Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is a professional email marketing platform focused on providing beautiful email design tools and straightforward campaign management for businesses and creative agencies. Founded in 2004 in Sydney, Australia, the platform has built its reputation on making it easy to create visually stunning email campaigns without requiring design or coding expertise. Campaign Monitor emphasizes simplicity and user experience, offering an intuitive interface that balances powerful features with ease of use. The platform is particularly popular among digital agencies that manage email marketing for multiple clients, thanks to its agency-focused features including client management tools, white-label options, and the ability to manage multiple brands from a single account. Campaign Monitor provides drag-and-drop email builders, extensive template libraries, list management, segmentation, automation capabilities, and detailed analytics. The platform integrates with major e-commerce platforms, CRMs, and business tools to streamline marketing workflows. With customers in over 150 countries, Campaign Monitor serves small to medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, and marketing agencies that prioritize design quality and deliverability. The company is now part of Marigold, a larger marketing technology company, which has expanded its capabilities while maintaining its focus on elegant, effective email marketing.

Campaign Monitor offers tiered pricing based on contact list size, starting with the Lite plan at $11 per month for up to 500 contacts when billed annually. The Lite plan includes unlimited email sends, basic email builder, templates, reporting, and list management, making it suitable for very small businesses just starting with email marketing. The Essentials plan begins at $19 per month for 500 contacts and adds advanced segmentation, automation capabilities, countdown timers, and time zone sending. The Premier plan starts at $149 per month for 500 contacts and includes advanced link tracking, premier support with priority response times, and access to premiere features. All pricing scales upward based on contact count, with options available for lists ranging from 500 to 200,000 contacts or more. For example, 10,000 contacts costs $99 monthly on Essentials or $389 monthly on Premier when billed annually. Email sends are unlimited on all plans, so you only pay for your subscriber count regardless of how frequently you send campaigns. There are no setup fees or long-term contract requirements. Campaign Monitor charges based on total contacts in your account, not unique subscribers, so duplicates across lists can increase costs. The platform offers a free trial with no credit card required, allowing you to test features before committing. Custom enterprise pricing is available for organizations with specialized needs or very large contact lists.

Campaign Monitor is ideally suited for small to medium-sized businesses and marketing agencies that prioritize design quality and ease of use over extensive marketing automation capabilities. The platform shines for creative agencies managing email marketing for multiple clients, offering features like client management dashboards, white-label options, and markup billing that allow agencies to resell email marketing services profitably. Small businesses with 5 to 100 employees appreciate the straightforward interface that doesn't require extensive training or technical expertise to create professional campaigns. E-commerce businesses benefit from integration with platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, though companies needing highly sophisticated automation might find more specialized platforms more suitable. Professional services firms, nonprofits, and membership organizations find Campaign Monitor's design tools and segmentation capabilities well-matched to their communication needs. The platform works well for businesses sending regular newsletters, promotional campaigns, and event invitations where visual appeal is important. Companies that send very high email volumes or require complex, multi-channel marketing automation may find enterprise platforms like Marketo or Salesforce Marketing Cloud more appropriate. Campaign Monitor is less ideal for businesses needing deep CRM integration, advanced lead scoring, or extensive sales automation. The sweet spot is design-conscious businesses and agencies that want beautiful email campaigns without complexity or enterprise-level pricing, typically with teams of 1 to 50 people managing email marketing efforts.

Campaign Monitor offers integration capabilities covering essential business tools and platforms, with over 250 integrations available through direct connections and third-party platforms like Zapier. Native integrations include popular e-commerce systems like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento, enabling automatic contact syncing, purchase tracking, and abandoned cart campaigns. The platform integrates with major CRM systems including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Zoho CRM, allowing bidirectional contact synchronization and coordinated marketing and sales activities. Website and form integrations connect with WordPress, Unbounce, Typeform, and SurveyMonkey to capture leads and grow your email list. Social media integrations with Facebook and Twitter help expand reach and cross-promote content. Payment processor integrations with Stripe and PayPal enable purchase-triggered automations. Campaign Monitor provides well-documented API access on all plans, allowing developers to build custom integrations for specific business requirements. The API supports subscriber management, campaign creation, list operations, and webhook functionality for real-time event notifications. Zapier connectivity extends integration possibilities to thousands of additional applications, though this requires a separate Zapier subscription. For agencies, Campaign Monitor offers particularly strong WordPress integration with features designed for managing multiple client sites. While the integration ecosystem is smaller than platforms like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, it covers the most commonly needed connections, and the API provides flexibility for custom development when specialized integrations are required.

