Email marketing returns $36 for every $1 spent, a 3,600% ROI that outpaces nearly every other digital channel. Choosing the right platform to capture that return is not a minor decision. Emma email marketing (now operating as Emma by Marigold) is one of the more established players in the mid-market ESP space, and it has a specific set of strengths and trade-offs worth understanding before you commit.
This review covers what Emma actually does, how its plans are structured, where it performs well, where it falls short, and how to set it up for your team.
Key Takeaways
Emma by Marigold is a cloud-based email marketing platform that helps users design email campaigns and review their performance.
Pricing starts at $99/month for the Lite plan, with Essentials at $159/month and Teams at $249/month.
Emma by Marigold claims a 99% deliverability rate across its customer base.
Automation features are fairly basic and do not include advanced triggers or branching logic, which limits Emma for teams running complex nurture sequences.
The platform is used by 50,000 teams to plan, deliver, and optimize targeted email campaigns and integrates with hundreds of third-party tools.
What Is Emma Email Marketing?
Emma helps marketing teams design email programs, segment audiences based on demographics, tenure, or spending history, and send automated emails. The system also helps users track performance metrics for individual emails or for the entire program and provides visual insights using dashboards and reports.
The platform was founded in Nashville and later became part of the Marigold family of marketing technology brands. According to Marigold, 40,000 businesses around the world trust the platform as the foundation for their email relationships.
Emma sits in a specific category: it is not a lightweight tool like Mailchimp's free tier, nor is it a full enterprise marketing cloud. It targets growing businesses and multi-location brands that need centralized control with some degree of team flexibility.
Core Features
Email Editor and Templates
Emma's design approach is built for non-experts, with a drag-and-drop editor that lets teams build visually appealing emails using templates, images, and dynamic elements without writing code. The editor lets you design for mobile and desktop and switch between edits and preview.
Emma offers two types of sign-up forms: classic forms embedded directly into a webpage, and lightbox forms that appear as pop-ups on the website.
Email marketing returns $36 for every $1 spent, a 3,600% ROI that outpaces nearly every other digital channel. Choosing the right platform to capture that return is not a minor decision. Emma email marketing (now operating as Emma by Marigold) is one of the more established players in the mid-market ESP space, and it has a specific set of strengths and trade-offs worth understanding before you commit.
This review covers what Emma actually does, how its plans are structured, where it performs well, where it falls short, and how to set it up for your team.
Key Takeaways
Emma by Marigold is a cloud-based email marketing platform that helps users design email campaigns and review their performance.
Pricing starts at $99/month for the Lite plan, with Essentials at $159/month and Teams at $249/month.
Emma by Marigold claims a 99% deliverability rate across its customer base.
Automation features are fairly basic and do not include advanced triggers or branching logic, which limits Emma for teams running complex nurture sequences.
The platform is used by 50,000 teams to plan, deliver, and optimize targeted email campaigns and integrates with hundreds of third-party tools.
What Is Emma Email Marketing?
Emma helps marketing teams design email programs, segment audiences based on demographics, tenure, or spending history, and send automated emails. The system also helps users track performance metrics for individual emails or for the entire program and provides visual insights using dashboards and reports.
The platform was founded in Nashville and later became part of the Marigold family of marketing technology brands. According to Marigold, 40,000 businesses around the world trust the platform as the foundation for their email relationships.
Emma sits in a specific category: it is not a lightweight tool like Mailchimp's free tier, nor is it a full enterprise marketing cloud. It targets growing businesses and multi-location brands that need centralized control with some degree of team flexibility.
Core Features
Email Editor and Templates
Emma's design approach is built for non-experts, with a drag-and-drop editor that lets teams build visually appealing emails using templates, images, and dynamic elements without writing code. The editor lets you design for mobile and desktop and switch between edits and preview.
Emma offers two types of sign-up forms: classic forms embedded directly into a webpage, and lightbox forms that appear as pop-ups on the website.
