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Running a financial-services business is about far more than moving money in and out of accounts — it’s about managing client trust, regulatory complexity, personalized advice, ongoing service relationships, and layered compliance. The challenge? CRM needs in the financial services industry are uniquely demanding. Firms must track high-value clients, nurture relationships over long horizons, monitor referrals and regulatory touches, segment based on asset classes or risk profiles, deliver timely compliance-safe email communication, and do all of this while maintaining a polished, secure, and scalable marketing system.
That’s where a thoughtful email marketing tool (or CRM with strong email capabilities) becomes a solution. When properly configured, a CRM becomes your operational backbone, enabling you to centralize client data, automate compliant email follow-ups, segment clients by product or asset class, trigger campaigns when life events or portfolio thresholds change, and maintain the audit trail and data governance necessary for financial services.
In this article, you’ll get:
It’s also worth noting that real financial services companies already use HubSpot. In the following sections, we’ll examine how other tools compare to HubSpot (and each other) and identify which ones offer the best fit for financial services marketers and operations teams in 2025.
Table of Contents
Email marketing for financial service businesses is the practice of using targeted, permission-based email communication to build trust, educate clients, and nurture long-term relationships in a regulated industry. Unlike retail or eCommerce campaigns that focus on quick conversions, email marketing in financial services emphasizes credibility, compliance, and consistency.
Advisors, lenders, and wealth managers use email to deliver timely market insights, policy updates, product announcements, and personalized advice — all while maintaining strict data privacy and communication standards. The goal isn’t just to sell a service; it’s to position your firm as a trusted advisor who provides ongoing value and transparency.
When done right, email marketing becomes a scalable way to:
In short, email marketing for financial service businesses bridges the gap between relationship-driven trust and digital efficiency, helping firms deliver the right message to the right client at the right time.
| CRM | Best For | Key Features | Pricing | Free Trial |
| HubSpot (Marketing Hub) | Complete financial services marketing automation with enterprise-grade compliance | Advanced email segmentation for client portfolios Built-in compliance tracking and audit trails AI-powered send time optimization Automated lead scoring for high-value prospects GDPR/CCPA compliance tools Breeze AI for content personalization Multi-touch attribution reporting Native integration with financial data platforms | Free: $0/month/seat Starter: $9/month/seat Professional: $800/month/seat Enterprise: $3,600/month/seat | Yes, 14 days |
| Salesforce Financial Services Cloud | Large financial institutions needing industry-specific CRM | Pre-built financial data models Household relationship mapping Compliance documentation workflows Einstein AI for predictive analytics Wealth management dashboards Insurance policy tracking | Financial Services Cloud (Sales): $325/user/month Financial Services Cloud (Service): $325/user/month Financial Services Cloud (Sales and Service): $350/user/month Financial Services Cloud Agentforce 1 (Sales): $750/user/month Financial Services Cloud Agentforce 1 (Service): $750/user/month | Yes, 30 days |
| Zoho CRM (Finance) | Small to mid-sized financial advisory firms | Pre-built financial data models Household relationship mapping Compliance documentation workflows Einstein AI for predictive analytics Wealth management dashboards Insurance policy tracking | Standard: $14/month Professional: $23/month Enterprise: $40/month Ultimate: $52/month | No, demo only |
| Pipedrive | Sales-focused financial advisors and brokers | Visual sales pipeline Activity-based selling Revenue forecasting Email tracking and templates Smart contact data enrichment Workflow automation builder | Custom pricing only (see here) | Yes, 14 days |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Business Central) | Enterprise financial services with existing Microsoft infrastructure | Unified customer profiles Regulatory compliance management Power BI integration Customer insights AI Outlook and Teams integration Financial services accelerators | Free: $0/user/month Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials: $70/user/month Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium: $100/user/month Dynamics 365 Business Central Team Members: $8.00/user/month | Yes, 30 days |
| Wealthbox | Independent financial advisors and RIAs | SEC/FINRA compliance features Task workflow automation Email archiving Client meeting scheduler Investment account linking Mobile-first design | Basic: $59/user/month Pro: $75/user/month Premier: $99/user/month Enterprise: Custom pricing only (see here) | |
