The general transactional email software are identical in many ways and helps businesses of all sizes handle business challenges. However, the features, pricing, setup, and installation of small businesses differ from those of larger enterprises. Therefore we at SaaSworthy have put together a list of the top 8 transactional email software for small businesses in 2021.
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What is transactional email software?
Transactional emails are those that are delivered automatically when a customer performs a certain action or when a specific business transaction is initiated. Order and delivery confirmations, password resets, registrations, and other account alerts are examples of such emails. Transactional email software streamlines the process of scheduling, sending, and tracking transactional emails.
The software can assist in the creation and personalization of emails, the delivery of those emails, and the analysis of messages and recipient replies. Transactional email software is often paired with email marketing software as both emails are delivered to particular recipients and typically have the same corporate design.
The top 8 transactional email software for small businesses in 2021
Given below in detail, along with their various features and limitations, are the top 8 transactional email software for small businesses in 2021. Startups and small businesses can begin with free or low-cost software and later progress to paid, premium software.
1. SendGrid
SendGrid is a cloud-based and scalable transactional email delivery software. SendGrid allows users to send high-deliverability transactional emails to customers using its API and SMTP.
It allows you to send 100 emails every day for free. It enables you to build email marketing campaigns in addition to delivering transactional emails. SendGrid is SaaSworthy’s top choice as the best transactional email software for small businesses in 2021.
The various features of SendGrid include
- It allows you to customize your domain and links regardless of whether your emails are sent from shared IP pools or dedicated IP addresses.
- It ensures security by utilizing two-factor authentication, API key permissions, IP access management, precise teammate permissions, etc. You will be able to continuously monitor your sent emails for up to 30 days.
- Deliverability functionalities include reverse DNS, automatic IP warmup, email validation, branded links, bounce management, blacklist monitoring, and its AI engine, Adaptive Communication Engine.
- SendGrid provides extensive analytics, featuring real-time analytics, ISP feedback loop data, sub-user comparative information, engagement monitoring, and searchable email activity.
The limitations of SendGrid are
- Integrations with third-party software can be challenging and time-consuming.
- The customer support is poor, and the team takes a lot of time to respond.
2. Mailgun
Mailgun, founded in 2010, is one of the top transactional email software for small businesses that will scale as per your business needs. This software is designed especially for professional developers. Every month, you get 10,000 emails and 100 email validations for free.
Within Mailgun, each domain is a separate sub-account with its own sending queue and reputation. This ensures that your transactional emails will not be buried under your newsletters.
The various features of Mailgun include
- It has a powerful delivery infrastructure, straightforward SMTP integration, and a simple, RESTful API that takes away the tedious aspects of delivering transactional or bulk email.
- With its robust APIs, you can effortlessly send, receive, and track transactional emails. It includes enhanced email validation to improve conversions.
- You will always be sending emails to the correct people at the appropriate time with sophisticated features like inbox placement tests, email address validations, suppression management, and send time optimization.
- You can monitor your deliverability using email monitoring and analytics, email receipt reports with up to 30 days of log retention, and 7-day message retention.
The limitations of Mailgun are
- The user interface is not easy to use and navigate through.
- It is expensive when compared to other similar software.
3. SMTP2GO
SMTP2GO is a quick and scalable email service provider for delivering transactional and marketing emails as well as checking email delivery data. SMTP2GO also supports outgoing email authentication, which allows users to prove to their customers and receivers that they are the ones who sent the emails.
It features a highly responsive infrastructure that enables on-time delivery. It enables you to increase your email volume as your business expands, making it an ideal transactional email software for small businesses.
The various features of SMTP2GO include
- It provides you with detailed information on your email delivery and engagement performance, such as bounce rates and unsubscribers’ reporting.
- It enables you to send automatic emails like purchase confirmations, delivery alerts, and order status updates.
- You can send a large number of emails from remote places throughout the world and track their deliverability. It can track every email sent by the user from beginning to end and deliver the emails to recipients’ inboxes.
- Email authentication with SPF and DKIM, email testing and ISP throttling, email checking against major spam filters, email delivery, and blacklist monitoring are all available.
The limitations of SMTP2GO are
- During our extensive investigation, we discovered no limitations or negative encounters with SMTP2GO.
4. SendinBlue
SendinBlue is the best free transactional email software for small businesses in 2021 and also offers other services such as email marketing, CRM, text messaging, and sign-up forms. Its free version offers unlimited contacts and a daily limit of 300 emails which is more than enough for small businesses. It is a cloud-based software and is used by more than 180,000 businesses all over the world.
The various features of Sendinblue include
- It makes GDPR compliance easier by providing email templates that are designed to adhere to standards. It includes a drag-and-drop editor to assist you in creating a transactional email from scratch.
- The dynamic customization makes use of information offered by newsletter subscribers to create a more personalized experience.
