Manually sending welcome emails in 2025? Or are you wasting hours building campaigns and still guessing if anyone clicked? Email automation is something you need.
After years of working in automation and testing more tools than we can count, we’ve figured out what best tools work for businesses.
In this guide, we’ll share the email marketing automation solutions we trust, why we recommend them, and how each one fits different business needs.
Disclaimer: This article evaluates different automated email software, including Sender, which our company owns. We present assessments based on research, industry standards, and user feedback. We selected these platforms after comparing their features, pricing, and performance. We don’t earn any commissions from links in this article.
Pick the Right Email Marketing Automation Software
Choosing the right email automation software can make or break your marketing goals. The best email automation platform for your business depends on your specific needs—whether you’re a small ecommerce store looking for cart recovery workflows, a SaaS company needing advanced lead scoring, or a creator wanting simple audience segments.
Consider factors like your budget, technical expertise, integration requirements, and growth plans when making your decision. Don’t get overwhelmed by feature lists and marketing promises. Start with your core business goals:
- Sender — Best for Personalized Email Journey
- ActiveCampaign — Advanced Personalization and Automation Tools
- Zoho — Budget-Friendly Automation for Growing Customer List
- HubSpot — All-in-One Solution for Marketing Automation
- Mailchimp — Excellent for Building Autoresponder Sequences
- Omnisend — Best for Ecommerce Automation Workflows
- Drip — Tailored Email Campaigns for Ecommerce
- Kit — Best for Creators with Audience Segmentation
- Klaviyo — Data-Driven Ecommerce Email Automation
- Postmark — Reliable and Fast Transactional Email Delivery
- Constant Contact — Effective Scheduled Email Management
- GetResponse — Strong Multichannel Automation
- EngageBay — All-in-one CRM + Automation
- Brevo — Flexible Automation with Strong SMS Integration
- Moosend — Affordable Automation with Advanced Features
- MailerLite — User-Friendly Automation with Clean Interface
Top Email Automation Software — Quick Roundup
Choosing the right automated email marketing software can feel overwhelming, with so many options offering unique and new features.
To simplify things, we’ve rounded up the top-rated email automation platforms, highlighting what they’re best for, their standout features, and whether they offer a free plan. Check out this quick comparison to find the best email automation platform for your business.
| Provider | Best for | Standout Feature | Free Plan |
| Sender | Advanced email automation | Premade workflows + drag-and-drop automation builder | Yes. Up to 2,500 subscribers |
| ActiveCampaign | Personalization and CRM email marketing automation features | Advanced segmentation | Limited-time free trial |
| Zoho Campaigns | Cross-functional teams | CRM-connected workflows | Yes, with basic features |
| HubSpot | Creating central hub for sales, CRM and marketing | Integrated CRM with marketing automation tool | Limited free tools only |
| Mailchimp | Building autoresponder sequences | Intuitive drag-and-drop editor | Yes, free for up to 500 contacts |
| Omnisend | Omnichannel campaigns | Multichannel marketing tools | Yes, with basic features |
| Drip | Specialized campaigns for ecommerce stores | Advanced behavioral triggers | 14-day free trial only |
| Kit | Creators and bloggers | Audience segmentation | Yes, with basic features |
| Klaviyo | Data-driven ecommerce marketing | Predictive analytics | Yes, free for up to 250 contacts |
| Postmark | Reliable transactional emails | Real-time deliverability tracking | No free plan |
| Constant Contact | Scheduled email management | Social media integrations | Limited-time free trial only |
| GetResponse | Strong multichannel automation | Advanced automation workflows + webinars | Yes, limited free plan |
| EngageBay | All-in-one CRM + automation | Unified CRM, marketing, and support tools | Yes, with limited features |
| Brevo | Flexible automation with SMS integration | SMS + email automation in one platform | Yes, up to 300 emails/day |
| Moosend | Affordable automation with advanced features | Powerful automation workflows + personalization | 30-day free trial |
| MailerLite | User-friendly automation with clean interface | Intuitive email builder + landing pages | Yes, free for up to 1,000 subscribers |
16 Best Email Marketing Automation Software Reviewed
Now that you’ve got the basic idea, let’s look at each email marketing automation system in detail to help you find the one that will suit your requirements.
Here are our top picks based on our personal experience and tests.
Sender — Best for Personalized Email Journey
⭐️ Trusted by 180,000+ businesses worldwide
If you want powerful email and marketing automation without the steep price or complex learning curve, Sender is hard to beat. It’s built for marketers and founders who value personalization and performance, but don’t want to spend hours configuring complex campaigns.
Sender Pricing: Starts at $7/month for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month | Forever free plan available for up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 monthly emails.
Sender is one of the few tools that balances depth with simplicity. Its visual automation builder is intuitive enough for beginners but also equally powerful to support complex flows like multi-step nurture sequences.
You can personalize emails down to user preferences or actions, without needing custom code. Combine that with product blocks and behavioral segmentation, and you’ve got everything you need to send emails that feel one-on-one, even at scale.
