The 5 Best CRM Software for Email Marketing in 2022
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
This article is part of a larger series on CRM.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software with email marketing capabilities allows businesses to communicate with leads and customers individually or on a mass scale without leaving the platform. A CRM with email marketing includes features for designing email templates, deploying them, and monitoring the results of email campaigns. We evaluated dozens of CRMs with email marketing functionality and narrowed it down to the top five.
Here are the best CRM options for email marketing:
- Freshsales: Best overall email marketing CRM option, offering extensive email campaign customizations
- Zoho CRM: Excellent choice for businesses looking to integrate their business communications with other productivity applications
- HubSpot: Great option for email-heavy startups looking for a free CRM option
- Salesforce Essentials: Ideal for small teams that need basic email marketing features, such as e-signature and document management features
- Nimble: Best for sales teams that want automated contact insights and data enrichment features
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Free Plan Offered | ✓ | For up to 3 users | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Starting Price for Paid Plans* | $15 per user, per month | $7 per user, per month | $18 per user, per month | $25 per user, per month (up to 10 users) | $19 per user, per month |
Free Trial for Paid Plans | 21 days | 15 days | 14 days | 14 days | 14 days |
Mobile App | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Customer Support | 24/5 phone, chat, and email on the free plan | Knowledge base and 24/5 phone and email on the free plan | Knowledge base and HubSpot Academy on the free plan | Email, live chat, and community forums | Email, support center, onboarding, weekly Q & A, and 1:1 consults |
*Based on annual billing
Freshsales: Best Overall CRM for Email Marketing
Freshsales
Overall Score: 4.45 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- User-friendly email customization interface
- Device optimization features to check the responsiveness of emails
- Offers a free plan for unlimited users
What's Missing
- Lacks sales enablement tools like a quote proposal generator
- Relatively limited integrations available for productivity applications
- Email templates have limited font options
Freshsales Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Unlimited users (limited features)
- Growth: $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $39 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
- Free trial: 21 days
Add-ons for Paid Plans
- Workflows: $5
- Phone credits: Starts at $25
- CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote): $19 per user, per month
*Pricing is based on annual billing rates. Monthly rates are available at a slightly higher price.
The most standout attribute of Freshsales is its ease of use. The interface is user-friendly, specifically when using the email campaign customization features. It gives sales teams the ability to utilize drag-and-drop functionality when creating email layouts, style, message, and design. Businesses engaged in frequent promotional email advertising, such as retailers, wholesalers, or ecommerce sites, benefit the most from these features.
Freshsales Features
Freshworks CRM’s drag-and-drop interface
(Source: Freshsales CRM)
- Drag-and-drop email editing capabilities
- Ability to test device responsiveness of email displays on desktops, mobile devices, and tablets
- Artificial intelligence (AI) automation to schedule emails based on recipient behaviors like online forms submitted
- Multiple built-in contact communication channel options, including phone, email, live chat, WhatsApp, SMS, and Apple Business Chat
- Marketing segmentation features automate the grouping of potential customers based on geography, demographics, and behavior
Want to learn more about this CRM? Check out our Freshsales review, where we explore its rich feature set.
Zoho CRM: Best CRM for Email Marketing & App Integrations
Zoho CRM
Overall Score: 4.35 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Integrates easily with most Google Workspace and Office 365 applications
- Free option available
- Built-in automated email notification features
What's Missing
- Lacks 24/7 customer service availability
- Interface navigation is difficult initially, especially for new users
- Reporting analytics can be challenging to use
Zoho CRM Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Up to three users (minimal features)
- Bigin: $7 per user, per month
- Standard: $14 per user, per month
- Professional: $23 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
- Zoho CRM Plus: $57 per user, per month
- Free trial: 15 days
*Pricing is based on annual billing rates. Monthly rates are available at a slightly higher price.
For email marketing purposes, Zoho CRM is an excellent option overall, primarily due to its ability to integrate with nearly all of the Google Workspace and Office 365 applications (as well as email-specific integration with Yahoo!). Once integrated, users can manage and track their contacts, calendars, email system, and files in one CRM location.
