Brevo Email Marketing: Complete Beginner's Guide

Getting Started with Brevo Email Marketing

Brevo is one of the most powerful and accessible email marketing platforms available today. Whether you are a small business owner, a marketer at a growing company, or a freelancer looking to nurture client relationships, Brevo provides all the tools you need to run professional email campaigns — starting completely free.

This guide walks you through everything you need to know to start sending email marketing campaigns with Brevo, even if you have never used an email platform before.

What Is Brevo?

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an all-in-one marketing platform that combines email marketing, SMS, marketing automation, CRM, live chat, and transactional email into a single platform. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Paris, Brevo now serves over 500,000 businesses in more than 180 countries.

What makes Brevo stand out from competitors is its pricing model. While most platforms charge based on the number of contacts in your list, Brevo charges based on the number of emails you send. This means you can have an unlimited number of contacts on every plan — including the free tier — without paying more just because your list grows.

Setting Up Your Brevo Account

Step 1: Create Your Free Account

Visit brevo.com and click "Sign Up Free." You will be asked to enter your name, email address, and a password. No credit card is required.

Step 2: Verify Your Email Address

After signing up, Brevo will send a verification email. Click the confirmation link to activate your account. This step is required before you can send any campaigns.

Step 3: Complete Your Sender Profile

Once inside the dashboard, navigate to "Settings" and then "Senders and IP." Here you will add the email address and company name that will appear as the sender in your campaigns. Using a verified domain email address (such as your company's domain) will improve your deliverability significantly.

Step 4: Verify Your Sending Domain

Brevo will ask you to authenticate your sending domain by adding DNS records. This involves adding SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to your domain's DNS settings. Your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) will have a DNS management panel where you can add these records. Brevo provides step-by-step instructions for this process.

Domain authentication is one of the most important steps for ensuring your emails land in the inbox rather than the spam folder.

Building Your First Email List

Before you can send a campaign, you need a list of subscribers. Brevo organizes contacts into "lists" that you can use to send targeted campaigns.

Importing Contacts

If you already have a list of subscribers (from a previous platform, a spreadsheet, or a CRM), you can import them directly into Brevo:

1. Go to "Contacts" in the left navigation
2. Click "Import Contacts"
3. Upload a CSV file or paste contacts directly
4. Map the columns (email address, first name, last name, etc.)
5. Assign the contacts to a list

Important: Only import contacts who have explicitly opted in to receive emails from you. Importing purchased or harvested lists violates Brevo's terms of service and will harm your deliverability.

Growing Your List Organically

If you are starting from scratch, Brevo includes a signup form builder that lets you create embeddable forms for your website. You can create a form in the "Forms" section, customize its design and fields, and embed the generated code on your website or landing page.

You can also connect Brevo with tools like Shopify, WordPress, and Zapier to automatically add new subscribers from your existing tools.

Creating Your First Email Campaign

With a list of subscribers ready, it is time to create your first campaign.

Step 1: Navigate to Email Campaigns

Click "Campaigns" in the left navigation, then click "Create an email campaign."

Step 2: Set Campaign Details

Give your campaign an internal name (this is only visible to you). Then set the subject line — this is the text that appears in the recipient's inbox. A strong subject line is short (under 50 characters), specific, and creates curiosity or communicates clear value.

You will also set the preview text, which appears next to the subject line in most email clients. Think of it as a second subject line.

Step 3: Choose Your Recipients

Select the list or lists of contacts who will receive this campaign. You can also exclude specific lists if needed.

Step 4: Design Your Email

Brevo offers three ways to create your email:

Drag-and-Drop Editor: The easiest option. Drag pre-built blocks (text, image, button, divider) onto a canvas. No coding required.

Rich Text Editor: A simple text editor for plain-text style emails. Often delivers higher deliverability as it looks more like a personal email.

HTML Editor: For advanced users who want full control over the email's code.

Most beginners start with the drag-and-drop editor. Choose a template from Brevo's library or start from a blank canvas.

Step 5: Preview and Test

Before sending, always preview your email on both desktop and mobile. Then send a test email to yourself to see exactly what your subscribers will receive.

Step 6: Schedule or Send

Choose to send immediately or schedule the campaign for a specific date and time. Brevo recommends sending on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 9am and 11am in your subscribers' local time zone for best results, though your own audience data from Brevo analytics will give you more precise guidance over time.

Understanding the Brevo Dashboard

The Brevo dashboard provides an overview of your recent campaigns and key metrics:

• Delivered: The number of emails successfully delivered to inboxes
• Opened: The percentage of recipients who opened the email
• Clicked: The percentage of recipients who clicked a link
• Bounced: Emails that could not be delivered
• Unsubscribed: Contacts who opted out

Tracking these metrics over time helps you improve each campaign based on real data from your audience.

Essential Best Practices for Beginners

Send from a recognizable name. Use your company name or your own name — never a generic address like "noreply."

Keep your subject line honest. Never use clickbait that misleads subscribers about what the email contains.

Include a clear call to action. Every email should have one primary goal and one primary button or link pointing subscribers toward that goal.

Send consistently. Whether you email weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, pick a cadence and stick to it. Inconsistency leads to subscribers forgetting who you are.

Honor unsubscribes immediately. Brevo handles this automatically, but never email someone who has opted out.

Monitor your metrics. After every campaign, check your open rate, click rate, and unsubscribe rate. Use this data to improve your next send.

What to Expect as You Grow

As your list grows and you get more comfortable with campaigns, you will start exploring Brevo's more advanced features: automation workflows, A/B testing, contact segmentation, and detailed analytics. Every feature is designed to help you send more relevant emails to the right people at the right time.

Starting with the basics — a clean list, an authenticated domain, a well-designed email, and consistent sending — will give you the foundation to build a successful email marketing program with Brevo.

Brevo Plan Comparison

Plan	Price	Emails/Month	Key Features
Free	$0/forever	300/day	Unlimited contacts, email campaigns, basic CRM, Brevo branding
Starter	From $9/month	5,000	No daily cap, no Brevo logo, basic reporting, email & phone support
Business	From $18/month	20,000	Marketing automation, A/B testing, advanced stats, multi-user access
Enterprise	Custom pricing	Unlimited	Dedicated IP, SSO/SAML, custom onboarding, dedicated account manager

Ready to send your first campaign? Start with the free plan — no credit card required — and upgrade only when you need to.