What Is The Best Email Automation Tool For Small Businesses in 2025? Five Options Reviewed

Nearly 30 years after businesses caught on to the value of email marketing, the medium is as successful and lucrative as it has ever been. For businesses of all sizes, email marketing can help you make more sales, nurture leads through their buyer journey, and maximise customer lifetime value. However, managing and following up on email campaigns can be extremely time-consuming, so investing in a good email automation tool can help you make the best use of your time, boost productivity, and increase your returns from email marketing.

In this article, we’ll look at a few of the best email automation tools for SMEs in 2025. To find out more, please contact one of the team at JDR today by calling 01332 982198.

1. MailChimp

MailChimp can justifiably claim the crown as the granddaddy of email marketing software platforms. Established in 2001, MailChimp pioneered many of the tools that have subsequently been built upon and adapted by more recent entrants to the market. And on the cusp of 2025, MailChimp is still going as strong as ever, with a user-friendly interface and flexible suite of tools. MailChimp gives you access to customer journey mapping, dynamic audience segmentation, A/B testing, and integration with other marketing platforms, while also providing a range of broader marketing automation tools too, on top of its core email marketing functionality.

MailChimp’s free plan supports up to 500 contacts, with paid plans starting from £10.45 per month for MailChimp Essentials.

Why We Love It:

MailChimp is a scalable, beginner-friendly email marketing platform that is perfect for small businesses and start-ups looking to build a professional marketing capability quickly, without a large outlay on software or expensive subscriptions.

2. Brevo 

Brevo, formerly called Sendinblue, provides an all-in-one combined email marketing and CRM solution with a straightforward drag-and-drop editor, email and SMS automation, Landing Page Creator, and even live chat integration. It’s an ambitious suite of tools for an independent platform, and provides great value for money for small businesses who may not want to invest in one of the larger platforms. There is a free plan that allows a generous 300 daily email sends (or 9000 per month), and paid subscription begin at £5.42 per month.

Why We Love It:

Brevo is a versatile email marketing tool that also provides a good introduction to digital marketing automation, handling marketing and sales within a single platform. Used as part of a marketing strategy, Brevo can help small businesses and independent contractors increase engagement and drive revenue.

3. Mailerlite

Small businesses leaning more towards the ‘S’ side of SME might wish to consider MailerLite as an email automation solution. This US SaaS email software platform strikes a balance between affordability and functionality, with tools such as dynamic content blocks, smart email segmentation, and customisable automation workflows. The templates and design options provided are simple yet effective, making it a good place to start for smaller businesses. The free plan supports up to 1000 subscribers, with paid plans starting at $9 (US Dollars) per month.

Why We Love It:

MailerLite is an affordable email automation platform with a range of robust tools suitable for beginners, as well as more experienced email marketers on a budget.

4. Email Blaster 

Email Blaster is a UK-based, easy-to-use email marketing platform designed for independent sole traders and small businesses. The platform includes an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder, extensive premade modifiable templates, and various management tools including data segmentation, automation, and A/B testing. The platform prioritises Data Protection/GDPR compliance and data security, to give your customers full peace of mind. Subscription plans start at £12.99 per month, and there is also a flexible pay as you go option available from £12.99 per 1000 sends

Why We Love It:

Email Blaster is a straightforward email marketing service that can get you started on email marketing right away, and is excellent for data security and easy-to-use email automation.

5. HubSpot

No review of email automation tools would be complete without mentioning HubSpot. HubSpot isn’t solely an email automation tool, of course, but does come with a comprehensive suite of tools that integrates email marketing with a sales CRM, content management system, and other marketing automation features to provide a seamless and measurable strategic marketing solution.

Designed to help small businesses manage and nurture their leads effectively through email marketing, HubSpot includes a variety of customisable email templates, automated customer journey and drip feed workflows, and an analytics suite integrated directly into its robust CRM. The HubSpot free CRM plan gives you access to essential features like email scheduling and audience segmentation, while premium plans start from around £18 per month.

Why We Love It:

HubSpot provides a fully integrated marketing platform that streamlines all aspects of sales, marketing, Hubspot email management, and customer relationship management in one place.

Find out more

At JDR, we provide managed email marketing services as part of a tailored digital marketing strategy designed to support your business growth objectives. For a free quote or to find out more about how we can help you, please contact our team today by clicking here.

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