When you make a Shopify store, you already have a ton of customization options that can be leveraged into drawing customers to your flock.
However, the attention span of an average person when it comes to shopping is shorter than that of a fish. You’ll need to make an extra effort to not only draw new customers but to entertain the needs of those that have already paid your e-commerce a couple of visits.
Today, I want to introduce you to the best online marketing tools for Shopify. This includes the best Shopify email marketing tools and platforms that will help you reach new prospects and retain the ones that already shop at your store. Without any further ado, let’s start from the top.
What Are the Best Email Marketing Tools for Shopify?
Here is my list of the best email marketing tools for Shopify this year.
1. Klaviyo
Overview
Klaviyo is a dedicated email and SMS marketing tool designed with simplicity in mind. Its core offering revolves around personalized email & SMS marketing, signup form, segmentation, and automation features.
The highlight feature of Klaviyo is the drag and drop email building tool, which offers simple customization and allows you to make any kind of adjustments on the fly. If you don’t feel like brainstorming for the perfect title or email content, you can always take a pick from the template library.
Another highly valuable feature that Klaviyo offers is the campaign launcher. This feature is based on a broadcasting mass-messaging system that allows you to make big announcements in a couple of minutes. Campaign templates are separate from SMS and email templates, bringing even more customization options to the table.
Klaviyo offers a range of segmentation-based features, allowing users to develop customer-specific segments that can get updated based on the criteria or conditions you’ve set. On top of that, the tool offers native integration with hundreds of platforms making it one of the best marketing apps for Shopify
Key Features
- Dozens of email, SMS, and campaign templates
- Aside from Shopify, integrates with BigCommerce, Woo Commerce, Magneto, PrestaShop, and SalesForce
- Easy to set up abandoned cart recovery workflows
- Broadcast messaging system
- Create customer-specific segments
Pricing
Klaviyo’s pricing depends on the number of your email and SMS contacts. Up to 500 outbound emails sent to a maximum of 250 contacts are covered by the free version. The company’s on-page price calculator can be used to determine the exact price.
What I Like / Dislike About Klaviyo
The simple, yet powerful features of Klaviyo speak volumes about its quality. If you want to boost your Shopify store’s visibility and not waste months or thousands of dollars, this is probably where you should begin your search.
The downside to Klaviyo is that is can get expensive quite quickly depending on how many contacts your business has.
Who Is This For?
Given that Shopify already offers a range of e-commerce customization options, I recommend Klaviyo to brand owners that have succeeded in leveraging them and are now searching for means to promote their pages and products.
2. Omnisend
Overview
Omnisend is another great Shopify email marketing app that provides a well-rounded solution without sacrificing ease of use in turn.
I would begin by highlighting that Omnisend features a marketing automation package, which works in perfect synergy with its email and SMS marketing features. The platform offers pre-built workflow templates that address some of the most pressing issues for Shopify merchants, such as tackling product and card abandonment or creating a well-written welcome mail.
Omnisend’s sophisticated A/B testing system is probably one of its strongest features. With it, you can quickly determine the efficiency of each channel; it also provides the much-needed adaptability to new Shopify vendors, providing a much quicker, more forgiving solution for the otherwise punishing trial and error of digital marketing.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention its comprehensive reporting system. Accurate sales and engagement tracking is provided as a part of the solution. Reports and notifications can be thoroughly customized.
Key Features
- Email and SMS marketing automation
- Web push notifications
- Pop-up and sign-up form templates
- Product and cart abandonment messages
- Order and shipping confirmation
- A/B testing
- Built-in message and automation reports
- Conditional content blocks
Pricing
Omnisend offers two subscription plans, including Email at $16 per month and Email & SMS at $59 per month. A free email marketing solution is also available.
What I Like / Dislike About Omnisend
Imagine the ability to send out 6,000 emails each month while paying as little as $16 for it. Unlimited web push notifications and support for up to 500 contacts are just some of the things that Omnisend’s email marketing package provides. The company also pitched 60 SMS into the subscription free of charge.
I’m on the fence about the Email and SMS marketing plan, as it’s more than three times the price while expanding the number of SMS messages is its most notable benefit.
Who Is This For?
I recommend Omnisend to all Shopify brand owners. The superior quality of its features is all-encompassing, meaning that regardless of your Shopify e-commerce size, you can benefit from using this tool.
