Top 7 CRM tools for effective customer emailing
Emailing is a very important lever in any CRM (Customer Relationship Management). It is used to recruit, retain and follow-up with customers - in short, to build relationships.
When it comes to optimising prospecting budgets, the digital marketing department has no hesitation in using this highly cost-effective tool as part of its multi-channel strategy.
Find out more about CRM tips and best practice, and the best software for managing your email campaigns in 2025.
A look at the concepts of CRM and emailing
Customer Relationship Management is "all the marketing and sales measures and operations designed to optimise the quality of customer relations, build loyalty and maximise turnover or margin per customer. "(source: Marketing Definitions).
It's the art of optimising your company's interactions with your customers and prospects.
The aim is to :
- collection,
- processing
- and analysis of information on each customer and prospect to assist in customer relationship management.
There are a number of tools available to achieve this: software to create and feed a qualified database (contact details, purchasing habits, age, birthday, etc.), customer satisfaction questionnaires, loyalty programmes, after-sales service and the star of the day: emailing.
Emailing, or mass emailing, is a marketing campaign carried out via the email channel.
Often cited as the lever that delivers the best return on investment, it's an excellent marketing tool for your customer relationship management, thanks to the interaction that can be achieved between your emailing solution and your CRM database.
A marketing CRM and a sales CRM differ in their objectives and specific functionalities.
-
- The marketing CRM is designed to engage and retain customers. It enables contacts to be segmented, campaigns to be automated, and results to be analysed to maximise the impact of marketing communications.
- Sales CRM, on the other hand, focuses on sales: it helps teams to manage leads, opportunities and conversions by tracking each stage of the sales cycle, facilitating personalised customer follow-up and day-to-day sales performance.
Comparison table of the 7 best emailing CRM tools
1 of 8
 ActiveCampaign |  Brevo (ex Sendinblue) |  Copper CRM |  Creatio |  HubSpot CRM |  Nutshell |  Zoho CRM |  monday CRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For all companies | For all companies | For companies with more than 50 employees | For companies with more than 250 employees | For companies with more than 1 employees | For companies with more than 5000 employees | For all companies | For companies with 1 to 5000 employees |
| See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software |
| Learn more about ActiveCampaign | Learn more about Brevo (ex Sendinblue) | Learn more about Copper CRM | Learn more about Creatio | Learn more about HubSpot CRM | Learn more about Nutshell | Learn more about Zoho CRM | Learn more about monday CRM |
Top 7 CRM tools with emailing
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign's email marketing tool is all about personalisation and automation.
In particular, it offers a wide range of design options so you can fine-tune your emails as you wish.
The editor features an easy-to-use drag-and-drop system. You can add :
- CTAs
- images
- videos
- social links,
- and HTML blocks...
in just a few clicks.
Personalisation doesn't stop there. The tool also lets you segment your audience according to how they interact with your emails. This means you can offer unique content tailored to all your prospects.
When it comes to automation, you are in complete control. For example, if someone subscribes to your newsletter, they can be added directly to a contact list, receive a welcome email, or be assigned a specific tag. The choice is yours.
Of course, the CRM gives you access to personalised reports to assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
ActiveCampaign combines all the features to maximise the ROI of your marketing efforts. The deserved top 🥇 of our ranking.
ActiveCampaign
Brevo
Brevo is a free (up to 9,300 emails/day), high-performance French mailing platform. 3 good reasons to choose it to create your future email marketing campaigns.
With this tool, you have a number of templates that you can customise as you wish using an intuitive drag and drop system.
The software also includes automation functions to respond to all possible scenarios:
- basket abandonment
- welcome message
- birthday, etc.
Brevo even offers personalised messages based on the pages visited and the response to campaigns. All the more reason to boost your conversion and customer retention rates.
In addition to its email marketing-specific features, Brevo also lets you extend your campaigns to SMS and WhatsApp.
And that's all for the free version. For €13.50 a month, you'll also have access to :
- comprehensive reporting tools
- premium telephone support
- predictive sending and A/B testing.
Quite simply, a complete tool.
Brevo (ex Sendinblue)
Copper
Copper is a solution reserved exclusively for users of Gmail and the Google Workspace suite. It does not integrate with other tools such as Microsoft Outlook or Office 365.
This is certainly a limitation, but one that allows you to exploit the full potential of Google's mailbox:
- updating the customer database with each email received,
- use CRM functions directly from Gmail,
- sending personalised, automated emails...
All the basic functions are there.
In terms of reporting and analysis, Copper offers targeted capabilities such as the ability to check :
- whether your recipients have also visited your site,
- on which pages did they land?
