Email is the single most profitable marketing channel, with an insane ROI of 4,200%. Service brands, ecommerce stores, and other business types use it to generate leads and turn them into customers.
The question is, how do you power and grow your Shopify business with email marketing?
As an agency that runs marketing for 350+ clients, including dozens of Shopify stores, we have answers. In this article, we’ll tell you…
- Why email marketing for Shopify stores is so important
- Which email apps you should use (and which are to be avoided)
- What features to look for in email marketing apps
We’ll also explain how you can get a free email marketing consultation, worth $1,200, with our agency. Let’s start by covering…
Why Is Email Marketing So Important?
Email marketing lets you capture cold traffic – visitors who don’t know you – and continue marketing to them after they leave your site.
It’s also the only marketing channel where you own the contacts of the prospect you’re marketing to. Facebook can’t change their algorithm to reduce your organic reach; Google can’t decide to ban your ad account. The contacts are yours.
Email marketing is also an effective way to…
- Boost brand awareness.
- Share user generated content such as testimonials.
- Retarget potential customers with personalised offers and incentives.
- Remind potential buyers to complete purchases (to reduce cart abandonment).
- Keep recent customers and store visitors up-to-date on new products, sales, and discounts.
Features to Look Out for in Email Marketing Software
All shopify stores are different. But when it comes to email marketing software, they all need the same features. Here are some key ones you should look for in email tools as a Shopify store owner, manager or marketer.
1. Integration with Shopify
Look for an email marketing app that will easily integrate with your Shopify store. Setting up should take seconds, and the app itself should feel native to your Shopify interface. The apps we recommend below all feel (and act) native on the ecommerce platform.
2. Lots of Templates
An extensive library of email templates will make your job quicker and easier. Look for software that provides easily customisable, attractive email templates.
Don’t forget to think about your mobile users. Statistics show that 41% of emails are now viewed on mobile. The app should offer templates for customisable mobile-friendly designs.
3. Ease of Editing (Drag-and-drop Editor)
The app should have an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. This will allow you to drag elements and text into your custom emails, eliminating the need for coding, or developers.
4. Automation Workflows
Simple automation is a must-have for any email marketing software. Your chosen app should be able to send out a sequence of timed emails automatically, including a welcome email for new subscribers.
More advanced workflows are even better. For example:
Trigger emails
These emails get sent out in response to events. When your customer does (or doesn’t) take action, an email gets sent out. In this example, we’ll look at cart abandonment emails.
- A Shopper adds items to their basket, but neglects to complete the purchase.
- A few hours later, an email is automatically sent, reminding the shopper to complete the sale.
- If they still haven’t bought the item after 2 days, another email gets sent with a coupon added as an incentive to buy.
5. Analytics
Good analytics will help you fine-tune your marketing emails.
You should choose an email marketing app that allows you to track the following metrics easily:
- Open rates. How many people open your email? This will help you learn if your subject lines are working.
- Click through rate. This will show you how many subscribers clicked the links inside your email.
- Bounce rates. This will show you if a subscriber’s email no longer exists, helping you clear out your email list.
- Unsubscribe rates. It’s good to keep an eye on the percentage of people unsubscribing after each email sent. If there’s a mass exodus after a specific email, it means there’s something in there that people didn’t like.
6. Segmentation
Segmentation will allow you to send targeted and personalised emails to different audiences. Usually, audiences are placed into groups based on factors such as demographics, interests, or location.
In simple terms, segmentation will allow you to send the right message to the right people, at the right time.
You may have seen audience segmentation used for ad campaigns—and it’s just as important in email marketing.
7. Deliverability
You need to be confident that the software you use will deliver your emails to your subscribers’ inboxes, and not their spam folders. When scoping email marketing software, check out their deliverability rate. Anything above 90% should be okay.
8. Split (A/B) Testing Capability
With split testing, you can test slight variations of your email marketing campaigns across your list. This will help you to see which versions of your campaigns perform best.
Look for an email marketing application that allows you to perform split tests taking various factors into account, such as:
- Email content
- Subject line
- Sign off name
The more you can test, the faster you learn and the more profitable campaigns become.
9. Customisable Pop-up Sign-up Form
Aside from letting you edit your emails, some email marketing applications also let you customise and build your own pop-up forms. You can use these forms on your store to get visitors to subscribe to your email list.
Pop-ups can also be used for offers and promotions. The more customisable they are, the better.
10. Email Sending Limit
Most email marketing plans have a limit on how many emails you can send. Depending on the size of your store and the size of your list, you’ll need to make sure you can send out the number of emails you need to.
