The Best Email Marketing Service Providers for eCommerce
Email has evolved, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that it is the core of every eCommerce business.
Email marketing is the central channel for everything from basic newsletter blasting and automation to more advanced AI-powered marketing and personalization.
By 2022, over 347.3 billion emails will be sent daily worldwide [Statista, 2020]. Email also continues to have a massive return on investment, where $1 spent on email marketing can generate an average return of $42 [DMA, 2019].
Unsurprisingly, with email marketing on the rise, dozens of Email Service Providers (ESP) have sprung up to serve the market needs, typically with a unique differentiator.
The one thing that I think is most important for you is that it was built with eCommerce in mind. That makes your automation and campaigns that much more powerful and easy to implement. For a full guide on what email marketing automation you need, check out this article by ShopPad.
To add to the industry’s convolution, it’s worth mentioning that other types of tools, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRMs) and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), may encompass email marketing in their tools.
As a store owner, your time and resources are limited. Choosing the right email marketing provider is a big decision. You should expect to dedicate at least 5 hours to researching, vetting, demoing, and selecting the right provider for you. I’ve seen this go up to 40+ hours for larger eCommerce merchants.
To help cut down on that time and get you closer to the end goal—making money with email marketing—we’re sharing our list of the best email marketing service providers specifically for eCommerce businesses.
Starting store vs Mid-Market vs Enterprise
We break down better-fit solutions based on the size of your store from a revenue standpoint, as your revenue will indicate how many contacts you have and how many hours of resource time you can dedicate to the tool.
Your needs change as you grow, whether you’re a brand new store with a revenue of under $1 mil, in growth mode, mid-market ($5-$100 mil), or enterprise level.
A few key differences I’ve noticed are:
- Small stores need anything, and they need it for cheap.
- Mid-stage stores are more focused on optimization, squeezing the juice from their more successful campaigns, growing the list, and keeping engagement high. Often, they benefit from native integrations, such as with loyalty tools or other channel tools (SMS, Messenger, etc.).
- Enterprise stores typically need integrations; the data needs to be piped into many places, and they’re working on segmenting users. They really want to use the CRM or CDP aspects to the fullest—meaning they want to analyze their customers and use the strength of a large list to segment, automate, and send. Smart segments and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) have become important here.
At all stages of your store, the bottom line with email is revenue, whether that is in the form of increasing:
- Average order value (AOV)
- Lifetime value (LTV)
- Or conversion rate
CRM vs. CDP vs. ESP: Which is What?
Choosing one can be daunting and difficult with so many different tools (and acronyms).
Although each platform offers different functionalities, the main goal is to choose one that integrates seamlessly with your eCommerce platform to pull metrics such as purchase data, customer tags, and shopping behaviour. These metrics provide valuable insight into your business at large and will ultimately determine the performance and growth of your email marketing campaigns.
Let’s briefly explore the difference between these three technologies.
What is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
A CRM is used to track new leads and sales, manage contacts, and manage support and sales teams. By effectively managing all communication and interactions with customers and potential customers throughout their life cycle, businesses can streamline their processes and improve profitability.
The real value of a CRM is in the flexibility of the data you can bring in for each contact. CRMs make it easier to manipulate customer data, create automation and segments, and view customer journeys.
In all honesty, most ESPs are CRMs at some level since you can see the email address and some basic customer information. You could even say that Shopify has a CRM in the backend’s “customers” tab. But you’ll notice limitations with the simpler ESPs at some point and will generally want to sacrifice some ease of use for customization as you grow.
What is a Customer Data Platform (CDP)?
A CDP creates unified customer profiles with data gathered across online and offline channels. By collecting primary data, they can streamline customer experiences and messages across platforms and understand customer behaviour.
The main difference here is that this may be used across product and marketing and typically requires a network of integrations and possibly manual APIs.
Put more simply, a CDP is a more advanced CRM, but it is typically removed from marketing—taking action with the information.
