As your business grows and your customer base expands, managing communication becomes increasingly challenging. One critical aspect to address is how to efficiently send marketing emails to thousands of people at the same time. 

Ensuring that each email reaches the right audience, with personalized content and timely delivery, is essential for maintaining engagement and driving conversions.

To do that, you need an efficient ecommerce email platform that sets up automated workflows and sends out high-converting email campaigns.

Choosing the best email marketing platform can be difficult, with several options available that seemingly offer the same features. But don’t worry; we’re here to help you out. 

In this blog, we’ll review and compare the top 6 email marketing platforms, delving into their features to help you choose the right platform for your e-commerce store. 

Let’s get started!

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Factors to Consider When Choosing An Email Marketing Platform

When deciding on an appropriate email marketing platform for your ecommerce business, it’s crucial to consider the following factors:
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1. ‍Ease of Use: Choose a platform with a simple, easy-to-use interface that allows you to create and manage campaigns without needing extensive technical knowledge. 
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2. Easy Integration: Ensure that your chosen platform can easily integrate with your existing ecommerce tools, CRM systems, and other important email marketing-related software.
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3. ‍Analytics and Reporting: Choose a platform that offers in-depth analytics and reporting features. This will allow you to track campaign performance, identify customer behavior patterns, and make data-driven decisions.
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4. ‍Scalability: The platform you choose should be able to scale with your business and equipped with all the advanced features and support you may need to operate your store successfully.
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5. ‍Pricing: Plan out your budget and look for an email marketing platform that offers flexible pricing plans, ensuring you get the best value without overspending.
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6. ‍Customer Support: Reliable and 24/7 customer support is a crucial part of ecommerce so make sure the platform provides responsive and knowledgeable support to help you easily navigate any issues.

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6 Best Ecommerce Email Marketing Platforms

Here are the 6 most popular email service providers (ESPs). By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly which platform is suitable for your store.
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1. Omnisend   

We’ll start with one of the most popular multichannel e-commerce automation platforms: Omnisend. It’s an all-in-one, comprehensive marketing automation platform with features like email marketing, SMS, push notifications, and pop-ups. 

Focusing on just the email marketing aspect, Omnisend has features like sign-up forms and landing pages to help you grow your subscriber base. With the option to add product blocks and discount codes, Omnisend lets you create visually appealing and high-converting emails for your brand.

The advanced segmentation features allow brands to send targeted, personalized emails to their target audience based on shopping behavior, purchasing history, etc. 

Omnisend offers a Free Plan that allows you to send 500 emails to approximately 250 contacts, a Standard Plan priced at $16 that offers 24/7 priority support, unlimited web push notifications, and more. Lastly, their Pro Plan is $59 and lets you send unlimited emails to 2,500 contacts, includes advanced reporting and more!

With this platform, you can also send as many SMS as you want since you’ll be charged per cent, depending on which country you send the SMS to.

Pros:

• Omnisend integrates seamlessly with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento
• If you’re just exploring the tool and using the free version, you’ll still have access to almost all the important features with zero costs, such as personalized product recommendations, automation splits, and more
• SMS, Facebook, and Google Ads integration is also available. This allows you to add leads from ads directly to your ESP, supporting your marketing beyond email automation

Cons:

• While all the major ecommerce platforms are supported, Omnisend lacks crucial integrations with platforms like Google Analytics and CRM software
• According to Email Tool Tester, Omnisend’s email deliverability isn’t the best compared to other email marketing software
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2. Klaviyo 

Klaviyo is a leading e-commerce email marketing platform known for its user-friendliness and advanced segmentation capabilities. It’s a great choice for those just getting started with email marketing, as managing content is really simple and fully automated. 

Another notable feature of Klaviyo is that it’s also an SMS marketing platform, enabling you to craft a unified email and SMS marketing strategy. Furthermore, it allows you to collect reviews without using another platform, as might be the case with other email marketing platforms.

What makes Klaviyo stand out is its Customer Data Platform (CDP) feature. Available as an add-on, the CDP allows brands to combine first-party customer data to build a complete, coherent view of each ideal customer.

Klaviyo offers a Free Plan, an email-only Plan, and one that includes both Email and SMS marketing. The pricing starts at $0 and goes up to $60 or more a month, depending on which plan is appropriate for your business.

