Brevo is a new name at the time of writing and is the former SendinBlue. Brevo offers e-mail marketing software that allows you to do a lot of things. They are constantly improving and new features are being added all the time. Below I will go through all the features.
Within Brevo, you can send emails automatically based on customer behavior. For example, consider an e-mail sent automatically when someone abandons their shopping cart. The principle is similar to other software, but personally I see some drawbacks here. Namely, while setting up an automatic e-mail, you cannot edit the content directly. Brevo uses templates, so changes to an email within an automation require you to look up the relevant template and make the adjustments there.
Setting up automations and flows is fine, though. In my opinion, it is a little less intuitive than some other systems, but it works well. The drag-and-drop system within the automations is clear and self-explanatory, which makes it a pleasant system to work with.
Creating campaigns in Brevo is easy to do through their drag and drop builder. Here you can drag and drop certain fields to where you want them. Add a few images, a few pieces of text and you’ll have your first email campaign ready in no time. It can take some searching to get specific designs, but there are plenty of options.
In addition to email campaigns, it is also possible to send SMS and even Whatsapp Campaigns with Brevo.
This is where Brevo definitely wins a point. In fact, they offer a free plan that lets you send 300 emails a day and with unlimited contacts. Want to use all of Brevo’s features? Then you only pay €49 per month. This is a lot cheaper if you have a large list. Brevo does not count on the number of contacts, but on the number of emails you send.
Brevo can therefore be the solution for companies with a large list that send a newsletter once or twice a month and want to create a few simple automations. In this case, you don’t pay the main price and you have a system that works well with all the functionalities.
Do you need help creating effective emails for your business and use Brevo as your email marketing software? Then sign up for my email marketing course for free. In it, I explain the basics of email marketing, which will help you get better results with your emails in no time.
Brevo is easily linked to your WordPress site by downloading the Brevo plugin. Go to the dashboard of your WordPress environment and choose to install a new plugin. Use the search bar and type in “Brevo. You will come across the plugin called “Newsletter, SMTP, Marketing and Subscribe forms by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue).” Download this plugin, click ‘Activate’ and follow the further instructions in Brevo. To complete the link, you will need an API Key. How to find this, you can read in the next section.
Linking WooCommerce to Brevo is fortunately quite simple. In your WordPress dashboard, go to “Plugins” and type “Brevo” in the search bar. You will then come across a plugin called “Brevo (formerly SendinBlue) for WooCommerce.” Download this plugin, click ‘Activate’ and follow the installation steps. Once linked, you can send emails based on purchases, abandoned shopping carts and much more.
The Brevo API Key is easy to find. In the upper right corner of your Brevo account, click on your company’s name. A dropdown menu will appear where you will see the option “SMTP & API. Click on this. Note that you will first come to the menu for your SMTP key, but you do NOT need it. Instead, click on the ‘API Keys’ tab at the top left. Here you can see your existing API Keys or create a new one.
There are a lot of other software in the market, but how do they compare to Brevo? Let’s take them 1 by 1 and compare them to Brevo. We will cover the following software: Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Mailpoet, Convertkit, Hubspot and Mailerlite.
Looking at Brevo and Mailchimp, there are two major differences to consider.
The first difference is usability, in this section Mailchimp wins because of its simple interface and uncluttered design. Brevo lags a bit behind here in my opinion. I often find myself searching in Brevo to find things.
The second difference is price. Here there is just no clear winner and price depends entirely on list size and what you plan to do with the email marketing. To make it clearer, let’s take three situations and show the difference in price.
Situation 1: You have a list totaling 10,000 contacts and want to send a campaign once a week and automate emails.
Situation 2: You have a list of 10000 contacts and want to send regular 1x per week campaigns. You don’t want to automate emails.
Situation 3: You have a list of 1000 contacts and want to send a campaign 1x per week. You do want to automate emails.
Situation 1 | Situation 2 | Situation 3 | |
Brevo | €59 p/m | €29 p/m | €49 p/m |
Mailchimp | €127 p/m | €94 p/m | €43 p/m |
Now you see that there can be quite a difference in price. For example, you see that in situation 1 and 2 Brevo is a lot cheaper, while in situation 3 Mailchimp is cheaper. If you look at price, with a larger list you are better off choosing Brevo and with a smaller list you are generally better off choosing Mailchimp.
The comparison between Brevo and Klaviyo is a world of difference. Namely, Klaviyo focuses entirely on web shops and Brevo is a lot broader in that. Klaviyo is the number one email marketing software if you have a web shop. So if you have a web shop and are hesitating between Brevo and Klaviyo, Klaviyo is the clear winner. Don’t have a web shop? Then you better take a look at the comparisons below.