Campaign Monitor provides multi-channel customer support with availability and response quality varying based on subscription tier, ensuring all users receive assistance while offering enhanced support to higher-tier customers. All plan levels, including Lite and Essentials, have access to email support with typical response times of 24-48 hours for non-urgent inquiries. Premier plan subscribers receive priority support with faster response times and access to a dedicated support team familiar with advanced features and complex troubleshooting. The platform offers an extensive knowledge base with hundreds of articles, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides covering everything from basic campaign creation to advanced automation strategies and API implementation. Campaign Monitor Academy provides free educational resources including courses, webinars, and best practice guides to help users improve their email marketing skills. Live chat support is available to all paying customers during business hours, providing real-time assistance for urgent issues. The platform hosts regular webinars covering feature updates, strategy topics, and industry trends. For agencies, specialized resources include client management guides, billing best practices, and tools for scaling agency operations. Campaign Monitor's support team is known for being knowledgeable about email design and deliverability best practices. Comprehensive API documentation with code examples is available for developers building custom integrations. The community forum allows users to connect with other Campaign Monitor customers and share solutions. Migration assistance is available to help new customers transfer contacts and templates from previous email marketing platforms.

Campaign Monitor operates on a flexible subscription model without long-term contract requirements, allowing you to start, pause, or cancel your service at any time without penalties. The platform offers both monthly and annual billing options, with annual plans providing a discount of approximately 15% compared to month-to-month pricing. When you choose monthly billing, you can cancel at any time and your service continues until the end of your current billing period, after which no further charges occur. Annual subscriptions are paid upfront for the entire year and provide cost savings, but Campaign Monitor does not offer prorated refunds if you cancel before the year is complete, so monthly billing provides more flexibility if you're uncertain about long-term commitment. There are no setup fees, activation charges, or hidden costs regardless of which billing cycle you select. Your subscription automatically renews at the end of each billing period unless you actively cancel. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time, with changes typically taking effect at the start of your next billing cycle, though upgrades may be processed immediately with prorated adjustments. For agencies managing multiple clients, Campaign Monitor offers pay-as-you-go client billing options that provide even more flexibility. Enterprise customers with specialized needs may negotiate custom agreements that include specific service level commitments, dedicated resources, or volume discounts, but these are optional arrangements rather than standard requirements. The ability to cancel without penalty makes Campaign Monitor accessible for businesses wanting to test email marketing without long-term financial commitments.

Campaign Monitor provides solid automation capabilities through its journey designer, available on Essentials and Premier plans, allowing you to create triggered email sequences that respond to subscriber behavior and actions. The visual automation builder enables you to design multi-step customer journeys that trigger based on various events including new subscriber additions, link clicks in previous emails, date-based triggers like birthdays or anniversaries, e-commerce actions such as purchases or cart abandonment, and custom events sent via API or integrations. You can create branching workflows that send subscribers down different paths based on their engagement, contact properties, or specific actions they take. Common automation use cases include welcome series for new subscribers, onboarding sequences for new customers, abandoned cart recovery campaigns, post-purchase follow-up messages, and re-engagement campaigns for inactive subscribers. The platform includes wait steps with flexible timing options, allowing you to control message cadence and send emails at optimal times based on subscriber time zones. Pre-built automation templates provide starting points for common scenarios, which you can customize to match your specific needs. Campaign Monitor supports A/B testing within automations, enabling you to experiment with different subject lines, content, or timing to optimize performance. The automation reporting shows how subscribers progress through each step, conversion rates, and revenue generated from automated campaigns. While Campaign Monitor's automation capabilities are more straightforward than platforms like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot, they cover essential use cases effectively and are easier to set up for users who don't need enterprise-level complexity.

Campaign Monitor offers comprehensive email analytics and reporting that provide clear insights into campaign performance and subscriber engagement patterns. Standard metrics tracked for every campaign include open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, spam complaints, and forwards, with data updating in real-time as recipients interact with your emails. Click maps visually show which links in your emails receive the most engagement, helping you understand what content resonates with your audience. Geographic reporting reveals where your engaged subscribers are located, useful for targeting and timing considerations. Device and email client reports show whether subscribers are reading your emails on mobile devices, tablets, or desktops, and which email clients they use, allowing you to optimize designs for the most common viewing environments. Campaign Monitor tracks individual subscriber activity, creating a complete engagement timeline that shows every email opened, link clicked, and action taken by each contact. Comparative reports let you benchmark performance across multiple campaigns to identify trends and improvement opportunities. The platform provides world map visualizations showing engagement by location, which is particularly useful for global businesses. Premier plan subscribers gain access to advanced link tracking that shows not just which links were clicked but specifically which subscribers clicked them, enabling highly targeted follow-up. Automation reports show how subscribers move through journey workflows, including completion rates, conversion points, and revenue attribution for e-commerce integrations. All reports can be exported in multiple formats including PDF and CSV for sharing with stakeholders or deeper analysis in external tools.

