FaceBook

10 Email List Management Software + Best Practices

Without proper email list management, you’re losing potential sales, actively damaging your sender reputation, and campaign success.

From a marketing perspective, your email list is your biggest asset. Naturally, you focus heavily on growing your subscriber base.

But managing that list effectively is just as important. It can significantly impact the success of your marketing campaigns and drive meaningful conversions.

That’s why in this blog, we have discussed:

  • Why you should manage your email list
  • 10 best email list management software
  • Email list management best practices

What is Email List Management?

Email list management is the process of collecting, organizing, and maintaining email addresses for a clean and engaging email list.

Managing your email list involves acquiring email addresses, segmentation, updating contact details, and removing invalid email addresses.

Top 5 Benefits of Managing Your Email List

In email marketing, managing your email list will aid you as your business scales and your mailing list grows.

Here are the top 5 benefits of email list management:

  1. Enhanced Email Deliverability: Proper email list management helps you remove inactive, bounced, or invalid email addresses. This improves your sender reputation. As a result, email deliverability will also increase.
  2. Aids in Email Personalization: With a well-organized email list, you can segment subscribers based on behavior, purchase history, location, or preferences. This lets you craft highly personalized content that resonates and converts.
  3. Better Engagement: By targeting only active, interested subscribers, you increase open rates, click-through rates, and overall subscriber interaction with your emails.
  4. Higher ROI: Sending targeted emails to the engaged audience means fewer wasted sends and more conversions – Increased ROI.
  5. Clearer Analytics: A clean list provides accurate data on how your campaigns are performing. You can track email marketing metrics without distortion from inactive or irrelevant contacts.
ROI Calculator
Calculate the Return on Investment for your email campaigns and know how profitable your current email marketing tool is.

Email List Management Software Comparison

All the email list management software mentioned offer the double opt-in option to comply with GDPR, CAN SPAM and marketing consent regulations.

SoftwareBest forPricing/month (Popular Plan)Segmentation capabilitiesSignup forms
RetainfulEcommerce stores, email marketers, and multichannel marketing$19Segmentation based on demography, location, and real-time behaviorEmbedded signup forms and smart popups for targeting the audience
HubspotB2B marketing & CRM integration$800Segmentation based on Contact Properties, Behavior, LifecycleForms & Popups
MailchimpSmall to mid-sized businesses$20Tags, Behavior, Campaign ActivityForms & Popups
Constant ContactSmall and mid-sized businesses$33.96Tags, EngagementForms & Popups
Get ResponseMarketing automation with an ecommerce focus$48.37Behavior, Location, Engagement ScoreForms & Landing Pages
Active CampaignAdvanced marketing automation$79Tags, Site Behavior, Custom FieldsForms & Popups
KlaviyoData-rich ecommerce campaigns$ 60Browsing behavior, demographics, and locationIntegrated Popups
OmnisendMultichannel ecommerce marketing$ 41.30Shopping Behavior, demography, and locationForms & Landing Pages
MailerliteBloggers, creators, and small businesses$18Behavior, Location, Signup SourceForms & Popups
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)Multichannel marketing$ 16.17Contact Attributes and Engagement,Forms & Widgets

10 Best Email List Management Software

The best email list management softwares are:

  1. Retainful
  2. Hubspot
  3. Mailchimp
  4. Constant Contact
  5. GetResponse
  6. ActiveCampaign
  7. Klaviyo
  8. Omnisend
  9. MailerLite
  10. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

1. Retainful

Retainful is an advanced email segmentation tool specifically designed for ecommerce marketing needs.

Here’s what you’ll get from Retainful for managing your email lists:

  • Advanced segmentation.
  • Static lists.
  • Dynamic auto-updating segments
  • Templates for segmentation.
  • Smart popups and signup forms for collecting contact details.
  • Double opt-in method to ensure you have an engaging email list.
  • Suppression list to keep your list clean

In addition to these email list management capabilities, you can expect powerful automation workflows, email campaigns, and omnichannel marketing.

