Best 13 email management software of 2024

A cluttered inbox can lead to poor customer experiences, inefficient teams, and a lack of valuable insights for management, making it nearly impossible to scale email communications. However, with the right email management software, you can streamline conversations, enhance efficiency, and elevate customer satisfaction.

Given the critical role of email management software in customer service, it’s important to carefully research your options to find the best solution. This article will guide you through different email management tools, key features to consider, and more.

More in this guide:

• What is email management software?
• The 13 best email management software
• Features of email management systems
• Benefits of email management tools
• How to choose the right email management solution
• Frequently asked questions
• Try email management software for free

Email management software is a tool that helps you manage, prioritize, send, track, and organize emails en masse. This software encompasses a variety of solutions that can cater to individuals, small teams, and large organizations.

Email management systems can specialize in certain use cases, including:

• Customer support
• Employee service
• Sales
• Marketing
• Personal use

Customer service teams need email management software that can track inquiries, enable collaboration with other agents, and automate email routing. On the other hand, email marketers need software that can sequence and automate email nurture campaigns, track open and click-through rates, and send mass emails. You can integrate many email management systems to streamline data for more personalized customer experiences.

Here's a comprehensive roundup of email management software for various use cases, from customer service and marketing to employee support.

1. Zendesk

Best email management software for customer experience and employee service

Zendesk offers the complete customer service solution for the AI era. It's secure, quick to deploy, and user-friendly, allowing you to start immediately. The solution makes agents faster, scales personalized customer experiences, and helps administrators optimize workflows efficiently.

Unlike traditional shared inbox solutions, Zendesk email management software is designed for high scalability and can adapt to diverse use cases, such as HR support. The industry-leading ticketing system consolidates inquiries across your support channels, empowering agents to respond seamlessly from a unified interface. Integrated with Zendesk AI, our omnichannel solution enhances the entire service experience—from customers to agents and admins.

The Zendesk agent copilot proactively offers helpful context to agents and suggests actions, accelerating issue resolution. Advanced workflow automation tools intelligently route emails, automate request classifications, and streamline escalations. Additionally, AI agents autonomously resolve requests, enhancing efficiency.

Zendesk also includes robust reporting tools to help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your operations. From schedule adherence to resolution time, Zendesk workforce engagement solutions provide insights into team performance, enabling proactive measures to address customer churn and enhance service quality.

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per agent/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Hiver

Email management software for integrating with Gmail

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Hiver is an email management app within the Gmail dashboard that lets businesses use their Google Workspace like a help desk. Depending on their needs, companies can choose from four product packages: customer support, finance operations, human resources operations, and ITSM.

Hiver supports collaboration between coworkers—even if they don’t have access to the shared inbox—by sending them an invite link to the conversation. The Pro plan includes software automations, allowing users to assign emails based on specified conditions. Businesses that require advanced controls can use the Elite plan to customize email access and analytics reports.

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per user/month, billed annually. A seven-day free trial is available.

3. Brevo

Email management software for sending bulk messages

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Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, began as a newsletter service but now includes sales and customer service features. The Brevo marketing platform offers transactional emails and a drag-and-drop email builder for crafting custom campaigns. Its servers help emails find inboxes instead of spam folders.

Developers can opt for the Messaging API instead. This plan also includes email tracking and analysis and dynamic templates. Users can upgrade to a paid plan to reach the daily email limit.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $9 per month. A free plan is available.

4. SaneBox

Email management tool for personal inbox management

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SaneBox operates on a simple folder structure to help users prioritize their email correspondence. The software can automatically sort user inboxes and organize emails into folders. SaneBox places your non-actionable emails into separate folders for later so users can focus on their most pressing emails.

SaneBox can identify newsletter emails and sort them into a newsletter folder. It can also find all emails you’re CC’d on and sort them into an FYI folder. Users can also train the SaneBox email software to customize its performance.

Pricing: Plans start at $59 per year. A 14-day free trial is available.

5. Front

Email management software for segmenting customer conversations

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Front is a customer operations platform that provides inbox management tools. Businesses can build no-code custom workflows to assign and escalate tickets. Front also allows users to segment long email threads so new issues within the same conversation are counted separately in reports.

Front offers multichannel communication, too. It shares customer profiles alongside messages, giving agents access to past interactions and account information. Managers can use analytics to track team performance and ensure agents honor service level agreements (SLAs).

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per seat/month, billed annually. A seven-day free trial is available.

6. LiveAgent

Email management software with free ticketing tools

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LiveAgent is a help desk solution that includes customer service email management software. The LiveAgent tools combine emails, calls, social media messages, and live chats in a universal inbox. Admins and agents can set up automation workflows and configure integrations to create a customized email management system.

Businesses can create a free LiveAgent account and access incoming and outgoing email ticketing tools, among other limited features. Since LiveAgent is primarily a help desk, users also get non-email features like a knowledge base, live chat, and a customer portal.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $9 per agent/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 14- or 30-day free trial are available.

