Email MarketingMarketing

Key Email Marketing Software Features and Top Products That Offer Them

Ashish Upadhyay profile picture
By Ashish Upadhyay

Published | Updated on
6 min read

A list of key email marketing software features to help you select the best product.

Are you looking for an email marketing solution for your small business but unable to identify the right software features to buy? As a marketing manager, you should have a clear understanding of the features to select, else buying software can get confusing. You might even end up investing in an email marketing platform that doesn't meet your needs.

Fortunately, we've got you covered. This article highlights the five best email marketing software features based on the ratings given by verified software users. We also include the highest-rated email marketing software solutions for each feature. Read more.

CAP_12082022_criticality-of-key-email-marketing-software-features_jpg

Our lists of email marketing agencies by location can help you find the services you’re looking for.

1. Email campaign management

Email campaign management allows your small business to run and manage multiple email campaigns as part of your marketing initiative. It also lets you assign custom campaign roles and set access privileges for marketing team members.

CAP_12082022_Email-campaign-management-criticality_jpg

What business problem does email campaign management solve?

Campaign managers often struggle with running multiple campaigns simultaneously and defining individual and team goals for projects. With email campaign management, you can define your campaign strategy, and identify and set campaign goals for your entire marketing team.

You can create a marketing calendar and schedule email automation. You can also approve revisions or reworks on email copies and designs that your team might use in a campaign.

Ideal users of the email campaign management feature

If your job profile includes monitoring email campaigns and working with a team of coders, designers, and copywriters, you could benefit the most from this feature of an email marketing platform. You can set up email automation, manage multiple stakeholders, review campaign performance, and identify improvement areas for your email campaigns.

Top 3 products with the highest ratings for email campaign management

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Email campaign management feature rating

4.92/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Email campaign management feature rating

4.88/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Email campaign management feature rating

4.87/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

2. Mobile optimization

The mobile optimization feature of an email marketing solution helps optimize your email campaigns for mobile devices. It lets you create scalable email templates for mobile devices and appropriate call-to-action (CTA) buttons that fit mobile screens.

CAP_12082022_Mobile-optimization-criticality_jpg

What business problem does mobile optimization solve?

If your email marketing campaign isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you’ll lose a large chunk of your potential target audience. Mobile optimization allows you to create a compact, responsive email template that is specifically built for mobile devices.

It ensures your emails appropriately fit the screen of all mobile devices. It also helps increase the email load speed for mobile users, especially if your emails contain a lot of content.

Ideal users of the mobile optimization feature

If you’re an email marketing manager or email campaign manager looking to increase campaign reach and break into mobile marketing, this feature is ideal for you. Mobile optimization will allow you to reach a large mobile subscriber base.

Top 3 products with the highest ratings for mobile optimization

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Mobile optimization feature rating

4.82/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Mobile optimization feature rating

4.71/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Mobile optimization feature rating

4.69/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

3. List management

In an email marketing tool, the list management feature helps maintain and segregate your customer contacts and build an email list based on parameters such as region, age group, gender, shopping preferences, and purchasing history. It also helps you create a list of prospects you wish to prioritize.

CAP_12082022_List-management-criticality_jpg

What business problem does list management solve?

As your small business grows, your marketing team will be burdened with the task of managing multiple leads. With list management, you can segregate qualified leads from unqualified ones. You can create multiple lists, based on select parameters, to understand your audience better and create personalized emails that are more engaging.

The list management feature also helps you prevent sending campaign emails to people who have unsubscribed and revise your target audience.

Ideal users of the list management feature

If you’re an email campaign manager wanting to revise your target audience and build a better relationship with prospects, you could benefit the most from this feature. Making lists and focusing on specific leads will also help improve conversion rates for your email marketing campaign.

Top 3 products with the highest ratings for list management

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

List management feature rating

4.79/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

List management feature rating

4.74/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

List management feature rating

4.7/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

4. CAN-SPAM compliance

CAN-SPAM is a mandatory compliance for all email marketing products and services. It ensures products or services don’t promote false or misleading information through email newsletters. Email marketing vendors offer this feature as part of their solutions so it's easier for businesses to identify whether they’re meeting all compliance regulations.

CAP_12082022_CAN-SPAM-compliance-criticality_jpg

What business problem does CAN-SPAM compliance solve?

Most campaign managers fear that their emails will get blocklisted or be marked as spam. CAN-SPAM compliance helps prevent such incidents by legitimizing your email marketing services and informing the audience about the authenticity of your business.

It also allows your audience the option to opt out of your email communication. This helps prevent the bulk emails you send as part of your marketing campaign from getting blocklisted or marked as spam.

Ideal users of the CAN-SPAM compliance feature

Every email marketing service or product needs to comply with CAN-SPAM. Therefore, all marketing teams need to understand and enforce CAN-SPAM compliance for the email marketing service or product they offer.

Top 3 products with the highest ratings for CAN-SPAM compliance

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

CAN-SPAM compliance feature rating

4.82/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

CAN-SPAM compliance feature rating

4.71/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

CAN-SPAM compliance feature rating

4.53/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

5. Customizable fields

Customizable fields are crucial when creating forms that are part of your email marketing campaign. This feature helps you create personalized and engaging forms for leads and subscribers to increase engagement.

CAP_12082022_Customizable-fields-criticality_jpg

What business problems do customizable fields solve?

As an email campaign manager, you should find the right information about your audience and customize your email communication accordingly. With customizable fields, you can personalize audience interactions and collect crucial customer data that you can use to promote your offerings.

The customizable fields feature also helps you gather data from specific segments of your contact list, such as people from a certain region or age group, to send targeted emails.

Ideal users of customizable fields

If you’re an email campaign manager looking to target a specific audience segment or collect customer data via email communication, this feature is ideal for you. You can use customizable fields to gather the customer information you need to promote your offerings and send targeted emails.

Top 3 products with the highest ratings for customizable fields

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Customizable fields feature rating

4.82/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Customizable fields feature rating

4.71/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Customizable fields feature rating

4.49/5

Device compatibility

* Analysis accurate as of November 2022


Methodology

Key features: To identify the key features for this article, we asked users to rate, on a scale of “low importance” to “critical,” how important different features are for email marketing software. The features showcased are those that the highest percentage of reviewers rated as “critical.”

Feature eligibility: To be included in the set of features considered, a given feature had to have at least 200 user ratings, of which at least 20% must indicate the feature is “critical.” Eligible features were determined from two sources:

  1. Our research team’s review of public information about email marketing software usage, definitions, and associated features

  2. Reviewers’ indication of the features they use for email marketing.

Product selection: To identify the top-rated products per feature, we evaluated user ratings for products that offer each feature. For a given product, reviewers rate each feature on a scale of one to five stars. A given product had to have at least 20 user ratings (between November 2020-22) for the feature in question to be considered.


Was this article helpful?


About the Author

Ashish Upadhyay profile picture

Ashish Upadhyay is a content writer at Capterra, helping small businesses identify the right software for their business needs by analyzing user reviews data for the highest rated products in relevant software categories. Prior to joining Capterra, he worked in insurtech, fintech, and real estate. Specializing in marketing, project, and IT management, Ashish’s works have been featured in MAST magazine and Medium. In his free time, he enjoys working out and playing video games.

visitor tracking pixel