Even better, it doesn’t punish you for growing. Many features that are locked behind premium tiers elsewhere, like automation templates or segmentation, are available on the free plan.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Generous free plan with advanced automation features typically reserved for paid tiers
- Intuitive visual automation builder that’s powerful yet beginner-friendly
- Strong personalization capabilities without requiring technical knowledge
❌ Cons:
- Sender branding in free plan
- SMS only in paid plans
Our Experience with Sender
We set up a welcome email series for a small ecommerce client, along with cart abandonment sequences, and weekly promos—all in under an hour. The result? A 17% cart recovery rate within the first 30 days, with minimal hand-holding needed after setup.
Another highlight is how flexible the automation builder feels. Unlike clunky editors in other tools, we could easily tweak flows mid-campaign—adding conditions, delays, or SMS actions without restarting. It felt like the tool was made for people who love simplicity and power.
Best For
Small to medium businesses that want powerful automation features with an intuitive interface, especially those seeking generous free plans without sacrificing functionality.
ActiveCampaign — Advanced Personalization and Automation Tools
If you’re scaling fast and need a marketing platform that keeps up, ActiveCampaign delivers. It’s a powerful automation marketing software paired with a built-in email marketing automation CRM.
From complex workflows to hyper-personalized campaigns, it gives growing teams the control they need to run high-converting, behavior-based journeys across the entire customer lifecycle.
ActiveCampaign Pricing: Starts at $15/month for up to 1,000 contacts and up to 10,000 emails/month | 14-day free plan available.
We used ActiveCampaign and loved the in-depth automation. You get granular control over the user journey, branching, lead generation scoring, and can track browsing behavior to trigger an automated email system at just the right time.
In our experience, it shines when your sales and marketing teams need to sync. We’ve built workflows that not only nurture leads but hand them off to the right sales rep with full context.
However, if you’re on the entry plan, some key features like lead scoring and deep automation aren’t unlocked, you’ll need the professional plan to make the most of it. Also worth noting: the automation builder is incredibly flexible, but not exactly beginner-friendly.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Advanced lead scoring and CRM integration for seamless sales handoffs
- Sophisticated automation builder with granular control over customer journeys
- Excellent site tracking and behavioral trigger capabilities
❌ Cons:
- Steeper learning curve compared to simpler platforms like Mailchimp
- Key features require higher-tier plans, making it expensive for small businesses
- Interface can feel overwhelming for users new to marketing automation
Our Experience with ActiveCampaign
We implemented ActiveCampaign for a mid-sized SaaS client that struggled with lead qualification. By setting up site tracking, lead scoring, and CRM-connected workflows, we created a scoring model that auto-routed high-intent leads to sales. Within 45 days, their demo booking rate increased by 26%.
Another insight? Their built-in email builder isn’t as flashy as some newer tools—but it’s reliable. And the CRM automation feels like a hidden superpower, especially when used to trigger follow-ups or internal alerts based on contact activity.
Best For
Medium sized businesses with complex sales processes that need advanced lead scoring, CRM integration, and sophisticated automation workflows for marketing-to-sales alignment.
“We moved to ActiveCampaign from two separate systems — one a CRM and one an email marketing provider. Having the capabilities for both of these in one solution has been amazing.”
— DJ from G2
Zoho — Budget-Friendly Automation for Growing Customer List
Zoho offers a smart, affordable option for small teams that want serious features without heavy costs.
Zoho email marketing automation gives you everything needed to get started—segmentation, workflows, and essential integrations to streamline your marketing ops.
Zoho Pricing: Starts at €20/user/month | Free plan available.
You can set up Zoho Campaigns alongside Zoho CRM and build email campaign automation based on CRM stages, lead scores, or even web activity.
We tried setting up a lead nurture journey that triggered different email sequences depending on the CRM tag. We noticed that this can lead to an improvement in conversion-to-demo bookings flows.
While the UI isn’t the slickest, it’s functional. Once you’re inside, features like split testing, autoresponders, and detailed reports are all just a few clicks away. And if your team’s already using Zoho tools for sales, support, or finance, it’s a great add-on.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Excellent value for money with comprehensive features at budget-friendly pricing
- Seamless integration with the entire Zoho ecosystem (CRM, support, finance)
- Strong automation capabilities including CRM-triggered workflows and lead scoring
❌ Cons:
- User interface feels dated compared to modern platforms like MailerLite
- Limited third-party integrations outside the Zoho ecosystem
- Customer support quality can be inconsistent for complex technical issues
Our Experience with Zoho
One of the things we tested on Zoho was to set up a 5-step welcome flow with dynamic content blocks based on the subscriber’s preferences. The process felt smooth, required no extra plugins.
What we liked was how integrated and seamless everything felt. Zoho’s ecosystem led to fewer jumps between tabs and more work done in less time.
Best For
Small businesses already using Zoho products or teams that need affordable automation with CRM tools integration and don’t mind a less modern interface.
“Zoho offers a robust, customizable interface that integrates seamlessly with our digital marketing ecosystem. The automation workflows, lead scoring, and multichannel communication tools enable us to deliver personalized experiences at scale.”
— Iniyan from G2
HubSpot — All-in-One Solution for Marketing Automation
HubSpot is an all in one solution that offers a fully functional CRM with email automation platform features. Its user-friendly interface is designed for businesses looking to centralize their tools.