Pricing Plans:

  • Free plan: 500 Emails
  • $19/month: 20,000 Emails
  • $49/month: 50,000 Emails
Retainful email segmentation tool

Related Reading: Email Campaigns: 9 Examples + How to Create

2. Hubspot

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM and marketing platform that offers robust email list management tools.

Here’s what you’ll get from HubSpot for managing your email lists:

  • CRM-driven segmentation based on deal stage, lifecycle, and activity
  • Integration with ad audiences for multi-channel targeting
  • List suppression based on internal CRM activities (e.g., sales outreach)

Pricing Plans:

  • Marketing Hub Professional – $800/Month
  • Marketing Hub Enterprise – $3600/Month
Hubspot CRM Platform

Related Reading: 10 Best Email Marketing Software Comparison and Review

3. MailChimp

Mailchimp is a popular all-in-one marketing platform known for its user-friendly email list management.

Here’s what you’ll get from Mailchimp for managing your email lists:

  • Predictive segmentation using AI
  • Tag and group management within a single audience for granular targeting
  • Contact rating system based on engagement.

Pricing Plans:

  • Free plan: 1000 Emails/ month
  • Essentials: $13 /month – 5000 emails per month
  • Standard: $20 /month – Emails + Automations
  • Premium: $350/month – All access
 Mailchimp email marketing platform

4. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a reliable email marketing platform that offers straightforward list management tools.

Here’s what you’ll get from Constant Contact for managing your email lists:

  • Engagement-based segmentation (clicks, opens over time)
  • Auto-tagging and list scoring based on user actions
  • Growth list comparison reports

Pricing Plans:

  • Lite: $11.64
  • Standard: $33.96
  • Premium: $77.61
Constant Contact email marketing platform

5. Get Response

GetResponse is a feature-rich email marketing platform that offers advanced list management and automation tools. It is a great fit for growing B2B businesses.

Here’s what you’ll get from GetResponse for managing your email lists:

  • List hygiene tools (inactive contact filters, bounce handlers)
  • Built-in landing pages that sync directly with list segments
  • Tag-based automation that updates lists in real time
  • Subscription source tracking

Pricing Plans:

  • Starter: $13.32
  • Marketer: $41.36
  • Creator: $48.37
  • Enterprise: Custom
GetResponse automated marketing platform

6. Active Campaign

ActiveCampaign is a powerful customer experience automation platform. It is ideal for data-driven marketers.

Here’s what you’ll get from ActiveCampaign for managing your email lists:

  • Deep tagging based on on-site and email behavior
  • Conditional list automations (add/remove based on events or tags)
  • Page visit-based list enrichment

Pricing Plans and Email Volume:

  • Starter: $15
  • Plus: $49
  • Pro: $79
  • Enterprise: $145
Active Campaign email automation platform

7. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a data-driven B2C CRM email and SMS marketing platform built specifically for eCommerce businesses.

Here’s what you’ll get from Klaviyo for managing your email lists:

  • Real-time ecommerce platform sync (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.).
  • Predictive analytics (churn, CLV) for advanced segmentation.
  • Product and catalog interaction triggers for list updates.

Pricing Plans and Email Volume:

  • Free plan: 500 emails/month
  • $ 45/ month: 15000 emails/ month
  • $ 60 / month: 15000+ emails/ month (SMS credits included)
Klaviyo CRM tool for B2C list management

8. Omnisend

Omnisend is a multichannel marketing platform tailored for eCommerce stores. It offers intuitive email list management and segmentation tools to help you send more relevant campaigns.

Here’s what you’ll get from Omnisend for managing your email lists:

  • Unified profile per subscriber across email and SMS.
  • E-commerce specific filters.
  • Channel-based segmentation (email-only, SMS-only, multi)
  • Email engagement score-based dynamic segments

Pricing Plans:

  • $11.20: 6000 emails/month
  • $41.30: Unlimited emails
  • Custom
Omnisend email marketing and SMS marketing platform

9. Mailerlite

MailerLite is a clean, user-friendly email marketing platform. perfect for small businesses and creators looking for efficient email list management.