| Redtail | Wealth management and financial planning firms | Integrated compliance archive Client portal with document vault Seminar management tools Commission tracking Custodian integrations Workflow automation | Launch: $45/month Growth: $65/month Enterprise: Custom pricing only (see here) | Yes, 30 days |
| Keap | Small financial service businesses focused on automation | Appointment scheduling Pipeline automation Smart forms and landing pages Text messaging Quote and invoice management Lead capture tools | *Note: Pricing varies based on the number of subscribers, the pricing plans below are based on a 1,500-subscriber amount 2 users/1500 contacts: $299/month | Yes, 14 days |
| ActiveCampaign | Financial marketers needing sophisticated email automation | Predictive sending Split testing automation Site tracking Attribution reporting Lead scoring SMS marketing Custom reporting dashboards | Starter: $15/month Plus: $49/month Pro: $79/month Enterprise: $145/month | Yes, 14 days |
| CopperCRM | Financial teams using Google Workspace | Native Gmail integration Automatic contact enrichment Pipeline management Project tracking Document management Workflow automation Chrome extension | Starter: $12/month Basic: $29/month Professional: $69/month Business: $134/month | Yes, 14 days |
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Best For: Financial service businesses needing comprehensive marketing automation with built-in compliance tools.
Key HubSpot Features:
HubSpot Pricing:
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Best For: Large banks and insurance companies requiring enterprise-scale relationship management with regulatory compliance.
Key Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Features:
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Pricing:
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Best For: Small financial advisory firms needing affordable CRM with document management capabilities.
Key Zoho CRM Features:
Zoho CRM Pricing:
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Best For: Independent insurance brokers and financial sales teams focused on pipeline velocity
Key Pipedrive Features:
Pipedrive Pricing:
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Best For: Enterprise financial institutions already invested in Microsoft’s ecosystem, requiring seamless Office integration.
Key Microsoft Dynamics 365 Features:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Pricing:
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Best For: Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) needing purpose-built wealth management tools with mobility.
Key Wealthbox Features:
Wealthbox Pricing:
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Best For: Traditional wealth management firms requiring deep custodian integrations and seminar management.
Key Redtail Features:
Redtail Pricing:
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Best For: Solo financial advisors and small teams automating repetitive marketing tasks.
Key Keap Features:
Keap Pricing:
*Note: Pricing varies based on the number of subscribers; the pricing plans below are based on a 1,500-subscriber amount
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Best For: Financial marketers running sophisticated multi-channel campaigns with attribution tracking.
Key ActiveCampaign Features:
ActiveCampaign Pricing:
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Best For: Financial teams using Google Workspace seeking zero-friction Gmail integration.
Key Copper Features:
Copper CRM Pricing:
Financial service businesses face constant scrutiny from SEC, FINRA, and state regulators who require detailed documentation of all client communications. Manual tracking of email approvals, archiving conversations, and maintaining audit trails consumes hours of administrative time while leaving firms vulnerable to compliance violations that can result in hefty fines.
Plus, HubSpot’s compliance integrations can:
When advisors create emails in HubSpot, its compliance tracking features flag potentially problematic language, route content through designated compliance officers for pre-approval, and timestamp all modifications.
Financial advisors struggle to maintain personalized communication with hundreds of clients while managing portfolios, attending meetings, and staying current on market conditions.
Breeze AI analyzes client data including:
For instance, HubSpot’s Breeze-generated subject lines can increase open rates by crafting messages like “John, your tech holdings outperformed the S&P by 12%” rather than generic “Q3 Market Update” subject lines.
Pro tip: HubSpot’s smart content rules dynamically adjust email sections based on client segmentsc (i.e., ensuring young professionals receive 401(k) maximization tips while retirees see RMD reminders).