Hubspot Pricing: Starts at $18/month for up to 1,000 marketing contacts | Free plan available.
With HubSpot, you don’t just automate emails—you align marketing, sales, and customer experience from a single dashboard. From lead capture to pipeline management, everything is interconnected.
In our experience, HubSpot’s automation features really shine when used beyond email. You can trigger internal tasks, score leads based on behavior, automate CRM workflows, and even route contacts to sales.
However, the entry-level plan limits advanced automation. Most users end up upgrading to unlock features like lifecycle stage automation and custom branching logic.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Complete business ecosystem combining marketing, sales, and service tools in one platform
- Excellent user interface with intuitive workflows and comprehensive reporting dashboards
- Strong educational resources and community support for learning marketing automation
❌ Cons:
- Expensive pricing that can quickly escalate as you need more advanced features
- Advanced automation features require higher-tier plans, limiting entry-level functionality
- Can feel overwhelming for small businesses that only need basic email automation
Our Experience with HubSpot
We saw how HubSpot can make your marketing, sales, and operations completely integrated. It offers unified contact views, automated lead rotation, which leads to faster sales response time. Also, it helps marketing hub teams that can use pre-built templates to launch nurture campaigns in hours instead of days.
HubSpot’s funnel builder and automation dashboard felt like a control center—helpful for visualizing customer journeys at scale. The trade-off is pricing; more features are locked behind higher plans.
Best For
Medium to large businesses that need a comprehensive solution combining marketing, sales, and service tools with budget flexibility for paid plans.
“Overall I have a great experience with Hubspot Marketing. I do a mixture of operations and marketing duties during my day and my experience in the marketing module has helped me in areas of operations as well. The social content scheduling aspect of it has been seamless!”
— Allie from Capterra
Also read: 11 Best All-in-One Marketing Platforms Compared (2025)
Mailchimp — Excellent for Building Autoresponder Sequences
Mailchimp offers a simple platform for email marketing campaigns management to beginners. While it’s widely recognized for its user-friendly newsletter creation, Mailchimp also offers email automation capabilities.
Mailchimp Pricing: Starts at $19/month for up to 1,000 contacts and up to 18,000 emails/month | Free plan available.
In our experience, Mailchimp stands out for how simple its approach to automation is. You don’t need to understand complex workflows or marketing jargon. Just pick a trigger, like a new signup or a link click, and the visual builder takes care of the rest.
While it’s not the most advanced or more affordable tool, it can help you get started quickly if you want to set up simple automations for a small email list. There’s also a form and landing page builder to help with content management. It’s not without limitations though.
More advanced automations, like behavior-based segmentation or multi-branch flows, are better handled by different tools. Plus, other tools are more affordable when it comes to scaling.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Extremely beginner-friendly with simple automation setup and clear guidance
- Strong brand recognition and extensive educational resources for email marketing
- High email deliverability and comprehensive analytics for tracking campaign performance
❌ Cons:
- Becomes expensive quickly as list size grows compared to competitors
- Limited advanced automation features compared to specialized platforms
- Customer support quality has declined as the platform has grown
Our Experience with Mailchimp
We’ve spent a lot of time testing Mailchimp and know its a good beginner tool. You can set up welcome email flows, post-purchase emails, and personalized thank you emails within an hour.
It has a simple interface with lots of help docs. But the problem with Mailchimp is how ‘restrictive’ it feels, even if you want to do something as simple as multiple segments or multi-step automations.
You need to upgrade your plan for even the simplest things, leading to additional cost. Its simplicity can help build early momentum without overwhelm but the same momentum will make you outgrow it soon, especially with more affordable options with better offerings.
Best For
Complete beginners to email marketing who prioritize ease of use over advanced features and don’t mind paying premium prices for simplicity.
“My overall experience with Mailchimp has been positive. While there are some limitations and the pricing could be more accessible, the platform delivers on its promise of simplifying email marketing.”
— Alec from Capterra
Omnisend — Best for Ecommerce Automation Workflows
Omnisend is designed with online store businesses in mind. It helps you boost conversions with features like pre-built workflow templates for cart recovery, product recommendations, and transactional emails.
Omnisend Pricing: Starts at $20/month for up to 1,000 contacts and 12,000 emails/month | Free plan available.
We’ve used Omnisend before for a couple of use cases. Its ecommerce-first design means you can launch full automation flows—cart recovery, post-purchase, review requests—without building anything from scratch. The drag-and-drop builder is clean, responsive, and refreshingly easy to use.
In our tests, syncing with Shopify and WooCommerce took minutes. Once connected, it automatically pulls product info, customer data, and purchase history into your dashboard. This helped us to create targeted messages across multiple customer touchpoints faster.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Pre-built ecommerce workflows for cart abandonment, product recommendations, and post-purchase sequences
- Seamless integration with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce
- Multi-channel automation combining email, SMS marketing, and push notifications in unified workflows
❌ Cons:
- Pricing can become expensive for high-volume stores with large subscriber lists
- Limited customization options for businesses outside the ecommerce vertical
- SMS and push notifications features require additional credits, increasing overall costs
Our Experience with Omnisend
We tested Omnisend on Shopify and loved the seamlessness. With zero dev effort, we activated welcome emails, cart reminders, and post-purchase sequences within a day. We also added SMS for reactivation campaigns, easily.