Here’s what you’ll get from MailerLite for managing your email lists:

  • Drag-and-drop segment builder.
  • Multi-user permissions for managing lists in teams.
  • Tagging automation from form submissions or email actions.
  • Time zone-based list segmentation for local send times.

Pricing Plans:

  • Free plan: 12000 monthly emails, 1 user
  • $9/month: Unlimited emails, 3 users
  • $18/month: Unlimited emails, Unlimited users
Mailerlite email marketing tool with segmentation capabilities

10. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo is a budget-friendly, all-in-one marketing platform offering reliable list management and segmentation tools. It is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses and startups.

Here’s what you’ll get from Brevo for managing your email lists:

  • Engagement-based contact scoring (opens, clicks, inactivity)
  • SMS/WhatsApp list management tied to email actions
  • Custom contact attributes for list personalization
  • Real-time list updates from transactional email events

Pricing Plans:

  • Free: 300 emails daily
  • $8.08: 5000 emails /month
  • $16.17: 5000 emails/ month + Marketing automation
  • Custom price
Brevo email marketing platform with email list management capabilities.

7 Best Practices to Manage Your Email List Effectively

Along with the right email list management software, you’ll need to follow best practices to effectively manage your email list.

Here are the 7 best email list management practices:

  1. Do Not Buy Email Lists: Purchased lists often contain poor-quality leads and irrelevant contacts. A poor-quality email list can impact your sender’s reputation negatively.
  2. Use a Double Opt-In Method: The Double opt-in method ensures that only interested subscribers are joining your email list.
  3. Verify Email Addresses: Regularly validate email addresses to catch typos, inactive accounts, or fake sign-ups that could result in hard bounces.
  4. Maintain List Hygiene: Remove bounced, inactive, or unengaged contacts regularly to keep your list healthy and your metrics accurate.
  5. Provide Clear Unsubscribe Options: Make it easy for users to opt out if they’re no longer interested. It’s better to lose a subscriber than to be marked as spam.
  6. Segment Your Audience: Organize your list based on subscriber behavior, preferences, or demographics for more personalized and effective campaigns.
  7. Re-Engage or Eliminate Old Contacts: Run win-back campaigns to try re-engaging inactive subscribers. If there’s no response, it’s time to remove them.

Wrapping Up!

Email list management is more than just organizing email addresses. It’s the backbone of successful email marketing. From segmentation to automation, every feature contributes to better engagement and long-term customer relationships.

When choosing a list management software, make sure you get the following features:

  • Smart static & dynamic segmentation
  • Pre-built templates for segmenting contacts
  • GDPR-compliant double opt-in
  • High-converting smart popups & signup forms
  • Automatic list updates based on real-time behavior
  • Seamless integration with automation workflows

If you are a solo marketer or just starting, check out Retainful, it offers above mentioned features that too in a beginner-friendly interface.

Also Read:

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is email list management important?

It ensures higher deliverability, better engagement, accurate targeting, and improved ROI.

What is the double opt-in process?

It’s a two-step signup process where users confirm their subscription via email.

How often should I clean my email list?

Clean your list at least every 3–6 months to remove inactive or invalid contacts.

Can I use one list for multiple campaigns?

Yes, you can segment one master list into multiple targeted groups for different campaigns.

Is it okay to buy email lists?

No, buying email lists is risky, lowers deliverability, and violates most email marketing laws.

What’s the best way to grow my email list?

Use signup forms, popups, and lead magnets like discounts or exclusive content.

Which tool is best for ecommerce email list management?

Retainful is best for eCommerce as it offers dynamic segmentation, popups, and automation tailored for online stores.

Picture of Kousalya J
Kousalya J
I'm a Computer Science Engineer who enjoys trying out new apps and sharing my thoughts. I also like learning about finance, civilizations, and philosophy in my free time.

Table of Content

Join 16,000+ ecommerce merchants increasing their revenue through Retainful.

Experience how our email marketing software simplifies full-cycle ecommerce email marketing firsthand.