Some stores will only need to send out 500 emails a month, while others send out more than 5,000. Check how many emails the email marketing software will allow you to send per month, and make sure it fits your needs.
Don’t forget to think about scalability. Even if your list isn’t large now, it will grow with your business.
10 Best Email Marketing Apps for Shopify
You should now have a clearer idea of which features are a priority for your business needs. We’ve put together a list of the 10 best email marketing apps for Shopify, including their features.
1. Adoric
Adoric is an all-in-one application with a lot of built-in features. They have a library with over 1000 customisable templates. Adoric’s exit-intent feature that targets visitors who are about to leave your store.
Other features:
- Easy-to-use pop-up editor
- Template library
- Split-testing feature
- Good integration
- Segmentation
Adoric is free for up to 5000 page views per month, and paid plans start from $29 per month.
2. GetResponse
GetResponse is an all-in-one marketing automation platform. You can use it for email marketing, SMS, and web push notifications.
Features include:
- Customisable templates
- Drag-and-drop email creator
- Segmentation
- Good marketing automation workflows
- Quick transactional emails – no need to use API or coding for urgent one-time emails
GetResponse offer a 30-day free trial. After that, plans start from $15 per month.
3. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a popular marketing automation platform for email and SMS. It offers advanced segmentation and personalisation.
Features include:
- Advanced automated scenarios
- Drag-and-drop email builder
- Library of ready-made templates
- Customisable email and SMS automation workflows
Klaviyo is one of the more expensive options—prices start from $45 per month for an email list of up to 1,000 contacts.
ActiveCampaign is another popular solution for Shopify store owners. It offers all the basic features needed to get started with email marketing.
Features include:
- Segmentation
- Marketing automation
- Reports and analytics
- Personalisation
Prices start from $15 per month.
5. Omnisend
Omnisend can be used for email and SMS marketing. It features an easy-to-use drag-and-drop email builder and an extensive library of templates.
- Cart abandonment feature
- SMS and Email
- Segmentation
- Pop-up sign-up boxes
- Customisable landing pages
Free until your list surpasses 250 contacts, at which point, prices start from $16 per month.
This software is native to Shopify, so you won’t need to worry about integration. It’s also one of the most affordable options available.
Features include:
- Easy scheduling for good deliverability
- Great performance analytics tools
- Free, as long as you send no more than 2,500 emails per month
Pricing is $1 per 1000 emails which surpasses the free 2,500 per month limit.
7. Privy
Privy is one of the most popular email marketing apps on the Shopify app market. Currently, it has just under 25,000 reviews, so it’s safe to say it’s been tried and tested!
Features include:
- SMS and Email notifications for new products
- Exit-intent and cart abandonment emails.
- Split testing capabilities
- Pop-up builder
Privy is free for your first 100 email contacts—prices start from $15 per month after that.
CM Commerce focuses on easy-to-use email marketing and automation. It offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder for creating attractive-looking emails. The templates are responsive to mobile devices.
Features include:
- Easy, seamless integration with Shopify
- Segmentation
- Abandoned cart emails
- Marketing automation workflows
- Analytics
Prices start from $29 per month.
9. Drip
Drip is an SMS and email marketing platform, specifically tailored for ecommerce businesses. They boast one of the highest email deliverability rates out of all the email marketing apps available.
Features include:
- Drag-and-drop Email builder
- Advanced segmentation
- Ecommerce playbooks (premade workflows to help you sell)
- Automation for various scenarios (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase)
You can test it for free with a 14-day trial. For an email list of 1,000 contacts, Drip costs $29 per month.
Seguno is an email marketing automation software built exclusively for Shopify. Canva is integrated with Seguno for a seamless email building and design experience.
Features include:
- Huge collection of automated campaign workflows (including coming soon, discount reminders, welcome series’, repeat purchases, and other quick and easy-to-make flows)
- Smart reporting and analytics tool
- Seguno has Canva built-in for a seamless design process
- Create emails from within Shopify
Seguno is free to use if you have 250 subscribers or less. When you have more subscribers, prices start from $10 per month.
So, What Did We Learn?
If you have time, it’s always a good idea to take advantage of free trials, which many of the above applications offer. Free trials will let you test apps for yourself so you can make an informed decision on which one is perfect for your needs.
Want someone to take over your email marketing and turn it into a profitable marketing channel? Want to see what it’s like having incredible ROIs on your email marketing campaigns?
Then consider working with Megaphone: Australia’s #1-rated marketing agency. We’d love to explore how email marketing can help grow your business over a free strategy call (worth $1,200)!