Unlike tools where SMS feels bolted on, Omnisend’s workflows made switching between email and text feel natural. We could test variations, see revenue attribution by marketing channels, and optimize without juggling tools.
Best For
Ecommerce businesses that want ready-made automation workflows with multi-channel capabilities and seamless platform integrations for online store.
“Omnisend is easy to use, with helpful email and SMS automation, and the templates save time. While design options are a bit limited and costs can rise as your list grows, it’s a solid tool for marketing.”
— Dauanie from Capterra
Drip — Tailored Email Campaigns for Ecommerce
Drip brands itself as an ecommerce-first solution and it certainly lives up to the claim. It’s built from the ground up to help online brands build smarter, more personalized messages for boosting revenues.
Drip Pricing: Starts at $39/month for up to 2,500 subscribers | 14-day free trial available.
We tested Drip and found its automation depth both powerful and intuitive. It goes beyond standard triggers—allowing you to target users who viewed a product but didn’t add it to cart, or who purchased after a discount but never returned. These micro-moments matter, and Drip makes them easy to act on.
The visual workflow builder is incredibly flexible. We were able to map customer journeys with tags, filters, and actions in one flow without it getting messy. Plus, the on-site pop-ups feature added a powerful top-of-funnel layer.
That said, there’s no free plan or trial, and the learning curve is a bit steeper than beginner tools. However, if your store is growing and you’re serious about optimizing every touchpoint, Drip is a worthwhile investment.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Advanced behavioral tracking with micro-moment triggers for precise customer targeting
- Sophisticated visual workflow builder that handles complex automation without becoming cluttered
- Excellent revenue attribution and analytics showing direct impact of email campaigns on sales
❌ Cons:
- No free plan or trial period, requiring upfront investment to test the platform
- Steeper learning curve compared to simpler ecommerce solutions like Omnisend
- Pricing can be high for smaller stores that don’t need advanced behavioral features
Our Experience with Drip
We used Drip to build post-purchase flows that recommended newly launched products based on prior orders. We also set up a win-back campaign triggered by 30 days of inactivity. The entire process took us only a couple of hours.
Drip’s real-time revenue tracking is also an interesting offering to understand which emails actually drive lost sales recovery. This makes it easier to justify optimization tactics and scale winning flows without guesswork.
Best For
Growing ecommerce businesses that need advanced behavioral automation and are willing to invest in sophisticated tools for maximum revenue optimization.
“Easy to navigate UI, solid visual email builder, prompt live chat service response. Supplied email builder templates are well designed and flexible to utilize for a variety of messaging styles. Continuous improvement of features and implementation of new tools.”
— Tom O. from G2
Kit — Best for Creators with Audience Segmentation
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is built specifically for creators who want to build meaningful connections with their audience. It’s a lightweight but smart email marketing software for bloggers, solopreneurs, and creators who want to segment, personalize, and monetize their audience.
Kit Pricing: Starts at $29/month for up to 1,000 subscribers | Free plan available
We’ve used Kit before and like its tag-based segmentation system. It doesn’t try to force you into ‘lists’—instead, you assign tags based on behavior or preferences. This simplifies your personalization efforts.
What also works well is how Kit blends monetization and email under one roof. You can sell a product, collect payment, and trigger delivery emails—all without needing Zapier or an extra checkout tool.
It’s a great solution if you want to automate delivery of a free guide, launch a paid newsletter, or sell a digital product.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Tag-based segmentation system that’s more flexible than traditional list management
- Built-in commerce features for selling digital products and collecting payments directly
- Creator-focused interface designed specifically for content creators and educators
❌ Cons:
- Limited design options for visually-rich emails compared to platforms like Mailchimp
- Fewer integrations with business tools compared to more general marketing platforms
- Automation features are simpler than what advanced marketers might need
Our Experience with Kit
We created a free sequence with a digital guide as a lead magnet, followed by a timed upsell to the paid tier. The UI and the setup process was smooth. There was everything we needed—payments, tagging, and segmentation in the dashboard.
Though the email editor has no flashy design blocks, it felt lean. It is perfect for text-heavy content but not the best for a visual email. Its creator network was something unique we noticed to cross-promote offers with other similar creators.
Best For
Content creators, bloggers, and solopreneurs who need simple but effective automation with built-in monetization features for digital products and courses.
“Kit does a great job at making things simple. The UI is easy to navigate, and templates are easy to set up and implement. Automations are also very easy to set up with a visual interface.”
— Dustin from Capterra
Klaviyo — Data-Driven Ecommerce Email Automation
Klaviyo is built for ecommerce brands that want to do more than sending automated emails. With tight integrations (especially with Shopify) and rich automation capabilities, Klaviyo helps you engage the right new customers at the right time to drive revenue.
Klaviyo Pricing: Starts at $30/month for up to 1,000 subscribers and 10,000 emails | Free plan available.
