Brevo Review

Brevo Visit Site

Why Choose Brevo 

The ability to combine Ecommerce email marketing solutions with automations and general email marketing is the true benefit of Brevo. For an online business that sells a variety of products, Brevo can help manage and create optimized email marketing campaigns. Combining SMS reminders with transactional follow-ups is a powerful asset for any digital business.

Brevo's pricing is affordable and appropriate for the number of features offered. Its free plan caps at 300 emails per day, but the paid plans start at only $25 per month for up to 40,000 emails and no daily sending limit.

Standard Features:

• Transactional emails
• SMS messaging
• Mobile-responsive templates
• API Integrations
• Plugins
• Autoresponders
• Automation
• List segmentation

Templates

Brevo offers 60 templates, however they aren’t segmented into industry or use like many other services, and it’s a bit difficult to switch back and forth between the different pages to choose a template.  

With that said, all of the templates are mobile-responsive. It is apparent that Brevo puts more effort into the flexibility of the email editor to customize campaigns, rather than in providing a large number of templates.

The drag-and-drop editor isn’t as intuitive as some other services. It comes off as a bit complicated and it’s not friendly to email beginners when compared to other services like Constant Contact.

Pricing

Brevo offers a free option of up to 9,000 emails/month (300 max per day), with unlimited contacts. Users can get a feel for the program via the free option, but will need to get a paid version to take full advantage. This basic option is inexpensive at only $25 for 20,000 emails per month. The only downside is that Brevo branding will still be on all of the emails, and that doesn’t go away until the $39 per month plan.

Even at its most expensive listed option - $66/month for 120,000 emails, unlimited contacts, SMS features, Ecommerce integrations and advanced reporting - Brevo is a solid value. The company must be contacted for prices above 120,000 emails per month.

*Prices last updated May 2018

Ease of Use

Brevo's interface is not as easy to use as services like Constant Contact or Mailchimp. It presents its features and options in a more esoteric fashion, which is fine for those who are tech-savvy. However, for absolute beginners, it takes a while to get used to the platform. The layout and overall user interface (UI) are simple, but once you dig into the individual tools, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Setting up Brevo takes slightly longer than other services. It’s stricter on proving identity authentication (phone verification, more form fields), and it will take some time hooking up the SMS service and connecting Ecommerce solutions to the program. However, users will find that the end product is well worth the effort.

The plugins and integrations are easy to use, and a lot of Brevo's added value comes from the ability to seamlessly integrate itself with the user’s digital Ecommerce platform. If Brevo is trying to be the best email marketing platform for Ecommerce businesses, it has succeeded in that mission.

Features

The SMS messaging, transactional emails and wide variety of Ecommerce plugins and integrations are unique to Brevo. There is not a better platform for integrating email marketing with an online store. In addition, the ability to segment lists based on who opens what product emails is a very useful tool.

One downside is that while Brevo excels at Ecommerce marketing, it falls short in a few key email marketing areas, including RSS feeds, good A/B testing and a robust automation system. It has an automation system that is in beta at the moment, so it’s working on that feature, but for those looking for more of a CRM/marketing tool, Constant Contact or ActiveCampaign should be considered. Consider how important the transactional emails and SMS messaging systems are to your business, and use that as the basis for you decision.

Customer Support

Brevo does not offer 24/7 support or live chat. The best way to get in touch is either via phone or through the contact form. While Brevo doesn’t have as many industry-specific materials as Benchmark Email or Constant Contact, it does have a general FAQ/walkthrough section that covers the majority of basic questions and best practices for succeeding on the platform.

The phone support system is efficient and connects you to a real person, without having to go through an automated system. During weekdays, it usually takes about  3 minutes to get your call answered, and the staff is happy to advise on both platform use and best practices. 

Users would be well advised to take advantage of the support staff’s knowledge as they’re getting used to and setting up the platform. For those who would rather not phone, the email support typically responds within a few hours.

Brevo Visit Site

Conclusion

Brevo offers the best email marketing platform for small- to medium-sized Ecommerce businesses. With a large variety of plugins and integrations that allow Brevo to seamlessly integrate itself with a user’s existing Ecommerce platform, it’s the obvious choice for online stores offering a variety of products.

With transactional emails, SMS messaging, automation capabilities and effective list segmentation, Brevo succeeds in hitting all the aspects of Ecommerce email marketing.

About Brevo 

Founded in 2012 by Armand Thiberge with offices in Paris, Berlin, Seattle, Toronto, & New Delhi, Brevo is an all-in-one marketing platform that serves more than 175,000 customers in 160 countries and sends more than 70 million email/SMS messages each day. Brevo offers Ecommerce transactional emails and integrations, which is different from many other email marketing platforms. In 2016, Forbes chose Brevo as one of the must-follow startups of the year, and Brevo is currently continuing its international expansion efforts by launching capabilities in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian.