Brevo Tutorial: Email Marketing and Automation Setup

Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, has evolved into a comprehensive marketing platform that combines email campaigns, automation workflows, SMS messaging, and transactional emails in one affordable package. This Brevo tutorial walks you through every core feature so you can start reaching your audience effectively.

For Singapore businesses watching their marketing budgets carefully, Brevo offers a compelling proposition. Unlike competitors that charge based on subscriber count, Brevo prices its plans based on email volume, which can be significantly more cost-effective for businesses with large contact lists but moderate sending frequency. This pricing model makes it particularly attractive for Singapore SMEs and startups building their customer base.

This guide covers account setup and configuration, contact management, email campaign creation, automation workflow building, SMS marketing, transactional email setup, and an overview of Brevo’s pricing tiers. Follow each section to build a complete marketing system that drives engagement and revenue for your business.

Setting Up Your Brevo Account

Create your Brevo account at brevo.com by clicking the signup button. Provide your business email, company name, and basic details. Brevo sends a confirmation email — click the link to activate your account and access the dashboard.

Complete your profile setup by navigating to the account settings. Enter your company name, physical address, and industry. Singapore businesses should enter their registered business address, which appears in email footers as required by anti-spam regulations. Set your timezone to Singapore Standard Time (GMT+8) to ensure scheduled campaigns send at the correct local time.

Configure your sender identity before sending any campaigns. Go to Senders & IP under Settings and add your sending email address and domain. Verify your domain by adding the required DNS records — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC — to your domain’s DNS settings. This verification process significantly improves your email deliverability and prevents your messages from landing in spam folders.

Connect Brevo to your existing tools. Brevo integrates with WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Google Analytics, and dozens of other platforms. Install the relevant plugin or use Brevo’s API for custom integrations. For WordPress users, the Brevo plugin adds signup forms, tracks website visitors, and enables marketing automation directly from your WordPress dashboard. Your web design team can assist with technical integration tasks.

Set up your tracking pixel by copying the JavaScript snippet from the Automation section and adding it to your website’s header. This tracking code monitors visitor behaviour on your site, enabling you to trigger automations based on page views, form submissions, and other on-site actions.

Contact Management and Organisation

Brevo’s contact management system helps you organise, segment, and maintain your subscriber database. Navigate to the Contacts section to access your contact list, import tools, and segmentation options.

Import contacts by clicking “Import Contacts” and choosing your method. Upload a CSV or TXT file, copy and paste from a spreadsheet, or sync from a connected platform. Map your file columns to Brevo’s contact attributes — standard attributes include email, first name, last name, and SMS number. Create custom attributes for data specific to your business, such as customer type, preferred language, or membership tier.

Organise contacts into lists for targeted messaging. Create lists based on how contacts were acquired or their role in your business — for example, “Newsletter Subscribers,” “Webinar Registrants,” “Existing Customers,” and “Partner Contacts.” A contact can belong to multiple lists simultaneously, giving you flexibility in how you target different audiences.

Build dynamic segments using Brevo’s filter conditions. Segments update automatically as contacts meet or no longer meet your criteria. Create segments based on contact attributes, email engagement, website behaviour, purchase history, or custom events. For Singapore businesses serving diverse customer profiles, segments like “Engaged Last 30 Days,” “High-Value Customers,” and “Inactive 90+ Days” provide actionable groups for targeted campaigns.

Maintain list hygiene by regularly reviewing your contact quality. Brevo automatically handles hard bounces by blacklisting invalid email addresses. Set up re-engagement campaigns for contacts who have not opened emails in 60 to 90 days, and remove chronically inactive contacts to protect your sender reputation. Clean lists also reduce costs since Brevo’s pricing accounts for overall contact management efficiency. Proper contact management directly supports the effectiveness of your 电子邮件营销 campaigns.

Creating Email Campaigns

To create an email campaign, navigate to the Campaigns section and click “Create an Email Campaign.” Brevo walks you through the process in a series of clear steps: campaign details, design, recipients, and scheduling.

Start with the campaign details step. Enter your campaign name (internal reference), subject line, preview text, sender name, and sender email. Write a subject line that is specific, concise, and compelling — aim for under 50 characters. Use preview text strategically to expand on your subject line and increase open rates. Brevo supports personalisation variables in subject lines, allowing you to insert the recipient’s name or other attributes dynamically.