- It manages repetitive activities such as creating transactional emails for frequent circumstances, such as account setup, orders, or password reset requests.
- It allows for the real-time tracking of events, deliveries, clicks, opens, and bounces, enabling the live monitoring of any campaign. You get a global picture of email performance.
The limitations of Sendinblue are
- The customer support team takes a lot of time to respond to and resolve queries.
- The software can be slow at times.
5. Pepipost
Pepipost, founded in 2015, is a cloud-based free transactional email software for small businesses that assists them in sending crucial emails such as notifications, newsletters, and updates. Pepipost is used by over 20,000 businesses.
The free version allows you to send up to 100 emails per day. Pepipost is the ideal email delivery software for startups and small businesses due to its simple integration and revolutionary price plan.
The various features of Pepipost include
- Pepipost uses artificial intelligence and dynamic email delivery to ensure that all of your emails are sent accurately and on schedule.
- You can keep track of your emails with real-time reporting, bounce notifications, 7 days of message event history, 90 days of searchable history, webhooks, and more features.
- Pepipost provides developers with access to their email API and SMTP, allowing them to configure integrated email delivery. It provides robust data security and lives chat help 24/7.
- It also includes a Queue Manager, Email Monitoring, Response Management, Spam Blocker, and Whitelisting/Blacklisting in one suite.
The limitations of Pepipost are
- The user interface and dashboard are not feature-rich and lack customization options.
- The process of setting up and linking with the domains can be challenging for some users.
6. Mandrill
Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional Email) is a reliable, flexible, and secure transactional email software for small businesses for sending transactional emails from websites and applications. It acts as a paid add-on for businesses that are already using Mailchimp.
It was known as Mandrill until it was acquired by Mailchimp in 2016. Mandrill employs an API and SMTP server that are designed to deliver emails as quickly as possible.
The various features of Mandrill include
- A searchable activity log, automated and custom labeling, split testing, comparison reports, webhooks, and other features provide users with sophisticated data.
- Custom metadata, custom tracking domains, templates and dynamic HTML content, automated text, and HTML conversion, a built-in rules engine, and other features make emails completely customized.
- It provides webhooks, which let you respond to email events like hard and soft bounces, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes automatically. You can search for tags, subject lines, and opens.
- Run data, such as unique and total openings and clicks, total deliveries, bounces, and rejections, are among the transactional metrics it offers.
The limitations of Mandrill are
- Its pricing is expensive when compared to similar transaction email software.
- The customization options are very limited, and it is difficult to customize.
7. Amazon SES
Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) is a top transactional email software for small businesses. Amazon SES is a cloud-based email delivery service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
If you currently use AWS, Amazon SES is an ideal choice since it integrates smoothly with services such as Amazon EC2, Amazon SNS, etc. You can send up to 62,000 emails every month for free.
The various features of Amazon SES include
- It has a powerful mechanism that ensures your emails are not flagged as spam by spam filters. Through its intelligent system, you may track email delivery, bounce rate, and rejections.
- It enables you to integrate Amazon SES directly into your application by using the SMTP interface or an AWS SDK.
- It provides customers with email content personalization, email activity monitoring, configurable email receiving, different email sending interfaces, ISP authentication, and a dedicated IP address while ensuring high deliverability.
- It supports typical email authentication mechanisms such as DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. Using the configuration sets functionality, you can define email rules.
The limitations of Amazon SES are
- The email templates that are provided are not user-friendly or much customizable.
- It does not provide a list of bounced emails.
8. Postmark
Postmark is a simple transactional email service developed by WildBit. Postmark has SMTP servers located all around the world to ensure that emails are delivered as quickly as possible. Postmark provides comprehensive user manuals, development documentation, and API references.
Postmark has a plethora of tools that provide detailed insight into your email history, assisting you in achieving high deliverability. There is no doubt that Postmark is one of the best transactional email software for small businesses in 2021.
The various features of Postmark include
- Emails are simple to personalize using the built-in email templates, which are straightforward to alter with publicly available code.
- You will also receive access to high-level statistics and analytics and the ability to view 45 days of full content message history.
- Users may send emails with excellent deliverability rates thanks to multiple data centers, regional load balancing, and IP reputation management, which are all available via the API and SMTP.
- Postmark’s webhooks and email tagging mechanism ensure that no bounce or click goes undetected. You can also track bounce, delivery, open, and link click events.
The limitations of Postmark are
- It is expensive when compared to similar transactional email software.
- The status page is inconsistent, and the software can experience prolonged outages.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that transactional email software is a must-have tool for small businesses. It is also capable of increasing your revenue. We hope that we were able to make your task of choosing a transactional email software for small businesses easier through this article. Making an informed decision is all about determining which software performs what you need the most effective than the others.
For more informative articles like this one detailing the features and limitations of the top software in each category, visit the SaaSworthy blog.