3. Drip
Overview
Drip is among the most concrete solutions for owners of mid-to-large Shopify brands. This software does everything from streamlined email templates, and over segmentation tools, to completely automated email workflows.
When it comes to email marketing tools, Drip features a drag & drop email visual editor, but that’s not all. You can even create custom links with its HTML builder.
While many marketing Shopify email marketing apps boast about comprehensive workflow automation solutions, Drip is considered the industry’s standard in this field. Drip features a host of unique playbooks – pre-made visual workflows that you can even further customize to automate emails for welcoming, cart abandonment, win-back, pre & post-purchase events, and more.
Similar to Omnisend, Drip integrates with Shopify and Shopify Plus, as well as Woo Commerce, Magneto, Big Commerce, and a range of custom e-commerce web stores.
Key Features
- Multiple workflow automation templates ( various categories of email and SMS templates)
- Pop-up and form builder
- Drag and drop editor for email construction and customization
- Custom HTML builder
- Powerful segmentation tools
Pricing
Drip’s pricing depends on the number of contacts you want to use with the program. Subscription for up to 2,500 contacts costs $39 per month; up to 3,000 contacts costs $49 per month; up to 5,000 contacts costs $89 per month. The on-page price calculator can be used for an accurate subscription estimate.
What I Like / Dislike About Drip
I love that Drip offers so many customizable templates and features and that it allows Shopify brands to thoroughly personalize every aspect of their email marketing campaigns. More importantly, I really love how streamlined this Shopify email marketing app is and how easy it is to use it.
I have to accentuate the importance of unlimited emails that Drip supports. The pricing is based solely on the number of contacts you want to use – you can send an infinite number of emails should you want to do so.
Small Shopify brand owners may be somewhat at a disadvantage, as the basic subscription covers from 1 to 2,500 contacts, meaning that if you’re launching a campaign for a few hundred customers, you’ll still have to pay as if you’re sending emails to thousands of consumers.
Who Is This For?
Drip is absolutely phenomenal for Shopify brands of all sizes. As I’ve hinted a second ago, the lowest pricing point isn’t exactly perfect for small e-commerce owners, but the platform’s strong features and automation tools are well worth the money.
4. Flodesk
Overview
Flodesk is more of an email designer than email marketing software. It is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive tools in its class; even though it serves a single purpose, it is the best at what it does.
The tool is remarkably easy to use; the features are intuitive, and the email builder’s visuals are absolutely stunning.
Its core feature is the email builder, which comprises tons of font styles, numerous effects, variable sizes, font colors, multiple alignment options, and more. Every input creates a change immediately, giving you instant feedback about the tweaks you may want to keep or discard, and enabling you to create a truly perfect email.
Aside from Shopify, Flodesk integrates with Zapier, Facebook, Instagram, Typeform, and WordPress, as well as Google Sheets and Slack. It also sports a simplified form of A/B testing, allowing you to create streamlined workflows in minutes.
Key Features
- Comprehensive email builder with numerous font styles, colors, sizes, and alignment options
- Drag and Drop form and landing page builder
- 30 day free trial
- Integration with Shopify, Zapier, Google Sheets, and dominant social media networks
- Simple A/B testing features
Pricing
A Flodesk subscription costs flat $38 per month or $418 per year. A free 30-day trial is also available.
What I Like / Dislike About Flodesk
The core of all email marketing strategies lies in a well-crafted email. That’s precisely what Flodesk is designed to help you with. With a highly intuitive UI and streamlined features, it is easily one of the finest, if not the best email marketing for Shopify solutions.
The only issue that you may have with Flodesk revolves around its price. Namely, for $38 you can subscribe to a full-fledged digital marketing platform and leverage features other than just email and form-building tools – albeit only for a small number of contacts.
Who Is This For?
All Shopify businesses could benefit from a dedicated email building tool, regardless of how long they’ve been on the market or their size. Due to the lack of automation-based features, I recommend Flodesk to brands that are already outsourcing workflow automation tools. If you want to learn more about Flodesk check out my full review.
5. MailChimp
Overview
MailChimp is one of the biggest and most eclectic digital marketing and newsletter platforms, so I will be mainly focused on its email marketing and marketing automation aspects. Aside from this, the platform offers appointment scheduling, custom domain creation, analytics, audience management, and a variety of content-based tools.