CDPs are more commonly used by enterprise retail and eCommerce businesses because their capabilities of gathering consumer data points across multiple channels/sources help unify what is often a fragmented view of the customer profile. However, a CDP does not automatically convert this data into marketing campaigns.
What is an Email Service Provider (ESP)?
An ESP creates marketing campaigns through emails. These providers offer email design tools for newsletters and automation, as well as segmentation, personalization, triggers, email optimization tools, and more.
Although CRMs and CDPs are nice-to-haves for exploring customer touchpoints, they are unnecessary for every eCommerce business. However, you must have an ESP that sends emails and starts the most basic version of your CRM by collecting and storing customer data.
We divided this article into four sections based on the stage of your store:
- Small eCommerce Stores
- Growth Stage eCommerce Stores
- Mid-Market and Enterprise eCommerce Stores
- Abandoned Cart and Retention-Related Tools
The Best Email Service Providers for Small eCommerce Stores
So you’ve just started out. Maybe you’re on Shopify and looking for something that will do the trick but keep your app costs relatively low.
As a small business, you’ll need a tool that provides contact management, a strong email editor, and automated email responders to keep in touch with your growing database.
Although there are dozens of ESPs for startups and small businesses, we wanted to focus on four that also excelled at providing:
- An easy interface for first time users or novice players
- Pre-built templates and campaigns geared towards eCommerce
- Ex. Abandon cart sequence
- Seamless integration with your eCommerce platform
I’m sure you have too many things to do and insufficient time. Between wearing the email marketing hat, you’re also juggling logistics, customer service, and supply chain management.
The key here is to opt for a tool that can be easily set up within a few hours with as little distraction as possible.
Let’s take a look at four starting tools that will save you time and come in at the low end of the market ( keeping your costs low):
I also believe many of the tools in the “scale” section, a little bit lower, could be a great fit for you, too. They are in a different section because they offer more “upper mobility” than these three.
Seguno
In-App Email Marketing Platform
As a small business, you might not have the time or patience to log in to various apps and keep multiple passwords. Seguno is made with the simple small business in mind, but it also has many automation components and dynamic discount codes. This may be a good fit if you need basic functionality and don’t have the time to invest heavily in email.
Features
- Built directly into the Shopify app and can be managed from desktop or mobile
- One-click automations
- Unique coupon codes
- Basic segmentation and reporting
Pricing
Seguno is free for businesses with 250 or fewer subscribers, while its month-to-month plan begins at $10USD per month for up to 1000 subscribers. It offers billing through Shopify.
Mailchimp
All-in-One Marketing Platform
As a leader in the email marketing provider market, Mailchimp was once the most popular app for email marketing.
In March 2019, Mailchimp announced that it removed its Mailchimp for Shopify integration from its marketplace. With hundreds of Shopify users already using the app, many began migrating their lists to alternative providers. Others relied on third-party apps like Zapier, Automate.io and ShopSync to link both apps together.
Mailchimp continues to be a contender for the eCommerce community, including Shopify, for various reasons.
Features
- Flexible template library
- User-friendly drag-and-drop builder
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Small business marketing tools like snail postcards, landing pages, and social media advertising.
Opting for a tool that provides an all-in-one marketing platform can allow small businesses to grow regardless of their resources or budget.
Pricing
Mailchimp is free for up to 2,000 contacts and includes segmentation and behavioural retargeting. It also offers seven different marketing channels, such as Facebook and Instagram advertising, postcards, social posting, and more.
For a detailed explanation, check out this extremely detailed article from SendX called “MailChimp Pricing”.
Sendlane
Automated Platform Based on Real-Time Data
For more advanced segmentation and personalization, Sendlane can allow you to monitor your entire customer’s journey.
Features
- Beacon: Integrated website and event tracking to help track subscribers’ online activity and help micro-target and segment your audience
- AI-optimized send timing to track the open habits of current subscribers and deliver emails at the best times to individual contacts
- Deep integration with 1400 apps, such as lead capture and membership platforms
- Custom pop-ups
- Multivariate testing
Pricing
Sendlane provides a 14-day free trial, while its most basic plan, Growth, offers all features for up to 5,000 contacts at $79USD/month.