We’ve tested Klaviyo for a Shopify store and found the deep customer engagement insights truly helpful. Every click, browse, and purchase feeds into Klaviyo’s automation engine, helping you create flows that feel highly personalized, even with large lists.
In one instance, we set up a post-purchase flow that changed based on cart value and purchase history. Customers who bought once received a reorder incentive; repeat buyers were nudged toward a subscription.
Klaviyo’s generative AI tools also impressed us. You can forecast churn, generate personalized subject lines, and even adjust email timing based on predicted buying behavior. But be warned, it’s not as beginner-friendly as some platforms.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Deep customer data integration with predictive analytics and AI-powered personalization
- Sophisticated segmentation capabilities based on purchase behavior and customer profiles
- Excellent revenue attribution showing direct impact of campaigns on ecommerce sales
❌ Cons:
- Complex interface that requires learning curve for non-technical users
- Pricing becomes expensive quickly as contact lists and email volume grow
- Overwhelming number of features that can confuse small business owners
Our Experience with Klaviyo
We worked on a Klaviyo setup for a test store with thousands of SKUs. Using product-specific triggers and repeat behavior tracking, we created campaigns that recommended contextual upsells, right after first purchase.
Another thing we loved? Klaviyo’s analytics. It didn’t just show opens and clicks—it told us how much revenue came from each automation. That kind of clarity made it easier to justify testing, iterate fast, and prioritize campaigns that made a real impact.
Best For
Data-driven ecommerce businesses with significant email volume that need advanced analytics, predictive features, and sophisticated customer segmentation capabilities.
“Klaviyo is an excellent tool for our email campaigns, offering seamless integration with Shopify and powerful segmentation features. The intuitive interface allows us to create automated flows easily, helping us target our audience effectively and drive conversions. Highly recommended!”
— Shayne from Capterra
Postmark — Reliable and Fast Transactional Email Delivery
Postmark isn’t for flashy campaigns or visual-heavy newsletters—it’s a transactional email service built for speed. From password resets to order confirmations, it ensures time-sensitive messages land in inboxes immediately, not minutes (or hours) later.
Postmark Pricing: Starts at $15/month for up to 1,000 subscribers and 10,000 emails | Free trial available.
During our tests with Postmark, we saw it outperforming generic platforms when it came to delivery speed and inbox placement. Setup was straightforward and the API documentation was one of the cleanest we’ve tested.
Its reputation for high deliverability ensures that time-sensitive emails don’t end up in spam folders. And with real-time reporting, we could track every email event to ensure nothing was slipping through.
Another feature we liked was its templating engine. While basic, it’s built for speed and clarity. You can create custom templates and reuse them across events without touching your app’s backend.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Industry-leading delivery speeds for time-sensitive transactional emails
- Excellent deliverability rates with dedicated IPs and strong sender reputation
- Clean, developer-friendly API with comprehensive documentation and easy integration
❌ Cons:
- No marketing email features, strictly focused on transactional messaging only
- Higher cost per email compared to bulk marketing email providers
- Limited template design options compared to marketing-focused platforms
Our Experience with Postmark
We tested Postmark for a fintech scenario where we noticed some delivery issues with a generic ESP. The difference was immediate—OTP emails that used to take 40–60 seconds were now delivered in under 5.
A feature we liked while testing was the segmented message streams, which helped separate transactional and promotional sends. If you’re sending high-volume transactional emails, Postmark’s reliability isn’t just helpful, its essential.
Best For
Businesses that prioritize reliable, fast delivery of transactional emails like order confirmations, password resets, and account creation notifications over marketing features.
“It’s a great SMTP provider that is easy to set up as well as great delivery and clean IPs. On top of that, it also has a DMARC reporting tool which I like and recommend to any beginner or non-techy person out there. Support is great and quick to reply to any issues you might have.”
— Dame from G2
Constant Contact — Effective Scheduled Email Management
If you want a no-fuss platform to plan and send emails like clockwork, Constant Contact gets the job done. It’s especially useful for local businesses, nonprofits, and retail stores looking to schedule newsletters or promotions without complicated flows.
Constant Contact Pricing: Starts at $12/month up to 500 contacts | Free 14-day trial available.
Constant Contact’s biggest strength is its simplicity. You can pick a date and time, choose a template, write your content, and schedule it for the future.
In one scenario, we used Constant Contact to automate a monthly newsletter. The setup was done in a few hours, and we were able to build a consistent calendar. The built-in analytics will help tweak send times for higher open rates.
Another pleasant surprise was the social media dashboard. It’s not a full-on management suite, but it allows you to schedule posts alongside email campaigns, helpful when you’re managing everything solo.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Simple, straightforward scheduling interface perfect for regular newsletter campaigns
- Built-in social media integration for coordinating email and social media content
- Excellent live chat support with phone support and extensive educational resources
❌ Cons:
- Limited advanced automation features compared to sophisticated email marketing automation platforms like ActiveCampaign
- Higher pricing per contact compared to budget-friendly alternatives like Sender
- Template designs feel dated compared to modern email marketing platforms
Our Experience with Constant Contact
We tried Constant Contact to set up a quarterly donation campaign with a monthly newsletter for a hypothetical nonprofit. The drag-and-drop editor, paired with a solid template library, made it easy to get a professional look without a designer. And with event integration, RSVPs and follow-ups were automatically handled inside the platform.