7. Help Scout

Email management software with self-service tools

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Help Scout offers a help desk with tools for managing email. Users can work together on customer messages through a shared inbox. Managers can designate emails to specific people or teams. Teammates can add internal notes to find solutions. Additionally, teams can store replies in a searchable library for use in future conversations.

Customer service teams can also access customer information in the inbox sidebar to see past activity. Beyond basic email management, businesses can create a help center where customers can find knowledge articles and email customer service within the documents. Conversations are also directed to a single inbox, allowing users to switch between emails and live chats within the same interface.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $20 per user/month. A 15-day free trial is available.

8. Microsoft Outlook

Best email management software for businesses that use Microsoft Dynamics 365

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Microsoft Outlook is a standard email management system. Businesses can purchase it independently or as a part of the Microsoft 365 suite. Outlook provides email hosting with 15-50GB of mailbox storage, calendar management tools, spam and malware protection, and custom scripts. Users who purchase Microsoft 365 can also use the Copilot tool to prioritize emails, summarize lengthy messages, and draft responses.

With a Microsoft 365 subscription, users can chat, call, or meet with up to 300 attendees. The subscription includes access to other Microsoft applications, including Excel, Word, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange.

Pricing: Business plans start at $6 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 30-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Microsoft Outlook integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 compare.

9. Gmail

Best email management tool for businesses that use Google Workspace

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Gmail is Google’s email management system. Like Outlook, users can use Gmail as a single product or as part of Google Workspace. Individuals can create a free Gmail account and access the calendar, chat, and video apps. Companies can purchase Google Workspace to unlock premium features.

Google Workspace has business-focused features such as larger storage capacity in Google Drive, add-on support, and custom domain names. Gmail can also suggest actions within an email using Smart Reply and Smart Compose. Video meetings can host 100 participants in the Business Starter plan and up to 1,000 participants in the Enterprise plan.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $6 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Google Drive integrates with Zendesk.

10. Klaviyo

Email management tool for marketers with low email volumes

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Klaviyo is an email management tool that sales and marketing teams can use to send personalized email campaigns. Klaviyo email plans include segmentation, drag-and-drop automations, data analytics, A/B testing, and pre-built integrations. Klaviyo’s real-time customer profiles provide data about customer messages, interactions, and known preferences.

Klaviyo offers a free plan that lets users send up to 500 emails and 150 SMS/MMS messages monthly, but features are limited. Pricing for Klaviyo depends on the number of emails you send and the number of contacts you send the emails to, increasing between $10 and $15 per month at each tier.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $20 per month for 251–500 monthly emails. A free plan with limited features is available for 0–250 monthly emails.

Recommended reading: Learn how Klaviyo integrates with Zendesk.

11. Mailchimp

Email management tool for email marketing campaigns

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Mailchimp is an email management service specializing in marketing campaigns. Businesses can create targeted emails using segmentation tools and schedule automatic follow-up messages. The Mailchimp analytics tools provide data on campaign performance and suggest possible improvements.

Businesses can use A/B testing to determine the types of emails that get the best results and the optimal time to send them to customers. Email templates are ready to use, and teams can match them to their company’s branding. The Mailchimp Creative Assistant can learn the details of your brand and create new designs using your colors, logos, and images.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $13 per month. A free plan and a 30-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Mailchimp integrates with Zendesk.

12. Missive

Best email management software for marketing teams collaborating on emails

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Missive email management software provides tools for teams to automate and collaborate on messages. Employees can set rules to manage incoming emails, like automatically applying labels when a customer from a specific company contacts them.

Team members can draft emails together, seeing each other's cursors and highlighted text as they make changes. Managers can control email distribution by assigning them randomly, based on availability, or in round-robin fashions. Users can also block senders from tracking their activity in emails, such as open rates and clicks.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $14 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

13. Superhuman

Best email management software for spotty internet connections

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Superhuman email software enables individuals and large enterprises to manage their inboxes. The Split Inbox tool automatically categorizes emails into groups, like teams or prospects. Response snippets allow team members to automatically add phrases and attachments to email replies.

Additionally, Superhuman provides offline access to inboxes so employees can continue working without an internet connection. When the connection returns, the work they performed synchronizes across devices. Superhuman also has team reply indicators and read statuses so teams can stay informed about who is working on what email thread.

Pricing: Plans start at $30 per user/month, billed annually.

The right mix of email management system features will depend on your use case. But if you're looking for software to manage your customer service email requests, here are some capabilities to consider.

Omnichannel ticketing system

With omnichannel email management software, your CX team can seamlessly handle customer requests across all support channels from the same workspace used for email inquiries. This unified interface allows agents to efficiently access and respond to customer questions, thereby boosting productivity. Omnichannel software should also include customer profiles that follow the customer from channel to channel so agents can access essential information to personalize each interaction, such as previous support history, account details, purchase history, and contact information.

Considering a customer's preferred channel often varies based on the nature of their inquiry, it is crucial to offer a range of channel options to meet diverse needs.

AI assistance for agents

Email management software should include AI assistance tools to help agents excel. For instance, the Zendesk agent copilot acts as an intelligent assistant, offering contextually relevant response suggestions and actions based on customer interactions. Agents can then approve, modify, or execute these suggestions, resulting in a streamlined ticket resolution process.

