{"id":96773,"date":"2019-08-15T06:47:56","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T06:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/29\/email-marketing-crm\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T03:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:13:26","slug":"email-marketing-crm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/blog\/2019\/08\/15\/email-marketing-crm\/","title":{"rendered":"CRM and email marketing: how to integrate them step by step (with 6 workflows to copy)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Has this ever happened to you: a customer unsubscribes from your newsletter and, a week later, a sales rep emails them offering the same thing?<\/p>\n\n

It happens more often than you’d think. It happens when the CRM and email marketing each live in their own world.<\/p>\n\n

The CRM knows who each contact is and where they are in the sale. The email tool knows who opens, who clicks and who has unsubscribed.<\/p>\n\n

On their own, each one only sees half the picture. Bringing CRM and email marketing<\/strong> together gives you the whole picture.<\/p>\n\n

In this guide you’ll see how to connect the two and what data should flow from one to the other. You’ll also see which CRMs fit best.<\/p>\n\n

And at the end you’ll find 6 CRM and email marketing<\/strong> workflows you can set up this very week.<\/p>\n\n\n

Why connect your CRM to email marketing?<\/h2>\n\n

A CRM<\/a> organizes your relationship with each customer: data, opportunities, calls and tasks. An email marketing<\/a> tool sends messages to many contacts at once and measures what they do with them.<\/p>\n\n

When they work together, you gain three things.<\/p>\n\n

Less manual work.<\/strong> Nobody exports an Excel file every Monday to upload the new leads to the list.<\/p>\n\n

Better-timed messages.<\/strong> A contact who becomes a customer stops receiving acquisition emails and starts receiving welcome emails.<\/p>\n\n

Better sales follow-up.<\/strong> The sales rep knows which contacts clicked in the latest campaign and who to call first.<\/p>\n\n

Integrating CRM and email marketing<\/strong> doesn’t have to be complicated. These days you can set it up in an afternoon without coding.<\/p>\n\n

What data should flow from the CRM to email marketing (and back)<\/h2>\n\n

Before connecting anything, decide what information you need on each side. Syncing everything fills contact records with fields nobody uses.<\/p>\n\n

This table sums up the most useful data and which way it should travel.<\/p>\n\n

Data<\/th>Direction<\/th>What it’s for<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Email, name and company<\/td>CRM \u2192 email marketing<\/td>Personalize the greeting and the subject line<\/td><\/tr>
Funnel stage (lead, opportunity, customer)<\/td>CRM \u2192 email marketing<\/td>Send each contact the message for their stage<\/td><\/tr>
Industry, product of interest or city<\/td>CRM \u2192 email marketing<\/td>Segment campaigns<\/td><\/tr>
Sign-up date or last purchase date<\/td>CRM \u2192 email marketing<\/td>Welcome, anniversary and reactivation emails<\/td><\/tr>
Unsubscribes from the list<\/td>Email marketing \u2192 CRM<\/td>Stop sending marketing to people who don’t want it<\/td><\/tr>
Clicks on specific links<\/td>Email marketing \u2192 CRM<\/td>Spot interest and alert the sales rep<\/td><\/tr>
Bounces<\/td>Email marketing \u2192 CRM<\/td>Fix addresses that no longer exist<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

In Mailrelay, CRM data is stored in custom fields<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The funnel stage usually works better as a subscriber group<\/a>, because automations are triggered when someone joins a group.<\/p>\n\n

One simple rule avoids a lot of trouble when bringing CRM and email marketing<\/strong> together: each piece of data has one owner.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The CRM is in charge of the stage and the sales data. The email tool is in charge of unsubscribes and sending activity.<\/p>\n\n

4 ways to connect your CRM to email marketing<\/h2>\n\n

There are four ways to connect a CRM to Mailrelay. You can combine them.<\/p>\n\n

1. Make: the no-code option<\/h3>\n\n

Make<\/a> is a no-code automation<\/a> platform. You connect two apps with visual blocks: “when this happens in the CRM, do this in Mailrelay”.<\/p>\n\n

The Mailrelay app on Make has 11 modules. With them you can create or update subscribers, create and manage groups, look up a contact or resend the confirmation email.<\/p>\n\n

And if you need something else, there’s a module to make any API call.<\/p>\n\n

Make also has modules for the most widely used CRMs, such as HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce and Zoho CRM. That’s why it’s the fastest way to connect your CRM to email marketing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

There’s even a ready-made template that creates a subscriber in Mailrelay every time a new contact is added in HubSpot.<\/p>\n\n

Keep in mind:<\/strong> the Mailrelay app on Make only has actions, not triggers.<\/p>\n\n

For the way back (from Mailrelay to the CRM) you use webhooks, which you’ll see in option 3.<\/p>\n\n

2. REST API: the custom option<\/h3>\n\n

Mailrelay’s API<\/a> lets another program read and write almost everything in your account. It authenticates with a key you create in your account settings.<\/p>\n\n

For a CRM integration, the most useful resources are subscribers, groups, tags and custom fields. You can also check sent campaigns, unsubscribes and bounces.<\/p>\n\n

The API allows up to 250 requests every 5 minutes on all plans. For large syncs it has a batch function that groups up to 500 operations into a single call.<\/p>\n\n

It’s the logical choice if your CRM is custom-built or an ERP, or if you already have someone technical on the team. Also when you want the connection between your CRM and email marketing<\/strong> to do something Make doesn’t cover.<\/p>\n\n

3. Webhooks: so the CRM finds out instantly<\/h3>\n\n

A webhook<\/a> is an automatic notification Mailrelay sends to another system when something happens. You set them up in Settings > Event subscriptions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

You can get notifications for sign-ups, unsubscribes and SMS status. That way, when someone unsubscribes from a newsletter, your CRM knows at that very moment. It’s the piece that closes the loop between CRM and email marketing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

The notification can go straight to your CRM or to a Make scenario, which then updates the contact record.<\/p>\n\n

You’ll find the step-by-step instructions in our guide to webhooks for connecting your subscribers to your CRM<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Mailrelay automations can also fire a webhook as one of their steps. This opens the door to workflows like “if they click, notify the CRM”.<\/p>\n\n

4. Importing a CSV: the manual option<\/h3>\n\n

The simplest one. You export the contacts from the CRM to a CSV<\/a> file and import it into Mailrelay<\/a>, mapping each column to its field.<\/p>\n\n

It’s useful for the first load from your CRM into email marketing<\/strong>, or if your database rarely changes. But it isn’t an integration: each import is a snapshot, and unsubscribes don’t flow back to the CRM on their own.<\/p>\n\n

\"Infographic<\/figure>\n\n

What about sending emails from the CRM itself?<\/h3>\n\n

Some CRMs let you send one-to-one emails from the customer record using an external SMTP server. You can use Mailrelay’s SMTP<\/a> so those emails get good deliverability.<\/p>\n\n

Note: those are transactional emails<\/a> or one-to-one emails, not campaigns. For newsletters and sequences, the CRM and email marketing<\/strong> integration you’re after is one of the first three options.<\/p>\n\n

Which CRMs integrate best with email marketing<\/h2>\n\n

There’s no single best CRM for everyone. To combine CRM and email marketing<\/strong>, good connection options matter more than a long list of features.<\/p>\n\n

This table sums up the most common options for small and medium-sized businesses and how they connect to Mailrelay.<\/p>\n\n

CRM<\/th>Who it suits<\/th>How to connect it to Mailrelay<\/th>Keep in mind<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
HubSpot<\/a><\/td>Small businesses that want to start for free and grow module by module<\/td>Make (ready-made template available) or API<\/td>Many marketing features are on paid plans<\/td><\/tr>
Pipedrive<\/td>Sales teams that work with a pipeline<\/td>Make or API<\/td>Its campaign tool is a paid add-on<\/td><\/tr>
Salesforce<\/a><\/td>Medium and large companies with complex processes<\/td>Make or API, often with technical help<\/td>The real cost includes implementation and administration<\/td><\/tr>
Zoho CRM<\/td>Small businesses already using other Zoho apps<\/td>Make or API<\/td>It’s worth organizing your fields properly before syncing<\/td><\/tr>
In-house CRM or ERP<\/td>Businesses with custom-built software<\/td>API and webhooks<\/td>You need someone technical<\/td><\/tr>
No CRM<\/td>Small businesses with few customers<\/td>Mailrelay groups and fields<\/td>A lightweight CRM inside your email tool may be enough<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

If you’re still choosing, in this guide we explain how to choose a sales CRM<\/a> based on your sales process. If you’d rather start at no cost, here are 8 free CRM options<\/a> and their limits.<\/p>\n\n

And if you have few customers, you may not need one. See how to use Mailrelay as an email-marketing-focused CRM<\/a> with groups, fields and segments.<\/p>\n\n

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Connect your CRM to a free email tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts, with API, webhooks and Make integration on the free plan. No credit card required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

6 CRM and email marketing workflows you can copy<\/h2>\n\n

These are the CRM and email marketing<\/strong> workflows that deliver the best results. Each one shows what triggers it, what it does and which option you build it with.<\/p>\n\n

1. New lead in the CRM \u2192 welcome email<\/h3>\n\n

The lead gets your welcome within minutes, not days later.<\/strong> When a new contact is added to the CRM, Make creates it in Mailrelay in the “New leads” group.<\/p>\n\n

That group triggers an automation with a welcome email<\/a> and, a few days later, one or two emails with your best content.<\/p>\n\n