We also tested its social media planner to coordinate Facebook posts with email announcements and it worked well to bring additional traffic.
Best For
Small businesses, nonprofits, and local organizations that need reliable email scheduling with social media integration and prefer simplicity over advanced automation.
“Constant Contact has been very useful for e-news, event, and fundraising communication. For the most part the platform is user friendly and intuitive to use. It’s important to keep an eye on the number of contacts in your system and remove any outdated ones because Constant Contact bills by the number of contacts in your account.”
— Allyson from Capterra
GetResponse — Strong Multichannel Automation
GetResponse stands out for its ability to orchestrate campaigns across multiple channels from a single platform. Beyond email, it seamlessly integrates webinars, landing pages, and social media ads into unified automation triggers.
GetResponse Pricing: Starts at $19/month for up to 1,000 contacts and unlimited emails | 30-day free trial available.
The platform’s automation builder lets you create complex customer journeys that span email sequences, webinar registrations, and targeted ads based on user behavior. You can trigger Facebook ads to retarget email subscribers who didn’t convert, automatically enroll engaged email subscribers into relevant webinars, and create landing page funnels that feed directly into email nurture sequences.
GetResponse also offers advanced tagging and scoring systems that work across all channels, ensuring consistent messaging whether someone encounters your brand through email, a webinar, or a social ad. The conversion funnel feature particularly shines here, allowing you to build complete marketing funnels with email follow-ups, countdown timers, and exit-intent popups all working together to maximize conversions.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Built-in webinar platform with automated email integration for seamless event marketing
- Advanced conversion funnels that combine landing pages, email sequences, and sales automation
- Comprehensive multichannel workflows including Facebook ads retargeting and social media integration
❌ Cons:
- Higher learning curve due to the breadth of features and multichannel complexity
- Webinar features require higher-tier plans, making it expensive for small businesses
- Email editor feels dated compared to newer platforms with modern design capabilities
Our Experience with GetResponse
We tested GetResponse for a client launching a new product, combining email sequences with webinar promotion and Facebook retargeting. The multichannel automation let us create a complete funnel—email subscribers who didn’t open within 48 hours were automatically added to a Facebook retargeting audience, while engaged subscribers received webinar invitations.
What impressed us most was how seamlessly the webinar platform integrated with email workflows. Attendees were automatically tagged and moved into a post-webinar nurture sequence, while no-shows received replay links and different follow-up content.
Best For
Businesses that want to combine email marketing with webinars, landing pages, and social media advertising in unified campaigns without managing multiple platforms.
“It has an accessible interface that makes it easy for a single person to set up and monitor multiple campaigns at once. The analytics dashboard gives immediate feedback on campaign performance with ease.”
— Sasha from Capterra
EngageBay — All-in-one CRM + Automation
EngageBay combines CRM, email marketing, and sales automation in one affordable platform, making it ideal for small businesses that want unified customer management without juggling multiple tools.
EngageBay Pricing: Starts at $14.99/month for up to 500 contacts | Free plan available for up to 250 contacts
What sets EngageBay apart is how tightly integrated its CRM and email automation features are. You can trigger email sequences based on deal stages, automatically assign lead scores based on email engagement, and create workflows that update contact records based on email interactions. The platform includes advanced segmentation that pulls from both CRM data and email behavior, letting you create highly targeted campaigns.
EngageBay also offers appointment scheduling, live chat, and help desk features that integrate with your email campaigns, creating a complete customer experience ecosystem. The visual automation builder makes it easy to create complex workflows that span marketing, sales, and customer service touchpoints.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Complete CRM integration with email automation triggers based on deal stages and lead scoring
- Extremely affordable pricing that includes marketing, sales, and service tools in one platform
- Built-in appointment scheduling, live chat, and helpdesk features for comprehensive customer management
❌ Cons:
- Interface feels cluttered due to the number of features packed into one platform
- Limited customization options for email templates compared to dedicated email platforms
- Some advanced automation features require manual setup and lack pre-built templates
Our Experience with EngageBay
We implemented EngageBay for a small consulting firm that was juggling separate tools for CRM, email marketing, and project management. The integration was immediate—we set up workflows where new leads from contact forms automatically created CRM deals, triggered welcome email sequences, and assigned follow-up tasks to sales reps.
The standout feature was how deal stage changes triggered different email nurture tracks. When prospects moved from “interested” to “proposal sent,” they automatically received case studies and testimonials, while the sales team got reminder tasks.
Best For
Small businesses and startups that need CRM, email marketing, sales automation, and customer support in one affordable platform without separate subscriptions.
“EngageBay has been a fantastic tool for our team. It’s easy to use and the support team is outstanding—always quick to respond and incredibly helpful.”
— Justin from Trustpilot
Brevo — Flexible Automation with Strong SMS Integration
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) excels at combining email and SMS automation in workflows that feel natural and cohesive. It’s built for businesses that want to reach customers through their preferred communication channels without managing separate platforms.
