign. Let’s say you have trial signups. A great way to engage them would be to introduce them to a learning cycle that provides instructions on how they can effectively use your product. Drip campaigns are very beneficial when it comes to addressing new customers and strengthening relationships with existing ones.

The free plan gives marketers a user-friendly interface, up to 500 subscribers, and 1,000 email sends per month (with 500 emails daily limit) — enough if you have a small business. The free plan also includes basic reporting and analytics, and lots of third-party integrations. There’s also a free Mailchimp app for iPhone and Android.

Paid plans start at $13 for 500 contacts. If you exceed this limit, the service will charge a fee based on the size of your email list and the number of emails sent. 

HubSpot — an all-encompassing platform for beginners and advanced users

HubSpot is the most integrated marketing package on the market. This email marketing software is one of the best ways to design, optimize and send fantastic-looking emails. It provides a ton of custom features and plans for small businesses and enterprises alike.

With a wide variety of drag-and-drop email templates at your disposal, as well as the ability to make custom ones yourself, crafting an effective and impressive email is effortless. 

Sending emails is made simple with the smart send feature, guaranteeing recipients will get your messages at the perfect time. Plus, you can run useful A/B tests to find which version of an email resonates most effectively with your readership.

Personalization is another strong point of HubSpot. With the standard tools, you personalize content based on common merge tags, such as the recipient’s first and last name. HubSpot takes it one step further. You can also personalize content based on the user’s device, geographic location, or list segments. You can sort contacts collected via forms into distinct lists and organize them according to their stage in the sales process. For instance, those who have subscribed to your newsletter would be separate from leads who’ve downloaded one of your case studies. With this method, you can customize content for each segment accordingly and maximize conversion potential.

With comprehensive reports from HubSpot, you can make well-informed decisions about your email strategy. See how individual leads engage with emails or review quarterly performance as a whole to strategically optimize for maximum effectiveness.

You can start for free with 2,000 email sends a month and then upgrade to the Marketing Hub Starter package for $18 a month.

Constant Contact — the best email marketing service for small businesses

As stated on the website, the company’s ultimate goal is to help small businesses navigate the prospects, power, and potential of the internet. The platform offers 100+ modern, mobile-optimized templates for customer engagement and conversion, real-time reporting and analytics, and bonus features like coupons, surveys, and events. One of the unique features is event management and the ability to handle invitations, registrations, and tickets. 

With Constant Contact, you can effortlessly set up an automated workflow of emails triggered by user actions. For instance, when someone subscribes for a free trial on your website, they will automatically receive a welcome email containing all the necessary details regarding their new account.

Constant Contact offers unsurpassed support via chat and email, community support, and an extensive library of useful materials.

Constant Contact integrates with your e-commerce platform to sync the contacts and help you strengthen your customer relationships, whether they are current or prospective. For instance, let’s say you currently have 1,000 clients. Although they are already loyal to your business, there is still room for growth in terms of customer loyalty and engagement. You’ll need to think about sending out birthday wishes, providing loyalty bonuses, or other strategies tailored specifically to each client’s interests. By having a CRM system implemented into your workflow process, all the relevant info such as birthdays or trial period details will be stored in one place so that no customer is missed.

Constant Contact’s pricing depends on the number of email contacts on your list. There’s no free plan, only a free 60-day trial period. Paid plans start at $9.99 per month for 500 contacts. For that price, you get unlimited email sendings, tracking and reporting features, A/B testing, and e-commerce marketing tools. 

Drip — the best platform for e-сommerce marketing automation

Drip is a powerful email marketing platform. It offers a wide range of tools focused on e-commerce. Drip takes automation to the next level with its intuitive visual workflow builder; you can set up different triggers for each type of automated process. 

For instance, you can initiate engagement campaigns for people who had prior interactions with your company but didn’t take the next step in the funnel. For example, those that have downloaded a white paper yet haven’t requested a demo. These emails should guide them and show the following logical move based on what you know about their interests. This way, you will be able to eventually turn these leads into buyers.

Drip service is also very convenient for newcomers. It is integrated with various popular resources, including WooCommerce and WordPress. This makes it easy to add sign-up forms to your site and capture more leads.

The platform offers a free trial. The cost of the paid package depends on the number of contacts. 2,500 subscribers cost $39. There is no limit on the number of emails.

In the paid plan, you will have access to an email editor with a collection of templates, signup forms, split tests, automation, SMS, tags, custom fields, user action tracking, engagement tracking, etc.

Final thoughts

Email marketing is an essential tool for businesses looking to engage with their customers and promote their products. The right software can make a big difference when it comes to boosting engagement with leads, building relationships with customers, and generating revenue. The wrong choice could make you look unprofessional, damage your image and negatively affect your relationship with clients.

When looking for the right email marketing software for a B2B company, there are several key factors to consider:

• Automation, segmentation, and A/B testing features should be available. 
• Accurate and reliable integrations with other business systems are important for obtaining up-to-date customer information and creating personalized messages designed for a specific audience.  
• Flexible pricing models to suit a range of budgets are also essential. This way you can set or scale your plans according to the size of your enterprise, the number of contacts in your database, your email marketing strategy, and the types of campaigns you want to run. 

And after you found the best email marketing solution for your needs, follow the email marketing checklist to make sending campaigns flawless.