Pathfinder
Emails “Done for you.”
This tool writes your emails for you, using your product feed, images, brand voice, and a few questions you answer for them. It’s great for a small store or small team that is perhaps less focused or experienced in email marketing.
Features
- Abandon Cart Sequences are automatically created for you.
- Suggestions for new campaigns or sequences.
- Advanced store profiling.
- Automatic campaign A/B split testing.
- Advanced segmentation
Pricing
It starts at $38/month (billed annually, or $45/month billed monthly) for 1,000 contacts and goes up from there. Right now, when you sign up, you can get an extended 60-day free trial (subject to change in the future; check their site for any changes/updates).
The Best Email Service Providers to Scale Your eCommerce Store
As your business scales and your email marketing list grows, your data will understandably become more complex. You’ll want to start segmenting, and you may need some advanced automation.
Opting for a powerful segmentation platform will be key here, as you’ll build unique newsletters and automation based on your audience and behavioural data.
Here are some key features to look out for when choosing the best ESP to scale your business:
- Simple migration services or support to transition from one ESP to another
- Dynamic and advanced segmentation that is updated automatically
- Predictive analytics and advanced reporting
- Omni-channel marketing functionalities or integrations
Although there are a variety of tools that can help you scale your email marketing game, here are our top suggestions:
- Klaviyo
- Drip
- Omnisend
- CM Commerce
- AiTrillion
Klaviyo
Data-Driven Email Platform
A leader in ESP for eCommerce due to its advanced customer data capabilities and deep integrations, Klaviyo is a top tool for both small and large stores. Klaviyo considers itself primarily a data science company with email as its main marketing channel.
Features
- Real-time behaviour analysis through integration with leading eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento and more
- Predictive data and advanced reporting
- Advanced and dynamic segmentation
- Flexible template library
- User-friendly drag-and-drop building for newsletters and automation
- Facebook and Instagram integration to deliver personalized social media ads
- SMS marketing for targeted and personalized automation messages
Pricing
Klaviyo offers free plans to businesses with a list of up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends. At 3000 subscribers, you can expect to pay $80 per month, with your subscription changing every 1000 subscribers.
Drip
Dedicated eCommerce CRM (eCRM) Platform
Drip is a dedicated eCommerce CRM or eCRM platform, as it has been dubbed. It provides the tools to collect advanced customer data and build personalized email workflows.
Features
- Collect advanced data such as buying behaviour and site engagement
- Personalized and optimized email marketing workflows through advanced tagging, tracking events and custom fields
- Integration with Facebook ads
- Integration with multiple sales and project management tools
- Advanced reporting and lead scoring to identify your most valuable customers
By building automation with unique data, businesses can create more personalized shopping experiences not only through email but also through Facebook, Instagram, and other channels.
Pricing
Drip offers its full suite as a free trial for 14 days. After this trial period, businesses pay $49 monthly for up to 2,500 subscribers. Once they reach 3,000 subscribers, the monthly plan increases to $122.
Omnisend
Omni-Channel Automation Platform
A leader in omnichannel automation, Omnisend offers small businesses a user-friendly interface and advanced tools to customize and personalize their automation.
Features:
- Flexible template library
- User-friendly drag-and-drop building for newsletters and automation
- Advanced segmentation
- Built-in functionality for SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Push Notifications and Facebook and Google Ads
Its “Campaign Booster” feature allows businesses to engage with those who did not open their email campaigns by redelivering their emails with a new subject line. This gives a second chance to reach subscribers who are most likely to engage and helps boost sales.
Pricing
Omnisend provides a lifetime free plan for businesses looking to send 15,000 emails per month without SMS marketing, automation, audience segmentation, or omnichannel marketing.
Its Standard plan, which includes SMS marketing, automation, and audience segmentation, starts at $16 per month for up to 500 subscribers. Its enterprise plan is the only package that offers Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and a dedicated account manager.