- For how long?
Interesting insights, but relatively limited.
Finally, Copper offers a feature called the "relational strength score". An index based on your email traffic.
An excellent tool for managers who want to analyse the flow of exchanges between their teams.
Copper CRM
Creatio
Creatio marketing (the Creatio tool dedicated to emailing) combines absolutely all the features of the other tools in our top ten. It doesn't specialise in any one area, but is effective everywhere.
It offers :
- an extensive template library
- block-based customisation functions
- and even ChatGPT integration to help you with copywriting.
It lets you segment your mailings with relevant filters and split tests.
And don't forget the analysis options, with :
- opening rate reports
- UTM code tracking
- a click heat map, etc.
Creatio
HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one platform offering solutions for inbound marketing, sales and customer service. Naturally, it also includes options for email marketing.
We recommend HubSpot if you want to take advantage of a complete arsenal dedicated to your digital marketing, but without the need to integrate several dedicated applications.
Everything is centralised on a single CRM. This makes it easier to use all the functions offered in a coordinated way, but it does take some getting used to.
HubSpot's great strength for your email campaigns is its comprehensive marketing automation management.
The solution also offers all the basic functions you would expect:
- choice of predefined templates
- creation of personalised email sequences,
- precise tracking of opens,
- clicks and downloads, etc.
Perfect for integrating your emailing strategy into a global digital marketing ecosystem.
HubSpot CRM
Nutshell CRM
Nutshell makes it easy to manage your email marketing campaigns. Its main strength is its ease of use and well-designed automation functions, particularly when it comes to email sequencing.
Thanks to templates and simple filtering, you can create mass-targeted campaigns effortlessly and optimise your lead nurturing strategy. Sequences are automatically deactivated as soon as a recipient responds.
For analysis, Nutshell tracks response rates to help you identify the most effective messages.
It integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Office 365.
Nutshell
Zoho CRM
We end our top ten with Zoho CRM. A solution that balances ease of use and performance.
Not surprisingly, Zoho CRM also offers ready-to-use templates and customisation options with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop system (Canvas Builder).
However, it should be noted that Zoho CRM does not natively integrate the management of mass emailing campaigns. To access it, you'll need to use Zoho Campaigns.
Apart from that, there's nothing to say. The reporting tools are comprehensive, with :
- information about the mailing
- opening
- and readership information.
Zoho is compatible with the main mailboxes in the sector (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.).
Zoho CRM
How to choose your emailing CRM?
The essentials of a CRM for successful email marketing
Email marketing is one of the most effective (and economical) digital marketing techniques. But to get the most out of it, your CRM needs to offer features tailored to your needs. What are the most essential features?
👉 The simpler a tool is to use, the more effective it is. So opt for emailing CRMs with :
- well-stocked libraries of ready-to-use templates,
- a clear interface
- and a no-code email builder.
Your sales teams will thank you.
👉 The challenge of a successful emailing strategy is to maintain a constant balance between automation and personalisation in exchanges. Your CRM tool should reflect this balance with options for :
- audience segmentation
- predictive sending
- intelligent triggered scenarios.
👉 A good emailing CRM doesn't just send messages, it also helps you analyse them. To do this, it offers comprehensive dashboards with :
- open rates,
- clicks
- conversions
- and heat maps to adjust your campaigns in real time.
A/B tests are also highly relevant.
👉 Above all, don't overlook the modularity of your tool. It needs to adapt to your growth and remain effective as you grow. It must also be compatible with the applications you use now and will use in the future.
Summary table of emailing CRMs
|
CRM tools |
Main features/Strong points |
Prices and packages |
|
ActiveCampaign |
|
From €15 / month / user. |
|
Brevo |
|
Free offer. Then from €6.33 / month / user. |
|
Copper |
|
From €10.24 / month / user. |
|
Creatio |
|
From €25 / month / user. |
|
Hubspot |
|
Free offer. Then from €882 per month. |
|
Nutshell CRM |
|
From €11.09 / user / month. |
|
Zoho CRM |
|
From €14 / month / user. |
Free turnkey emailing service providers
Platforms called "routers" exist, with free but limited formulas, on which you can use a template from among several options, then, after first exporting a mail listing from your database, import this file into it in .csv or .txt format.
✅ Advantages :
- cost-effective
- intuitive
- easy to use,
- no commitment,
- you can switch from the free version to the pay version at any time,
- some analytical data available.
❌ Disadvantages:
- the emailing solution offers you 6,000 free sends per month and you have a big campaign to send? Often, you won't be able to exceed 200 sends per day ;
- generating the file yourself and then integrating it into the emailing platform.
