Emma

What Emma does

Emma is a Nashville-headquartered email and SMS marketing platform founded in 2003 and currently operating as a product brand within Marigold's family of marketing technology products. The platform is purpose-built for distributed organizations that need centralized brand governance with local execution flexibility, serving customers across higher education, nonprofits, government, sports & fitness, and travel & hospitality. Tiered account structures, template locking, subaccount-level style guides, and approval workflows allow a central marketing team to enforce brand standards while empowering departments, chapters, campuses, or franchise locations to execute independently.

The core product is an integrated multi-channel marketing platform combining email, SMS, automation, and AI-assisted content creation. The technology stack includes a drag-and-drop email editor, an automation builder (Journeys), native CRM integrations with Salesforce, Blackbaud, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Ellucian, Raiser's Edge, Mindbody, ClubReady, OpenTable, and BentoBox, plus an open API and Zapier connectivity. Recent AI features include Smart Send (per-recipient send-time optimization), Smart Subject (A/B-tested subject line generation), Smart Recommendations (pre-send quality checks), Smart Segment (AI-assisted segmentation), and the AI Assistant (on-brand content drafting). The platform holds SOC 2 Type II, HITRUST CSF, TX-RAMP certifications and publishes an annual VPAT, positioning it for regulated and public-sector workloads.

Emma monetizes through three subscription tiers (Emma Lite at $105/month, Emma for Teams at $205/month, and Emma Corporate at custom multi-year pricing), plus usage-based SMS add-ons and on-demand Professional Services for onboarding, design, training, and technical work. GTM motion is hybrid: self-serve for Lite, sales-led for Teams and Corporate with vertical-specific conference presence (Ellucian Live, CASE, Multi-Unit Franchising, Nonprofit Fundraisers Symposium). The customer base spans marquee names including Vanderbilt, Duke, Harvard, Florida State, Notre Dame, University of Michigan, the U.S. Department of State, Girl Scouts, Marriott, Vail Resorts, Best Western, Nike, Instacart, Nashville Predators, Orangetheory Fitness, and School of Rock, with the broader Marigold portfolio claiming 40,000+ customers.

Name

Emma

Legal name

Emma

Website

http://www.myemma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Emma is a Nashville-based email and SMS marketing platform serving distributed organizations across higher education, nonprofits, government, sports & fitness, and travel & hospitality, offering tiered account governance, AI-powered campaign optimization, and native CRM integrations through subscription and professional services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Email Marketing Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Email Marketing Services (Campaign Strategy, Design, Deliverability) (MPAAAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

iPaaS (Cloud Integration Platforms) (HDAEAIAB)

Keywords

• Email marketing platform
• SMS marketing software
• Marketing automation tools
• AI email assistant
• CRM email integrations

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription Plans (Emma Lite, Teams, Corporate): Tiered subscription model with three main plans. Emma Lite at $105/month for basic email marketing. Emma for Teams at $205/month for multi-department/organization management. Emma Corporate with custom pricing for large organizations. All plans include email sending with varying levels of users, subaccounts, and features.
2. SMS Add-on: SMS marketing available as an add-on for all plans, priced based on messaging volume and business needs
3. Professional Services: On-demand services including onboarding, training, design services, technical services, deliverability services, and flexible Expert Hours for strategy, execution, and ongoing support

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Emma is an email and SMS marketing platform built for distributed organizations across higher education, nonprofits, government, sports & fitness, and travel & hospitality. It provides tiered account structures with centralized brand governance, drag-and-drop email creation, AI-powered send-time and content optimization, multi-step automation journeys, native CRM integrations, and professional services for onboarding and design support.

Product overview

Emma is an email marketing platform built for distributed organizations across higher education, nonprofits, government, sports & fitness, and travel & hospitality. The product portfolio consists of Emma Lite (core email marketing at $105/month), Emma for Teams (multi-location management at $205/month with Brand Manager, subaccounts, and approvals), and Emma Corporate (enterprise tier with unlimited users and 10+ subaccounts). The core platform integrates email, SMS, AI tools, and automation in one intuitive system. Key modules include: Email Marketing Platform (core product with drag-and-drop editor, analytics, and brand controls); AI Assistant (generative AI for content creation, subject lines, and tone adjustment); SMS Marketing (multi-channel texting with MMS support); Automation Journeys (multi-step triggered sequences); Integration Platform (native CRM integrations with Salesforce, Blackbaud, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, plus open API); and Professional Services (onboarding, training, design, and technical support). AI features include Smart Send (send-time optimization), Smart Subject (subject line testing), Smart Recommendations (pre-send quality checks), and Smart Segment (AI-powered segmentation).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Email Marketing Platform Core email marketing platform that enables distributed teams to create personalized, on-brand email campaigns with automation, AI tools, audience segmentation, analytics, and centralized controls for multi-location organizations.
• AI Assistant Generative AI tool integrated into the email builder that creates on-brand content from prompts, generates subject line variations, adjusts tone and formality, and performs spelling and grammar checks with privacy-first data protection.
• SMS Marketing Multi-channel SMS campaign platform integrated with email for coordinated communication, featuring MMS support, compliance capture, automatic opt-in prompts, and unified contact management.
• Professional Services On-demand services including onboarding, training, design services, technical services, deliverability services, and flexible Expert Hours for strategy, execution, and ongoing support.
• Integration Platform Platform connecting CRM and core systems into Emma, supporting native integrations with Salesforce, Blackbaud, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Ellucian, plus open API, SFTP, Zapier, and Tray.io.
• Automation Journeys Workflow automation builder enabling multi-step email and SMS sequences triggered by subscriber actions such as opens, clicks, purchases, or form submissions, with branching points and custom event-driven automations.
• Emma Lite Entry-level plan at $105/month for individual marketers, including drag-and-drop editor, audience segmentation, AI Assistant, email and phone support, and core email marketing features for up to 5 users.
• Emma for Teams Mid-tier plan at $205/month for organizations with multiple departments or locations, including tiered account structure, Brand Manager, trend reporting, 25 users, 5+ subaccounts, and approval workflows.
• Emma Corporate Enterprise plan with custom pricing for large organizations and franchise networks, including 10+ subaccounts, unlimited users, priority phone support, internal sending subaccounts, and cross-account audience management.

