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Email marketing is alive and kicking in 2024, as it’s still a reliable way to increase revenue by keeping users interested and engaged in your products. As a busy professional, you need an email marketing service (EMS) that can do most of the heavy lifting for you.
Although you have many options, you can’t just pick the first EMS that pops up on Google. Most email marketing services support ecommerce but lack crucial features like sales-focused automation templates designed to boost conversions. First, you need a platform that will integrate with your ecommerce store as quickly and painlessly as possible. Sales reports connected to specific campaigns and advanced segmentation should also be high on your priority list.
Luckily, I ran the tests for you, so you don’t have to spend hours researching EMS after EMS. I focused on the top services that can help you set up automated email marketing campaigns that work in harmony with your online shop.
Shopify Email is a convenient (and popular) choice, but it’s not necessarily the best. One EMS that ticks all the right boxes is Omnisend. It shares data with your ecommerce store, automatically creating lists based on your contacts’ behavior. Omnisend also helps you craft product-focused emails and set up advanced automations with a few clicks.
What We Look For in the Best Email Marketing Services for Ecommerce
The email marketing services listed below are ranked based on the number and quality of features they offer to ecommerce businesses. Here are a few things I looked for during my tests:
Ecommerce integrations. Integrating with your ecommerce platform should be as easy as possible. All the services I’ve included on my list integrate natively with most major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Wix, and WooCommerce.
Email design. Simple text editors and outdated templates won’t cut it – you need to be able to craft highly customized emails that look good and are true to your brand’s identity. My recommendations offer modern templates to help your products shine.
Robust automation tools. Your EMS should offer more than just a welcome email sequence. Ideally, you’ll want to be able to target prospects and customers with specific campaigns based on their actions. The services on my list offer advanced automation options and plenty of ready-made automation templates tailored for ecommerce.
Advanced list management and segmentation. Engagement metrics help you build effective campaigns and deliver them to the right people. And advanced segmentation adds a dynamic element to your workflows, allowing contacts to move automatically between lists based on their actions.
Affordable pricing. Small online businesses can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on expensive plans. Luckily, email marketing doesn’t have to cost a fortune. My recommendations offer free options and reasonably-priced premium plans without compromising on features.
You can add product listings directly from your store with a few clicksOmnisend is an email marketing platform built from the ground up for ecommerce. In fact, you can’t really use it if you don’t have a web store to connect it to.
Omnisend comes with many of the tools and conveniences you’d expect to find in a top EMS, but its true strength lies in its data-extracting capabilities1. It can easily pull data from your ecommerce store, helping segment your lists based on engagement and sell products directly from your emails.
I love how you can try most of the platform’s features without spending a dime. Omnisend’s templates, signup forms, automation templates, reports, A/B testing, and even 24/7 support are available to free users. Bear in mind, however, that the free plan does limit you to 500 monthly sends.
Want to know more? My colleague has examined Omnisend’s ecommerce-focused tools more closely.
Product picker. You can save quite a bit of time by using Omnisend to add products to your emails directly from the store with a few clicks. This tool will automatically copy product names, descriptions, and prices right into the body of your email. You can then easily adjust your product listings with the easy-to-use editing tools.
Product recommender. This block element pulls up to 8 different products from your store to display on your email. It can include best sellers, new products, or personalized recommendations based on your product order history data.
Dedicated success manager. If you’re on the Pro plan and have at least 25,000 subscribers, you’ll get your very own manager to help you kick off campaigns, read reports, and answer any questions about the platform or your account.
Multichannel sales tracking. You can quickly check your campaigns’ impact via the main dashboard. Omnisend will tell you how many products you’ve sold and how much money you’ve made as a result of email, SMS, and push notifications.
ActiveCampaign’s automation suite features hundreds of pre-built ecommerce workflowsActiveCampaign does many things right. It features hundreds of modern templates, advanced segmentation, and one of the most robust marketing automation tools I’ve encountered.
