Email marketing tools: how to choose the right platform

Email remains one of the most reliable channels for nurturing leads and keeping customers, because you own the list and reach people directly. The platform you choose matters less than how you use it, but a poor fit with your CRM or your team’s skills will hold you back.

What should an email platform do?

• Lists and segments based on behaviour, interests and CRM data.
• Campaigns and automation: welcome series, nurture sequences, re-engagement, transactional messages.
• Forms and landing pages to capture new subscribers with clear consent.
• Integration with your CRM, website and e-commerce platform.
• Deliverability tools: domain authentication, list hygiene, spam testing.
• Consent and compliance: double opt-in, preference centres, unsubscribe handling and records of consent.
• Reporting on clicks, replies, conversions and revenue.

Which platforms suit which needs?

These are well-established options, grouped by the job they do best. Pricing models change often, so compare current plans at your list size.

Need	Platforms to consider
CRM and marketing in one place	HubSpot, ActiveCampaign
Email plus SMS and transactional messages	Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), GetResponse
Simple newsletters and campaigns	Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Moosend, Benchmark Email
Creators and content businesses	Kit (formerly ConvertKit), AWeber
E-commerce	Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend

Many companies use two tools: a CRM-led platform for sales and nurture, and a dedicated service for high-volume transactional email.

How do you choose?

1. Start from your CRM. If you use HubSpot or another CRM with built-in email, check whether it already covers your needs before adding another tool.
2. List your must-have automations, such as lead nurture, onboarding and renewal reminders.
3. Check integrations with your website forms, CRM and booking tools, and how data flows in both directions.
4. Test usability with the people who will build the emails.
5. Check data protection: where data is stored, consent features and data processing terms.

What are the deliverability basics?

The best tool can’t help if emails land in spam:

• Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Major mailbox providers now require this for bulk senders.
• Only email people who opted in. Never buy lists.
• Remove inactive and bouncing addresses regularly.
• Make unsubscribing easy, including one-click unsubscribe.
• Send relevant content to the right segments rather than everything to everyone.
• Warm up new domains gradually.

Which emails work best for growing companies?

• Welcome sequences that deliver what people signed up for and introduce what you do.
• Nurture sequences of useful content tied to the buyer’s problem, with a clear next step.
• Event-triggered emails, such as after a download, a demo or an assessment result.
• Customer emails: onboarding, tips, renewals and requests for reviews.
• A regular newsletter with genuinely useful insights, not only company news.

How should you measure email?

Open rates have become unreliable because privacy features pre-load images. Focus on clicks, replies, meetings booked, conversions and revenue from email, plus unsubscribe and spam complaint rates. Connect email data to your CRM so you can see which sequences lead to customers. See marketing analytics.

Where to start

Email works best as part of a joined-up path from first visit to signed deal. Our AI-Era Growth work sets up nurture, follow-up and the hand-over to sales so leads don’t go cold. Tell us where you’re stuck.