Brevo Pricing: Starts at $8/month for up to 10,000 monthly emails and 1,500 contacts| Free plan available with usage limitations.
The platform’s strength lies in its omnichannel automation capabilities. You can create workflows that automatically switch between email and SMS based on engagement levels, send SMS reminders for abandoned carts after email attempts, and use SMS for time-sensitive notifications while reserving email for detailed content.
Brevo’s contact management system tracks preferences across both channels, ensuring you don’t over-communicate or send messages through unwanted channels. The platform also includes robust transactional email and SMS capabilities, making it easy to send order confirmations, shipping updates, and account notifications.
The drag-and-drop automation builder makes it simple to create sophisticated multi-channel workflows.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Seamless email and SMS integration with intelligent channel switching based on engagement
- Strong transactional capabilities for both email and SMS with reliable delivery rates
- WhatsApp integration and international SMS support for global businesses
❌ Cons:
- SMS credits can become expensive for high-volume campaigns compared to dedicated SMS providers
- Automation builder lacks some advanced conditional logic found in specialized email platforms
- Limited ecommerce-specific features compared to platforms built specifically for online stores
Our Experience with Brevo
We used Brevo to build an omnichannel abandoned cart recovery system for an online retailer. The workflow started with email reminders, but if customers didn’t engage within 6 hours, they automatically received SMS notifications. For high-value carts over $200, we added WhatsApp messages with personalized discount codes.
The channel intelligence was impressive—Brevo tracked which customers preferred email versus SMS and adjusted future campaigns accordingly. We also set up transactional flows where order confirmations went via email, but shipping notifications used SMS for immediate visibility. The unified analytics showed that the multi-channel approach recovered 31% more abandoned carts compared to email-only campaigns, with SMS generating the fastest response times but email driving higher average order values.
Best For
Businesses that want to combine email and SMS marketing in automated workflows, especially international companies needing WhatsApp integration and transactional messaging.
“I’ve had an amazing experience with Brevo! I love the automations, the stats, and the notifications it provides. The double opt-in feature is my favorite, and I use it a lot for easy email subscriptions.”
— Kudakwashe from Capterra
Moosend — Affordable Automation with Advanced Features
Moosend delivers enterprise-level automation capabilities at a fraction of the cost of premium platforms. Despite its competitive pricing, it doesn’t compromise on sophisticated features like behavioral triggers, advanced segmentation, and detailed analytics.
Moosend Pricing: Starts at $16/month for up to 1,000 contacts | 30-day free trial available.
The platform’s automation engine rivals much more expensive tools, offering features like website tracking, custom events, and predictive analytics that help optimize send times and content. You can create complex behavioral triggers based on website activity, email engagement patterns, and custom data fields.
Moosend’s machine learning capabilities automatically optimize delivery times for each subscriber and provide product recommendations for ecommerce businesses. The platform includes advanced A/B testing that goes beyond subject lines to test entire workflows, send times, and content variations.
The visual workflow builder supports complex branching logic and conditional statements, making it possible to create sophisticated customer journeys.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Enterprise-level automation features at significantly lower prices than premium competitors
- Advanced machine learning for send-time optimization and personalized product recommendations
- Comprehensive A/B testing capabilities that extend to entire workflows and automation sequences
❌ Cons:
- Smaller template library compared to more established platforms like Mailchimp or Constant Contact
- Limited third-party integrations compared to industry leaders, requiring more manual setup
- Customer support response times can be slower than premium platforms during peak hours
Our Experience with Moosend
We tested Moosend’s advanced features against a premium competitor for an ecommerce client with a tight budget. The machine learning send-time optimization immediately caught our attention—within two weeks, it had learned each subscriber’s optimal engagement windows and automatically adjusted delivery times, boosting open rates by 18%.
The behavioral tracking was surprisingly sophisticated. We set up product recommendation emails that triggered based on browsing history, and the system automatically A/B tested different recommendation algorithms.
Best For
Growing businesses that need advanced automation features like machine learning optimization, behavioral triggers, and detailed analytics without premium platform pricing.
“We have tried a lot of different autoresponders and this has been the best of the lot. You’ve got high-end functions but without the cost of some of the bigger companies. We have been incredibly pleased with the deliverability we have received from Moosend.”
— Stephan from Capterra
MailerLite — User-Friendly Automation with Clean Interface
MailerLite prioritizes simplicity without sacrificing functionality, offering an intuitive platform that makes email automation accessible to beginners while providing enough power for growing businesses.
MailerLite Pricing: Starts at $9/month for up to 1,000 subscribers and unlimited emails | Free plan available.
The platform’s clean, modern interface makes building automation workflows feel effortless. The drag-and-drop editor extends beyond emails to include automation builders, signup forms, and landing pages, all maintaining the same user-friendly design philosophy. MailerLite’s automation features include behavioral triggers, time-based sequences, and conditional logic that can create sophisticated customer journeys without overwhelming complexity.
The subscriber management system offers intuitive segmentation tools, custom fields, and tagging systems that make organizing contacts straightforward.