With its added CRM functionality, social media marketing capabilities, and sales tracking tools, ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice for growing your online business. It has performed exceptionally well in most of our tests, and its plans are affordable1, considering they’re packed with features. You can learn more about its wide range of features by reading our expert review.
ActiveCampaign’s sheer amount of built-in features can be intimidating at first. That said, if you can invest time to navigate the platform and learn how its tools work together, I think you’ll see positive engagement, retention, and revenue changes.
Features
Easy integrations. You can use ActiveCampaign to quickly integrate with all major ecommerce platforms, including BigCommerce, Shopify, Woocommerce, Squarespace, and more. With more than 870+ available integrations, you won’t have trouble accessing and extracting crucial customer and sales data from your favorite applications.
Product blocks. Like Omnisend, ActiveCampaign allows users who have integrated with Shopify and WooCommerce to quickly insert product listings directly into their emails. I absolutely love this feature – it’s such a huge timesaver! You can easily customize your product blocks’ look with different card layouts, fonts, and style options.
Industry-leading automation. ActiveCampaign’s robust automation system isn’t just powerful – it’s also easy to use. With a paid plan, you can access hundreds of pre-made automation templates, many of which are specifically designed to help you nurture leads and increase revenue.
List cleanup. You really don’t want to spend money sending emails to contacts who never engage with your brand. This neat tool is a lifesaver, as it can help you quickly filter out uninterested subscribers who’re costing you money.
Brevo’s email templates look great and are fully customizableBrevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a top EMS with plenty of ecommerce features, but it’s pretty easy to pick up. There are more than 40+ modern templates1 to choose from, all of which you can fully customize with the intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
Once you’ve crafted your message, you can boost your performance with A/B testing or set up an automation to deliver your email at the perfect time. Brevo can also take care of transactional emails, SMS marketing, and WhatsApp campaigns. Learn more about Brevo’s ecommerce features by checking out our comprehensive expert review of Brevo.
Unfortunately, some more advanced features, like landing pages and detailed reporting, are locked behind the expensive Business plan. However, if you’re new to email marketing and need a robust platform to help deliver the right emails to your leads and customers, Brevo is an excellent option.
Features
Native integrations. Brevo integrates with the most popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopware. With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to pull data directly from your store to Brevo – and use it to inform your strategy and build your email campaigns.
Generous free plan. With Brevo’s free plan, you can send up to 300 emails daily – that’s 9,000/month! The free option unlocks SMS marketing, WhatsApp campaigns, and marketing automation.
Website behavior tracking. Brevo can track your clients’ behavior on your site and use that data to send automated messages at the perfect time. You can use a few lines of code to track visited pages, forms, links, and events.
Advanced CRM. Brevo’s CRM tool tracks sales and interactions. As leads move through your sales funnel, Brevo will help you identify easy wins and offer marketing tips to help you seal important deals.
Shopify Email is a convenient solution for users already on the platform
Shopify recently launched its own email marketing service. Although not as advanced or capable as other options on this list, Shopify Email is a decent choice if you’ve already set up your store on the platform.
Setting up the app and creating your first email takes a few minutes. The automation and segmentation capabilities are pretty limited, and there aren’t too many templates to choose from. That said, you don’t have much to lose as allplans allow you to send 10,000 emails each month for free.
Shopify Email is a good solution if you run a small online store and want to send a few emails every now and then. As your store grows and your email marketing needs change, you can always switch to a more advanced EMS.
Features
Zero-step setup. Shopify’s email service integrates seamlessly with the rest of the platform. You can create emails, track campaigns, and view reports directly from your Shopify Admin menu.
Sales-focused templates and automation workflows. Although not as robust as other competitors on this list, Shopify’s email templates zero in on product promotions, sales, and events. The automation workflows also help you capitalize on cross and upselling opportunities.
