Brevo Review 2024: Is It Worth Your Time?

Welcome to our Brevo review.

Brevo is a popular email service provider and CRM that offers email marketing, transactional email, SMS marketing, and more.

The platform enables you to target contacts using personalized messages and comes with advanced segmentation functionality. 

The key question: is it worth your time?

By the end of this review, you’ll know the answer, including whether it suits your specific needs.

We’ll dive into Brevo’s capabilities, explore the plans available, and detail what we think are the software’s key pros and cons.

What is Brevo?

Brevo is a popular, all-in-one CRM founded in 2007 by Armand Thiberge and Kapil Sharma. It originally went under the name Sendinblue before the subsequent rebrand.

Armand was on a mission to make the most effective marketing channels accessible to all businesses, regardless of size.

The outcome of his endeavors was Brevo–a robust platform that allows you to automate your marketing campaigns over email, SMS, WhatsApp, or chat.

Brevo is particularly good for trigger-based and transactional emails and features an impressive automation workflow creator.

But is it enough to become your email tool of choice?

Continue reading for our full review of Brevo. I’ll discuss the pros and cons and a few alternatives.

What features does Brevo offer?

Brevo is a popular email marketing tool with plenty to offer its users. The key features worth knowing about include:

• Campaigns
• Automations
• Transactional messages
• Easy-to-use UI
• Reports
• Customer support
• Integrations

We’ll explore these features and give you a first-hand look at the tool.

Please note: Some of Brevo’s features are only available in specific pricing plans.

Getting started

Once you’ve logged into the Brevo platform, you’ll be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Here, you can access the many features of the platform in a single click, as well as gain access to the help center.

The platform will detail a list of steps you can take to get things going:

These steps aren’t mandatory, and you can use the platform as you want. That being said, they’re a useful way of becoming familiar with the platform, and we recommend following them where possible.

Campaigns

To gain access to the marketing campaign functionality of Brevo, start by clicking where it says Campaigns like so:

You’ll be taken to the main dashboard. Here, you’ll be able to see your total number of contacts, your opens, clicks, and blocklists:

Note that tracking opens depends on users not enabling their privacy protection feature through their email client, so it won’t reflect every single open, but it gives you a good idea nonetheless.

From there, we need to create a campaign. To do so, click where it says Create a campaign in the top right-hand corner. You’ll be taken to a detailed overlay that looks like this:

It’s here where we can choose the type of campaign we want to create, whether that’s through email, SMS, WhatsApp, web push, or a combination of all of them.

Underneath that, you’ll find a list of pre-built automated sequences:

These include:

• Welcome message–a quick welcome email after a new subscriber joins your list.
• Anniversary date–an annual email or a series of emails that are based on a special event. For example, a birthday.
• Page visit–this is where you can send an email after a contact visits a specific page on your site.
• Website event–this is where you can send an email after a contact performs a specific action on your site.
• Product purchase–as the name implies, an email gets sent once a product is purchased on your site.
• Marketing activity–specifically, this is where you can send emails based on whether a contact opens or clicks on one of your campaigns.
• Transactional activity–this is where you can send emails based on whether a contact opens or clicks one of your transactional emails.
• Abandoned cart–this is useful when a contact abandons a cart, and you want to send an email to them.

If that wasn’t enough, you can also create custom automation, which we’ll take a look at later on in the review.

Back to the campaign side of things, click your preferred type of campaign. In this case, I’ve gone for an email campaign. 

Upon clicking, you’ll be taken to a new overlay that looks like this:

Here, we’re able to decide on the name for our campaign and can then proceed to create one. The additional ability to A/B test your campaigns is a welcome one and allows you to compare two different versions to see which is more effective overall.

Once you’ve picked a name for your campaign, you’ll be able to decide who you want the campaign sent to, the subject line of the campaign, the design, as well as the option to play around with some advanced settings:

On the design front, there’s plenty to choose from, including default templates and the option to code your own if required.

For instance, I chose the tell-a-story template–a bold template that allows you to tease a story, grab attention from your list of contacts, and then give them the means to read more.

There’s the option to use a high-quality logo of your business and an image for the story. You can also customize the footer at the bottom of the email in a few clicks.

If you’re not happy with the initial template, you can add almost anything you want on top: videos, additional images, custom code, dividers, spacers, a navigation block, and social media icons.

To preview your design, simply click the image of the computer or mobile. This gives you a good idea of how your email will look across respective devices. You can also send a test email to see if anything needs adjusting. 

Finally, you can schedule your email when you’re ready.

Some advanced settings you can tweak include the ability to activate Google Analytics tracking, embed images in the email, add a tag, add an attachment, ignore list custom settings, use a custom unsubscribe page, or use an updated profile form.

There’s a lot on offer for a variety of different businesses with enough customization for almost any need.

It’s fair to say that when it comes to emails, Brevo delivers.