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Audience Management and Segmentation
Emma allows users to create and manage groups and segments, where groups are collections of subscribers based on specific criteria and segments provide an additional layer of targeting based on subscriber information, response history, or sign-up history.
Emma also offers extensive options for managing contact fields, with each contact having default fields for first and last names, plus the ability to add custom fields for data points like location, gender, or interests.
Strong segmentation directly connects to revenue. Well-segmented campaigns are a major driver of email ROI, and you can read more about building that infrastructure in our guide to email list segmentation strategies that boost ROI by 760%.
Automation and Journeys
Emma supports automated Journeys that deliver personalized email sequences and triggered campaigns based on contact behavior.
Smart Send analyzes your account's past campaign engagement to identify when your audience is most active, then automatically delivers campaigns at the time your contacts are most likely to open, click, and engage.
That said, the automation features are fairly basic and do not include advanced triggers or branching logic, so teams running sophisticated multi-path nurture workflows may find the toolset limiting.
Analytics and Reporting
Emma lets users deliver follow-up emails by analyzing whether recipients opened an email or clicked a link, and helps users understand which content performs well by analyzing emails with the best click-through rates.
Multi-account reporting delivers full visibility from a single activity dashboard, which is particularly useful for agencies and multi-location businesses managing more than one brand.
AI Tools and Smart Features
Emma's AI Assistant helps teams draft on-brand email content quickly, guided by brand standards and supported by privacy-first AI, giving speed without sacrificing control or trust.
Smart Recommendations provides real-time, actionable guidance before sending, evaluating campaign information to offer advice designed to increase engagement, strengthen deliverability, and boost open rates.
Brand Controls
Template style locking and centralized asset management, along with a robust approvals process, means your brand is never misrepresented and you can drive consistent subscriber loyalty. This feature is particularly valuable for franchise businesses, universities, and organizations where multiple teams send email independently.
Emma Email Marketing Pricing
Emma uses a subscription-based pricing model with multiple tiers that vary by contact count and feature access, with pricing increasing as additional contacts, advanced automation, or enhanced analytical tools are added. Annual commitments may unlock discounts.
Here is a summary of published plan levels:
Plan
Starting Price
Best For
Emma Lite
$99/month
Basic sending needs
Emma Essentials
$159/month
Growing brands needing automation
Emma for Teams
$249/month
Multi-department organizations
Enterprise
Custom
Large-scale or multi-location businesses
Emma does not offer a free plan. The absence of a free tier and the entry-level pricing may be too high for small businesses with tight budgets.
Pricing is contact-based, so costs scale as your list grows. Always confirm current pricing directly on the Emma pricing page before purchasing, as rates are subject to change.
Deliverability
Emma by Marigold claims a 99% deliverability rate, helping organizations ensure messages reach their intended audience.
In response to Google and Yahoo's 2023 sender requirement updates, Emma added product features to enhance domain authentication and implemented fallback measures to prevent missed sends.
DMARC setup within Emma is described by users as fairly straightforward, which is a practical advantage for teams that need to configure authentication without deep technical resources.
However, some users report occasional deliverability issues and challenges with inbox placement for bulk emails. Deliverability is never fully a platform responsibility; your sender reputation, list hygiene, and subject line quality all play a role. For subject line best practices that help inbox placement, see our guide on email subject line best practices that boost open rates by 27%.
Integrations
Emma has integrations with popular customer relationship management, analytics, and eCommerce solutions, enabling businesses to use data from those platforms inside their email campaigns.
Key integrations include:
Salesforce: The Emma Salesforce integration links email marketing with Salesforce CRM for real-time syncing, automated triggers, and unified reporting.
Google Analytics: Emma supports GA4 and universal analytics codes for improved analytics on form submissions.
Eventbrite and SurveyMonkey: Emma integrates with Eventbrite and SurveyMonkey to simplify communication across events or public feedback efforts.
Open API and SFTP: SFTP Connect is available as an easy way to automatically update contacts inside Emma, regardless of your internal system.
The platform supports hundreds of pre-built apps and integrations for teams that want to connect Emma to existing tech stacks without custom development.
