Menu
Emailing is probably the activity we do the most on our computers. Even if you don't work on a computer during the day, you probably sit down in front of it to check your inbox at the end of the day. If the Mail app that comes with your Mac doesn't provide the features you need, you're in luck. There are dozens of great email apps in the Mac App Store. I've tested many of them and these are my favorites. Each one has a little something special that makes it unique.
Microsoft Outlook is no doubt the best email client for Windows. But it is not free. Top 3 best email clients for Windows and MAC PC. 1 Thunderbird. This is a free email client for Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux. It has been developed by Mozilla Foundation. Thunderbird is powered by Firefox web-browser. Its setup is as easy.
This Mac mail app offers the users a sleek and responsive interface and one for the best email app for Mac for Gmail users. Like other Mac email clients, Mail Inbox supports multiple email accounts along with Google Inbox. A free email client comes installed and ready for use with macOS, and macOS Mail is not a bad program at all. However, you might want to examine its free alternatives. Here are the best free email clients available for macOS. Best Mac Email Clients 1. Mozilla has suspended its development, it is still a very popular choice for people that are looking for a reliable and free email client. As with Mailbird and eM Client, multiple account management is a complete breeze. Import and export of contacts is fairly simple. Aobo Mac Keylogger records keystrokes, takes desktop screenshots, secretly sends log files to email, and can be installed even by people with very little IT experience. The wide variety of its features almost makes it the best keylogger for Mac – almost.
Polymail
I was a little late to the game with Polymail and only started using it recently on Mac (though I downloaded it on iOS when it first launched). It turns out, I love it on the Mac. It has a fantastic interface with cute little buttons everywhere so you don't have to think about what to do next. It actually looks like it belongs on a mobile device, except that you click the buttons instead of tapping them.
There is a fourth section that appears whenever you select an email, which displays all of the past correspondences you've had with that particular contact or group of contacts. It's great for quickly tracking down something you've talked about in the past.
You can set up new mail with a pre-made template, send calendar invites, get notifications when someone has read your email, and schedule an email to be sent at a later time.
You can also write or respond to emails with rich text formatting. So, if you want to change the font, add bold lettering, bullet point a section, or just slap an emoji in there, it's all available right from the toolbar at the top of your new email. The only thing it's missing is Touch Bar support, which would really make this app shine.
Polymail can be used for free, but you'll need to sign up for a subscription if you want all of the awesome features that make Polymail stand out, like read notifications, send later, and messaging templates. You can add these features for as low as $10 per month. If you are a heavy email user and these features entice you, give the free trial a run to see if it's worth your money.
If you want your computer email experience to look and feel more like a mobile experience, with big, easy-to-find action buttons, Polymail is the one for you.
Spark
Spark has this 'Smart Inbox' feature that separates out what is Personal, Notifications, Newsletters, Pinned, and Seen. That is, any email that is from someone in your contacts or otherwise looks like a personal email will be filtered to the top of the inbox list. Below that, in a separate section, emails that look like alerts from companies you deal with, like your gas company or Amazon, that include some kind of alert or notification. Below that, you'll see a section called 'Newsletters' which is exactly that. Below that are emails you've flagged or tagged as important in some way. Lastly, emails you've seen, but haven't moved to another folder.
Spark also allows you to snooze an email and come back to take care of it at a later time. This is invaluable when you regularly get emails that you need to respond to but don't have time for until the end of the day. I use it all of the time.
It also has gesture-based actions for getting to inbox zero. You can swipe to the right or left to delete, archive, pin, or, mark an email as unread.
And it has Touch Bar support, which I love.
Spark is best for people that like to have their inbox organized before they go through and move emails to new folders, address them, or delete them entirely. If that sounds appealing to you, try Spark.
Airmail
Airmail treats your emails like a to-do list. You can triage your inbox by scheduling when you are going to take care of an email. If you can't get to it right now, snooze it for later. If it's an email that requires an action, send it to your to-do folder. If it's something important that you'll want quick access to, mark it as a memo. And, when you've finished dealing with your email, send it to the 'Done' folder to get that sweet satisfaction of having completed something on your task list.
If you get more done by treating everything like a to-do list, get Airmail and your inbox will be empty in no time.
Kiwi for Gmail
If you have one or more Gmail accounts, you should consider switching to Kiwi. This all-in-one triumph brings the look and feel of Gmail for the web to the desktop in the form of an app. With the service's unique Focus Filtered Inbox, you can view your messages based on Date, Importance, Unread, Attachments, and Starred. In doing so, you can prioritize your emails in real time.
Perhaps the best reason to use Kiwi for Gmail is its G Suite integration. Thanks to the app, you now get to experience Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as windowed desktop applications. Kiwi is available for Mac and Windows.
Your favorite?
What's going to be your next email client for Mac?
Updated March 2019: Guide updated to reflect price changes. Added Kiwi.
macOS
Main
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
What Is Email Marketing Software?
Social media has radically expanded the options marketers have when promoting their wares. But at the core of almost every digital marketing campaign, you'll still find email. With a low cost to entry, numerous options to let you tailor a solution for your particular needs, and fantastic engagement numbers when done properly, email remains a marketing favorite.