Pros:

• Klaviyo allows A/B testing, which helps you determine which design, copy, or subject line best suits your brand.
• Its drag-and-drop editor makes building emails and adding dynamic product blocks easy.
• It provides industry email benchmark data that you can use to compare your performance against your peers.
• Klaviyo's SMS feature allows different sending number types, e.g., toll-free numbers for the US and Canada. It also allows advanced personalization, segmentation, and MMS (images/GIFs can be added).
• Klaviyo offers editable pre-built flows with basic triggers tailored to specific automation, eliminating the need to build from scratch.

Cons:

• Klaviyo plans are expensive and might be out of budget for newly launched stores.
• If you’re using the platform’s free version, you get email support for 60 days only. After that, you’ll need to rely on Klaviyo's self-service resources, such as their help centre, community forums, and documentation for assistance.
• Their SMS feature is available in limited regions and may not be attractive to businesses with a growing international audience.
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3. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is another great email marketing platform that offers sophisticated automation, such as birthday flow with unique discount codes. This can lead to better customer engagement, like higher open rates, because customers feel valued and appreciated. 

An added benefit of this platform is that its CRM interface is great for small to mid-sized businesses.

ActiveCampaign’s flexible contact management features enable precise segmentation and targeted email campaigns. Additionally, it offers transactional emails like order confirmations and password resets for a separate fee. Another thing to note is that it also lets you create landing pages.

This platform offers four pricing plans: a Starter Plan that starts at $15 a month, a Plus Plan at $49+, a Pro Plan starting at $79 and more, and an Enterprise Plan, the most expensive of all, priced at $145 a month.

Pros:

• With ActiveCampaign's reports, you can easily track the performance of your campaigns, contacts, e-commerce, and more. 
• ActiveCampaign offers pre-built automation platform templates called “recipes”. 

Cons:

• The prices offered can be high, especially if you’re a new business just starting out.
• ActiveCampaign can be too complicated for those just venturing into email marketing and only wanting the basic features. 
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4. Brevo

Previously known as Sendinblue, Brevo is an affordable email marketing automation platform you can consider if you’re a new e-commerce store with a limited budget that has just launched. 

Brevo offers all the basic features needed for a successful email marketing strategy, like A/B testing and send time optimization. It also integrates easily with leading e-commerce platforms to show product blocks in emails, automate the sending of email flows, and segment customers based on their order history with the brand.

These ecommerce features are included in Brevo's free plan, which allows up to 100,000 subscribers. This enables you to grow your email list at no cost, provided you send no more than 300 emails per day.

Similar to ActiveCampaign, Brevo offers four pricing plans: Free, Starter, Business, which is their most popular plan, and Enterprise. An interesting thing about their Enterprise plan is that it has custom pricing based on the platform's tailored solutions for your business. 

Pros:

• Brevo’s main USP is its low cost. They charge based on email sends only, unlike other ESPs that can charge based on your active profiles, too.
• You can also access Brevo’s SMS marketing feature on the free plan.
• Brevo is very user-friendly, making it an ideal platform for those new to email marketing. Users can easily build emails using the easy-to-use email builder.

Cons:

• The contact segmentation options aren’t as extensive as you’d get on other email marketing platforms.
• Brevo’s email deliverability isn't as consistent as other platforms. 
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5. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is quite a popular platform you must have encountered ever since you started exploring email marketing. 

Considered an all-in-one marketing platform, Mailchimp offers contact management, options to design visually appealing emails and landing pages, automated email flows, and data analysis that can be tracked to improve strategy and performance. 

Mailchimp can even help you build a store. However, one thing to note about this platform is that Mailchimp takes approximately 0.5 to 2% transaction fee on each sale you make through your Mailchimp-built store. 

Mailchimp offers four pricing plans: Free, Essential, Standard, and Premium. Standard is the best value-for-money plan as it offers 24/7 email and chat support, 200 journey points, and reporting and analytics to give detailed insight into email campaign performance.

Pros:

• Mailchimp offers email builders ranging from simple to advanced, including HTML, RSS, plain text, and campaign builders, catering to both beginners and experts.
• Landing pages are easy to build and can be integrated directly into your website, maximizing your marketing efforts.