How to Set Up Emma Email Marketing
Getting started with Emma follows a clear sequence. Here is a practical setup path for new accounts:
Create your account and choose a plan. Visit myemma.com and select the tier that fits your contact volume and team structure.
Authenticate your sending domain. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your domain. DMARC setup within Emma is fairly simple and well-documented in the help center.
Import your contact list. The bulk import feature is useful for businesses transferring large email lists from other platforms. Emma's field mapping tool automatically guesses field types, saving time and reducing errors.
Build your audience segments. Creating a new group or segment is straightforward, with clear instructions and an intuitive interface.
Set up your first automation. Configure a welcome email Journey for new subscribers. From welcome emails to follow-up journeys, Emma's automation ensures timely touchpoints that turn first-timers into loyal supporters. For ideas on structuring that sequence, see our article on welcome email sequence best practices.
Design your first campaign. Use a responsive template from the gallery, customize it with your brand assets, and use Emma's inbox preview to check mobile rendering before sending.
Enable Smart Send. Smart Send reviews your last 10 campaigns to identify peak engagement windows and uses that data to guide delivery timing.
Connect your CRM or analytics tool. Use a native integration or Zapier to sync Emma with your CRM so sales teams can see campaign engagement data without leaving their existing tools.
Pros and Cons
Where Emma Performs Well
The platform is user-friendly and customer-centered, meaning inexperienced admins can get started right away. The agency feature allows management of all units from a single platform.
Customer support is responsive and consistently receives high ratings. Deliverability is strong, particularly when used alongside complementary tools. The platform is scalable, making it a good fit for both small teams and larger organizations.
With built-in brand governance, smart automation, and privacy-first AI, organizations can scale email marketing while protecting data and maintaining deliverability. Emma's tiered platform gives centralized control without slowing teams down.
Where Emma Falls Short
Template customization options are limited, there is no free tier, entry-level pricing may be too high for small businesses, automation features lack advanced triggers or branching logic, and there is no website builder.
Some users report formatting differences between email draft previews and actual test emails, including line spacing and text inconsistencies that do not appear during creation.
Emma has not evolved its functionality or user interface as rapidly as some competitors.
Who Should Use Emma Email Marketing?
Emma is a practical fit for:
Multi-location businesses and franchises that need brand controls and centralized approval workflows.
Higher education and nonprofit organizations where the platform has eased the burden of email campaigns for students, faculty, and staff, with capabilities for dynamic fields and targeting specific groups.
Mid-market marketing teams who want a clean interface, solid deliverability, and professional support without the complexity of an enterprise platform.
It is less suited for very small businesses on tight budgets, solo marketers who need a free plan to start, or growth teams running advanced multi-step behavioral automation.
If you are comparing options before deciding, our HootSuite email marketing review covers another platform in this space with a different feature set and pricing structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Emma email marketing used for?
Emma is an email marketing platform for enhancing business sales. It provides tools to create and send emails with advanced functions such as personalization, segmentation, and automation, along with A/B content testing and landing page creation via a drag-and-drop editor.
Does Emma email marketing offer a free plan?
Emma does not offer a free plan. Pricing starts at $99 per month for the Emma Lite plan. Teams that need to evaluate the platform before committing should ask about a demo or trial directly through Emma's sales team.
How does Emma handle email deliverability?
Before you send, Emma evaluates campaign information and offers guidance designed to increase engagement, strengthen deliverability, and boost open rates. The platform claims a 99% deliverability rate. Domain authentication through DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is required to maintain strong inbox placement.
Can Emma integrate with Salesforce?
Yes. The Emma Salesforce integration links email marketing with Salesforce CRM for real-time syncing, automated triggers, and unified reporting. If a customer unsubscribes via an Emma email, the change appears in Salesforce immediately, eliminating manual cross-checks and helping maintain GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliance. The current supported integration is the Beaufort 12 Emma for Salesforce app on the Salesforce AppExchange.