Financial advisors spend significant time outside the office meeting clients at their homes, attending networking events, or traveling between appointments, yet critical client information often remains trapped on desktop systems. This disconnect leads to missed opportunities when advisors can’t access portfolio details during impromptu client encounters or update meeting notes before details fade from memory.
HubSpot’s mobile CRM app provides complete access to client records, email history, and portfolio data from any device, allowing advisors to pull up account information during meetings or log touchpoints immediately after leaving a client’s office.
Financial marketing teams struggle to demonstrate how their email campaigns translate into actual AUM growth or new client acquisition, often relying on vanity metrics like open rates that don’t connect to revenue. Without clear attribution between marketing efforts and business outcomes, firms continue investing in ineffective strategies while missing opportunities to scale successful campaigns. Luckily, HubSpot’s multi-touch attribution reporting tracks the complete client journey, revealing exactly which content drives conversions.
For example, HubSpot’s revenue attribution dashboard can show that clients who engaged with retirement calculator emails subsequently rolled over an average of $450,000 in 401(k) assets, while those receiving only market commentary averaged $125,000 — providing clear direction for content strategy and budget allocation.
Financial service teams waste countless hours on repetitive tasks like sending appointment reminders, following up on incomplete applications, and manually segmenting clients for quarterly review outreach. This administrative overhead prevents advisors from focusing on high-value activities like financial planning and relationship building.
HubSpot’s workflow automation builder creates sophisticated trigger-based sequences that handle routine communications without human intervention, which automatically:
Lastly, HubSpot’s customizable email templates maintains brand consistency while allowing quick personalization.
Start by documenting your financial service firm’s unique processes across client acquisition, onboarding, and retention cycles. Financial planners typically manage multiple parallel workflows, including:
Then, map out your current manual processes, identifying where emails are triggered (like after a prospect downloads a retirement guide), what approvals are needed (compliance review for market commentary), and which team members are involved at each stage. Consider the complexity of financial product sales cycles that can span months, requiring sophisticated nurture sequences that adapt based on life events like job changes, inheritance receipt, or approaching retirement dates.
Pro tip: Document integration points where your email marketing must connect with portfolio management systems, custodian platforms, and financial planning software to maintain data consistency.
Financial service businesses require specialized capabilities beyond standard email marketing, with regulatory compliance topping the list of non-negotiable features. Your platform must include:
Look for behavioral tracking that identifies when prospects transition from research to decision mode — such as multiple retirement calculator uses or repeated visits to rollover guides — triggering timely advisor alerts. Additionally, mobile access is essential for advisors meeting clients outside the office, while advanced segmentation capabilities must handle complex criteria like asset levels, risk tolerance, age brackets, and product ownership. Ensure the platform offers dynamic content blocks that automatically adjust messaging based on client life stage.
Next, evaluate how quickly your team can become proficient with each platform, considering that financial advisors often have limited technical expertise and even less time for extensive training. Request hands-on trials where your actual team members (not just IT staff) create email campaigns, set up automation workflows, and generate compliance reports to assess real-world usability. Additionally, don’t forget to consider the learning curve for different user roles:
Assess vendor support quality by testing response times with financial industry-specific questions about regulatory features, checking whether they offer dedicated onboarding specialists who understand financial services, and evaluating the depth of their knowledge base for self-service troubleshooting. Platform adoption succeeds when the interface feels familiar to users accustomed to financial software, with terminology that matches industry conventions like “AUM” instead of “deal size” and “client households” rather than “companies.”
Calculate the true cost of ownership beyond initial license fees, factoring in how pricing scales as your firm grows AUM, adds advisors, and expands client databases.
Many platforms charge per contact or email send, which can exponentially increase costs for financial firms maintaining large prospect databases for long-term nurturing, especially when considering that financial planning prospects may take years to convert. Evaluate whether the platform includes essential financial features in base pricing or requires expensive add-ons for compliance archiving, advanced automation, or CRM functionality that are non-negotiable for your operations.
Heavily consider hidden costs like:
Compare pricing models carefully — per-user pricing may seem expensive initially but often provides better value than per-contact models for financial firms with small teams managing large client bases.