10,000 free emails. All paid e-commerce Shopify plans include 10,000 free emails per month. Emails beyond that cost $0,001 each (e.g., you’ll pay $1 for 11,000 emails, $2 for 12,000, and so on).
AWeber boasts one of the most robust email builders on the market
AWeber’s been around for quite some time, but it remains one of the better email marketing options out there. While its primary focus is – and has always been – email, AWeber’s keeping up with the times, offering landing pages, signup forms, and client account management.
I appreciate how AWeber helps you craft unique designs with minimal effort. There are more than 700 fully-customizable email templates, and the drag-and-drop editor is one of the best I’ve used – it’s incredibly robust but also easy to navigate. You can learn more about AWeber’s industry-leading email builder by checking out my colleague’s in-depth review.
AWeber is a bit pricier than some other options on this list. That said, if you’re looking for new ways to engage your contacts and are tired of using the same layout over and over again, AWeber’s huge template collection will serve you well.
Features
Thousands of integrations. AWeber integrates natively with ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce, Big Cartel, Shopify, and more. If we include the apps and third-party add-ons that AWeber connects with via Zapier, the number exceeds 1,000.
Excellent email deliverability. Not only is AWeber strict with spam, but it also handles its own internal infrastructure. Unlike newer services, it doesn’t outsource delivery to third parties, which means your emails have a much higher chance of reaching your subscribers’ inboxes.
Smart AI designer. This neat tool allows you to create branded emails by entering your website’s URL. It pulls elements directly from your store and creates a template true to your preferred styles and colors.
Advanced automation and segmentation. AWeber features a broad collection of “pre-written” automation templates, including cart abandonment email series, dynamic content conversion series, holiday-inspired campaigns, and more.
Mailchimp connects seamlessly with all popular apps and ecommerce platforms
Mailchimp is perhaps the most popular EMS platform on the market – and for a good reason. Although not as powerful as some other top competitors, Mailchimp’s intuitive interface and beginner-friendly tools are hard to ignore.Whenever I use Mailchimp, everything just flows well and feels right. From the easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor to its well-presented reports, I always get things done quickly and with zero issues. As it keeps expanding, Mailchimp has introduced SMS marketing, multi-channel campaigns, and built-in CRM.
Mailchimp’s low-level automation and limited segmentation are its only drawbacks. Because its “audiences” are siloed, it’s impossible to move contacts between lists. This makes it harder and more time-consuming to target potential customers with more relevant products and offers. That said, it’s still a decent choice if you’re looking for a capable EMS with an intuitive interface and a slew of marketing tools.
Learn more about Mailchimp’s features in my recently-updated review.
Features
Professional templates. The premium designs available via the marketplace look gorgeous, and they’re bound to capture your leads’ attention. They’re also mobile-responsive by default, so they’ll look good on both large and smaller screens.
One-click integrations. Mailchimp is perhaps the most popular EMS on the market. Well, that comes with many perks, including the huge number of supported apps and add-ons. If an integration exists, chances are Mailchimp has it.
AI-powered recommendations. Once you’ve connected your ecommerce store, Mailchimp’s clever AI will periodically offer helpful optimization tips. It can tell you the next best action and even pull data from your website to segment your audience and send highly-customized emails.
Mobile app. I don’t like obsessing over my campaigns’ performance, but I appreciate having the option to check my stats on the go. Mailchimp’s mobile app allows access to the main dashboard, real-time charts, and most advanced reports.
GetResponse’s robust automation tool features fully-customizable workflows
Although it does email (and pretty well, I might add), GetResponse is also known for its CRM capabilities and ever-expanding set of digital marketing tools. Audience growth, increased sales, and customer retention are all goals GetResponse can help you achieve.
GetResponse integrates natively with over 100 apps, including ecommerce stores such as Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, WordPress, and more. Using its wide array of conversion funnels and powerful CRM tool, I could easily keep tabs on my contacts’ journey, delivering high-impact emails at the right time.