Paid emailing service providers, integrated into your database
You choose a paid emailing service provider that can be integrated with your existing tools.
✅ Benefits of interoperability between your emailing solution and your CRM tool:
- Saves time,
- customisation to suit your needs,
- easier management of mailing lists,
- multi-criteria targeting from your CRM database,
- synchronisation of new contacts, unsubscribes and errors,
- behavioural analysis with tracking,
- measurement of commercial impact,
- traceability of your emailing operations in your CRM database.
❌ Disadvantages:
- training time for the tool,
- budget depending on the package chosen.
10 tips for optimising your CRM with emailing
Emailing is one of the strings you need to add to your CRM "bow".
As part of a multi-channel marketing campaign, emailing using data from your CRM database will increase the effectiveness of your communications with your customers.
Tip 1: Determine your objectives
Do you want to acquire new customers? Or retain the ones you already have?
Customer acquisition can be a strategy of conquest and prospecting, necessary for the development of any business, but with an uncertain return on investment (ROI).
Email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter for acquiring new customers (source DigitaWeb).
According to several sources, acquiring customers costs 5 to 7 times more than retaining them.
And according to the Pareto principle, 80% of sales are generated by the best 20% of customers, hence the importance of not neglecting a loyalty strategy.
Every company needs to achieve these two objectives, taking into account its current situation (start-up, mature company with strong competition, etc.).
Tip 2: Sort, target, segment
1- Clean up your database
You should regularly update your database (change of email address, geographical location, unsubscribe requests) to optimise your email campaigns in advance and ensure that they are well delivered.
If there are too many errors in your mailing list, you are likely to be detected as a spammer by the email services, blacklisted and therefore blocked.
You also need to have opt-in subscribers. Don't take the risk of being moved to junk mail.
In short, take good care of your database - it's the foundation of your CRM.
2- Target
Knowing your targets, their behaviour and their habits is vital both for acquiring customers AND for retaining them.
You can have a very precise target, or a very broad one. This is called marketing targeting.
In the latter case, you will not send the same campaigns to your customers and your prospects, to those aged 18-25 and those aged over 50, etc.
3- Segment
Whether or not your emailing service provider is integrated with your CRM software, segment your campaigns for the most targeted and effective emailing.
Select recipients according to the information you have at your disposal: age, gender, department, prospect, customer, purchasing habits, etc.
77% of email ROI comes from campaigns that are segmented and well targeted from the outset (source DigitaWeb).
There are several advantages to this:
- The recipient is more likely to be interested and therefore to read you next time too. The risk of unsubscribing is reduced.
- The cost is optimised: Depending on the emailing service provider you use, the number of emails sent can be limited, but above all they can be invoiced per unit, whether they are delivered, opened or deleted without being read. Can you see the importance of sorting? In this way, you can optimise your marketing budget and allocate these substantial savings to other complementary levers.
⭐️ Congratulations, you've broken the first barrier - your email is delivered!
Tip 3: Be catchy
According to Jeff Rosenblum, an American expert and founder of the Questus digital agency, consumers are confronted with 5,000 marketing messages a day. The key is to stand out!
The subject line is very important: it's the gateway to your emailing. It needs to be intriguing, personalised and not sound like spam.
Here are a few words to avoid (source: blog du modérateur).
A personalised email is 26% more likely to be opened (source: Marketing Management).
It is also advisable to create an eye-catching preheader. Preheader elements are displayed first and are visible in preview windows and on mobile devices. They are also visible when image display is not activated.
⭐️ Second barrier crossed, your emailing is open!
Tip 4: Take care with the content
- The content should be short and interesting for your target audience, alternating text and images (for a ratio of 70%/30%).
- Links should be visible but few in number, and the design should be pleasing.
- Don't include too much information, either written or graphic, so as not to drown the reader and cause them to miss the main message (new product, current promotion).
- As personalisation is king, you should know that it improves the click-through rate by 14% and the conversion rate by 10%.
- Finally, don't hesitate to use storytelling: whether it's the story of your company or customer testimonials, building customer loyalty now depends on the emotional factor.
Tip 5: Interact with your customer
In your content, it's essential to interact with the customer or prospect by inserting call-to-action buttons, such as "find out more", "read more" or "download your discount voucher here".find out more", "read more" or "download your discount voucher here".
🛬 The landing page, literally the page where they land, must also be neat, up to date, operational (no 404 errors) and deliver on the promise of the button, otherwise the reader will be annoyed.
An email with a single call to action can boost clicks and sales by up to 371% (source DigitaWeb).
Tip 6: Anticipate bugs and blockages
In the digital age, bugs are still possible depending on your recipient's hardware and connection.