Audience Management and Segmentation
Emma allows users to create and manage groups and segments, where groups are collections of subscribers based on specific criteria and segments provide an additional layer of targeting based on subscriber information, response history, or sign-up history.
Emma also offers extensive options for managing contact fields, with each contact having default fields for first and last names, plus the ability to add custom fields for data points like location, gender, or interests.
Strong segmentation directly connects to revenue. Well-segmented campaigns are a major driver of email ROI, and you can read more about building that infrastructure in our guide to email list segmentation strategies that boost ROI by 760%.
Automation and Journeys
Emma supports automated Journeys that deliver personalized email sequences and triggered campaigns based on contact behavior.
Smart Send analyzes your account's past campaign engagement to identify when your audience is most active, then automatically delivers campaigns at the time your contacts are most likely to open, click, and engage.
That said, the automation features are fairly basic and do not include advanced triggers or branching logic, so teams running sophisticated multi-path nurture workflows may find the toolset limiting.
Analytics and Reporting
Emma lets users deliver follow-up emails by analyzing whether recipients opened an email or clicked a link, and helps users understand which content performs well by analyzing emails with the best click-through rates.
Multi-account reporting delivers full visibility from a single activity dashboard, which is particularly useful for agencies and multi-location businesses managing more than one brand.
AI Tools and Smart Features
Emma's AI Assistant helps teams draft on-brand email content quickly, guided by brand standards and supported by privacy-first AI, giving speed without sacrificing control or trust.
Smart Recommendations provides real-time, actionable guidance before sending, evaluating campaign information to offer advice designed to increase engagement, strengthen deliverability, and boost open rates.
Brand Controls
Template style locking and centralized asset management, along with a robust approvals process, means your brand is never misrepresented and you can drive consistent subscriber loyalty. This feature is particularly valuable for franchise businesses, universities, and organizations where multiple teams send email independently.
Emma Email Marketing Pricing
Emma uses a subscription-based pricing model with multiple tiers that vary by contact count and feature access, with pricing increasing as additional contacts, advanced automation, or enhanced analytical tools are added. Annual commitments may unlock discounts.
Here is a summary of published plan levels:
Plan
Starting Price
Best For
Emma Lite
$99/month
Basic sending needs
Emma Essentials
$159/month
Growing brands needing automation
Emma for Teams
$249/month
Multi-department organizations
Enterprise
Custom
Large-scale or multi-location businesses
Emma does not offer a free plan. The absence of a free tier and the entry-level pricing may be too high for small businesses with tight budgets.
Pricing is contact-based, so costs scale as your list grows. Always confirm current pricing directly on the Emma pricing page before purchasing, as rates are subject to change.
Deliverability
Emma by Marigold claims a 99% deliverability rate, helping organizations ensure messages reach their intended audience.
In response to Google and Yahoo's 2023 sender requirement updates, Emma added product features to enhance domain authentication and implemented fallback measures to prevent missed sends.
DMARC setup within Emma is described by users as fairly straightforward, which is a practical advantage for teams that need to configure authentication without deep technical resources.
However, some users report occasional deliverability issues and challenges with inbox placement for bulk emails. Deliverability is never fully a platform responsibility; your sender reputation, list hygiene, and subject line quality all play a role. For subject line best practices that help inbox placement, see our guide on email subject line best practices that boost open rates by 27%.
Integrations
Emma has integrations with popular customer relationship management, analytics, and eCommerce solutions, enabling businesses to use data from those platforms inside their email campaigns.
Key integrations include:
Salesforce: The Emma Salesforce integration links email marketing with Salesforce CRM for real-time syncing, automated triggers, and unified reporting.
Google Analytics: Emma supports GA4 and universal analytics codes for improved analytics on form submissions.
Eventbrite and SurveyMonkey: Emma integrates with Eventbrite and SurveyMonkey to simplify communication across events or public feedback efforts.
Open API and SFTP: SFTP Connect is available as an easy way to automatically update contacts inside Emma, regardless of your internal system.
