Email marketing is a vital tool for eCommerce businesses, offering a direct line to customers and prospects. For Shopify store owners, finding the right email marketing platform is crucial for building strong customer relationships and increasing conversions. While Shopify provides its own free email marketing solution, many third-party platforms offer additional features that can take your marketing to the next level. In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best Shopify email marketing platforms available, their key features, and how they can benefit your store.
Knowing When You Need an Email Marketing Platform for Shopify
Email marketing for Shopify brands has a high return on investment (ROI), making it one of the most cost-effective ways to engage customers and drive both customer acquisition and customer retention. Whether you're sending promotional offers, product updates, or abandoned cart reminders, the right email marketing platform can help you:
- Automate campaigns to save time and reach the right audience at the right time.
- Segment your customer lists for more personalized, targeted email campaigns.
- Analyze performance to understand what works and optimize future emails.
While Shopify offers a built-in email solution, third-party platforms often provide more advanced features, better automation, and deeper integrations. One note, most Shopify founders only think about promotional marketing emails when looking for an email marketing platform. But, you'll also want to explore how all of these email marketing platforms enhance transactional email and SMS. Let’s explore the top Shopify email marketing platforms.
1. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is one of the most popular email marketing platforms for Shopify, known for its robust automation and segmentation capabilities. It integrates deeply with Shopify, pulling in customer data like browsing behavior, purchase history, and more to create highly personalized campaigns. It also offers SMS marketing for an omni-channel experience.
Key Features:
- Powerful segmentation: Target customers based on behavior, preferences, and order history.
- Advanced automations: Create complex workflows for abandoned carts, post-purchase follow-ups, and win-back campaigns.
- Pre-built templates: Easily customize emails with drag-and-drop functionality.
- In-depth analytics: Track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and revenue per email.
Why Use Klaviyo:
If you’re looking for a highly customizable platform with advanced automation, Klaviyo is a top choice. It’s especially suitable for larger Shopify stores with complex customer bases.
2. Attentive
Attentive is a leading SMS and email marketing platform designed specifically for eCommerce businesses. While it initially gained popularity as an SMS marketing tool, Attentive has expanded its offering to include email marketing, providing Shopify merchants with an all-in-one solution for both channels. The platform’s strength lies in its ability to integrate SMS and email campaigns, helping brands create cohesive, multi-channel marketing strategies.
Key Features:
- SMS and email integration: Combine SMS and email to reach customers on their preferred channels, creating a seamless experience.
- Automation and personalization: Use customer data to send highly personalized emails and SMS messages at the right time.
- Dynamic segmentation: Target specific customer segments based on behavior, purchase history, and engagement with your campaigns.
- Real-time analytics: Track the performance of both email and SMS campaigns to optimize your strategy and improve ROI.
Why Use Attentive:
Attentive is ideal for Shopify merchants who want to combine email marketing with SMS for a unified, cross-channel experience. The platform is especially useful for brands looking to boost engagement with personalized, timely messages across both email and SMS, making it a great choice for businesses focused on maximizing customer reach.
3. Sendlane
Sendlane is an email and SMS marketing platform tailored for eCommerce brands, making it a powerful tool for Shopify merchants. It excels at delivering highly personalized customer experiences through data-driven email and SMS campaigns. Sendlane’s AI-driven tools and deep automation capabilities help businesses create customized workflows that optimize customer engagement and boost conversions.
Key Features:
- Behavior-based automation: Create highly personalized email campaigns triggered by customer behavior, such as browsing history, product purchases, or cart abandonment.
- Multi-channel marketing: Combine email, SMS, and even site messaging for a fully integrated marketing approach.
- Advanced segmentation: Segment your customer base based on multiple criteria, ensuring that each customer receives relevant, targeted communications.
- In-depth reporting: Get detailed insights into your email and SMS performance with powerful analytics tools that allow you to track open rates, conversions, and overall revenue.
Why Use Sendlane:
Sendlane is perfect for Shopify stores that want to take their email and SMS marketing to the next level with highly sophisticated automation and personalization. Its advanced segmentation capabilities and AI-driven workflows make it ideal for merchants looking to deliver tailored, behavior-driven experiences that drive sales and long-term customer loyalty.
4. Yotpo
Yotpo is a comprehensive eCommerce marketing platform that combines email, SMS marketing, reviews, and loyalty programs into one powerful tool. For Shopify merchants, Yotpo offers a seamless integration that enhances customer engagement and retention through multiple touch points. Yotpo's email marketing features allow businesses to send highly targeted campaigns, while its SMS capabilities complement the email experience with real-time communication. What sets Yotpo apart is its focus on social proof, enabling businesses to easily incorporate user-generated content like reviews and ratings into their email campaigns, which can significantly boost credibility and conversions.
Key Features:
- Email and SMS integration: Sync email and SMS campaigns for a cohesive marketing strategy.
