Best Email Marketing Apps for Shopify
Why Email Marketing Matters for Shopify Stores
Email marketing generates an average of $36 to $42 for every $1 spent, making it the highest-ROI marketing channel for ecommerce. Unlike social media or paid advertising, you own your email list. Algorithm changes, ad cost increases, and platform policy shifts cannot take your email subscribers away. A store with 5,000 engaged email subscribers has a reliable revenue channel that works regardless of what happens on Facebook, Google, or TikTok.
The core email flows that every Shopify store should have running are: a welcome series (converts new subscribers into first-time buyers), abandoned cart recovery (recovers 5% to 15% of abandoned carts), post-purchase follow-up (builds loyalty and collects reviews), browse abandonment (re-engages visitors who viewed products but did not add to cart), and win-back campaigns (reactivates customers who have not purchased in 60 to 90 days). These automated flows run continuously and generate revenue without manual effort once set up.
Klaviyo: Best for Serious Shopify Stores
Klaviyo is the email platform that most professional Shopify stores and agencies use, and for good reason. Its Shopify integration is the deepest of any email platform, syncing customer profiles, purchase history, browsing behavior, cart contents, product catalog, and order status in real time. This data powers highly targeted automations and segments that are simply not possible on platforms with less detailed Shopify integration.
Key Features
Predictive analytics: Klaviyo predicts each customer's next order date, expected lifetime value, churn risk, and gender (based on purchase patterns). You can create segments like "high-value customers likely to churn in the next 30 days" and send targeted win-back campaigns with personalized product recommendations. No other Shopify email platform offers this level of predictive capability.
Pre-built Shopify flow library: Klaviyo includes over 60 pre-built automation flows designed specifically for ecommerce: welcome series with product recommendations based on acquisition source, abandoned cart sequences with dynamic cart contents, post-purchase flows that vary based on product category and order value, and seasonal campaigns. Each flow is customizable and can be activated in minutes.
Revenue attribution: Every email, flow, and campaign in Klaviyo shows exactly how much revenue it generated. This makes it easy to see that your abandoned cart flow generates $5,000/month, your welcome series generates $2,000/month, and your weekly campaign generated $1,200 last week. This data helps you prioritize which flows to optimize and how much to invest in list growth.
Advanced segmentation: Create segments based on any combination of customer data: purchase history (bought product X but not Y), engagement (opened 3+ emails in the last 30 days), behavior (browsed collection Z in the last 7 days), demographics (located in California), and predictive metrics (CLV above $200). Targeted emails to specific segments consistently outperform generic blasts sent to the entire list.
Pricing
Free for up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month. The free plan includes all features except SMS, phone support, and A/B testing for automations. Paid plans scale by contact count: 251 to 500 contacts at $20/month, 501 to 1,000 at $30/month, 1,001 to 1,500 at $45/month, 5,000 contacts at $100/month, 10,000 contacts at $150/month, 25,000 contacts at $350/month. SMS is an additional cost starting at $15/month for 1,250 SMS credits.
When to Choose Klaviyo
Choose Klaviyo if your store processes over $10,000/month in revenue, you want to build sophisticated automated email flows that generate revenue on autopilot, you care about understanding which emails drive real revenue (not just opens and clicks), or you are ready to invest in email as a primary revenue channel. Klaviyo is also the best choice if you plan to grow beyond $50,000/month, because the segmentation and predictive tools become more valuable as your customer base grows.
Omnisend: Best for Email Plus SMS
Omnisend's primary differentiator is combining email and SMS marketing in one platform with unified automations. Instead of setting up abandoned cart emails in one platform and abandoned cart SMS messages in another, Omnisend lets you build a single automation flow that sends an email after 1 hour, an SMS after 24 hours if the email was not opened, and a follow-up email after 48 hours. This cross-channel approach is simpler to manage and produces better results than siloed tools.
Key Features
Combined email and SMS automation: Build flows that use both channels strategically. Email for detailed content (product images, multiple links, storytelling), SMS for urgency and time-sensitive messages (flash sales, back-in-stock alerts, shipping updates). The platform handles consent management for both channels, ensuring you only send SMS to subscribers who have opted in to text messages.
Pre-built automation workflows: Omnisend includes pre-built automations for welcome series, abandoned cart, order confirmation, shipping confirmation, browse abandonment, product review requests, cross-sell, birthday campaigns, and re-engagement. The automation editor is visual and intuitive, with a drag-and-drop interface for adding delays, conditions, and channel splits.
Signup forms and popups: Built-in form builder for email and SMS capture, including exit-intent popups, spin-to-win wheels (effective for email capture despite looking gimmicky), embedded forms, and landing pages. Having forms built into the same platform as your email and SMS eliminates the need for a separate popup app.