The platform supports hundreds of pre-built apps and integrations for teams that want to connect Emma to existing tech stacks without custom development.
How to Set Up Emma Email Marketing
Getting started with Emma follows a clear sequence. Here is a practical setup path for new accounts:
Create your account and choose a plan. Visit myemma.com and select the tier that fits your contact volume and team structure.
Authenticate your sending domain. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your domain. DMARC setup within Emma is fairly simple and well-documented in the help center.
Import your contact list. The bulk import feature is useful for businesses transferring large email lists from other platforms. Emma's field mapping tool automatically guesses field types, saving time and reducing errors.
Build your audience segments. Creating a new group or segment is straightforward, with clear instructions and an intuitive interface.
Set up your first automation. Configure a welcome email Journey for new subscribers. From welcome emails to follow-up journeys, Emma's automation ensures timely touchpoints that turn first-timers into loyal supporters. For ideas on structuring that sequence, see our article on welcome email sequence best practices.
Design your first campaign. Use a responsive template from the gallery, customize it with your brand assets, and use Emma's inbox preview to check mobile rendering before sending.
Enable Smart Send. Smart Send reviews your last 10 campaigns to identify peak engagement windows and uses that data to guide delivery timing.
Connect your CRM or analytics tool. Use a native integration or Zapier to sync Emma with your CRM so sales teams can see campaign engagement data without leaving their existing tools.
Pros and Cons
Where Emma Performs Well
The platform is user-friendly and customer-centered, meaning inexperienced admins can get started right away. The agency feature allows management of all units from a single platform.
Customer support is responsive and consistently receives high ratings. Deliverability is strong, particularly when used alongside complementary tools. The platform is scalable, making it a good fit for both small teams and larger organizations.
With built-in brand governance, smart automation, and privacy-first AI, organizations can scale email marketing while protecting data and maintaining deliverability. Emma's tiered platform gives centralized control without slowing teams down.
Where Emma Falls Short
Template customization options are limited, there is no free tier, entry-level pricing may be too high for small businesses, automation features lack advanced triggers or branching logic, and there is no website builder.
Some users report formatting differences between email draft previews and actual test emails, including line spacing and text inconsistencies that do not appear during creation.
Emma has not evolved its functionality or user interface as rapidly as some competitors.
Who Should Use Emma Email Marketing?
Emma is a practical fit for:
Multi-location businesses and franchises that need brand controls and centralized approval workflows.
Higher education and nonprofit organizations where the platform has eased the burden of email campaigns for students, faculty, and staff, with capabilities for dynamic fields and targeting specific groups.
Mid-market marketing teams who want a clean interface, solid deliverability, and professional support without the complexity of an enterprise platform.
It is less suited for very small businesses on tight budgets, solo marketers who need a free plan to start, or growth teams running advanced multi-step behavioral automation.
If you are comparing options before deciding, our HootSuite email marketing review covers another platform in this space with a different feature set and pricing structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Emma email marketing used for?
Emma is an email marketing platform for enhancing business sales. It provides tools to create and send emails with advanced functions such as personalization, segmentation, and automation, along with A/B content testing and landing page creation via a drag-and-drop editor.
Does Emma email marketing offer a free plan?
Emma does not offer a free plan. Pricing starts at $99 per month for the Emma Lite plan. Teams that need to evaluate the platform before committing should ask about a demo or trial directly through Emma's sales team.
How does Emma handle email deliverability?
Before you send, Emma evaluates campaign information and offers guidance designed to increase engagement, strengthen deliverability, and boost open rates. The platform claims a 99% deliverability rate. Domain authentication through DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is required to maintain strong inbox placement.
Can Emma integrate with Salesforce?
Yes. The Emma Salesforce integration links email marketing with Salesforce CRM for real-time syncing, automated triggers, and unified reporting. If a customer unsubscribes via an Emma email, the change appears in Salesforce immediately, eliminating manual cross-checks and helping maintain GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliance. The current supported integration is the Beaufort 12 Emma for Salesforce app on the Salesforce AppExchange.