AI can also present similar tickets to agents so they can learn how their colleagues have resolved similar issues. Additionally, AI can summarize tickets, convey the customer's intent and sentiment, and adjust the agent’s tone to be more friendly or formal, enhancing overall communication.

Automated workflows

As any customer service agent, admin, or manager knows, many repetitive processes are involved in managing emails at scale. Any good email management tool must have powerful yet intuitive workflow automation tools. Workflow automation tools allow your team to tag, prioritize, and route email requests automatically. Recent advances in AI technology have made automations even more effective.

For instance, Australian retailer Universal Store uses email automations to handle returns that would otherwise require prolonged manual involvement. Now, when the warehouse team receives an item, prepared actions direct them through the return processes and will automatically notify the customer of their return within seconds. This quick service helps Universal Store maintain a CSAT score of 92 percent.

Incoming email authentication

Inbox management tools can bolster security by validating incoming emails. These features can include:

• Sender policy framework (SPF) verifies that incoming emails are from authorized servers.
• Domain keys identified mail (DKIM) adds a digital signature to authenticate the sender's domain.
• Domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance (DMARC) builds on SPF and DKIM by adding another layer of verification and providing clear instructions for handling authentication failures.

By implementing these protocols, email management software enhances security, reduces the risk of fraudulent emails reaching the inbox, and ensures that users can trust the authenticity of the messages they receive.

Tracking and reporting

Robust reporting tools are essential for evaluating the effectiveness of your email operations. For example, teams providing email support require issue tracking software that can measure customer service metrics such as:

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score
• Customer Effort Score (CES)
• First reply time
• Average resolution time
• Support ticket reopens

Moreover, email management tools equipped with workforce engagement solutions offer insights into key team performance metrics, including schedule adherence and areas for coaching, ensuring continuous improvement and optimal service delivery.

Once you select a customer service email management software solution that meets your requirements, you'll start to experience its full range of benefits. Here are some of the top advantages your business can gain:

Enhanced productivity

Email management software enhances team productivity by streamlining processes and workflows.

When UK retailer Liberty London experienced a surge in customer demand, it switched from a traditional shared inbox to an intelligently managed email system to prevent repetitive work and wasted effort. Utilizing Zendesk AI, tickets are automatically categorized and routed to the appropriate agents in real time, significantly reducing the necessity for manual triage. This software also allows Liberty to manage voice calls within the same system as emails, eliminating the need for agents to switch between tools.

Tighter security

Security vulnerabilities can exist whenever information is exchanged between your company and a third-party system—and email is no exception. Email management systems should have security features to prioritize customer data privacy, such as encryption, to protect sensitive information.

For example, Transport Layer Security (TLS) automatically encrypts the data in your emails. It also notifies you when TLS doesn’t protect an email so you can take extra precautions.

More scalable operations

Unlike a shared inbox, email management solutions allow you to scale your email operations effectively. AI-powered chatbots and self-service tools empower support teams to manage higher volumes of inquiries without overburdening agents, resulting in increased productivity and lower support costs. Additionally, self-service options like a help center can address most customer inquiries 24/7, reducing the need for continuous support staffing.

Higher customer satisfaction

Email management software increases customer satisfaction by enabling support teams to deliver fast and tailored support. Automated features, such as auto-response acknowledgments and routing, ensure customer emails are acknowledged and swiftly directed to the appropriate teams or agents. The software also enables agents to seamlessly access customer information to provide personalized customer service.

Call center software provider CallHub has experienced the benefits of proper email management firsthand. The company’s agents can respond to customer emails within one hour and deliver effective resolutions when customers need them most. The prompt response times increased CallHub’s CSAT score to 94 percent.

Your team will use your email management system daily, so choosing the right software has far-reaching effects. Here’s how to ensure you focus on the most critical aspects of email management applications.

• Consider your use case: The software you choose should have the necessary features to help you achieve your goals. For example, if your primary goal is to improve customer service, then you’ll need software that specializes in CX and can improve agent efficiency.
• Evaluate time to value (TTV) and ease of use: TTV refers to the speed at which the software delivers tangible benefits, such as increased productivity or improved communication. A user-friendly interface with minimal onboarding time contributes to a faster TTV.
• Prioritize AI and automation: AI and automation reduce manual tasks, improve response times, and give employees more time for more strategic work. Look for tools like automated email sorting, intelligent response suggestions, and AI-powered routing.
• Make sure it has a low total cost of ownership: Beyond the base price of the software, you must also consider additional costs to ensure its long-term value. These include expenses for essential add-on features, employee training to effectively use the new system, and potential development resources for customizing workflows. Although the initial price might appear low, accounting for these extra expenses will provide a more accurate understanding of the software's true cost.
• Evaluate scalability: Assess the software's ability to handle growing email volume, user base, and evolving business needs. A scalable solution should seamlessly adapt to accommodate increased activity without requiring additional team members.

Prioritizing these criteria from the start will ensure you choose the right software.