Sendinblue Technology Intelligence

What is Sendinblue (Brevo)?

Sendinblue, rebranded as Brevo in 2023, is an all-in-one marketing platform that provides email marketing, SMS marketing, chat, CRM, and marketing automation tools. Founded in 2012 in Paris by Armand Thiberge and Kapil Sharma, the company has grown to serve over 500,000 customers worldwide. The platform is known for its affordable pricing and comprehensive feature set that competes with more expensive alternatives like Mailchimp and HubSpot.

The platform's core strength is email marketing, offering an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder, extensive template library, and robust deliverability infrastructure. Unlike many competitors that price based on subscriber count, Sendinblue prices based on emails sent, making it cost-effective for businesses with large lists but moderate sending frequency. This pricing model has made it particularly popular among small and medium businesses.

Beyond email, Sendinblue provides SMS marketing capabilities that work in over 200 countries, making it suitable for businesses with international customer bases. Marketing automation workflows enable sophisticated multi-channel campaigns that respond to customer behavior. The built-in CRM helps manage customer relationships without needing separate software.

The platform offers transactional email services through a dedicated SMTP relay, competing with services like SendGrid and Amazon SES. This allows developers to send password resets, order confirmations, and other triggered emails through the same platform used for marketing campaigns, simplifying email infrastructure management.

Detection of Sendinblue on a website typically indicates the organization uses the platform for email marketing, newsletter management, or transactional emails. Businesses using Sendinblue often value having multiple marketing tools integrated in one platform at a price point accessible to growing companies.

Sendinblue Platform Features

Email Marketing: The drag-and-drop email builder enables creating professional emails without HTML knowledge. Extensive template library provides starting points for common email types. Responsive designs look good on all devices automatically. Personalization tokens insert subscriber-specific content. Send time optimization delivers emails when recipients are most likely to engage. Advanced segmentation targets emails to specific audience segments based on behavior and attributes.

Marketing Automation: Visual workflow builder creates automated email sequences triggered by subscriber actions. Welcome series onboard new subscribers automatically. Abandoned cart emails recover lost sales. Re-engagement campaigns win back inactive subscribers. Lead scoring identifies sales-ready contacts. Conditional logic creates personalized journey paths based on behavior.

SMS Marketing: SMS campaigns reach customers on their mobile devices. Campaigns work in over 200 countries. Personalization includes custom fields and dynamic content. Link tracking measures SMS campaign performance. Integration with email automation enables multi-channel workflows. Transactional SMS sends order updates and verification codes.

Transactional Email: SMTP relay sends triggered emails from applications. Dedicated IP addresses improve deliverability for high-volume senders. Real-time analytics track delivery, opens, and clicks. Templates can be managed through the API or dashboard. Webhooks notify applications of email events.

CRM and Contact Management: Built-in CRM manages customer relationships alongside marketing. Contact profiles store attributes, engagement history, and notes. List management organizes contacts into segments. Import and export handles data migration. GDPR compliance tools manage consent and data requests.

Landing Pages and Forms: Landing page builder creates dedicated pages for campaigns. Signup forms capture new subscribers embedded on websites. Form templates provide starting designs. A/B testing optimizes form conversion. Integration with automation triggers workflows from form submissions.

Sendinblue Use Cases

Email Newsletter Marketing: Businesses send regular newsletters to keep subscribers engaged. Template library speeds up creation of consistent branded emails. Scheduling ensures emails go out at optimal times. A/B testing optimizes subject lines and content. Analytics measure engagement and guide future content strategy. List segmentation enables different content for different audience segments.

E-commerce Email Automation: Online stores automate the customer journey from browse to purchase and beyond. Abandoned cart emails recover lost sales with automatic reminders. Post-purchase sequences request reviews and suggest related products. Win-back campaigns re-engage lapsed customers. Transactional emails confirm orders and provide shipping updates. Product recommendation emails drive repeat purchases.

Lead Nurturing: B2B companies nurture leads through extended sales cycles. Welcome series educates new leads about solutions. Content drip campaigns share relevant resources over time. Lead scoring identifies when leads are ready for sales contact. Automated workflows adapt based on engagement signals. CRM integration ensures sales visibility into marketing interactions.

Transactional Email Infrastructure: Applications send system-generated emails through Sendinblue's SMTP relay. Password reset emails reach users reliably. Order confirmations provide purchase documentation. Account notifications keep users informed. API integration enables sending from any application. Deliverability monitoring ensures messages reach inboxes.