ActiveCampaign is a comprehensive system that has a lot of functionality. It offers the ability to segment, build sales funnels and manage a CRM system. ActiveCampaign focuses on automating marketing and offers the software to do so. Brevo mainly focuses on facilitating an email marketing software.
Personally, I prefer ActiveCampaign. This system is a lot more comprehensive, clearer and offers a lot more options for both small and larger companies.
Mailerlite like Brevo, offers an excellent platform for email marketing with various features such as: segmentation, automation and doing A/B testing. Mailerlite has the advantage of being a bit more user-friendly and therefore quicker to overview for beginners. Brevo, on the other hand, unlike Mailerlite, also offers features such as SMS marketing, Whatsapp marketing and even a simple CRM system. Should these be features that are important to you, Brevo may be for you.
Where Brevo focuses on small to medium-sized businesses, Mailpoet is completely focused on WordPress users. The advantage of Mailpoet is that it can be easily managed from within your WordPress environment rather than through an external website. Because users are already familiar with WordPress interface before installation, it is quickly perceived as user-friendly.
The capabilities are limited only with Mailpoet, as it only offers the option for sending simple emails. Brevo, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive tool that also offers automation, SMS and chat features.
As a WordPress user, it can be a simple way to send your emails with Mailpoet. However, if you are looking for an email software with more options for segmenting or automating your emails then Brevo is the better choice.
Hubspot is a hugely comprehensive system that offers all the features to automate your marketing in addition to email marketing. Hubspot offers tools for social media monitoring, managing leads, managing content such as blogs and seo and much more.
Brevo is much more focused on email and SMS marketing with features like segmentation, automation and A/B testing. Hubspot generally lends itself a lot better to larger companies or start-ups that want to quickly automate a large portion of their marketing.
The options are limited only with Mailpoet, as it only offers the option for sending simple emails. Brevo, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive tool that also offers automation, SMS and chat features.
As a WordPress user, it can be a simple way to send your emails with Mailpoet. However, if you are looking for an email software with more options for segmenting or automating your emails then Brevo is the better choice.
Are you a coach, influencer or blogger? Then Convertkit might be for you. In fact, Convertkit was created with a focus on this target audience. As a result, it also offers a lot of functionalities that specifically fit them. Think of creating landing pages, collecting leads and a Creator program where you can get extra income by recommending other creators.
Brevo is a software that helps companies build customer relationships by offering the ability to send emails, text messages and chats to customers. By the way, it is primarily used as email software and was first called SendinBlue.
Brevo is an e-mail software hosted on Brevo’s own servers. Your account can be linked to your website and you can easily import your contacts into the system.
Set up your DNS with these simple steps:
Log in to your Brevo Dashboard.
2. Click on your account name in the upper right corner.
3. In the dropdown menu, select “Sender & IP.”
4. Go to the “Domains” section.
5. Click “Add a domain” to add and verify your domain name.
Next:
1. Go to the hosting of your website.
2. Add a DNS entry, usually as a TXT type.
3. Enter the hostname and provide the value of Brevo.
4. Verify in your Brevo account that the verification was successful.
An SPF record is used to verify that the issuing IP has the right to send emails. It helps prevent fraudulent use of your domain name and is especially effective against phishing attacks.
A domain may have only one SPF record. Having more than one SPF record can have a negative impact on the reputation of your domain, and can lead to deliverability problems and cause your emails to end up in spam. If you need to include multiple SPF records for your domain, you should always merge them together.
To merge multiple SPF records, you need to combine the different parts of the records. For example, you combine the SPF records for Google Workspace and Brevo:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
v=spf1 include:spf.brevo.com mx ~all
An SPF record always starts with the version: v=spf1. Then we add both “include” mechanisms to our new record: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.brevo.com. The Brevo SPF record contains an “mx” mechanism, so we need to include it in our new record as well: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.brevo.com mx.
Finally, we need to define how emails should be handled when a sender does not match any of the previous mechanisms. This is done with the “all” mechanism: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.brevo.com mx ~all. This new SPF record now replaces the old record. It allows both Google Workspace and Brevo to send emails with your domain name, while blocking all other senders with “~all”.
Normally, all your emails sent from Brevo are underwritten by Brevo.com. To change this, you need to change your DKIM. You do this by clicking on your company name at the top right, then go to senders & IP and then click on domains. What else you need to do depends on which hosting party you have, for this you should check brevo.com for the most relevant information.
You can find your SMTP key in Brevo by clicking on your company name in the top right corner of your account and going to “SMTP & API”. Click on this and here you will find your SMTP settings and your keys.
Brevo’s WordPress plugin is called, “Newsletter, SMTP, Marketing and Subscribe forms by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue).” You can find this under plugins in your WordPress environment. The plugin for WooCommerce is called: “Brevo (formerly SendinBlue) for WooCommerce” and can be found the same way.