Design your email using one of three editor options. The drag-and-drop editor is the most intuitive — start with a template from Brevo’s library or build from scratch by adding content blocks for text, images, buttons, columns, headers, and footers. The rich text editor offers a simpler experience for plain-looking emails. The HTML editor gives full control for custom-coded designs.

For Singapore audiences, design your emails with mobile responsiveness as a priority. Brevo’s drag-and-drop templates are mobile-responsive by default. Use clear visual hierarchies, keep paragraphs short, make buttons large enough to tap on mobile screens, and ensure images load quickly. Preview your email across desktop, tablet, and mobile views before proceeding.

Select your recipients by choosing a contact list or segment. Use exclusion lists to prevent specific contacts from receiving the campaign — for example, exclude recent purchasers from a promotional campaign or exclude unsubscribed contacts. Send a test email to verify everything looks correct, then choose to send immediately or schedule for a future date and time. Brevo’s send time optimisation feature can automatically deliver emails at the optimal time for each individual recipient based on their historical open patterns.

Building Automation Workflows

Brevo’s automation builder enables you to create sophisticated multi-step workflows that trigger based on subscriber actions. Navigate to Automation and click “Create a Workflow” to begin. Choose from pre-built templates or start with a blank workflow.

Select your entry point — the event that starts the workflow. Options include contact attribute changes, email activity (opens, clicks), website events (page visits, form submissions), transactional events (purchases, sign-ups), and date-based triggers (birthdays, anniversaries). For a Singapore e-commerce business, common entry points include new subscriber signup, first purchase, and website browse behaviour.

Add actions and conditions to build your workflow logic. Available actions include sending an email, sending an SMS, updating a contact attribute, adding or removing contacts from a list, creating a task in your CRM, and calling a webhook for custom integrations. Use wait steps to add delays between actions — these can be time-based (wait 3 days) or condition-based (wait until the contact opens the previous email).

Implement branching logic with yes/no conditions. After sending a welcome email, add a condition that checks whether the contact opened it. If yes, send a follow-up with more detail. If no, resend with a different subject line. These branches allow you to create responsive workflows that adapt to individual subscriber behaviour, which is far more effective than linear sequences.

Build these essential automations for your Singapore business: a welcome series for new subscribers, a lead nurturing sequence for enquiry form submissions, a re-engagement campaign for inactive contacts, and a birthday or anniversary message. Each automation runs continuously once activated, providing consistent, personalised communications without manual effort. These automated touchpoints strengthen your overall digital marketing strategy by ensuring no lead or customer falls through the cracks.

SMS Marketing with Brevo

Brevo includes SMS marketing capabilities that complement your email campaigns. SMS messages achieve near-perfect open rates and are ideal for time-sensitive communications like flash sales, appointment reminders, and delivery notifications.

Set up SMS marketing by purchasing SMS credits through your Brevo account. SMS pricing varies by destination country — messages to Singapore numbers are competitively priced. Navigate to Campaigns, select SMS, and click “Create an SMS Campaign” to begin.

Compose your SMS message within the 160-character limit for a single SMS. For longer messages, Brevo automatically concatenates multiple SMS segments, though this uses additional credits. Include a clear call to action and a link to your website or landing page. Use Brevo’s URL shortener to save characters and track click-through rates.

Personalise SMS messages using contact attributes. Insert the recipient’s first name, order number, or other dynamic content to make messages feel personal and relevant. For Singapore’s multilingual market, consider creating separate campaigns in English and Mandarin, targeting contacts based on their language preference attribute.

Ensure full compliance with Singapore’s PDPA and the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry before sending SMS campaigns. Obtain explicit opt-in consent for SMS communications, which must be separate from email consent. Include clear opt-out instructions in every message — typically “Reply STOP to unsubscribe.” Check your recipient list against the DNC Registry to avoid sending to registered numbers. Brevo does not automatically screen against the Singapore DNC Registry, so you must handle this compliance step manually. Effective SMS campaigns work in tandem with your social media marketing to reach customers across multiple channels.

Transactional Email Configuration

Transactional emails are triggered by user actions on your website, such as order confirmations, password resets, account verifications, and shipping notifications. Unlike marketing emails, transactional emails are expected by the recipient and achieve very high open rates — typically above 80%.