Email marketing solutions run the gamut from basic text-based email editors to fully designed HTML or JavaScript templates. Leveraging email for marketing can take several forms, so some packages will attempt to address all of them while others will seek to specialize. For example, some businesses might decide their most effective marketing tactic is a value-add newsletter delivered to a gated community of subscribers. Others might want to tie their emails directly to their product and sales engines, providing special offers and deals to recipients.
Each of those tactics requires different tools when it comes to ceation of the source email, dissemination to specific recipients, and integration with other back-end systems, notably the accounting system, the customer relationship management (CRM) system, and possibly even the inventory management system. You can manage your contacts by simply keeping a list of names and email addresses, or you can create a complex database full of subscribers segmented by demographic slices and engagement levels. Which method you choose really just depends on how much of your budget you're willing to allocate towards the email marketing software that can give your company the features it needs.
Artificial Intelligence Has Arrived
If there was one key development for email marketing in 2018, then that was the addition of artificial intelligence (AI). While you might not immediately think of AI when considering an email marketing campaign, the technology has had several positive impacts industry-wide within a very short time.
On a more basic level, AI improves email marketing mechanics such as A/B testing and smarter audience segmentation. This can have immediate benefits in terms of optimizing your marketing strategies for different customers and sending the right content to the right people. On a more advanced note, AI can actually optimize email content for specific audiences and product campaigns. Additionally, it can help with personalizing email content right down to the individual customer level, depending on how much information you can feed it from your CRM and sales systems. Strong stuff, which means determining exactly how a potential email marketing service has implemented AI should be a key criteria for most marketers before purchasing.
(Image credit: Statista)
In our email marketing software review roundup, we test the top email marketing tools available based on how easy it is to create emails, build subscriber lists, set autoresponders, and pull in other communication-based tools, such as social media management and web analytics software. To that end, we selected Campaigner and MailChimp as the best pure-play email marketing services. If you need a more complex tool that can build comprehensive workflows designed to automate the email marketing process, then we recommend HubSpot and Pardot, which are better served as marketing automation tools.
What's the difference between them? One-off communications versus prolonged, email-based interactions. For example, email marketing tools are excellent for one-off communications. You can use these tools for the one time you'd like to send someone an automated email response when they join a subscriber list, on their birthday, or when you promote a new product. But marketing automation tools are better suited for prolonged, email-based interactions. For example, you can use marketing automation tools whenever you want to guide someone from a subscriber list to a product purchase. Or you can send thank you emails or send new product promotions—all without having to lift a finger after the workflow is designed.
Packages, Setup, and Support
And that leads us right into understanding service pricing and packaging. The email marketing services we reviewed range from about $5 per month to as much as $20 per month for a range of features. Many email marketing plans include unlimited email sends each month and bill you based on the number of subscribers. If you have a small list, then look for a company that offers a free plan, a low-cost plan for several hundred subscribers, or even a pay-as-you-go plan. On the flip side, many of these services also offer high-volume plans with up to 100,000 or more contacts. Sometimes this requires a custom plan that has to be arranged directly with a sales rep. If you're willing to commit, then look for the companies that offer discounts if you pay yearly rather than monthly. A few offer also money-back guarantees.
Getting started shouldn't be daunting. Generally, you'll know right away whether you like a user interface (UI) or not, and most of the contenders we reviewed offer free trials so you can poke around before dropping any cash. Luckily, most of these services have modern-looking graphics and uncluttered layouts. These are not the complex business software UIs of yesterday. Be careful, though, as some free trials require a credit card. This means you need to be sure to cancel your trial before you're billed if you're not happy with the service.
Be sure to look at the tech support offered by each of these companies, as we felt many weren't as available as we would have liked. You'll find that some offer 24/7 phone support, live chat, and email help, while others leave you to rely on online documentation and limited live support hours. The best services offer a combination of self-serve help resources—where you can search FAQs and articles to find your own answers—as well as live support via chat or phone when you can't solve an issue yourself. We cover all of these concerns in our reviews, plus you can get an overview in the feature chart above.
Managing Subscribers, Creating Campaigns
Whether you already have a list of subscribers or are starting from scratch, email marketing services can help. All of the services we cover let you add contacts manually using copy and paste or by uploading CSV or Microsoft Excel files. Some integrate with third-party software enabling you to import Gmail and other webmail contacts, Salesforce.com and other CRM data, or other software where you might have contacts stored. Depending on the size and location of your list, third-party integration could be key. Verify whether you can export contacts as well (and how easy it is to do so) should you leave the service. Managing users who unsubscribe should also be easy so you're not accidentally contacting anyone who has opted out of your newsletters.
Next up is building an email newsletter. The best services offer several ways to do this; you can import your own HTML, start from scratch, or use a pre-designed template. Most of these services have drag-and-drop UIs that let you choose exactly the elements you want to include, as well as image libraries in which you can store assets such as your logo or company photos. Tools that let you test your emails for spam are also essential since there are some seemingly innocuous terms that may send up red flags and drop all of your hard work into your subscribers' junk folders or, worse, get your emails banned before they ever reach their recipients.
