Skip to content
CRM

CRM vs Email Marketing: Key Differences & How They Work Together

Read how CRM and email marketing tools can help you achieve your marketing objectives. Learn how to choose the right solution or combine both for maximum impact!

CRM vs Email Marketing: Key Differences & How They Work Together

 

What's a CRM?

CRM is your business's personal assistant that helps you manage your customer relationships—both with those you're already doing business with and those you're hoping to. With a CRM, you can easily store all your customer details, manage leads, schedule automated emails, and even track how effectively your sales and marketing initiatives are functioning.

Why a CRM is a Game-Changer

A CRM system does more than just organize—it gives you deep insights into your audience using data analytics. This lets you modify your marketing efforts and ensure they engage with your target audience. 

But that's not all! A CRM also helps streamline your sales process, ensuring that every interaction between your team and your clients is saved and accessible. 

Furthermore, a CRM may help you prioritize leads so you're always focused on the most promising prospects, ensuring that potential clients never slide between the cracks.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is exactly what it sounds like—it’s a strategy where you send emails in bulk to promote your business. Whether it’s sending out regular newsletters or throwing in those "Hey, we miss you!" emails, it's the way to communicate and engage with your target audience. 

Advantages of Email Marketing 

Email marketing is an efficient method of expanding your organization. It assists you in nurturing leads, converting them into customers, and, most importantly, generating sales. No matter where your subscribers are in their buyer journey, you can tailor email campaigns to reach them at the appropriate time, and convert them into paying clients.

It’s also great for keeping potential buyers engaged. A well-crafted, personalized email might be just what they need to click that "Buy" button. Email marketing is another option for following up with visitors who left without completing a purchase or reconnecting with past customers, gathering valuable feedback to help improve your business.

CRM vs Email Marketing: What's the Difference?

When you're deciding between CRM software and marketing tools, it’s important to understand how they’re different. Then you can decide which tool can help your business grow.

A CRM is about nurturing and managing relationships with your customers—keeping track of their info, interactions, and ensuring smooth communication. On the flip side, email marketing software is your go-to for growing a list of subscribers and sending customized marketing emails to keep people interested.

Although the difference between CRM and email marketing is noticeable, each has its superpowers—it's just about picking the one that fits your needs! 

How CRM and Email Marketing Make a Perfect Match

CRM and email marketing aren’t rivals—in fact, they’re a dream team when paired up! CRMs give you the inside scoop on your customers, which helps you create those perfectly personalized email campaigns.

When you integrate email marketing with CRM software, your email marketing tool feeds customer responses straight into your CRM, keeping profiles up-to-date without the hassle of importing and exporting data. Everything is kept in one location, making it easier for your sales staff to track interactions with clients.

Plus, with all that data in your CRM, your sales reps can see how customers have engaged with past email campaigns and use that knowledge to fine-tune future ones. So, while CRM and email marketing might be different tools, together they form a powerful, complementary duo to boost your business.

Why You Need a CRM with Email Functions

So, why should you invest in a CRM with email marketing integration? What makes it better than getting separate email marketing software or hiring professionals? Here are several of the more significant benefits.

Smarter Targeting

When your CRM and email technologies cooperate, you may generate more targeted email segments. You don't want to deliver an identical message to every prospect—people are unique! The CRM system enables you to categorize your audience depending on their interests, status, and other criteria. Some CRMs even measure how potential buyers engage with your website or content. Then you can send tailored emails to each category, boosting leads' potential to become clients.

Boosted Productivity

Imagine the time saved if your CRM had built-in email features or synced smoothly with your email program. No more jumping between tools—you can handle everything in one place. Some CRMs make this a reality, giving you handy email templates to cut down on repetitive typing. Looking for the best CRM email integration? Choose a platform that effortlessly combines customer data with advanced email marketing tools for maximum efficiency and results.

Easy Team Collaboration

When your CRM includes email, your entire team can stay in the loop. Email threads get saved in the CRM, so anyone in sales, marketing, or support can pull up a customer’s history with just a click. Without this, emails are stuck in individual inboxes, making collaboration difficult.

Automated Campaigns

A CRM doesn’t just help you build email campaigns—it automates them! For example, when someone joins your mailing list, they will receive an automatic welcome email. Even if you use an external tool for your main email marketing, your CRM can trigger automated campaigns by tapping into its rich customer data.

Engagement Tracking

One major perk of having a CRM with email integration? You can monitor how your audience interacts with your emails. View analytics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions, and connect them directly to customer profiles in your CRM. This way, you’ll know exactly who’s interacting with your emails and how, so you can reference it whenever you need.

Smoother Customer Lifecycle Management

CRM email marketing tools go beyond just sending bulk emails—they help manage the entire customer journey. You may create highly personalized drip campaigns that are tailored to each lead's phase in the buying process. These campaigns ensure that the proper message is delivered at the right moment, pushing leads further down your sales funnel.

When done right, lifecycle email marketing helps you nurture and retain customers. Plus, by combining CRM with powerful email tools, you can identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities to grow revenue from your existing customer base.

In short, a CRM with email functionality doesn’t just streamline your processes—it makes your marketing smarter, more effective, and more personalized.