Brevo’s transactional email service uses a dedicated sending infrastructure optimised for deliverability and speed. Navigate to the Transactional section in your Brevo dashboard to configure settings. Set up a dedicated sending domain for transactional emails, separate from your marketing domain, to protect your transactional deliverability from any impact of marketing campaigns.

Integrate transactional emails using Brevo’s SMTP relay or API. For SMTP relay, configure your website or application to send emails through Brevo’s SMTP server using the credentials provided in your account. This method works with virtually any platform that supports SMTP, including WordPress, custom web applications, and e-commerce platforms.

For API integration, use Brevo’s REST API to send transactional emails programmatically. The API offers greater flexibility, including the ability to use pre-designed templates, track individual email status, and handle attachments. Brevo provides API libraries for PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, and other programming languages, making integration straightforward for your development team.

Design transactional email templates in Brevo’s template editor. Create professional templates for each transactional email type — order confirmation, shipping notification, password reset, and account creation. Include your brand logo, colours, and footer information. While transactional emails must be primarily informational, you can include a small promotional section (such as product recommendations) as long as the primary purpose remains transactional.

Understanding Brevo Pricing Plans

Brevo’s pricing structure stands out because it charges based on email volume rather than the number of contacts in your database. This model benefits businesses with large subscriber lists who do not email every contact frequently.

The free plan includes 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts, making it a generous starting point for Singapore businesses testing email marketing. However, the daily sending limit can be restrictive for growing businesses. The free plan includes basic email campaigns, forms, and limited automation features.

The Starter plan removes the daily sending limit and offers monthly email volumes starting from 20,000 emails. This plan removes Brevo branding from emails and adds basic reporting and analytics. For Singapore SMEs sending regular newsletters and promotional campaigns, the Starter plan typically provides sufficient capacity.

The Business plan adds advanced features including marketing automation, A/B testing, advanced statistics, multi-user access, and send time optimisation. This plan suits businesses ready to implement sophisticated automation workflows and data-driven campaign optimisation. Landing pages and Facebook Ads integration are also included.

The Enterprise plan provides dedicated infrastructure, advanced integrations, priority support, and custom solutions. This tier is designed for large organisations with complex requirements and high sending volumes. Contact Brevo’s sales team for custom pricing based on your specific needs. Compare these costs against your expected returns from 谷歌广告 and other paid channels to determine the most efficient allocation of your marketing budget.

常见问题

Is Brevo suitable for small businesses in Singapore?

Brevo is an excellent choice for Singapore SMEs thanks to its generous free plan with unlimited contacts and volume-based pricing that scales affordably. The platform provides all essential email marketing features without the steep learning curve of more complex platforms. Businesses can start free and upgrade only when their email volume grows.

How does Brevo compare to Mailchimp for email marketing?

Brevo and Mailchimp serve similar purposes but differ in pricing and features. Brevo charges by email volume with unlimited contacts, while Mailchimp charges by contact count. Brevo includes SMS marketing, transactional emails, and CRM features in its platform. Mailchimp offers a more polished design experience and broader template library. For cost-conscious Singapore businesses with large lists, Brevo often proves more economical.

Can I send transactional emails through Brevo for free?

Brevo’s free plan includes 300 emails per day, which covers transactional emails. For higher volumes, paid plans increase the daily and monthly limits. Brevo’s transactional email service uses dedicated infrastructure to ensure high deliverability, which is critical for order confirmations, password resets, and other essential communications.

Does Brevo comply with Singapore’s PDPA requirements?

Brevo provides tools that support PDPA compliance, including consent management, unsubscribe handling, and data export capabilities. However, compliance responsibility ultimately rests with the business using the platform. Ensure you collect explicit consent, provide clear opt-out mechanisms, protect personal data, and respond to data access requests within the timeframes required by the PDPA.

How do I improve email deliverability with Brevo?

Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Maintain clean contact lists by removing bounced and inactive addresses regularly. Use double opt-in for new signups to verify email addresses. Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines, and maintain consistent sending patterns. Brevo provides a deliverability dashboard that monitors your sender reputation and flags potential issues.

Can Brevo handle multilingual email campaigns?

Yes, Brevo supports multilingual campaigns through its segmentation and personalisation features. Create contact attributes for language preference, segment your audience by language, and design separate email templates for each language. For Singapore’s multilingual market, this allows you to send English, Mandarin, Malay, or Tamil versions to the appropriate recipients.