Select a platform that can evolve with your financial service business from solo advisory practice to multi-advisor firm without requiring a complete system migration. Look for solutions offering modular upgrades where you can start with basic email marketing then add advanced automation, compliance management, or multi-touch attribution as your AUM grows. HubSpot exemplifies this scalability — financial planning firms can begin with free CRM tools then progressively adopt Starter, Professional, or Enterprise tiers while maintaining consistent client records and regulatory documentation.
Franchise Brokers Association, a membership organization supporting entrepreneurs, achieved a 216% increase in lead generation, 60% increase in deal closures, and unified their fragmented data systems, all by using HubSpot’s Marketing Hub. Marketing Hub’s flexibility enabled automated member onboarding workflows, boosted content production organization-wide, and consolidated reporting for leadership decision-making.
Franchise Brokers Association’s success proves that an investment in HubSpot means growth without limitations (or frustration), allowing financial advisors to create custom objects for investment products and insurance policies, build specialized workflows for different client segments, and, most importantly, achieve measurable AUM growth that justifies marketing spend to compliance officers and firm partners.
Before creating any email content, establish clear objectives aligned with measurable financial outcomes like:
Then, document your compliance requirements including SEC and FINRA regulations for client communications, required disclosures for investment products, and approval workflows for market commentary or performance discussions.
Pro tip: Set up HubSpot’s compliance tracking features to route all campaigns through designated compliance officers for pre-send approval, ensuring every email meets regulatory standards without slowing down your marketing velocity.
Move beyond basic demographic segmentation to create sophisticated audience groups based on:
Additionally, HubSpot’s lead scoring tools automatically identifies prospects transitioning from research to decision mode by tracking engagement patterns like multiple retirement calculator uses or repeated downloads of estate planning guides. Then, build dynamic sequences in HubSpot that update automatically as clients’ situations change — moving them from “young professional” segments to “growing family” campaigns when they add beneficiaries or open 529 accounts.
Leverage HubSpot’s Breeze AI to generate compelling subject lines and email copy that resonates with specific financial planning needs while maintaining compliance standards.
Next, use HubSpot’s drag-and-drop email designer with pre-built financial services templates that include compliant disclaimers, dynamic content sequences that adjust based on client segments, and mobile-responsive layouts optimized for advisors reviewing emails between client meetings.
Build sophisticated multi-touch campaigns using HubSpot’s custom report builder that nurtures prospects through lengthy financial planning sales cycles with perfectly timed touchpoints.
Afterwards, create branching workflows in HubSpot’s automation engine that adapt based on prospect actions, sending different sequences for term life insurance inquiries versus whole life interest, while maintaining personalized follow-up cadences that respect the longer decision timelines in financial services.
Test every element of your financial services emails using HubSpot’s built-in A/B testing tools that automatically determine statistical significance and declare winners based on your chosen success metrics.
Run split tests on subject lines comparing urgency-based messaging (“Only 3 days left for 2024 IRA contributions”) versus benefit-focused approaches (“Maximize your tax deduction with IRA contributions”) to identify what motivates your specific client base.
Pro tip: Use HubSpot’s Complete A/B Testing Kit to elevate your email marketing tactics.
Preview every email across devices using HubSpot’s mobile optimization tools, ensuring critical CTAs remain visible and clickable for advisors and clients checking emails on smartphones during commutes or between meetings.
Run final compliance checks through HubSpot’s approval workflow system that logs reviewer comments, tracks version changes, and maintains an audit trail showing exactly who approved each campaign element before sending.
Pro tip: Activate HubSpot’s send time optimization feature that analyzes historical engagement data to deliver emails when individual recipients are most likely to open them — crucial for time-sensitive market updates or deadline-driven communications about contribution limits.
Track campaign performance using HubSpot’s real-time analytics dashboard that goes beyond vanity metrics to show actual business impact like influenced revenue, new AUM acquired, and client lifetime value changes.