That said, I sometimes feel like GetResponse is trying a little too hard to do everything at once. Besides email marketing, the platform’s home to a fully-featured CRM tool, a website builder, a webinar manager, and the list goes on – it’s all a bit intimidating at first. If you’re new to email marketing, you might need a bit more time to adjust to its expanded ecosystem of marketing tools.
Features
Funnel experts. Email marketing on its own isn’t enough to drive sales, and GetResponse’s experts know that. All of the platform’s tools (including email) work together to help you nurture leads and gently push them through your sales funnel.
Forever-free plan. Many of the platform’s features are available for free. Although you’re limited to 2,500 monthly sends, you can still access GetResponse’s email templates, website builder, and landing page editor.
Powerful automation. GetResponse offers an easy-to-use automation tool with drag-and-drop functionality and fully-customizable workflows. Its pre-made automation templates can help you set up complex sequenced with a few clicks.
Great deliverability. GetResponse is quite strict with its policies, and it actually passed our spam test (learn more about our tests in our expert review). The “perfect timing” feature, which helps deliver emails based on your contacts’ behavior, also helps boost deliverability.
Constant Contact’s easy-to-use email editor helped me create customized messages in record timeConstant Contact is a pleasure to use. The platform features a clean UI, intuitive drag-and-drop editor, and hundreds of great-looking, easily-customizable email templates. Constant Contact will work wonders if you’re a beginner in email marketing and don’t know where to start.
I was pleased to find that it also integrates with many popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Esty, Magento, and more. Aside from auto-syncing contacts, CC can create segmented lists based on shopping behavior and payment activity.
While it provides basic statistics on opens and clicks, Constant Contact doesn’t offer any advanced reports on regional engagement, ESP used (e.g., Gmail, Outlook), or the specific time your subscribers tend to interact with your emails. These are stats that other email marketing services offer with their cheapest plans.
Check out our expert review to learn more about Constant Contact’s features.
Features
Affordable pricing and lengthy trial. Constant Contact’s plans are very competitively priced, and there’s even a 60-day trial you can take advantage of if you’re from the US (otherwise, it’s 30 days).
Branded templates. Constant Contact can scan assets from your store, automatically pulling your brand logo and colors. It’s a neat feature that can save you a lot of time when setting up your first emails.
Drag-and-drop ecommerce elements. You can easily drag and drop products, descriptions, and pricing into emails if you’ve connected a Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce store.
Sales tracking. Aside from the regular email reports, Constant Contact will tell you the sales driven by your emails and offer tips on optimizing them based on performance.
Benchmark features hundreds of modern, fully-customizable email templates
There are many reasons to like Benchmark. It’s a robust platform with all the features I want to see in an EMS: beautiful templates, advanced segmentation, pre-built automations, and detailed insights.
That aside, it also does ecommerce justice. I love how easy it is to showcase my products with its simple drag-and-drop editor, which includes plenty of ecommerce blocks. Best of all, I can take full advantage of Benchmark’s premium features without paying a fortune – its plans are very affordable.
I should note that automation on the cheaper plans is limited to basic autoresponders. If you want to unlock branching workflows, pre-built journeys, and website tracking, you need to upgrade to the more expensive Pro plan.
Learn more about everything Benchmark offers in our comprehensive review.
Features
Thousands of integrations. With 1,500+ integrations (including Zapier), Benchmark integrates with all popular ecommerce apps and platforms.
Modern templates. Benchmark’s 500+ email templates look great and are fully customizable. I created some pretty exciting emails showcasing various products and offers.
Advanced segmentation. You can send more focused emails (and increase sales) by setting up dynamic segments that update themselves based on your contacts’ behavior.
Affordable plans. Aside from A/B testing and pre-built automations, most of Benchmark’s premium features are available with the Lite plan (e.g., advanced segmentation, landing pages, smart sending, dedicated IP add-on).