CM Commerce
A platform for Email and Social Proof
In 2019, Campaign Monitor acquired Conversio to deliver an all-in-one advanced marketing solution, CM Commerce. CM Commerce provides various tools and functionalities for businesses looking to merge their apps under one roof.
Features
- Advanced email marketing
- Supercharged receipts for upsell and cross-sell marketing
- Visual product reviews for user-generated content and social proof
- Integration with loyalty programs like Smilo.io and Loyalty Lion
- Integration with retargeting apps like Shoelace
Pricing
CM Commerce’s Starter plan costs $9 per month to send 5,000 emails to 500 people, but it does not offer browse abandonment email, social proof, or integration with Facebook ads at that price point. For lists of 501-1000 subscribers, businesses can sign up for their Growth plan at $49 per month for unlimited emails and all core features such as social proof and deep integrations.
AiTrillion
AI-Powered Omni-Channel Platform
AiTrillion is unique because it combines nearly all aspects of eCommerce tools into one. We’re talking loyalty, automation, pop-ups, chatbots, product recommendations, and AI tools.
Features
- Advanced email marketing
- Loyalty rewards programs
- Product reviews
- Chatbot integrations
- Push notifications
- Announcement bars
- Smart pop-ups
- Shopify POS integration
- Advanced reporting and predictive analytics
With 8 major tool categories under one roof, this tool can be considered quite a beast.
Pricing
AiTrillion offers a starting plan of $29 per month for up to 500 contacts and unlimited email sending. The platform also offers loyalty rewards, push notifications, product reviews, and live chat. It charges $140 per month for up to 10,000 contacts, which is fair pricing for scalability.
The Best Email Service Providers for Mid-Market to Enterprise eCommerce Stores
If you’re looking for an email provider that meets mid-market to enterprise needs, you’ll probably be migrating from an existing ESP you’ve outgrown.
With complex management, logistics and customer data, you’ll need a platform that integrates seamlessly with your eCommerce provider and perhaps your CRM and other automated systems.
You’ll also need a tool that uses advanced segmentation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics to digest data across multiple channels better and develop new, cohesive strategies.
Some other key features to look out for:
- Dynamic content and personalization
- Advanced reporting and insights
- Advanced A/B testing
- Omni-channel integrations
Many enterprise competitors offer the data and support for mid-market and enterprise businesses, but our top 4 are:
Dynamic Yield
End-to-End Personalization Platform
Built for enterprise businesses such as Urban Outfitters and Ikea, Dynamic Yield offers an all-in-one platform for personalizing the web, mobile, app, email, and advertising of not only B2C businesses but also B2B, Gaming, Media, Travel, and more.
Features
- Personalized product recommendations from machine learning engine or custom criteria
- Consumer data is packaged into an eCommerce marketing stack that can be rapidly implemented without developers or IT services.
- Server-side and client-side A/B tests to optimize algorithms, architectures and rebrands.
Pricing
Request a demo for pricing.
Enalito
Retail Lifecycle Automation
For enterprises wanting to deliver richer and more personalized customer experiences based on trends and KPIs, Enalito offers retailers and brands the opportunity for cross-channel marketing.
Features
Dynamic customer segments, AI-powered product recommendations
- Real-time retargeting cross-sells and up-sells
- Omnichannel marketing
- Inventory optimization
- A combination of AI, predictive analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing
- Integration with leading eCommerce platforms and major marketing tools such as Mailchimp, Dotmailer, Sengrip, and more.
By providing brands with key data, Enalito can develop more effective, automated strategies that highlight their strengths and build upon their weaknesses.
Pricing
Request a demo for pricing.
Vue.ai
Retail AI-Powered Automation
Vue.ai was mostly built for retailers to individualize each shopper’s journey in real time by understanding their unique style profiles.
Features
- It uses image recognition and data science to extract product attributes from catalogue images, analyze user behaviour, and help drive conversions and lower costs.