Cons:

• The platform can be expensive for those with a limited budget, as it charges transaction fees, and its plans are relatively on the pricier side. 
• Mailchimp organizes your contacts into lists without the ability to manage them across different lists. 
• It also offers limited customization features for emails, landing pages and sign-up forms.
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6. Drip 

Drip stands out from other email marketing platforms because of its quirky, colorful, and eye-catching graphics. It’s an email-only platform that doesn’t offer SMS or push notifications but has many strengths.

There are many ways you can segment your audience on Drip and personalize your emails to customers however you want to. 

Furthermore, unlike other email platforms that only offer basic ecommerce lead magnets like discounts and free shipping, Drip’s advanced email forms, called “onsite campaigns,” allow for more creative options like mystery offers, quizzes, and “spin-to-win” games.

Drip offers flexible pricing packages based on the number of contacts in your list. So, if your list includes 2,500 people, the cost will start at $39. 

Pros:

• The biggest plus point is that the triggers are sorted by the platform, so if you have a Shopify store, you can view and filter triggers that only apply to that platform. 
• Drip allows you to create "onsite campaigns" with daily offers, surveys, and gamification instead of standard sign-up forms.
• Drip offers all its features across all pricing tiers, charging more only as your email list grows.

Cons:

• If you’re new to ecommerce, navigating Drip can be difficult as it’s not very user-friendly.
• Drip’s email deliverability isn’t as great as the other platforms mentioned above.

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Our Recommendations

So far, we’ve mentioned 6 of the most well-known ecommerce email marketing platforms online stores use. But how do you know which platform suits your e-commerce store the most? 

In simpler words, which one is the best email marketing platform for e-commerce?

We’ll help you choose the most appropriate platform for your store. 
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Best Overall Platform - Klaviyo

For us, Klaviyo stands out specifically for its easy-to-grasp and user-friendly platform compared to some of the other options we’ve mentioned. It’s particularly well-suited for stores leveraging customer data to drive and enhance their targeted and personalized email campaigns. 

Additionally, if you’re venturing into SMS marketing, Klaviyo supports SMS as well. You get both email and SMS marketing in one platform, making it ideal for you. 
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For Small Businesses - Brevo

If you’re a relatively new e-commerce store with a limited marketing budget, consider using Brevo to automate your email marketing. It offers all the basic features needed to get your email marketing strategy off the ground.

Before buying the plan, you can try out the platform using its free version, which offers generous features. 
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For Advanced Features - Drip

Drip is a great option for stores looking for more sophisticated automated workflows, dynamic personalization, and a wide range of advanced features, such as on-site campaigns.

This platform’s ability to provide these advanced features across all pricing tiers makes it a top choice for businesses looking to implement complex marketing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What features should I look for in an ecommerce email marketing platform?

When selecting an ecommerce email marketing platform, key features include advanced automation capabilities, robust segmentation tools, integration with ecommerce platforms (like Shopify or WooCommerce), customizable email templates, and analytics/reporting tools to track campaign performance.
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2. Can't I just send out emails through Shopify?

Yes, Shopify allows you to send basic emails, but dedicated email marketing platforms like Klaviyo offer more advanced features, customization, and analytics for better results.
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3. How does pricing typically work for ecommerce email marketing platforms?

Pricing for ecommerce email marketing platforms usually depends on the number of contacts or subscribers you have and the volume of emails sent each month. Some platforms offer tiered pricing plans, starting with basic features at a lower cost and scaling up as your business grows and your needs become more complex.
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4. Do I need separate software to measure and track my email marketing performance?

No, most email marketing platforms have built-in analytics to measure and track your email performance, so separate software isn’t usually necessary.
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Conclusion 

Choosing the best ecommerce email platform for your store entirely depends on your needs and the marketing budget allotted to email marketing. 

Each platform has its own set of strengths and shortcomings, so to choose the ideal one for your business, it’s important to consider these factors: Are you a relatively new business? Do you want to explore only email marketing, or are you looking for SMS marketing as well? 

Moreover, are you satisfied with the basic features or looking for more advanced automation? The answers to these questions should help you select an email marketing platform for your ecommerce business. 

It’s crucial to choose one that best aligns with your goals, as it will drive sales to your store, engage your customers, encourage them to purchase your products, and help your business grow sustainably. 

Stay tuned to our blog for more expert tips and insights on optimizing your email marketing strategy! Call us now to learn more!

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Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase through them. Our commitment to honesty means we only recommend tools and products we truly believe in, ensuring our recommendations are genuine and not influenced by potential earnings.