Comparison Table Between CRM Systems with Email Marketing Features

Here is the chart that can help choose the best CRM for email marketing.

CRM

Email Marketing Capabilities

Best For

Pricing

HubSpot

Free email marketing integration. Automation, email tracking, forms, and landing pages.

Businesses of all sizes seeking a comprehensive, free CRM with strong email tools.

Free plan, paid options from $15/mo/seat.

Pipedrive

Add-on email marketing with drag-and-drop templates, automations, and segmentation.

Sales teams focused on lead generation with additional email marketing needs.

Paid plans start from €12 seat/month.

monday.com

Built-in email marketing features with automation, Gmail, Hootsuite, and Mailchimp integration.

Teams looking for a flexible, code-free platform with built-in CRM and email automation.

Free plan, paid options from €9 seat/month

Zoho

Email marketing tools for segmentation, tracking, and automation.

Small to medium businesses looking for budget-friendly CRM with basic email features.

Paid plans from €14 user/month

ActiveCampaign

Powerful email automation with segmentation, dynamic content, and lead scoring.

Businesses with a focus on complex email automations and who have a higher budget for robust features.

Paid plans from $15/mo

Salesmate

Offers email marketing tools like automation, segmentation, forms, and campaigns.

Businesses that need a CRM with integrated calling and email marketing features at a lower price.

Paid plans from $23 user/ month

Insightly

Basic email marketing tools like templates and tracking.

Small businesses looking for a straightforward CRM with essential email marketing integration.

Paid plans from $29 user/month

Nutshell

Includes email sequencing, templates, automated campaigns, and tracking for both bulk and one-on-one emails.

Small and medium-sized enterprises seeking an easy CRM with advanced email marketing capabilities and automation.

Paid plans from $16 user/month

Copper

Limited email marketing features; integrates with Mailchimp for advanced capabilities.

G Suite users seeking a simple, familiar CRM system.

Paid plans from $12 user/month

Brevo

Offers transactional emails, automation workflows, resend options, and send-time optimization.

Businesses of all that look for sophisticated email marketing and automation within a CRM at an affordable price.

Free plan, paid plans from $9/month

10 Best CRM Software with Email Marketing

Let's look at reviews and select the top-fit CRM for email marketing.

1. HubSpot

HubSpot-Nov-29-2024-06-34-49-3839-AM

While some tools are primarily email marketing platforms with a dash of CRM, HubSpot flips the script. It’s a fully-loaded CRM that has awesome email marketing integration.

So, why does HubSpot get all this hype? For starters, HubSpot’s free CRM is jam-packed with great features. Think email forms, landing pages, a deal pipeline, website tracking, and email automations. 

Who’s HubSpot best for?  

If you’re a business looking for a free yet feature-rich CRM, HubSpot is your go-to!

2. Pipedrive

pipedrive-2

Pipedrive is a user-friendly yet powerful sales CRM that helps businesses streamline their sales campaigns, foster customer relationships through email marketing, track sales performance, forecast results, and generate insightful reports. Plus, you can automate those repetitive tasks with workflows to lighten your workload. With CRM email integration, businesses can seamlessly manage customer interactions and automate personalized email campaigns in one place.

Their email marketing tool, Campaigns by Pipedrive, is just as easy to use and intuitive as the CRM itself. You can create templates using the drag-and-drop editor and launch campaigns effortlessly. With over 40 professionally designed templates, plus segmentation and analytics features, Campaigns integrates seamlessly with the CRM for a smooth experience.

Who’s Pipedrive best for?

It’s perfect for businesses wanting to plan effective sales campaigns, build strong customer relationships, and streamline email marketing—all in one place. 

3. monday.com

monday-1

monday.com’s powerful Work OS gives you a flexible, cloud-based workspace perfect for real-time collaboration. With tons of integrated apps and templates, you can build a system that fits your team’s exact needs—complete with CRM and email marketing software. monday sales CRM offers automation features to save time and deliver key insights, making email marketing a breeze.

You can seamlessly integrate with tools like Gmail, Hootsuite, and MailChimp, and the best part? No coding required! monday.com stands out from the competition by offering a user-friendly, no-code setup, so you can easily adjust the platform as your business evolves.

Who’s monday.com best for?

monday.com is perfect for teams that need a flexible, easy-to-use platform for managing projects, CRM, and email marketing—without the hassle of coding. It's especially great for growing businesses that want a customizable, cloud-based workspace that can evolve with them. 

4. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a budget-friendly option for small to mid-sized businesses, offering all the essentials you'd expect from a CRM, including built-in email marketing tools. It's ideal for businesses that want to combine sales, marketing, and customer service in one place.

With its cloud-based platform, Zoho CRM allows for real-time collaboration and task management, although the user interface can be a bit tricky to get used to. 

Who’s Zoho CRM best for? 

Small sales teams that need a solid CRM with email marketing capabilities but are working on a tight budget. 

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign might just be your perfect match if email marketing automation is your main goal. This platform includes some of the most robust automation tools we've seen in the market.

With its CRM system, you can create deals, assign them to team members, and track their progress in unlimited pipelines. And those fancy automations? They work with deals too—like automatically updating the status of a deal when a contact opens your email.