- 6 AI-based solutions to personalize the customer journey, automate catalogue management and improve fashion merchandising.
- VueModel: An AI-based human model that uses algorithms and image recognition to visualize garments with AI-generated models.
Pricing
Request a demo for pricing.
The Best Email Service Providers for Abandon Cart Recovery and Customer Retention
Outside of a dedicated ESP, there are a few other tools worth mentioning that solve specific problems. Although several ESPs can perform similar functionalities, these tools are worth mentioning because they are dedicated to this one aspect of the funnel.
- Privy - Pop-up tool with important abandon cart functionality.
- Cartstack - focused 100% on abandoned carts/checkout.
- Spently - Optimize your notification emails.
Privy
Conversion Rate Optimization / Email Collection
Originally an on-site popup service, Privy has developed new email marketing capabilities as well as SMS marketing features that help businesses increase customer retention. The reason this is important is because they can increase abandon cart email sends by up to 500% (more sends = more $$$) - it’s the crucial integration of having your pop up tool and your email automation tool be one in the same, because without that, like if you send email addresses from a pop-up tool to your ESP, you lose some tracking components, and therefore lose opportunity.
Features:
- Purchase-based automations such as Autoresponders, Abandoned Carts and Order Follow Ups
- On-site customizable popup forms
- Dynamic coupon creation with Shopify and Bigcommerce
Pricing
Privy offers a full email marketing suite for up to 1000 contacts and access to its pop-up displays for up to 3,000 page views per month at $10 per month. It also offers SMS marketing for up to 100 contacts at $10 per month.
CartStack
Website Abandonment Platform
If you would like to focus exclusively on recovering lost eCommerce sales outside of an ESP, CartStack can help.
Features:
- Exit intent and delayed pop-up displays
- Abandoned cart and browse abandonment email campaigns.
- “Send my cart” email campaigns
- Push notification sequences
- Real-time data capture and enriched contact records to easily capture more email addresses and encourage conversions.
Pricing
CartStack offers a free trial until you recover $1000 from their app. Once recovered, CartStack’s plans are built on monthly orders. For a Pro plan that allows for up to 100 orders or less per month with browse abandonment email campaigns, exit intents, and send my cart campaigns, you’ll pay $49 per month.
Spently
Transactional Optimization Platform
If you’re not leveraging Shopify’s existing transactional emails, then you should be.
Spently allows small and large businesses to leverage their notification emails within Shopify with marketing components. Most importantly, you can turn your most important emails and tracking notification emails (among others) into marketing collateral for cross-sells and upsells.
Features
- Optimize notifications emails with event-based upsells, personalized discounts and referral components
- Automated follow-up email for Shopify’s native notifications emails
- Integration with Limespot, Kit, and Sufio
While some ESPs help create notification emails, Spently focuses on solving the problem from within Shopify and has robust tracking/analytics for understanding the business impact.
Pricing
All plans are based on total monthly orders.
For Shopify businesses that generate 50 orders or less per month, Spently’s Starter plan is completely free.
Spently’s Essential Starter plan is $99/month for businesses generating 500 orders or less monthly. It allows for follow-up emails, personalized discounts, referrals, and integration with Limespot, Kit, and Sufio (which are unavailable in the Starter plan).
Pricing goes up from there.
Next Steps
Choosing an email service provider is one of the most important decisions you can make in your business. As your business grows, your needs grow, which could mean what you started with is no longer your best option.
It’s important to think critically about your business as you hire new marketing roles, get more creative with your channel marketing strategy, and generally expand. Consider what kind of data, segmentation, and sequences will be best for you.
And remember, having the tool is different from using the tool. If you’re not using your email marketing tool weekly, you’re probably missing key findings and opportunities to optimize, and you may also be clogging your database with useless contacts that should be removed.
After launching an email or migrating platforms, I recommend implementing additional channel tools like Messenger, SMS, and push notifications. Also, be sure to integrate your email marketing with your loyalty program to build brand advocacy.