Best Shopify Email Marketing Apps 2025: Klaviyo, Omnisend, Privy & More Compared

Email marketing is the backbone of successful Shopify stores. While paid ads bring new customers, email marketing retains them and drives repeat purchases profitably. This guide compares the best Shopify email marketing apps in 2025, breaking down features, pricing, pros, cons, and which stores should use each platform.

Quick Comparison: Top Email Marketing Apps for Shopify

1. Klaviyo: The Power User's Choice

Klaviyo is the most popular email marketing app for serious Shopify stores. It's powerful, data-rich, and built specifically for ecommerce. If you want advanced segmentation, deep analytics, and sophisticated automation, Klaviyo is the industry standard.

Key Features

Advanced segmentation using purchase behavior, browsing history, and custom properties. Klaviyo tracks everything: what products customers viewed, what they bought, when they bought, average order value, lifetime value, and hundreds of other data points. You can create segments like "Customers who bought yoga mats but not yoga blocks in the last 30 days" or "VIP customers with LTV over $500 who haven't purchased in 60 days." This granular segmentation lets you send highly relevant emails that convert.

Pre-built automation flows for abandoned carts, welcome series, post-purchase, and win-back. Klaviyo includes templates for essential ecommerce flows that you can customize. Abandoned cart emails automatically remind shoppers about items left in their cart with product images and direct checkout links. Welcome series nurture new subscribers with your brand story and best products. Post-purchase flows request reviews, suggest complementary products, and build loyalty. Win-back campaigns re-engage customers who haven't purchased recently.

Built-in A/B testing for subject lines, content, and send times. Test different subject lines to see which gets more opens. Test email layouts to see which drives more clicks. Test send times to find when your audience is most responsive. Klaviyo makes testing easy with built-in tools that automatically show winners. Data-driven optimization improves performance continuously.

Predictive analytics showing customer lifetime value and churn risk. Klaviyo's AI predicts which customers are likely to make another purchase soon, which are at risk of churning, and expected lifetime value. This intelligence helps you prioritize high-value customers and intervene before churn. Predictive segments like "Likely to purchase in next 7 days" let you target the right people at the right time.

SMS marketing integrated with email campaigns. Klaviyo combines email and SMS in one platform, letting you create coordinated multi-channel campaigns. Send abandoned cart reminders via SMS for higher open rates. Follow up email campaigns with SMS for key promotions. SMS costs extra (per message), but integration with email data makes targeting efficient.

Deep integration with Shopify including customer profiles and product catalogs. Klaviyo syncs automatically with Shopify, pulling in all customer data, order history, products, and collections. Dynamic product blocks let you show personalized product recommendations in emails. Real-time sync means automation triggers instantly when customers take actions. This deep integration is why Klaviyo feels built for Shopify—because it essentially is.

Pricing

Free plan: 250 contacts, 500 email sends per month. Perfect for brand new stores testing email marketing. You get core features including basic automation, sign-up forms, and segmentation. Once you exceed 250 contacts or 500 sends, you'll need to upgrade.

Email pricing starts at $20/month for 251-500 contacts, scaling based on list size. At 1,000 contacts: ~$30/month. At 5,000 contacts: ~$100/month. At 10,000 contacts: ~$150/month. Pricing scales with your list, so costs grow as your business grows. Email includes unlimited sends (unlike some competitors who limit sends separately).

SMS pricing is separate: $5/month base + per-message costs. SMS messages cost $0.0100-$0.0150 per segment (160 characters) in the US. International rates vary. SMS is powerful but costs add up—use it strategically for high-impact moments like abandoned carts, flash sales, or VIP offers. Budget $50-200/month for SMS depending on usage.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Most powerful features, best segmentation, excellent Shopify integration, robust analytics and reporting, huge template library, dedicated ecommerce focus, strong deliverability rates, active community and resources.

Cons: Steeper learning curve than simpler apps, more expensive than competitors at higher list sizes, SMS costs add up quickly, can feel overwhelming for beginners who just need basic email, customer support can be slow at lower pricing tiers.