- Social proof integration: Add customer reviews and ratings directly into your email content without having to use another third-party app.
- Loyalty and rewards programs: Engage customers with loyalty points and rewards via email.
- Automations: Set up triggers for abandoned cart emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and more.
Why Use Yotpo:
Yotpo is ideal for Shopify merchants looking to build trust and drive conversions through a mix of social proof, email, and SMS marketing. Its unique combination of user-generated content, reviews, and loyalty features makes it a great choice for brands aiming to create a well-rounded customer experience across multiple channels.
5. Omnisend
Omnisend is designed specifically for eCommerce businesses, making it a great choice for Shopify merchants. This platform goes beyond email, allowing you to create integrated campaigns across email, SMS, and even push notifications.
Key Features:
- Omnichannel marketing: Combine email with SMS, web push, and more for an integrated approach.
- Automation: Build personalized workflows for cart abandonment, product recommendations, and welcome series.
- Product recommendations: Add personalized product recommendations directly into your emails.
- Drag-and-drop builder: Easily design professional-looking emails with pre-built templates.
Why Use Omnisend:
For Shopify merchants looking for a multi-channel marketing solution, Omnisend is a fantastic platform that integrates email, SMS, and more. It’s user-friendly and perfect for businesses of all sizes.
6. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a well-known name in the email marketing space, and it offers a solid integration with Shopify. While Mailchimp is user-friendly and ideal for beginners, it also offers enough customization for more experienced marketers.
Key Features:
- Easy-to-use interface: Build and manage campaigns with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
- Automation: Set up simple workflows for welcome emails, abandoned carts, and more.
- Customizable templates: Choose from a wide range of pre-designed templates or create your own.
- Analytics: Track performance metrics like open rates, click rates, and revenue.
Why Use Mailchimp:
Mailchimp is ideal for Shopify merchants who are just getting started with email marketing or those who want a simple, reliable platform with basic automation features.
7. Privy
Privy is more than just an email marketing tool. It’s an all-in-one marketing platform for Shopify stores that focuses on growing your email list and driving conversions through pop-ups, exit-intent messages, and email campaigns.
Key Features:
- Pop-ups and sign-up forms: Easily grow your email list with customizable pop-ups and forms.
- Cart abandonment emails: Automatically follow up with customers who have left items in their cart.
- Cross-sell and upsell: Send targeted emails to boost average order value.
- Segmentation: Use behavioral data to send personalized emails to different customer groups.
Why Use Privy:
Privy is perfect for Shopify stores looking to grow their email list quickly while also running targeted email campaigns. Its focus on pop-ups and cart recovery makes it a great choice for increasing conversions.
8. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an advanced email marketing platform that combines email with customer relationship management (CRM). This makes it ideal for Shopify stores that want to create highly personalized customer journeys.
Key Features:
- Email and CRM integration: Manage customer relationships and send personalized emails from one platform.
- Automation: Create detailed workflows based on customer behavior, purchase history, and preferences.
- Lead scoring: Identify high-value customers and prioritize outreach based on engagement and activity.
- In-depth reporting: Get detailed insights into email performance, customer journeys, and sales impact.
Why Use ActiveCampaign:
For Shopify merchants who want to combine email marketing with CRM capabilities, ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice. It’s ideal for stores with complex customer journeys and those looking to nurture long-term relationships.
Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform for Your Shopify Store
When choosing an email marketing platform for your Shopify store, consider your store size, marketing goals, and the level of automation and personalization you need.
Each of these platforms offers seamless integration with Shopify, so you can take advantage of customer data, track sales from emails, and improve your marketing efforts. Email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies for Shopify store owners to build relationships and drive sales. Whether you need basic automation or advanced segmentation, there’s a Shopify email marketing platform that fits your business needs. By choosing the right tool, you can automate your email campaigns, send targeted messages, and significantly boost your eCommerce revenue.
How Your Email Marketing Platform Enhances Transactional Email & SMS
As we noted at the top of this article, you'll want to see how the email marketing platform works with other third-party apps to enhance your transactional email & SMS. For example, Klaviyo, Attentive, Sendlane, and Yotpo all integrate with a top order tracking app like Malomo. Many Shopify brands are leaning into their customer retention strategy to better their order tracking experience for their customers to decrease customer frustration, increase customer loyalty, and increase revenue through cross/up-sells.
Want to keep learning? Check out these related resources...
- 6 Shipping Notification Best Practices to Reduce Costs and Increase Sales
- How SMS shipping updates improve the customer experience
- Eight Creative Ideas to Beef Up Your Transactional Emails
- How To Communicate Delivery Delays To Customers
- 9 Best Practices for Ecommerce Order Confirmation Emails
- 6 Revenue-Generating Order Status Emails You May be Missing
- Create Order Confirmation Email Klaviyo
- Take your SMS strategy up a notch with Klaviyo & Malomo