Lastly, configure custom reports in HubSpot that connect email engagement to downstream activities like appointment bookings, account openings, and portfolio transfers, proving marketing’s contribution to firm growth.
HubSpot stands out as the most comprehensive email marketing solution for financial service companies, combining robust compliance features with sophisticated automation capabilities that address the industry’s unique requirements. As previously mentioned, HubSpot’s built-in compliance software automatically archive all client communications with timestamps, route content through designated compliance officers for pre-approval, and maintain searchable audit trails that satisfy SEC and FINRA examination requirements.
Unlike generic email platforms that require costly add-ons or custom development for financial services functionality, HubSpot includes native features like:
What features should I look for in email marketing tools for financial planning companies?
Financial planning companies should prioritize five critical features when evaluating email marketing platforms:
Furthermore, the platform must handle sophisticated segmentation based on:
Pro tip: Look for platforms that offer pre-built compliance templates flagging problematic language like “guaranteed returns,” role-based permissions ensuring only authorized team members approve client communications, and multi-touch attribution reporting that connects email campaigns directly to AUM growth and client acquisition metrics.
HubSpot excels in financial services environments by providing purpose-built features that address strict regulatory requirements while enabling sophisticated client engagement strategies that drive AUM growth.
Plus, HubSpot’s Breeze AI analyzes:
Financial firms using HubSpot’s Marketing Hub report 58% more deals closed, allowing advisors to focus on high-value activities like financial planning rather than manual email management.
Email marketing software for financial services typically ranges from $20/month for basic platforms to $3,600+/month for enterprise solutions, with pricing models varying between per-user, per-contact, and flat-rate structures.
When calculating total cost of ownership, financial firms must consider hidden expenses including implementation fees ($5,000 to $50,000), data migration charges, training requirements, and ongoing consulting needs, plus the opportunity cost of advisors spending hours on manual tasks that proper automation eliminates. Per-contact pricing models can become prohibitively expensive for financial firms maintaining large prospect databases for long-term nurturing — a firm with 10,000 contacts might pay $500 to $2,000 monthly on platforms like ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp, while HubSpot’s user-based model provides better value for small teams managing extensive client bases.
Pro tip: HubSpot offers transparent tiered pricing starting at $9/month for Starter, $800/month for Professional, and $3,600/month for Enterprise, including essential compliance features in base packages rather than requiring expensive add-ons like many competitors.
Email marketing software designed for financial services automates the complex compliance requirements that can otherwise consume hours of manual documentation and expose firms to regulatory penalties ranging from $10,000 to millions in fines. Platforms like HubSpot include:
Additionally, a CRM software’s role-based permissions ensure only authorized personnel can approve external communications, while automated retention policies preserve emails for the required timeframes (typically 3 to 7 years depending on communication type) and securely purge outdated records according to regulatory guidelines.
Pro tip: During SEC or FINRA examinations, firms using compliant email marketing platforms can instantly produce required documentation showing approval chains, modification histories, and complete client communication records.
HubSpot stands out as the premier email marketing solution for financial service companies, offering enterprise-level compliance and automation capabilities at a price point that scales with firm growth. Unlike traditional financial CRM systems that charge per asset under management or require expensive custom compliance modules, HubSpot’s CRM provides built-in regulatory features starting at just $9/month, making sophisticated email marketing accessible to solo advisors and billion-dollar RIAs alike.
HubSpot transformed NQM Funding’s high-touch broker relationships by unifying their fragmented communication systems into one scalable platform that could grow with their expanding network of specific broker segments. Over the course of their implementation period, the organization achieved a remarkable 900% increase in contact growth by leveraging HubSpot’s Marketing Hub.
All-in-all, HubSpot’s true power for financial services lies in its comprehensive approach — combining regulatory compliance, sophisticated automation, and measurable ROI tracking in one platform.
Ready to see how HubSpot can transform your financial firm’s client relationships while maintaining regulatory compliance, all through the power of email marketing? Get started with HubSpot’s email marketing tools today.
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