Quantifiable outcome

• 99% email deliverability rate for government customers
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration19 records

AI capability8 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Microsoft Dynamics 365coreTechnology or Integration · 1 March 2026Native CRM integration enabling customers using Microsoft's business applications to sync data seamlessly with Emma.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationNative CRM integration allowing customers to sync customer data, manage multiple accounts, and deliver more personalized email campaigns through Salesforce connector.
• BlackbaudcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for nonprofits enabling seamless sync of contact information to improve supporter experience and move past batch-and-blast sending.
• HubSpotcoreTechnology or IntegrationNative CRM integration with HubSpot's widely-used marketing and sales platform for unified customer data.
• EverTruesecondaryTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for alumni relations and advancement campaigns, improving segmentation and personalization for higher education institutions.
• ZapiersecondaryTechnology or IntegrationConnects Emma to over 500 marketing services through Zapier's automation platform, enabling personalized campaigns powered by integrated data.
• OpenTablecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for restaurants enabling seamless reservation data sync and guest communications for hospitality brands.
• BentoBoxcoreTechnology or IntegrationRestaurant website and marketing platform integration for unified guest data and communications.
• MindbodycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with fitness business management platform syncing memberships, class attendance, and purchase history for real-time segmentation and automation.
• ClubReadycoreTechnology or IntegrationFitness club management integration powering membership data and engagement campaigns for sports and fitness organizations.
• LiveclickersecondaryTechnology or IntegrationPersonalizes email content with real-time data for dynamic, time-sensitive communications.
• Tray.iosecondaryTechnology or IntegrationEnterprise integration platform enabling connections to any services without separate integration tools.
• OneLoginsecondaryTechnology or IntegrationSingle Sign-on (SSO) integration for enterprise security and streamlined user authentication.
• EventbritecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for event promotion enabling seamless event data sync for community and government organizations.
• ElluciancoreTechnology or IntegrationHigher education CRM partnership enabling direct integration with widely-used student information systems.
• Raiser’s EdgecoreTechnology or IntegrationBlackbaud's nonprofit CRM integration for comprehensive donor management and fundraising communications.
• SurveyMonkeysecondaryTechnology or IntegrationSurvey integration enabling public feedback collection for government and organizational communications.
• YouTubesecondaryTechnology or IntegrationVideo integration generating thumbnails and play buttons automatically from video URLs for email campaigns.
• VimeosecondaryTechnology or IntegrationVideo embedding integration with automatic thumbnail and play button generation for email campaigns.
• SFTPsecondaryTechnology or IntegrationSFTP Connect enables automatic contact updates regardless of internal systems, for organizations with custom data infrastructure.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, automation, and CRM with strong AI features (predictions, content generation). Closely comparable to Emma's automation and AI roadmap and pricing tier structure.
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Brevo is an all-in-one marketing platform spanning email, SMS, automation, and CRM at SMB and mid-market price points. Directly comparable to Emma's combined email + SMS + automation offering and tiered pricing model.
• iContact: iContact is an email marketing platform with notable presence in nonprofit, small business, and education verticals — overlapping with Emma's segment focus on price-sensitive distributed organizations and chapter-based communications.
• Mailchimp: Mailchimp (owned by Intuit) is a leading email marketing and automation platform targeting SMB and mid-market customers with tiered pricing and a drag-and-drop editor. Directly competes with Emma on core email marketing functionality, though Mailchimp does not offer Emma's deep tiered subaccount governance for distributed organizations.
• Constant Contact: Constant Contact is a long-standing email marketing platform with strong positioning in small business, nonprofit, and association segments — overlapping with Emma's nonprofit and distributed-organization verticals on multi-user permissions and event marketing.
• GetResponse: GetResponse is an email marketing, automation, and webinar platform with tiered pricing and AI features. Directly comparable to Emma on core email marketing functionality, automation journeys, and SMB/mid-market pricing.
• Klaviyo: Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform with deep ecommerce personalization and AI-driven segmentation. Directly competes with Emma's automation, SMS, and AI features, though Klaviyo's vertical focus is ecommerce rather than Emma's distributed-organization mix.
• Campaign Monitor: Campaign Monitor is a sibling product within Marigold's portfolio — same parent company as Emma — competing in the same email marketing space with similar design-led positioning and tiered pricing. The two products risk overlap and cannibalization within Marigold's customer base.

Broad incumbents

• HubSpot Marketing Hub: HubSpot's Marketing Hub is a broad marketing automation and CRM suite bundling email, automation, and AI features. Overlaps with Emma across email and CRM integration, but HubSpot also competes as a CRM partner — creating both integration and competitive pressure on Emma.
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Salesforce Marketing Cloud (including Account Engagement / Pardot) is an enterprise-scale marketing suite covering email, journey orchestration, and AI. Competes with Emma in the enterprise tier and through the same Salesforce CRM partnership that Emma relies on for integration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/emmaemail
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/emmamarketing
• Facebookfacebook.com/emmaemail
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/emma-email-marketing
• Instagraminstagram.com/myemma

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Emma