Automations

Brevo isn’t slack with its automation, either. To get started, click where it says Automations on the left-hand side like so: 

You’ll be taken to a new screen where you can view a list of your current automations as well as those you may have paused or changed your mind about.

Click where it says Create an automation to get started. You’ll be presented with a list of possible automations (most of which we covered earlier).

For example, we can send an email once a product is purchased on your site or when a contact opens or clicks on one of your campaigns. We can even use custom automation if none of the existing options fits the bill.

Once you’ve picked the best one for you, you’ll be taken to a screen that allows you to customize the precise rules of your automation:

For my product purchase automation email, I’m able to choose the custom event that triggers it, add conditions to the selected JS event, and refresh the list as needed. From there, click Next.

On the next overlay, I can choose how long contacts will wait–in other words, the workflow will wait a specific period of time before continuing. 

Finally, I can choose when to send the email, can use my event data to customize the email, and can even use data from the last received event.

Click Finish when you’re done, and you’ll be presented with your workflow:

This is useful for seeing how the actions stack up and whether you need to change the sequence of events. You can also view statistics and see how each part of your automation is doing, allowing you to up your game as you go.

All in all, it’s a strong showing.

Transactional messages

Brevo allows you to view the success of your transactional messages quickly and without hassle. To start, click where it says Transactional. The list will expand:

You’ll be shown some statistics from the last 30 minutes in real time, including the number of events, how many messages were delivered, the number of traceable opens, clicks, and the bounce rate.

By clicking Statistics, we can drill down further into the stats:

Here, you’ll be able to view the unique percentage of clicks to the trackable openers and the percentage of those that were blocked (emails marked as spam or those that repeatedly hard bounced).

There’s not a huge amount of data to work with, but what’s here is useful so you can see how your transactional messages are doing overall. You can also update your settings as required, including how long you want the tool to store your transactional email logs.

Ultimately, there’s comfort in knowing that messages are breaking through, and Brevo provides you with some peace of mind here.

User interface

It’s important for tools like Brevo to ensure users can navigate their way around with relative ease. That’s certainly the case here.

Along with the suggested tasks each time you log in, the most important functionalities of the tool can be found on the left-hand side of the dashboard. A single click will take you to each:

Over our time using the tool, we found Brevo to be quick to suggest things we should try, as well as make the support it offers easily reachable (most of the time). 

Those new to the platform are well taken care of, although some may find the pop-ups and suggestions to be somewhat intrusive. The loading time between each new page will be more than adequate for most, too. Of course, mileage will vary.

It’s not all that flashy in places, but the simple UI works and gets the job done. A good thing in our books.

Reports

Brevo isn’t the strongest when it comes to reporting functionality. While you’ll be able to access data in a few clicks, what’s here is limited to the bare essentials–with reports, the more data you can get your hands on, the better.

Advanced reporting tools, including heat maps, are available but not on the starting plans. It’s only on the third plan that you’ll gain access to them, and for quite a jump up in price. Other tools offer a similar level of data in their basic plans, so Brevo could be more competitive in this area.

That said, how much data you need will vary based on your specific requirements. For some users, including small businesses, it may well be enough to simply monitor the basic metrics of your campaigns.

Customer support

Support is available in a variety of different ways, from digital marketing classes to API documentation and a dedicated help center.

To head on over to the latter, simply click the question mark icon and then where it says Help Center like so:

You’ll be taken to a new page where you can search directly for help or pick a topic of your choosing. There are multiple articles available for each section, and the guides themselves are detailed and easily digestible for the most part.

You can develop your own custom integrations, and the API developer guides are readily available–they take you through the process from start to finish.

The Brevo Academy offers a series of courses that teach you how to manage real-world scenarios and feature exclusive interactive lessons. Tutorials and expert tips are also available.

For customer support itself, unfortunately, you’re unable to speak to the team via live chat at all–a standard in most other tools today. 

A ticketing system is available, but responses are slow, and it can be hard to reach anyone. We encountered page-loading errors merely navigating the ticketing system.

Overall, it’s a bit of a mixed picture. The help center and dedicated guides are great, but reaching the team itself is more challenging than it needs to be.

Integrations

Brevo integrates with Bouncer, Zapier, Planfix, Yodify, WordPress, Visual Visitor, ProjectManager, Pipedrive, Odoo, and LiveWebinar. Brevo also integrates with 6000 other apps using Zapier.

Brevo’s WordPress email plugin enables you to build custom forms and sync them with your list. You can set up double opt-in and automated welcome sequences in a few clicks.

Using the Brevo API, you’ll be able to integrate the tool with your website and favorite apps, too. Google Analytics integration is achievable.

How much does Brevo cost?

Brevo comes in four core tiers: Free, Starter, Business, and BrevoPlus. Naturally, each plan includes differing features, benefits, and usage limits, especially with the business and enterprise plans.