One of MailChimp’s most exquisite features is the fact that you can send up to 10,000 emails monthly without paying a dime.
You can create custom sign-up and pop-up forms and leverage predictive demographics to build up your contact list if you haven’t already, but you can also initiate behavioral targeting and leverage the platform’s segmentation tools to create different audience groups and target them with custom-built emails.
The Customer Journey Builder is the reason why thousands of Shopify brand owners use MailChimp. This feature essentially borrowed the best elements of A/B testing and workflow automation elements and blended them into one.
With this feature, you can drag & drop each step of the “journey” by setting rules for different actions. For instance, once the consumer receives an email, you can initiate a “delay” or “wait” command, send automated follow-ups, and specify the exact time when further action should take place.
Key Features
- Form and landing page builder
- Marketing CRM
- Behavioral targeting
- Predictive demographics charts
- Smart recommendations and notifications
- Surveys
- A/B testing
- Customer Journey builder
Pricing
MailChimp offers three subscription plans, including Essentials at $11 per month; Standard at $17 per month, and Premium at $299 per month. A free version is also available, supporting up to 10,000 outbound emails with a daily cap of 2,000.
What I Like / Dislike About MailChimp
The Customer Journey Builder is a game-changer. It allows you to accurately predict all outcomes of your email marketing and broadcast messaging efforts and automate the best responses ahead of time.
Due to the massive number of features available, using this SaaS can feel slightly overwhelming for some users. Navigating all of its features can become a chore for Shopify brand owners that are not as tech-savvy.
Who Is This For?
The free version covers up to 10,000 monthly emails and includes a range of robust features while the Premium package can easily cater to the needs of the most demanding enterprises. I mainly recommend MailChimp to Shopify brand owners who either possess the knowledge to operate such a comprehensive tool or have the means to delegate this task.
6. Active Campaign
Overview
The Active Campaign platform encompasses customer relationship management, marketing automation, and email marketing tools. In terms of versatility, it’s easily among the best email marketing for Shopify solutions, comprising one-time email broadcasts, triggered & targeted emails, auto-responders, transactional, and scheduled emails as its main features.
The triggered emails are especially useful for Shopify brand owners. With this feature, you can send emails when certain conditions (triggers) are met, such as when your Shopify store was visited, when someone previewed your stock, or if they made a purchase.
When you need to build a stronger customer base, targeted emails come to the rescue. With Active Campaign, you can customize emails for different audiences, group them into different segments, and apply triggers to ensure each category receives emails at the best time.
As its name implies, Active Campaign’s main feature is campaign-based marketing. These one-time broadcasts are custom emails sent to promote new items coming to your stock, events that you may be hosting, or any announcements you want to make basically.
Key Features
- Set conditions and rules to trigger emails
- Segment groups of customers and send targeted emails
- One-time broadcasts via email campaign feature
- Auto-responder emails
- Strong marketing automation platform
- Scheduled email sending
Pricing
Active Campaign’s pricing is based on the number of contacts you want to use. For 1,000 contacts (default option), the subscription to the Lite package costs $29 per month; Plus costs $49 per month, and Professional $149 per month.
What I Like / Dislike About Active Campaign
Active Campaign’s suite of features is geared towards elevating a mid-tier Shopify brand to the next level rapidly. I love how synergetic the tools are and how easy it is to use them. There aren’t many drawbacks, let alone major ones, other than the fact that only the most expensive subscription comes with fully unlocked features.
Who Is This For?
Active Campaign is one of the best email marketing apps for small-to-mid-sized Shopify brands. The simple, yet effective features work like a charm when it comes to reaching the right targets at the right time. It is also pretty great for large enterprises, which can subscribe to a special, custom plan.
7. Privy
Overview
Just like Active Campaign, Privy is a versatile e-commerce marketing app for Shopify. Its main features revolve around email marketing, lead conversion, and text-based marketing.
Excluding the lead conversion/optimization suite, Privy offers a host of solutions for Shopify merchants, including custom newsletters, welcome email & customer win-back templates, cart abandonment forms, and text broadcast (campaigns) tools.
What separates Privy from contemporary online marketing platforms is the abundance of exquisitely crafted templates. Though amazing as-is, each template can be further customized to meet your needs.