However, Zoho CRM’s free plan is limited to three users and only offers basic features. For a more robust free plan that supports unlimited users, consider HubSpot or Freshsales.
Zoho CRM Features
Zoho CRM lead contact information page
(Source: Zoho)
- Email analytics features allow users to track individual sales metrics, such as bounce rate, click rate, and revenue generated via email
- Automates scheduling and deployment of mass email campaigns
- Email status monitoring is built in to check if messages were delivered, opened, and read
- SalesInbox feature automatically displays email communications as a sales pipeline that can be organized, followed up on, and analyzed automatically
- Integration options allow users to synchronize inboxes, contacts, and calendars into the CRM
Read our Zoho CRM review to learn more about how it helps small businesses achieve their goals.
HubSpot: Best Free CRM for Email Marketing
HubSpot
Overall Score: 3.90 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- The free option offers relatively robust advanced features like industry benchmark data, ad management, and live chat communication
- CRM branding customization allows your business to display your logo instead of the HubSpot logo
- Social media integration with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
What's Missing
- Paid plans get expensive per user
- Content management for blogs and social media accounts are only available in higher-priced plans
- Limited customer support on free plan—offers only a knowledge base
HubSpot Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Supports an unlimited number of users
- HubSpot for Startups: Ranges from $40 to $89 per month
- Marketing Hub: Starts at $18 per month
- Sales Hub: Starts at $18 per month
- Service Hub: Starts at $18 per month
- CMS Hub: Ranges from $23 to $1,200 per month
- Operations Hub: Free for syncing HubSpot with third-party apps; paid plans start at $18
- CRM Suite: Starts at $45 per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing is based on annual billing rates. Monthly rates are available at a slightly higher price.
Compared to other free CRM plans, HubSpot offers a relatively robust set of features. The free plan offers basic CRM functions like contact organization, communication channels (phone, live chat, and email), and reporting analytics. You’ll also get more advanced features like ad content management, auto-conversational bots, and integrations with online contact forms. It is a solid solution for startups looking for a free CRM, offering marketing, sales, service, and operational management tools.
HubSpot supports unlimited users on its free version and includes team email management tools. However, if you’re looking for other providers that offer a free plan, consider Zoho CRM and Freshsales. Zoho CRM’s free version provides email automation tools, and Freshsales is the easiest to use for designing and sending email campaigns.
HubSpot CRM Features
HubSpot CRM email campaign customizer
(Source: HubSpot CRM)
- Built-in, simple form follow-up email automation
- Buyer Persona feature for creating and promoting to an ideal customer
- Sales engagement features for quote generation
- Ability to manage blog content within the CRM for search engine optimization (SEO)
- AI capabilities within the CRM for sales automation and data management
Read our HubSpot CRM review to learn more about how this platform helps small businesses grow.
Salesforce Essentials: Best CRM for Basic Email Marketing Features & Document Management Integrations
Salesforce Essentials
Overall Score: 3.71 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Integrations with e-signature platforms
- Relatively inexpensive to subscribe
- Robust CRM reporting metrics
What's Missing
- So many features and buttons that it can be challenging to navigate the interface
- Lacks features for generating quotes and proposals
- Customizing the portal is tedious
Salesforce Essentials Pricing at a Glance
- Essentials: $25 per user, per month, billed annually or $35 per user, per month, billed monthly
- Free trial: 14 days
Salesforce Essentials offers the ability to automatically pull and sync data from your inbox straight to your CRM dashboard. The platform also integrates with document management and e-signature platforms like DocuSign, Dropbox, HelloSign, CodeScience, Nicereply, and Zapier. These applications make it a valuable tool for businesses with many documentation and customer sign-off procedures, such as insurance agencies, real estate brokers, lawyers, and business consultants.