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Brevo’s Free plan includes the following:

• Unlimited contacts
• Access to the email marketing platform with 300 emails per day
• Customizable email templates
• Drag and drop editor
• Transactional emails
• SMS and WhatsApp campaigns

The Starter plan starts at $25 per month (on the monthly payment model) or $22 per month for the annual subscription. It includes the following:

• Customizable email templates
• Drag and drop editor
• Transactional emails
• SMS and WhatsApp campaigns
• From 20k emails per month
• No daily sending limit
• No Brevo logo (add-on)
• Basic reporting and analytics
• Email support

The Business plan starts at $65 per month (on the monthly payment model) or $58 per month for the annual subscription. It includes the following:

• Customizable email templates
• Drag and drop editor
• Transactional emails
• SMS and WhatsApp campaigns
• Email marketing service with 20k emails per month
• No daily sending limit
• No Brevo logo (add-on)
• Basic level reporting and analytics
• Email support
• Marketing automation for your email marketing campaigns
• A/B testing
• Advanced statistics
• Multi-user access
• Send time optimization
• Priority phone support
• Landing-page builder

The BrevoPlus plan, available at pricing determined once you’ve spoken to the team, includes the following:

• Customizable email templates
• Drag and drop editor
• Transactional emails
• SMS and WhatsApp campaigns
• From 20k emails per month
• No daily sending limit
• No Brevo logo (add-on)
• Basic level reporting and analytics
• Email support
• Marketing automation
• A/B testing
• Advanced statistics
• Multi-user access
• Send time optimization
• Priority phone support
• Landing page builder
• Enterprise-grade security
• Advanced integrations
• Sub-account management
• Tailored onboarding
• Personalized support
• Flexible contract

You can customize the monthly email volume as well (this is for marketing and transactional messages). The price is based on your chosen monthly email volume.

The free plan is a good place to start, and as it’s free forever, there’s little need for free trials. You can get signed up in a few clicks. No credit card required.

Brevo’s pros and cons

Brevo is a great email service provider, but it also has its weaknesses. Here’s a brief round-up of what we thought were the biggest pros and cons.

Brevo pros

• Email templates and editor. There’s a range of email templates available, and each can be customized as required. The option to quickly add images, videos, and dividers is simple, and you can customize the footer at the bottom of the email in a few clicks. The drag-and-drop editor is fast, and we had no problems no matter what we threw at it.
• Powerful automations. Automations are easy to set up, and there are multiple pre-built options to save you time. Customizing them doesn’t take long, and you can create different paths for your users and then monitor the results. Testing out your automation is intuitive and helps you up your game as you go.
• Segmentation and personalization. You’re able to filter a contact list based on different attributes to create more targeted groups, and it’s as easy as choosing them from the menu. You can add new attributes, such as name and location, and can personalize your subject line in the same place.
• Easy to use with clear UI. Brevo couldn’t be more straightforward to use, and there are plenty of pop-ups and suggestions to help you along. The UI loads fast, with minimal bugs. The most important features of the tool can be found on the left-hand side of the dashboard.
• Extremely affordable. You can get started with a free account. A free account is missing some important features but it may be enough for some casual users.
• Detailed guides. The help center is host to multiple in-depth articles that cover a range of topics, and you can search directly for help to speed things up. A dedicated academy is available that can teach you how to use the tool as well as the fundamentals of marketing with interactive lessons.

Brevo cons

• Reports are lacking. Reports are limited, and only on the more premium plans do you gain access to advanced statistics. However, the basic offering may still be enough.
• Customer support. It can be hard to reach the team, responses are often slow, and there needs to be live chat functionality. The level of overall support varies and could be improved.
• Certain features can be costly. Despite its affordability in most areas, some of the more powerful features are locked behind the higher plans. This includes advanced statistics and the landing page builder.
• Email deliverability. Brevo’s email deliverability rate does vary. It’s not bad, but it could be more consistent.

Brevo alternatives

Need to look at some alternatives? Check out our recommended email tools before we head to our Brevo review conclusion:

• MailerLite | Our review — Easy to use, incredibly feature-rich, powerful, reliable, and great value for money.
• Moosend | Our review — One of the best all-around email marketing platforms on the market. It stands out for its ease of use, excellent support, and powerful personalization and segmentation features.
• ActiveCampaign | Our review — Has everything businesses need to build complex marketing and sales automations, including a bunch of unique features you won’t find elsewhere (such as Automation Maps and some fantastic pre-built Recipes).

Final thoughts on Brevo

That concludes our Brevo review.

Overall, Brevo is easy to use, features a great email editor, and offers customizable automations, making it ideal for a range of businesses, small and large.

The platform enables you to quickly create new campaigns, and you can filter your contact lists based on different attributes in a few clicks.

On top of that, they have detailed guides, an academy that can help you improve your marketing game, and A/B testing to round off the package.

We recommend you give the free forever plan a go to see if it’s the right tool for you.

That’s a wrap. Best of luck!

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