Drip’s email content split testing can help boost your conversion ratesAlthough Drip isn’t my first choice for ecommerce, it’s still a decent alternative – if only for its robust and easy-to-use template designer. Since its primary focus is ecommerce, it offers plenty of tools to help nurture your leads, set up successful campaigns, and track your sales.
I also really like how Drip handles contact management and segmentation. Its menus are easy to read, and there are quite a few sorting options based on existing custom tags and fields. You can learn more about Drip’s features in our expert review.
One thing holding Drip back is its confusing pricing model. The price increase as you add more contacts makes sense, but I don’t understand why Drip introduces an email send limit for users with more than 30,000 contacts.
Features
Intuitive interface. Drip’s interface looks good, and its menus are easy to navigate. If you’re new to email marketing, you’ll definitely appreciate its tools and overall minimalistic approach.
Easy ecommerce integration. Connecting your online store to Drip is as easy as it gets. Supported ecommerce platforms include Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce. You can even connect custom stores with Drip’s API.
Advanced analytics and reports. Drip will help you keep track of email opens, clicks, and automation workflow performance. Analytics on store-based data, such as conversions and ROI, are also present – and so are comparative and benchmarking tools.
Robust A/B testing. Drip goes beyond subject line testing, letting you know exactly which elements work – and which don’t. I tested everything from email layouts to content, product placement, and color schemes.
These Are the Best Email Marketing Services for Ecommerce
Not all email marketing platforms are created with ecommerce in mind. Aside from the usual marketing-related features, your chosen platform should fully integrate with your online store. Advanced list management and segmentation options, pre-built automation, and detailed sales tracking will give you more opportunities to boost conversions and grow your shop.
If you’re looking for a robust ecommerce-focused EMS, you can’t go wrong with Omnisend. Its product picker and product recommender tools pull data directly from your online store, helping you deliver the right messages to the right audiences. There’s also multichannel (email, SMS, and push notifications) sales tracking – and you can try most of the premium features with Omnisend’s feature-packed free plan1.
If you’re already on Shopify, you shouldsign up for Shopify Email1 – it’s free. Although not as robust as other top competitors, Shopify allows you to send up to 10,000 emails per month without charging extra.
If you already have some email marketing experience, I recommend you check out ActiveCampaign. With almost 900 integrations1 and industry-leading automation, ActiveCampaign can help you develop complex marketing strategies that nurture leads and drive more sales with zero manual input.
Omnisend is my first choice for ecommerce. The platform’s built with ecommerce in mind, and it features many tools that can help you craft powerful emails, nurture leads, and increase conversions. These include the product picker and product recommender tools, as well as the multichannel sales tracking available via the dashboard.
What’s the best email marketing service for Shopify?
The most convenient email marketing software for Shopify is Shopify Email. If you already have a Shopify store set up, you can take advantage of the email service to send 10,000 emails to your contacts at no additional cost. Granted, Shopify Email isn’t as capable as other top EMS, but you can always upgrade to a more robust tool (e.g., Omnisend) when needed.
Is Mailchimp good for ecommerce?
Mailchimp is great for ecommerce. It features an intuitive interface, is easy to use, and packs plenty of features. It’s a convenient choice for beginners as it a) integrates natively with all major ecommerce platforms and b) provides users with an intuitive interface and clever optimization tips.
What is the most affordable email marketing service?
If we’re talking free plans, the crown goes to Brevo. You can send 9,000 monthly emails without paying a dime, accessing key features such as email templates, marketing automation, and SMS marketing. As far as paid plans go, you’ll get excellent value out of both Omnisend and ActiveCampaign. Check out our list of the best email marketing services for more options.
A freelance writer and editor with experience in digital marketing, Alex has published over 40 product reviews and comparisons on Website Planet. He has tested email marketing services, freelance websites, social media management tools, and more. Before joining our team, he worked at an Australian agency where he experimented with all things digital marketing. In addition to his work, Alex enjoys cooking and writing about games.
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