Advanced features include A/B testing for automations, detailed reporting with revenue tracking, and integrations with popular ecommerce and CRM platforms.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros:
- Exceptionally clean and intuitive interface that makes complex automation workflows feel simple
- Generous free plan that includes automation features, unlike many competitors
- Built-in website builder and landing page creator with seamless email integration
❌ Cons:
- Limited advanced segmentation options compared to more robust platforms like ActiveCampaign
- Fewer pre-built automation templates, requiring more manual workflow construction
- Integration library is smaller than enterprise-focused platforms, limiting third-party connections
Our Experience with MailerLite
We chose MailerLite for a nonprofit client who needed powerful automation but had limited technical expertise. The setup process was remarkably smooth—we built a donor engagement workflow with welcome series, event invitations, and re-engagement campaigns in under two hours, without any confusion or need for tutorials.
The clean interface really shone when training their team. Non-technical staff could easily modify email content, adjust automation timing, and create new segments without breaking anything. We were particularly impressed with how the landing page builder integrated with email capture—creating donation pages that automatically triggered thank-you sequences and donor nurture campaigns felt effortless.
Best For
Beginners and small teams that want powerful automation features with an intuitive interface, plus businesses needing integrated landing pages and website building.
“Mailerlite is filled with pretty templates, and if you want to design it yourself the drag and drop designing is so easy to use! After a campaign is sent I have full control and overview of the response of the receivers. And not to mention landing pages. A fun way to make simple and noticeable pages for a campaign that doesn’t need complicated coding and design.”
— Danna from G2
Email Marketing Automation Examples
Understanding how to implement best automated email campaigns can transform your marketing results, but seeing real examples makes the difference between theory and practice. The following automation workflows represent the most profitable and widely-used campaigns across different business types and industries.
Essential Automation Workflows
The foundation of email automation starts with essential workflows that every business should implement. Welcome series remain the most effective automation, generating up to 320% more revenue per email than other promotional emails and achieving an impressive 86% open rate with 26.9% click-through rates.
A typical welcome workflow includes an immediate thank-you email, followed by brand introduction, value proposition, and social proof over 5-7 days.
Modern automation builders use drag-and-drop interfaces that make creating these workflows intuitive. You can easily set triggers, add delays, and branch paths based on subscriber behavior. The visual workflow builder lets you see the entire customer journey at a glance, making it simple to optimize timing and content.
Most platforms include pre-built templates for common workflows like welcome series, birthday campaigns, and re-engagement sequences, allowing you to launch effective automations within minutes rather than hours.
Ecommerce Email Automation
Ecommerce automation focuses on converting browsers into buyers and buyers into repeat customers. Cart abandonment workflows are essential, with recovery rates typically ranging from 10-20% of abandoned purchases.
The standard sequence starts with a gentle reminder after 1 hour, followed by urgency-focused emails at 24 and 72 hours, often including discount incentives for high-value carts. Abandoned cart flows drive an average of $3.65 revenue per recipient, making them the highest-performing automated email type.
Product recommendation emails leverage purchase history and browsing behavior to suggest relevant items. Personalized and targeted campaigns generate 58% of total email marketing revenue when properly implemented. Post-purchase sequences create a complete customer experience that builds trust and encourages repeat purchases while reducing support inquiries.
Here’s a product recommendation email from Good Eggs:
B2B Lead Nurturing Automation
B2B lead nurturing requires sophisticated automation that guides prospects through longer sales cycles. Lead scoring systems automatically assign points based on email engagement, website visits, content downloads, and demographic data. When leads reach predetermined score thresholds, they trigger different nurture tracks or sales notifications.
Here’s how lead nurturing works with a free ebook popup:
After downloading the ebook, users receive a follow-up email containing the ebook and a special holiday discount code:
Multi-path nurturing workflows branch based on prospect behavior and characteristics. C-level executives might receive ROI-focused content, while technical users get detailed feature comparisons and case studies. The key is delivering value at every touchpoint while gently moving prospects toward sales conversations through educational content and social proof.
Customer Lifecycle Email Automation
Customer lifecycle automation recognizes that different customers need different experiences based on their relationship stage with your brand. New customers receive onboarding sequences that ensure product adoption, while loyal customers get exclusive offers and early access to new features.
Lifecycle stage automation segments customers into categories like new, active, at-risk, and churned, then delivers appropriate messaging for each segment. New customers might receive tutorial content and success tips, active customers get product updates and upsell opportunities, at-risk customers receive win-back campaigns with special incentives, and churned customers get re-engagement sequences.
Advanced Behavioral Trigger Campaigns
Advanced behavioral triggers go beyond basic email opens and clicks to include website activity, app usage, and custom events. Behavioral trigger emails generate 10 times greater revenue than other marketing email types, making them incredibly valuable for conversion optimization. Website tracking integration allows emails to trigger based on specific page visits, time spent on site, or product views.
This user triggered a subscription sign-up form, but didn’t go through with it, so Misfits Market send them this email:
When the sign-up still wasn’t completed, this follow-up email was sent to address any lingering doubts:
Complex conditional logic creates sophisticated workflows with multiple if/then scenarios. For example, if a customer views a product but doesn’t purchase within 24 hours, they receive a targeted email with reviews and testimonials. If they visit the pricing page multiple times, they get a demo invitation.