Email Responders and Campaign Tracking
Beyond sending basic newsletters, the best email marketing services offer custom autoresponders which help you stay in touch with your contacts with automatically generated emails based on special occasions (such as their birthday or anniversary), welcome emails for new subscribers, or thank you emails for recent purchases.
The most advanced email marketing services offer custom workflows where you can specify triggers based on actions (such as opening an email or making a purchase) or on inaction (such as ignoring emails). With these services, you can also set up a series of emails (such as tutorials) to be sent to segments of users, and you can pause or stop a campaign at any time. You can also move contacts into new segments once they have completed tutorials.
Of course, sending out campaigns is no help to your business unless you can track your successes and failures and make adjustments based on your learnings. All of the services covered here offer some level of tracking, whether it's simple open and click rate data, color-coded charts and statistics, or even integration with Google Analytics.
As a growing business, you may also be looking for a CRM solution, and you'll find that the more advanced email marketing services have begun to crossover into CRM. It makes sense: Both types of software deal with managing and communicating with customers. A handful of these services are one-stop shops, either offering both email marketing and CRM out of the box or as add-on services.
Editors' note: Campaigner is owned by J2 Global, the parent company of PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.
Best Email For Mac Mini
Featured in This Roundup
Best Email For Mac And Iphone
Campaigner Review
MSRP: $19.95Pros: Customer support is easy to reach. Its user interface is intuitive and simple to use. Offers many beautiful templates and integrations. Thorough online resource center.Cons: Free trial requires a credit card.Bottom Line: Email marketing app Campaigner delivers plenty of advanced features along with a free trial for you to test run its email workflows, auto-responders, and marketing automation functionality.Read ReviewHubSpot Review
MSRP: $50.00Pros: Wealth of workflow features. CRM integration available.Cons: Expensive. Workflows can feel limited. SEO features could use some work.Bottom Line: HubSpot is a leader when it comes to marketing automation as well as email marketing. As the company moves further into sales and CRM, it intends to become the destination for all your customer outreach.Read ReviewMailchimp Review
MSRP: $10.00Pros: Tons of third-party integrations. Flexible Pricing. Helpful documentation.Cons: Pricing can be a unclear. Reporting functionality could be better.Bottom Line: Mailchimp is a long-time leader in the email marketing space, and should have everything your small business needs to launch and manage effective marketing campaigns.Read ReviewPardot Review
MSRP: $1000.00Pros: Rich feature set. Unlimited automation branching. Easy to understand graphical branching functionality.Cons: High price tag might be too much for smaller companies.Bottom Line: With its wealth of features and user-friendliness, Pardot is one of the best marketing automation platforms on the market today. It's expensive, but it's worth the investment for companies that can afford it.Read ReviewConstant Contact Review
MSRP: $20.00Pros: A wealth of different templates. Intuitive and flexible editing module. Selection of commerce and event integrations.Cons: Can get pricey once you have thousands of contacts.Bottom Line: Constant Contact offers a generous set of features, including email automation and third-party integrations. Plus, it's easy enough to use for email marketing newbies.Read ReviewGetResponse Review
MSRP: $15.00Pros: Intuitive. Wealth of third-party integrations. Solid email marketing features.Cons: Templates could be more modern. Free plan is brief.Bottom Line: GetResponse offers an efficient email marketing platform with a comprehensive feature set, a plethora of integrations, and a free trial. While it lags slightly behind leading competitors, GetResponse is definitely worth a look, especially for smaller businesses.Read ReviewSendinBlue Review
MSRP: $25.00Pros: SMS campaign functionality. Free plan available. Wealth of auto-responders and transactional email features.Cons: Account setup can be a chore. Basic templates could use improvement.Bottom Line: SendinBlue delivers a nicely featured email marketing solution, though we'd like to see some of its default template designs improved.Read ReviewZoho Campaigns Review
MSRP: $5.00Pros: Free version available. Effective automation features. Solid auto-responder and workflow functionality.Cons: Pricing information could be more clear.Bottom Line: Zoho Campaigns benefits from a respectable feature set and the fact that it's part of the larger Zoho ecosystem. While it's not perfect and certainly not the most modern interface we've seen, it remains an effective email marketing solution for the price.Read ReviewCampaign Monitor Review
MSRP: $9.00Pros: Powerful email builder. Intuitive user interface. Auto-responders are helpful.Cons: Contact importing is a pain. Lacks traditional support channels.Bottom Line: Campaign Monitor comes up a little short when compared to the leaders of the email marketing space. But for those with more basic needs, it's an effective tool that includes robust marketing and analytics functionality.Read ReviewInfusionsoft Review
MSRP: $99.00Pros: Easy to use and understand. Highly customizable dashboards and auto-responders. Helpful task management features.Cons: Reporting features could use work. Templates are limited. Expensive.Bottom Line: Infusionsoft combines good analytics with an intuitive interface that's marked by easily customizable dashboards to help you track your customers and email marketing campaigns your way.Read Review