Successful marketing campaigns for franchises require a balance between brand control and local flexibility. Local launches demand autonomy, yet corporate oversight safeguards brand consistency. I’ve spent over 12 hours researching, reaching out to customer support, and reading nearly every customer review from the past year on top franchise email marketing platforms. I’ve categorized each platform by what it’s best for, including its pros, cons, features, pricing, and reviews. Looking for a quick comparison? Take a look at this feature comparison chart:
Best email platforms Best for Large Franchises: BigMailer
Best for Small/Local Franchises: Emma (by Marigold)
Best for Advanced Automation: ActiveCampaign
Best for Collaboration: Mailjet
FAQs About Franchise Email Marketing Software
Conclusion
BigMailer – Best for Large Franchises BigMailer is a great option for franchises that manage large email lists or have a lot of locations. It has the most affordable pricing on this list, but it also comes with the features you need to control and manage email campaigns across many locations. BigMailer’s built-in brand and user-access management allows you to easily manage multiple sub-accounts and team members from a single account. This allows you to keep all your franchisees, team members, and email campaigns (marketing, automations, and transactional) in ONE place. Launching campaigns across locations is simple with templates that are automatically shared across sub-accounts. Its built-in email validation helps you discard invalid emails and typo spam traps to protect your sender reputation. You can also expect live chat support 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm EST.
Pros
The best pricing on this list, especially for lists of 100k+ Allows automatic global template sharing, making it ideal for franchises with many (20+) franchisees Offers a white-label option for making BigMailer appear as your own custom software Includes RSS-to-email automation and transactional emails Provides a free plan for up to 1,000 contacts Built-in email validation Includes free stock images and unlimited image hosting Drag-n-drop and HTML template builders, plus a template library
Cons
Limited direct integrations, which make it less suitable for e-commerce businesses
Pricing BigMailer offers simple pricing based on number of subscribers:
Basic plans (connecting your own Amazon SES is required) – $5 per 5k contacts Pro plans – $12.5 per 5k contacts
Here’s how much you’ll pay for the Basic and Pro plans based on the size of your email list:
BigMailer – Best for Large Franchises Emma (by Marigold) – Best for Small Franchises If you have less than 20 locations Emma may be a good choice for your franchise. Its interface is clean, making it easy for both corporate teams and franchisees to use. It also offers SMS, which could be valuable for multi-channel campaigns. However, it lacks a few automation features that larger franchises need. For example, you have to assign each email template to each sub-account manually, which can be time-consuming.
Pros
Easily integrate with popular CRM systems, Shopify, OpenTable, and more. User-friendly interface makes it easy for beginner marketers. Specially made for restaurants, gyms, and retail Offers SMS White-label option
Cons
No free plan No RSS-to-email automation No stock image library Some users mention the email builder may not always accurately reflect the email sent Some users have noted issues with the reporting and customer support not being attentive to their needs Pricing can get expensive for larger franchises
Pricing Here’s an estimate of how much you’ll pay for the Emma for Teams plan based on their limited publicly available pricing:
Emma (by Marigold) – Best for Small Franchises ActiveCampaign – Best for Advanced Automation ActiveCampaign is an email marketing platform offering features tailored to franchises through its ActiveCampaign HQ product. ActiveCampaign is a good choice for franchises that need advanced automation and workflows. For example, its predictive sending feature can optimize send times. It uses machine learning to predict when contacts will engage. You can also use its AI to generate automations based on a prompt. If you don’t need these fancy automations, ActiveCampaign will incur excessive costs.
Pros
White labeling capabilities (on enterprise-level accounts) Unlimited automations and triggers on most plans Split-test up to five different emails at once. Advanced automation capabilities Analytics and reporting are incredibly detailed Option to add on their CRM RSS-to-email automation
Cons
There’s no forever-free plan Transactional emails are an add-on No built-in email validation The white-label feature doesn’t get rid of all ActiveCampaign branding on certain features No stock image library
Pricing ActiveCampaign has 4 pricing plans with no free option (they only offer a 14-day free trial). Plans start as low as $15/month for 1,000 contacts but go up to $1,169/month for 50,000 contacts. Here’s how much you’ll pay for the Plus, Pro, and Enterprise plans based on the size of your email list:
ActiveCampaign – Best for Advanced Automation Mailjet – Best for Collaboration Mailjet is an easy-to-use email marketing platform that works well for different types of businesses, especially franchises that need strong collaboration features. Mailjet allows you to collaborate on emails with your team, similar to working on a Google Doc. You can even lock certain sections of email templates to prevent specific users from making changes. Sharing templates across sub-accounts can be time-consuming, especially for larger franchises, since you need to export them one by one. Also, while Mailjet does offer white label capabilities, you’ll need some technical know-how to integrate it into one of your existing platforms.
Pros
Great for beginners wanting a user-friendly design, but also has advanced features Advanced collaboration and approval tools AI-powered tools make content creation faster Free plan available Integrate Mailjet into your existing products via Mailjet Embedded (for Custom plans only).
Cons
Technical setup is required if you want to white-label Mailjet No stock image library Template flexibility is inefficient (you need to export templates one by one, making it a grueling process if you have multiple locations)
Pricing Mailjet has 4 main plans, starting with a free plan for up to 1,500 contacts. Paid plans offer an unlimited number of contacts but limit you to the monthly number of emails you can send. Here’s how much you’ll pay for the Premium plan (Subscribers = email limit / 10):
Mailjet – Best for Collaboration What should I look for in franchise email marketing software? An email marketing platform for franchises should help you:
Maintain consistency in messaging Have control over user access and permissions Manage multiple locations in one place Scale with ease as you open more locations
So your franchise can nurture customers, promote loyalty, drive demand, and improve sales.
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