Even as texting and other communication methods gain traction, email remains a powerful tool for marketers. Email offers your company a direct line to engage with prospects and customers. It allows you to build relationships, nurture leads, and drive conversions effectively. Just how effective is email marketing? One study concluded that the average ROI for B2B companies is $42 for every dollar spent. Another found that email open rates hover around 20% but are nearly double that for software providers.
That’s especially amazing when you consider that B2B SaaS marketing benchmarks for PPC click-through rate are just 1.6% across industries, 2.1% for SaaS. Just imagine what you could accomplish if you could multiply that success by 20X! However, the unique needs of SaaS companies—such as long sales cycles, complex customer journeys, and the necessity for personalized communication—require specialized B2B email marketing tools. To meet these needs, SaaS companies must partner with a platform that offers robust features tailored for their specific challenges.
Just like when you’re shopping for the best CRM for B2B SaaS, you’ve got to do the research required to make an informed choice to select the right email platform for your company. Here are some recommendations to get you started:
Top 10 B2B Email Marketing Tools for SaaS
1. HubSpot
HubSpot is one of the most popular and widely adopted email marketing and customer management systems on the market. One recent report put the number of HubSpot users at 216,840 as of March 2024, an increase of 11,749 over the previous quarter – and there are good reasons for its popularity.
HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of features that integrate marketing, sales, and customer service into one platform, allowing SaaS companies to streamline their marketing efforts and ensure seamless communication across departments. Outstanding automation capabilities mean that team members can focus their attention on critical tasks. Powerful analytics and reporting tools enable precise tracking of customer interactions and campaign performance, helping businesses optimize their strategies.
HubSpot does offer a free plan, but customization options are limited. A free trial will enable you to check out all the features and determine which pricing option best meets your needs.
What we like about HubSpot: Their free Email Marketing Course will improve everything you do with their platform.
2. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice for SaaS companies shopping for B2B email marketing tools. Like most competitors, ActiveCampaign offers advanced automation capabilities and CRM integration. Predictive content features enhance email marketing effectiveness by using data and machine learning to determine tailored content for each recipient to increase engagement rates with personalization. The platform supports multi-channel marketing, including email, SMS, and social media, which helps in reaching a wider audience. ActiveCampaign’s robust analytics provide insights into campaign performance, helping SaaS companies optimize their strategies.
ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial for you to explore all that the platform offers.
What we like about ActiveCampaign: Their focus on automation reduces the amount of time and effort you have to devote to campaign management.
3. Brevo
Formerly Sendinblue, Brevo is a dynamic email marketing platform ideal for SaaS companies, offering unique features such as advanced transactional email capabilities. This feature ensures reliable and timely communication with users for account confirmations, password resets, and other critical interactions, making it particularly valuable for SaaS businesses with high transactional email volumes. Additionally, Brevo’s multi-channel marketing approach, which includes SMS, chat, and CRM tools, provides a comprehensive solution for engaging customers across various touchpoints.
Brevo offers a limited free tier, a range of affordable pricing options, and custom plans for larger organizations with specific needs.
What we like about Brevo: You can send up to 300 emails per day on the free plan.
4. AWeber
AWeber caters to both beginners and advanced users. With its drag-and-drop email builder and a vast library of pre-designed templates, creating professional and visually appealing emails is straightforward. AWeber’s automation capabilities enable users to set up auto responses, follow-up sequences, and targeted email campaigns, all of which are essential for nurturing leads and maintaining customer engagement.
With a strong focus on deliverability, AWeber promises to ensure that emails reach the inbox rather than the spam folder, maximizing the impact of each campaign. Detailed reporting and analytics provide insights into email performance, open rates, and click-through rates. AWeber also supports A/B testing, allowing users to optimize their campaigns by testing different subject lines, content, and send times. Integration with various SaaS tools enhance the platform’s functionality and make it a versatile choice for businesses.
AWeber offers a limited free plan, with options to upgrade as your needs grow.
What we like about AWeber: The platform’s Canva integration will help you create and send visually appealing emails.
5. Constant Contact
Among the most versatile B2B email marketing tools available, Constant Contact is ideal for SaaS companies looking to enhance their efforts. It offers an array of features tailored to meet the needs of SaaS businesses, including event marketing tools that are perfect for promoting webinars, product launches, and virtual events. Its easy-to-use email editor and customizable templates simplify the creation of professional emails without the need for extensive design skills.