Campaign Monitor provides robust segmentation capabilities that allow you to divide your subscriber base into targeted groups based on multiple criteria, ensuring your messages reach the most relevant audience. The platform supports both static segments that remain fixed unless manually updated, and dynamic segments that automatically update as subscriber data changes. You can create segments based on subscriber data including demographics like location, age, or custom fields you define; engagement behavior such as email opens, clicks, or inactivity periods; subscription preferences and interests; and e-commerce activity like purchase history or cart abandonment if integrated with your store. The segmentation builder uses an intuitive interface where you combine multiple conditions using AND/OR logic to create precise targeting rules. For example, you could target subscribers in California who opened your last campaign but didn't make a purchase in the past 30 days. Campaign Monitor allows unlimited segments on all plans, giving you flexibility to experiment with different audience groupings. The platform includes pre-built segment templates for common scenarios like most engaged subscribers, recent joiners, or inactive contacts. You can save segments for reuse across multiple campaigns and automations. Advanced segmentation on Essentials and Premier plans includes behavior-based criteria like clicks on specific links in previous campaigns or time-based conditions. Segments can be combined to create even more precise targeting, and you can preview segment size before sending to ensure your audience is appropriately sized. Campaign Monitor automatically excludes unsubscribed and bounced contacts from all segments to maintain list quality.

Campaign Monitor excels in providing beautiful, professionally designed email templates that are fully customizable to match your brand aesthetic and campaign goals. The platform offers over 100 tested templates organized by industry and purpose, including newsletters, promotional offers, event invitations, product announcements, and seasonal campaigns. All templates are mobile-responsive and extensively tested across major email clients including Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and Yahoo to ensure consistent rendering. The drag-and-drop email builder makes customization intuitive, allowing you to modify layouts, add or remove content sections, adjust colors and typography, upload images, and personalize content without any coding knowledge. Each template includes pre-designed sections for headers, hero images, text blocks, product showcases, call-to-action buttons, social media links, and footers that can be easily rearranged or customized. For users comfortable with HTML and CSS, Campaign Monitor provides a powerful code editor that offers complete control over email design, enabling pixel-perfect customization and the ability to import templates from external design tools. You can save your customized templates for reuse across multiple campaigns, maintaining brand consistency and reducing design time. The platform supports dynamic content using merge tags that pull subscriber data like names, locations, or custom fields into your emails. Template management features allow you to organize saved templates into folders, share templates across team members, and lock templates to prevent accidental changes. Campaign Monitor's template gallery is regularly updated with new designs reflecting current email design trends and seasonal opportunities.

Campaign Monitor can send transactional emails, though the platform is primarily optimized for marketing campaigns rather than high-volume transactional messaging. The Smart Transactional Email feature, available as an add-on to existing plans, allows you to send automated, personalized emails triggered by specific customer actions or events such as purchase confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets, or account updates. You can create transactional email templates using Campaign Monitor's design tools, ensuring these important messages match your brand aesthetic. Sending is accomplished through Campaign Monitor's SMTP relay or their API, which you configure within your application or e-commerce platform to trigger messages based on specific events. The platform provides deliverability optimization for transactional emails, including authentication setup and inbox placement monitoring. However, Campaign Monitor's transactional email capabilities are more limited compared to dedicated transactional email services like SendGrid, Mailgun, or Amazon SES. The platform is best suited for moderate-volume transactional needs where brand consistency and design quality are priorities, rather than applications requiring extremely high throughput or sub-second delivery guarantees. Many businesses use Campaign Monitor for marketing-related transactional emails like cart abandonment reminders, review requests, or subscription renewal notices that blend transactional triggers with promotional content, while using specialized services for critical system emails. Pricing for transactional emails is separate from regular campaign pricing and based on volume, with detailed delivery tracking and analytics available to monitor performance and troubleshoot any delivery issues that arise.

Campaign Monitor offers unlimited email sending on all paid plans, meaning you can send as many campaigns as you need to your subscriber list without hitting monthly send caps or incurring overage charges. This unlimited sending policy provides excellent value for businesses that communicate frequently with their audience, as you only pay for your contact list size rather than the number of emails sent. However, the platform does implement rate limiting to prevent abuse and maintain deliverability standards, with sending speeds optimized based on recipient email provider requirements. New accounts may start with conservative sending speeds that gradually increase as you establish positive engagement patterns and sender reputation. Campaign Monitor monitors key metrics including bounce rates, spam complaint rates, and unsubscribe rates, and accounts with poor metrics may have sending restricted or require list quality review. The platform strictly prohibits purchased, rented, or scraped email lists, requiring all contacts to have verifiably opted in to receive your emails. Shared IP addresses are used for most customers, with sending prioritized based on account health and engagement metrics. Premier plan customers and high-volume senders can request dedicated IP addresses to maintain independent sender reputation, though this requires consistent sending volume to keep the IP warm. Campaign Monitor automatically suppresses hard bounces, unsubscribes, spam complaints, and invalid email addresses to protect your sender reputation. The platform enforces compliance with anti-spam regulations including CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL, and accounts found violating these requirements will be suspended to protect the platform's overall deliverability.