1- Format
Your emailing is in HTML format.
Have you spent time researching and integrating images? There are very few recipients who won't be able to read your email, but...
In the campaign settings, if you can, offer a text version of your email to ensure that it is readable, even without the images. With this in mind, fill in the ALT tag for the images (the field displayed when the image is uploaded to the platform) so that a text appears in their place in the event of a problem.
In any case, they should not be too heavy to optimise display time.
Also include a link in the preheader so that the email can be viewed in a browser: "If this message is not displayed correctly, click here".
2- Think responsive
61% read their emails on a smartphone (over 23 million people in France - source Marketing Management).
The content must therefore be displayed correctly depending on the device used, whether it's a 20-inch computer, a tablet or a smartphone.
Don't take the risk of your message being truncated or illegible!
3 - Test
Most emailing service providers offer a preview of your emailing and a test send to the email address used to create your account.
If possible, carry out tests with several email services, as Gmail does not handle the display of emails in the same way as Outlook, for example.
Before clicking on "send definitively", take the time to proofread and correct any small errors you find.
Tip 7: Create links
Display your social network buttons and link to your website.
One of the main objectives is still to generate traffic to your site.
Make it easy to share your content via dedicated buttons.
A great promotional campaign or the launch of an innovative product is likely to be shared with friends by e-mail or on social networks, and therefore to go viral.
This will generate clicks and meet your twofold objective: to win over new targets and stay connected with loyal customers.
Tip 8: Be irreproachable
Your information
In the settings, when you enter your sender email address, avoid neutral or no-response addresses such as noreply@domaine.com, even if it means creating a dedicated address for the newsletter if you are afraid of being swamped by returns.
The recipient must be able to identify you (logo, company name, address, email address, etc.).
Compliance with the law
Your reputation is at stake.
So there are legal imperatives to take into account, such as the mandatory and obvious presence of an unsubscribe link.
The new RGPD regulations also require you to obtain the prior, express and explicit consent of the person concerned before sending advertising messages.
Please note: accepting the general terms and conditions of sale in a contract does not constitute consent, nor can you tick the consent boxes or influence consent by offering prizes or discounts.
Tip 9: Get the timing right
Plan the mailing according to your target's habits.
Here are a number of approaches, to be adapted according to the analysis of performance indicators (or KPIs):
- If you're in a BtoB model, working hours are preferable.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are preferable, with Mondays being a day for "catching up" on all the emails received since Friday, Wednesdays being a slower day at work and Fridays being the preferred day for taking a day off.
The time slots for arriving at the office and returning from lunch are also strategic. - For BtoC, it's more or less the opposite, with reading times being early mornings, lunch breaks, evenings and weekends.
☝️ Please note that, depending on the number of recipients you have, some free emailing solutions defer part of the mailings, which they send in "packets". This can upset your timing strategy.
Paid emailing software, on the other hand, offers options such as mass or regulated throughput and deferred or immediate sending of emailings, as well as behavioural analysis functions that will help you to find the ideal day and time for sending as you go along.
Above all, dose your mailings: 78% of customers unsubscribe from a newsletter when they receive too many emails from the same recipient (source DigitaWeb).
Tip 10: Analyse your successes and mistakes
Deliverability rate
This is an email's ability to get through the increasingly strict anti-spam filters of ISPs and corporate IT departments.
If your rate is poor, it's probably because your database is not up to date and contains too many errors. It is essential to remedy this as quickly as possible, or risk being blacklisted.
Open rate
This is the number of times the email was actually opened by the recipient.
If it is not satisfactory, review your targeting as well as your subject line.
Click-through rate
The number of times the recipient clicked on the links contained in the emailing and on the "call to action" buttons.
Observe what works best in different campaigns and make adjustments.
Engagement rate
This is the ratio between the click rate and the open rate.
Email conversion rate
This is the objective of your campaign and its success.
This is the number of people who have actually carried out the action you expected of them (subscription, purchase, quote request, etc.).
🛠 monday CRM is CRM software that lets you create, store, send and track your emails quickly and easily. Thanks to customisable email templates, you can create email campaigns that reflect your personality and save time by automating their delivery. Finally, analyse your campaigns using key indicators updated in real time!
monday CRM
CRM emailing, a highly attractive marketing tool
Emailing is an economical marketing tool of choice. It is a highly effective way of acquiring and retaining customers, provided you know how to dose the information and the frequency with which it is sent, and have taken the time to study your target audience.
Its interoperability with your CRM database means you can monitor the habits and behaviour of your customers, which can help you make strategic decisions for your business.
So don't wait any longer!