Multi-Channel Marketing: Campaigns coordinate across email and SMS for maximum impact. SMS reaches customers who haven't opened emails. Time-sensitive promotions use SMS for urgency. Automation workflows span channels based on customer preferences. Combined analytics show complete campaign performance.

Event Marketing: Organizations promote events and manage registrations. Save-the-date emails build initial awareness. Registration confirmation emails provide event details. Reminder sequences ensure attendance. Post-event follow-up maintains engagement. Segmentation enables different messaging for registrants and non-registrants.

Sendinblue Integration Examples

Tracking Script Installation

<!-- Sendinblue Tracking Script -->
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
    window.sib = {
        equeue: [],
        client_key: "YOUR_CLIENT_KEY"
    };
    var n = document.createElement("script");
    n.type = "text/javascript";
    n.id = "sendinblue-js";
    n.async = true;
    n.src = "https://sibautomation.com/sa.js?key=" + window.sib.client_key;
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(n, s);
})();
</script>

API - Add Contact

// Node.js - Add contact to Sendinblue
const SibApiV3Sdk = require('sib-api-v3-sdk');
const defaultClient = SibApiV3Sdk.ApiClient.instance;

const apiKey = defaultClient.authentications['api-key'];
apiKey.apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';

const apiInstance = new SibApiV3Sdk.ContactsApi();

const createContact = new SibApiV3Sdk.CreateContact();
createContact.email = '[email protected]';
createContact.attributes = {
    FIRSTNAME: 'John',
    LASTNAME: 'Doe',
    COMPANY: 'Acme Corp'
};
createContact.listIds = [2, 5];

apiInstance.createContact(createContact).then(function(data) {
    console.log('Contact created:', data);
}).catch(function(error) {
    console.error('Error:', error);
});

Transactional Email via SMTP

# Python - Send transactional email via SMTP
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart

smtp_server = "smtp-relay.sendinblue.com"
port = 587
login = "[email protected]"
password = "your_smtp_key"

message = MIMEMultipart("alternative")
message["Subject"] = "Order Confirmation #12345"
message["From"] = "[email protected]"
message["To"] = "[email protected]"

html = """
<h1>Thank you for your order!</h1>
<p>Order #12345 has been confirmed.</p>
"""

message.attach(MIMEText(html, "html"))

with smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, port) as server:
    server.starttls()
    server.login(login, password)
    server.sendmail("[email protected]", "[email protected]", message.as_string())

Automation Trigger via API

// Trigger automation workflow via API
fetch('https://api.sendinblue.com/v3/contacts/email/[email protected]', {
    method: 'PUT',
    headers: {
        'api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
        attributes: {
            LAST_PURCHASE_DATE: new Date().toISOString(),
            TOTAL_SPENT: 199.99
        }
    })
});

Why Businesses Choose Sendinblue

Cost-Effective Pricing: Sendinblue's email-based pricing is significantly cheaper for businesses with large lists but moderate sending volume. Unlike Mailchimp which charges based on subscriber count, Sendinblue charges based on emails sent. Free tier includes up to 300 emails per day. Premium features are available at lower price points than competitors. This pricing model makes professional email marketing accessible to smaller businesses.

All-in-One Platform: Email marketing, SMS, automation, CRM, and transactional email in one platform. No need to integrate multiple tools for basic marketing needs. Consistent data across all channels enables better personalization. Single dashboard simplifies reporting and management. Combined billing reduces vendor management overhead.

Ease of Use: Intuitive interface enables getting started without technical expertise. Drag-and-drop email builder requires no coding. Automation workflows are visual and understandable. Template library provides professional starting points. Documentation and tutorials support self-service learning.

Strong Deliverability: Dedicated infrastructure ensures emails reach inboxes. Deliverability team maintains sender reputation. Authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are properly configured. Feedback loops monitor and address issues. Dedicated IP options available for high-volume senders.

GDPR Compliance: As a European company, Sendinblue takes GDPR seriously. Data is stored in EU data centers. Consent management tools track subscriber permissions. Unsubscribe handling is automatic and compliant. Data export and deletion tools support data subject requests. DPA (Data Processing Agreement) is available for customers.

Scalability: Platform handles everything from small newsletters to enterprise-scale sending. Transactional email infrastructure supports millions of messages. API rate limits accommodate high-volume applications. Pricing scales reasonably as volume grows. Enterprise plans provide dedicated support and features.

Integration Ecosystem: Native integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, and other platforms. Zapier connection enables integration with thousands of apps. Comprehensive API allows custom integrations. Webhooks notify external systems of events. Plugin ecosystem extends platform capabilities.