Additionally, Shopify merchants can benefit from the tools needed to create unique coupon codes, revenue reporting, and robust analytics, as well as streamlined integration.
Key Features
- Privy newsletters
- Customer win-back and cart abandonment forms
- Welcome email templates
- Fully customizable forms
- Easy to use Shopify app
- Broadcast text campaigns
Pricing
Privy offers two subscription options, including Starter at $15 per month, and Growth at $45 per month. A free version is also available, covering up to 100 contacts, advanced targeting, and unlimited pop-ups.
What I Like / Dislike About Privy
Privy gives Shopify brand owners everything they need to launch successful email campaigns. Create, customize, or pick from an array of templates; send emails via Privy’s newsletter or automate responses through cart abandonment, customer win-back, and other forms. Launch big campaigns when you want to push a brand-new product, all from one place.
The downside lies in the limit of mailable contacts. Namely, Privy supports up to 500 contacts at the most expensive subscription options, although you can order a custom plan with additional contacts (at a heftier price tag, though).
Who Is This For?
The main Privy subscription plans are best suited for small and medium-sized Shopify brands. Enterprises that need to reach thousands of customers on a monthly basis can do it with a custom plan, but I would recommend MailChimp or Drip for that.
8. AWeber
Overview
AWeber is one of the most affordable Shopify online marketing tools, offering numerous email templates, streamlined email automation, drag & drop email and landing page builder, split testing, and robust analytics.
On paper, AWeber offers almost the same features as the average online marketing platform, only cheaper. However, I should mention that all emails you send through AWeber will be branded if you are using the free plan.
The AWeber Pro not only removes branding and unlocks all features, but also expands the list of mailable contacts to up to 25,000.
Key Features
- Email marketing automation
- Covers up to 25,000 subscribers
- Drag & drop email and landing page builder
- Numerous templates and sign-up forms
- Big data analytics
- A/B testing
Pricing
The cost of AWeber Pro is based on mailable contacts/subscribers. The default is 500 subscribers at a cost of $16.15 per month. AWeber Free covers up to 500 mailable contacts as well but comes equipped with limited features.
What I Like / Dislike About AWeber
Affordability is one of AWeber’s strongest points. Even if you need to reach tens of thousands of people, you’ll still get to pay a fraction of the price in comparison to the average fees of Shopify email marketing service tools.
AWeber is not the most versatile marketing platform around. The features its tools are supplied with are amazing but somewhat limited to what they were designed to do. The biggest drawback of AWeber lies in the company’s branding of emails in the Free package.
Who Is This For?
If your Shopify store just came to the market, I believe you’ll find AWeber as invaluable help. Not only is this tool very affordable, but it’s also equipped with a range of competitive features. Larger and more established Shopify e-commerce stores that feel comfortable with AWeber’s offering can reach up to 25,000 people monthly at a dirt-cheap price.
9. Constant Contact
Overview
Constant Contact is a platform that combines list-building and email marketing tools with social media marketing. It offers a modern way to optimize the visibility of your Shopify store while actively working on bolstering your contacts through email campaigns.
The core features of Constant Contact include but are not limited to list growth tools, several hundred email templates, contact management, tools, simple analytics, email automation, and auto-generated segments of leads and customers.
Key Features
- More than 300 email templates
- Contact management
- List-building tools
- Unified posting to social media networks
- Automated email marketing solutions
- Auto-generated segments
Pricing
Constant Contact offers two subscription packages, including Core at $9.99 per month, and Plus at $45 per month.
What I Like / Dislike About Constant Contact
Although you may get better-looking emails with Flodesk, the sheer number of templates you can choose from on Constant Contact’s platform is quite formidable.
Its versatility checks out, but it doesn’t offer a free version (which some of the best email marketing tools for Shopify do).
Who Is This For?
Constant Contact is best suited for small and mid-sized Shopify e-commerce stores. Larger enterprises operating multiple Shopify brands probably need a more sophisticated email marketing solution, although Constant Contact does support over 50,000 subscribers with a custom plan.
Wrap Up
A solution for the best online marketing for Shopify should help you automate your marketing efforts, streamline your response emails, and add a bit of personality to your communication channels. For that, I warmly recommend MailChimp, Klaviyo, and Omnisend.
If you are already outsourcing marketing tools but need a cutting-edge mail builder that can also deliver emails if you need it to, I recommend giving Flodesk a shot.
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