Grow Your Business with Sendinblue: An All-in-One Email Marketing and Automation Platform Designed for SMBs

TL; DR: Sendinblue’s all-in-one sales and marketing platform empowers entrepreneurs and SMBs to build and grow lasting relationships with their customers. The company, made up of more than 350 employees based in New Delhi, Seattle, Paris, and Berlin, offers CRM software, marketing automation, A/B testing, and SMS marketing at affordable prices. After acquiring a German competitor last January, Sendinblue now has its sights set on expansion within the U.S. market.

It’s no secret that small businesses make a big impact on our daily lives. Not only do they account for the majority of companies worldwide, but they play a major role in innovation, job creation, and economic growth. Without them, the world as we know it would not function in the same way.

That’s why it’s so alarming that 50% of the small and medium-sized businesses surveyed in a 2019 study stated that they did not have a marketing plan in place.

Researchers also found that small-business owners are short on time and face limited budgets. The majority (55%) of those surveyed said they spend less than 5% of their annual revenue on marketing, and 86% of respondents said they would rather spend time on business activities other than marketing.

It’s cases like these where platforms like Sendinblue can help. The comprehensive solution provides the marketing tools SMBs need to effortlessly manage customer relationships across all digital channels without an enterprise-sized price tag.

“Our tagline is Prepare for Takeoff, and that’s what we’re empowering small businesses to do,” said Emma Fanning, Content Marketing Specialist at Sendinblue. “Our founder’s vision is to give them an affordable marketing toolbox that helps them compete against bigger brands.”

The company now provides more than 100,000 businesses with a full range of sales and marketing resources, including CRM software, live chat capabilities, email campaigns, A/B testing, marketing automation, and SMS tools, among other functionalities. With more than 350 employees based in New Delhi, Seattle, Paris, and Berlin, Sendinblue aims to help businesses across the globe grow customer relationships in a simple and cost-effective manner.

Sendinblue, headquartered in Paris, was founded in 2012 by Armand Thiberge. The company got its start primarily as an email marketing service for SMBs but added features over the years until it grew into an all-in-one provider of sales and marketing solutions.

Today, the platform makes the lives of its users easier by allowing them to manage their digital interactions across various channels and databases using one centralized tool — rather than a mashup of disjointed software.

Email, which remains a core feature of the product, is now more powerful because it functions as part of an overall communication strategy backed by supporting sales and marketing functions.

“For example, after generating a list of prospects who have registered for your newsletter through a Sendinblue form on your website, you can reach out to them via email, then target them with display advertising,” Armand stated in a recent press release. “You can then use this contact information to reach a larger audience on Facebook by creating a list of potential customers whose profiles are similar to your list of prospects.”

Sendinblue’s pricing model includes a full range of plans, from free packages for up to 300 emails per day to premium solutions with 350,000 emails per month, plus custom options for those with advanced needs. There are no contracts or hidden fees, and users may change their plan or cancel the service at any time with no additional charges.

The company also offers pay-as-you-go options for businesses with minimal contact lists who don’t send emails often. This credit-based system comes with the same features as the company’s Essential plan, and credits never expire.

Sendinblue’s goal is to put users in the position to build unique customer connections. “Email marketing is essentially a means to keep on top of your customer relationships,” Emma told us.

One thing the company does exceptionally well is help manage transactional emails — which can be used to send order confirmations, shipping notifications, and directions to reset passwords. Emma said most of Sendinblue’s competitors lack a transactional email solution or require a third-party plugin.

“These types of emails are really important for maintaining positive customer relationships,” she said. “If, for example, a customer orders something on your site and doesn’t receive an order confirmation via email, they’re likely to think they’ve been scammed.”

Sendinblue allows customers to create on-brand designs for all emails and SMS marketing campaigns using professional templates or the company’s intuitive drag and drop editor. The platform makes it easy to personalize content with custom messages and subject lines, which are known to increase open rates.

Users can further customize their messages with different text, dates, or figures using conditions related to information in any database. This makes it possible to send several different emails within the same campaign.

After proving successful as a leader in the French market, Sendinblue set its sights on research and development to further improve its existing products, as well as efforts to accelerate growth internationally.

Early last year, Sendinblue acquired Newsletter2Go, a leading provider of email marketing in Germany. The companies have since joined forces to provide digital marketing with a focus on data privacy to a wider market. Together, they are prepared to compete with the likes of Hubspot, Salesforce, and Mailchimp by offering an affordable pricing strategy tailored to small and medium-sized businesses.

“With the purchase of Newsletter2Go, we hope to accelerate our trajectory to become the leading European provider of secure marketing solutions that are comprehensive while still maintaining respect for user data privacy,” the company stated in a January 31, 2019, press release.

Sendinblue has worked to help customers stay compliant with GDPR, a European data protection regulation designed to give residents control over their personal data. GDPR went into effect on May 25, 2018. Leading up to the implementation of the regulation, Sendinblue took precautions to ensure the rights of its users were in line with the new laws.

Newsletter2Go has also made GDPR-compliant email marketing solutions a priority. The company has TÜV Rheinland, one of the most strict independent inspection services in the world, examine its data protection practices and security measures via annual office visits.

Moving forward, Sendinblue is setting ambitious goals to develop innovative new features and accelerate its expansion into additional international markets. Emma told us that North America is the next piece of the puzzle.

“We’re already leaders in Europe,” she said. “But we have an office opening in Toronto, and we really want to break into the U.S. market. That’s going to be a big focus for us in the future.”

The company will also continue developing new products while improving its current platform.

“With the acquisition of Newsletter2Go, we’ve doubled the resources and manpower we have, so we’re in a really good position to keep on growing globally,” Emma said.