Who’s ActiveCampaign best for? 

If you’ve got the budget and you’re all about the best CRM email marketing automations, this one’s for you!

6. Salesmate

Salesmate-1

Salesmate is your go-to CRM for keeping all your contacts, deals, and activities organized in one spot. Not only does it help you track deals through your sales pipeline, but it also packs some handy email marketing features. You can create email forms, send automated campaigns, segment your contacts, and more—all within the platform.

What really makes Salesmate stand out? It has built-in calling features! You can call, record, transfer, and even mask calls without ever leaving the platform. And here’s the kicker—you get access to these calling features even on the most basic plan!

Who’s Salesmate best for? 

If you’re looking to do both emailing and calling, Salesmate’s built-in calling tools might just make it the ideal CRM for your business!

7. Insightly

Insightly-1

Insightly is a versatile CRM solution designed to fit businesses big or small.In addition to basic CRM capabilities like cloud-based access, customer support tools, and useful email templates, it allows you to effectively link its CRM system with email marketing activities. While some users feel the interface could use a makeover, the platform still delivers a strong set of tools that are straightforward and effective. 

Who’s Insightly best for?

Insightly is ideal for businesses of all sizes looking for an affordable and reliable CRM that covers the basics while also supporting email marketing integration. 

8. Nutshell

Nutshell

Nutshell is an all-in-one CRM and one of the best email marketing automation platforms that’s simple enough for any user, yet sophisticated enough for any business.

The platform provides powerful email automation options, such as email sequencing, templates, and contact filtering for targeted bulk campaigns. It is everything you need to streamline your email communication.

With two-way synchronization for Gmail and Office 365, you can stay focused and efficient whether you're in the CRM or not. Even if you use another email provider, you can still send outgoing work emails directly from Nutshell.

Who’s Nutshell best for?

Nutshell is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a comprehensive CRM that combines robust sales features with effective email marketing capabilities. 

9. Copper

Copper

Copper is a CRM built exclusively for G Suite users.If your firm does not use Google's platform, this choice is probably not for you. However, if you do, you'll love the ease of having a CRM that integrates seamlessly with your Google tools.

Gmail users will easily adapt to this CRM—everything is right where they’re used to working. Simply open Gmail and you may begin strengthening relationships with your contacts immediately.

That said, Copper has some limitations when it comes to email capabilities. You can send one-off messages through Gmail, create templates for easier sending, and automate some responses. But if you want more advanced email automation, you’ll need to connect your Copper account with MailChimp.

Who’s Copper best for?

Because of its limited email features, we recommend Copper primarily for those who are already using G Suite and MailChimp and who prioritize standard CRM functions over complex email automation.

10. Brevo

Brevo

Brevo helps businesses cultivate and enhance relationships through email campaigns, transactional messages, and smart email automation.

The software offers automation tools that let you personalize workflows, manage your contact list effectively, and send emails triggered by page visits. Brevo even allows you to automatically repeat campaigns to those who missed them. 

Plus, Brevo comes with over 40 email templates and 8 automation blueprints to streamline your workflow. You can easily connect Brevo with CMS platforms, eCommerce tools, and various other business applications.

Who’s Brevo best for?

Brevo is perfect for businesses of all sizes looking to enhance their email marketing efforts. If you’re interested in improving engagement through features like resend options and send-time optimization, Brevo is a great fit. 

Bottom Line

CRM systems and email marketing tools are key players when it comes to reaching your marketing goals. Businesses may improve client interactions, automate campaigns, and increase engagement with tailored messages by integrating CRM marketing email strategies. 

The decision is yours—choose the one that fits your business needs best.

In conclusion, choosing the right CRM with integrated email marketing tools comes down to your specific business needs. Whether you're a sales team looking for seamless lead generation, a small business trying to optimize email automation, or a growing company needing a flexible, all-in-one solution, there’s a platform for you.

Finally, the ideal CRM for your organization is one that streamlines the workflow, automates your marketing efforts, and helps you build lasting relationships with your customers. 

Noah Hendricks

Noah Hendricks

When not knee-deep in his vegetable garden, wrestling with weeds, Noah can be found daydreaming about engaged and happy customers who never have to worry about their CRM because it’s working for them, not against them.

newsletter subscription

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay up to date. We like to talk about ways to launch, manage and enhance your CRM.

Latest Articles

Salesforce Automation Tools: What is The Best Choice in 2025

Salesforce Automation Tools: What is The Best Choice in 2025

Maximize efficiency with automation tools in Salesforce — streamline workflows, integrate systems, and drive more thoughtful sales strategi...

Salesforce CRM Analytics: An Overview of Features and Examples

Salesforce CRM Analytics: An Overview of Features and Examples

What is Salesforce CRM Analytics? Learn how it helps businesses unlock data-driven insights, improve performance, and optimize sales, marke...

CRM vs Email Marketing: Key Differences & How They Work Together

CRM vs Email Marketing: Key Differences & How They Work Together

Read how CRM and email marketing tools can help you achieve your marketing objectives. Learn how to choose the right solution or combine bo...