While Salesforce Essentials is an affordable platform for small businesses, it is capped at 10 users. Additionally, more advanced Salesforce plans are expensive and do not offer monthly billing options. For a free CRM that supports unlimited users and offers affordable pricing tiers, we recommend Freshsales or HubSpot.
Salesforce Essentials Features
Salesforce Essentials dashboard
(Source: Salesforce Essentials)
- Easy-to-find and integrate third-party integrations by using the Salesforce AppExchange
- Lightning App Builder allows businesses to build custom applications within the Salesforce platform using prebuilt templates and a drag-and-drop interface
- Mass emailing capabilities for scheduling, deploying, and monitoring email campaign results
- Generate leads from an organization’s website and import them directly into the CRM
- Strong mobile app capabilities, allowing offline use for lead management
Read our Salesforce Essential review to discover if this is the right platform for your business.
Nimble: Best Email Marketing CRM With Insights From Data Enrichment
Nimble
Overall Score: 2.98 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Contact information verification features
- Relatively inexpensive
- Integrations with Office 365 and Google Workspace
What's Missing
- No sales enablement features for quoting, invoicing, or payment processing
- Mobile app has limited functionality
- Lacks an intuitive interface
Nimble Pricing at a Glance
- Nimble Business: $19 per user, per month, billed annually ($25 per user, per month, billed monthly)
- Free trial: 14 days
Nimble allows users to view up-to-date and accurate contact information. This is made possible through its data enrichment and business insight features. It imports information like contact name, company name, the number of employees, and industry. You can also filter data on prospective companies based on industry, employees, revenue, CEO, and other business-related information.
While Nimble offers robust customer support and email marketing features, it doesn’t offer a free plan. Furthermore, it has a user interface that can be challenging to navigate, especially for new users. For a solid CRM with a free plan and email marketing tools, consider HubSpot.
Nimble CRM Features
Nimble CRM’s contact enrichment
(Source: Nimble)
- Business insights feature pulls verified and up-to-date information on specific companies
- Offers email templates and email tracking features
- Built-in features for automatic updates on lead contact information when Nimble users browse the web or work in their email inbox
- Access to customizable email templates
- Offers 1:1 consulting for users and new user onboarding
- Integration with QuickBooks for automatic accounting updates
How We Evaluated the Best CRM Systems for Email Marketing
A CRM that offers email marketing tools should provide email automation capabilities, integrations with third-party email providers, and synchronization with applications to improve the overall customer management experience. Additionally, providers should offer solid customer support, be easy to use, and offer attractive pricing options—some of the core CRM features small businesses need.
Based on our evaluation, Freshsales is the best overall choice for email marketing due to its pricing, email-related features, and easy setup. It offers a free plan and an intuitive interface that’s easy to use, even for new users.
Click through the tabs below to learn more about our evaluation criteria:
40%
Pricing
20%
General Features
15%
Ease of Use
15%
Help & Support
10%
Expert Score
40% of Overall Score
Total costs, along with a variety of pricing options, are typically the most important criteria for any small business decision. Therefore, it was the most heavily weighted when reviewing all of the best CRM software for email marketing capabilities. These criteria looked at free account availability, numerous subscription choices, and monthly billing options.
20% of Overall Score
We looked at overall features as well as email-specific features we consider a necessity for CRM software, including email automation functions, format customization, third-party integrations, contact management features, and mobile capabilities.
15% of Overall Score
The functions of any application are only as beneficial as they are usable. Therefore, ease of use of the varying CRM software is the next highest weight of criteria. Ease of use was analyzed in terms of the expertise needed to integrate it with other applications, the skill required to operate email marketing features, and the overall interface usability.
15% of Overall Score
Help and support hold the same weight as the ease-of-use criteria, and we evaluated it in terms of customer service hours, phone support, live chat support, and email support.
10% of Overall Score
In addition to our own experiences with the providers, we looked at reputable review sites and gathered expert opinions from outside sources. We evaluated standout features, overall value for money spent, popularity, and ease of use.
*Percentages of overall score