Pricing
Free plan includes 250 contacts, 500 emails/month, and 60 SMS. Standard plan ($16/month) includes 500 contacts, 6,000 emails/month, and 60 SMS. Pro plan ($59/month) includes 2,500 contacts, unlimited emails, and 3,933 SMS credits. Pricing scales with contact count. At 10,000 contacts, the Standard plan is $115/month and Pro is $150/month. Compared to Klaviyo's $150/month at 10,000 contacts (email only, no SMS), Omnisend Pro's $150/month for email plus SMS represents better value if you plan to use both channels.
When to Choose Omnisend
Choose Omnisend if you want to run both email and SMS marketing from one platform, you want a simpler setup experience than Klaviyo (less powerful segmentation but faster time to value), or your budget is tighter and you need competitive pricing with SMS included. Omnisend is particularly strong for stores selling time-sensitive products (food, flowers, event tickets) where SMS urgency drives conversions.
Shopify Email: Best Budget Option
Shopify Email is built directly into your Shopify admin, so there is no third-party app to install, no integration to configure, and no separate login. It uses your product catalog, brand colors, and logo automatically when generating email templates. For stores that need to send basic campaigns and have fundamental automations running without investing significant time or money in email marketing, Shopify Email delivers surprising value at its price point.
Key Features
Integrated product catalog: Insert products directly from your Shopify catalog into email templates. Product images, titles, prices, and links update automatically if you change the product details in your store. Building a "New Arrivals" or "Sale Items" email takes minutes because you select products from your catalog rather than manually building each block.
Basic automation: Shopify Email supports automated welcome emails, first purchase upsells, and customer win-back sequences through Shopify's Marketing Automations feature. The automation capabilities are limited compared to Klaviyo or Omnisend (fewer trigger types, simpler conditional logic), but they cover the most essential flows.
Branded templates: Templates automatically pull your store's logo, brand colors, and font settings. The email builder uses drag-and-drop blocks (header, text, image, button, product, discount, gift card). The design quality of Shopify Email templates is clean and professional, though less customizable than Klaviyo's or Omnisend's template editors.
Pricing
10,000 emails per month free. Additional emails cost $1 per 1,000, with volume discounts at higher tiers ($0.65 per 1,000 after 300,000 emails/month). There is no per-contact charge, only per-send pricing. This makes Shopify Email the cheapest option by far for stores with large lists that send infrequently. A store with 5,000 subscribers sending 4 emails/month (20,000 emails) pays only $10/month for the overage above the free 10,000.
When to Choose Shopify Email
Choose Shopify Email if your store processes under $10,000/month in revenue and you want to minimize costs, you send fewer than 4 campaigns per month, you need basic automations (welcome email, abandoned cart) but not complex multi-step flows, or you want the simplest possible email setup with zero integration complexity. Start with Shopify Email and migrate to Klaviyo or Omnisend when your revenue and email strategy justify the investment.
Other Options Worth Considering
Mailchimp: The most widely known email platform, but not the best choice for Shopify. Mailchimp's Shopify integration was removed in 2019 and rebuilt via a third-party connector that is less robust than Klaviyo's or Omnisend's native integrations. Data sync has occasional delays, and advanced ecommerce segmentation is limited. If you are already on Mailchimp for a non-Shopify business and want to add a Shopify store, it works adequately. For a new Shopify store, the purpose-built options are better.
Drip: A solid mid-market option with strong ecommerce features and a visual automation builder. Pricing starts at $39/month for 2,500 contacts. Drip is worth evaluating if you find Klaviyo too expensive and Omnisend too limited, particularly if you sell digital products or courses alongside physical goods.
Essential Email Flows to Set Up First
Regardless of which platform you choose, set up these five flows in order of revenue impact:
1. Abandoned cart (highest immediate revenue): Three emails: first at 1 hour after abandonment (reminder with cart contents), second at 24 hours (social proof or reviews), third at 48 hours (small incentive like free shipping or 10% off). This flow alone typically recovers 5% to 15% of abandoned carts.
2. Welcome series (converts new subscribers): Three to five emails over 7 to 10 days: welcome and brand story, best sellers or starter recommendations, customer testimonials, educational content related to your products, and a first-purchase incentive if they have not bought yet.
3. Post-purchase follow-up (builds loyalty): Timed to arrive after delivery: thank you and care instructions, review request (7 to 14 days after delivery), cross-sell recommendations based on what they bought, and a reorder reminder for consumable products.
4. Browse abandonment (re-engages interested visitors): Triggered when a subscriber views a product page but does not add to cart. Send one email 2 to 4 hours later with the viewed product and similar alternatives. This flow has lower conversion than cart abandonment but captures visitors earlier in the purchase journey.
5. Win-back (reactivates dormant customers): Triggered when a customer has not purchased in 60, 90, or 120 days (adjust based on your typical repurchase cycle). Send a "we miss you" email with new arrivals, followed by a stronger incentive if they do not re-engage.
For a deeper guide on the abandoned cart flow specifically, see How to Recover Abandoned Carts on Shopify.