Constant Contact excels at segmentation, allowing for highly targeted email campaigns that resonate with different groups of customers. The platform’s built-in, robust analytics capabilities provide detailed insights into email performance, helping SaaS companies refine their strategies and improve engagement rates.
Constant Contact integrates seamlessly with various SaaS platforms and CRM tools to ensure that customer data is synchronized and campaigns are well-coordinated across multiple channels. Additionally, its social media marketing features enable SaaS companies to extend their reach beyond email, engaging customers on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Constant Contact offers a free trial and a limited-feature Lite pricing tier. The company also offers expanded a la carte services for organizations wanting a comprehensive solution that addresses a variety of needs.
What we like about Constant Contact: The platform is a well-established industry leader. They’ve got a deep library of on-demand webinars to make sure you can master every feature of the software.
6. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is designed to be intuitive, allowing even those without technical expertise to set up and manage email campaigns effectively. This makes it an ideal choice for SaaS startups and smaller teams that need powerful tools without a steep learning curve. One standout feature is the tool’s Visual Automation Builder, which allows users to create complex email sequences with ease. This feature helps SaaS businesses design personalized customer journeys that guide leads through the sales funnel efficiently.
Powerful segmentation and tagging capabilities enable SaaS companies to send highly targeted emails based on user behavior and preferences. Additionally, ConvertKit offers customizable sign-up forms and landing pages, which are essential for capturing leads and growing your email list organically.
ContentKit offers a free 14-day trial and free migration service.
What we like about ConvertKit: Check out their podcast for tips that will improve your email marketing, no matter what platform you’re using.
7. Drip
Drip is a powerful email marketing tool that is a great match for companies with a focus on e-commerce. In addition to providing email capabilities like other platforms, Drip offers an advanced customer data management feature that gives you deep insights into customer actions and preferences. By leveraging this data, you’ll be better able tailor your messaging to address specific customer needs and pain points, ultimately driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
Drip offers a 14-day free trial, after which a single affordable pricing tier offers access to all features.
What we like about Drip: Built-in templates and an intuitive editor make it easy for anyone to use, even novices.
8. GetResponse
Combined with predesigned, customizable templates, an AI-powered copy generation tool makes fast work of email marketing for GetResponse users. The platform also offers a wide range of unique features that simplify the process of nurturing prospects from lead generation to conversion.
GetResponse’s comprehensive software allows companies to engage with their audience in a variety of ways including through live, interactive webinars, enhancing customer education and product demonstrations.
GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial that gives you access to all premium features as you get to know the platform.
What we like about GetResponse: Powered by OpenAI, their AI email generator feature is ready to generate copy – and even subject lines – in multiple languages.
9. Mailchimp
Now an Intuit product, Mailchimp is among the more versatile B2B email marketing tools. Its intuitive drag-and-drop email builder and extensive template library make it easy to create professional, engaging emails. Mailchimp’s A/B testing capabilities and detailed analytics help optimize campaigns for better performance. Additionally, its automation features allow SaaS businesses to set up personalized customer journeys, enhancing user engagement and retention.
Pricing is small business-friendly, making Mailchimp a good option for SaaS companies looking to grow their customer base and nurture leads. A free plan is available. Fees on higher-level plans are reduced when you pay for a year in advance, rather than in monthly installments.
What we like about Mailchimp: Robust analytics and reporting tools make it easy to know what’s working and what’s not, enabling quick pivots for improved ROI.
10. Omnisend
Omnisend is a powerful email marketing tool ideal for SaaS companies, offering comprehensive multi-channel marketing capabilities that go beyond email and include options such as SMS and web push notifications. It’s particularly suited for SaaS businesses that want to integrate various marketing channels into a single process.
Omnisend’s pre-built automation workflows ensure highly targeted campaigns that drive engagement and conversions. The platform’s ease of use and powerful analytics make it a valuable tool for optimizing marketing efforts.
Omnisend offers a free tier for small lists and then promises to grow with you as your company scales.
What we like about Omnisend: Segmentation is easy and fast, making sure that your emails reach the audience that will want to receive them.
Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform
Clearly, there are many B2B email marketing tools on the market. Many capabilities are standard among them, yet each of the tools we’ve listed offers its own unique features. Take the time required to select a partner that offers everything you need at just the right price for your SaaS.
Do you need help with email strategy and implementation or anything else related to marketing your SaaS? The Bay Leaf Digital team is ready to help. Schedule a conversation with us today.