Best For

Klaviyo is ideal for growing Shopify stores doing $10k+/month that want sophisticated email marketing. If you're data-driven, want advanced segmentation, and plan to scale, Klaviyo's the best investment. Also perfect if you're hiring a marketing agency—most ecommerce agencies know and prefer Klaviyo. If you're a complete beginner just starting out, consider simpler options first and graduate to Klaviyo once you understand email marketing fundamentals.

2. Omnisend: The Multi-Channel Marketer

Omnisend positions itself as a marketing automation platform, not just an email tool. It combines email, SMS, push notifications, and more in one platform. If you want to coordinate campaigns across channels without juggling multiple apps, Omnisend is compelling.

Key Features

Email, SMS, and web push notifications in one platform. Omnisend unifies channels so you can send coordinated messages across email, SMS, and push notifications. Create workflows that start with email, follow up with SMS if unopened, and send push notifications for urgent promotions. Multi-channel coordination increases total reach—different customers prefer different channels.

Pre-built automation workflows for ecommerce (cart abandonment, welcome, order confirmation). Like Klaviyo, Omnisend includes essential ecommerce automation templates. Setup is often faster because templates are more prescriptive and guided. Drag-and-drop workflow builder makes creating custom automations intuitive. Workflows can combine email and SMS seamlessly.

Product picker and dynamic content blocks for personalized emails. Omnisend's email builder includes ecommerce-specific blocks: product grids, discount code generators, countdown timers, scratch cards for gamification. Product picker lets you select items from your Shopify catalog and insert them into emails with live pricing and inventory. Dynamic content shows different products to different segments automatically.

Popups and signup forms with gamification (spin-to-win wheels). Built-in popup and form builder creates signup forms, exit-intent popups, and gamified wheels where customers spin for discounts. This combines list building with email marketing in one app. While Klaviyo also has forms, Omnisend's are more visually appealing and easier to create for non-designers.

Segmentation based on behavior, shopping activity, and engagement. Create segments like "Customers who clicked last campaign but didn't buy" or "Subscribers who opened 3+ emails in last month." Segmentation is robust, though not quite as granular as Klaviyo's. For most stores, Omnisend's segmentation is more than sufficient.

Built-in reporting and sales attribution showing revenue per campaign and automation. Track exactly how much revenue each email campaign generates. See which automation flows drive the most sales. Compare channel performance (email vs SMS vs push). Omnisend's reporting is clear and ecommerce-focused, answering the question every store owner cares about: "How much money did this make?"

Pricing

Free plan: 250 contacts, 500 emails/month, 60 SMS/month (international restrictions apply). Generous free tier includes automation, segmentation, and even SMS credits. Great for new stores testing the platform. Email and SMS credits refresh monthly.

Standard plan: $16/month for 500 contacts, includes email + limited SMS. Email sends are unlimited, but SMS credits are limited (varies by plan tier). At 1,000 contacts: $30/month. At 5,000 contacts: $100/month. At 10,000 contacts: $185/month. Generally competitive with or slightly cheaper than Klaviyo at comparable list sizes.

Pro plan adds advanced reporting, priority support, and more SMS credits. Pro starts at $59/month and scales with list size. Adds features like advanced reporting, push notifications, and priority support. Most serious stores need Pro for full functionality.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Multi-channel coordination is seamless, easier learning curve than Klaviyo, beautiful email builder with ecommerce blocks, built-in signup forms and popups save needing separate apps, generous free plan, good value at mid-tier pricing, solid Shopify integration.

Cons: Segmentation less powerful than Klaviyo, fewer advanced analytics and reporting, SMS costs still add up on top of base pricing, smaller user community and fewer third-party resources, some users report deliverability issues (though this varies).

Best For

Omnisend is perfect for stores that want email plus SMS without managing multiple platforms. If multi-channel marketing appeals but Klaviyo feels too complex or expensive, Omnisend is an excellent middle ground. Also great for stores prioritizing ease of use—Omnisend's interface and workflows are more intuitive for non-marketers. Ideal for stores doing $5k-50k/month looking for an all-in-one solution.

3. Privy: List Building Meets Email Marketing

Privy started as a popup and list-building tool but evolved into a full email marketing platform. It's especially strong for stores that need to grow their email list aggressively while also nurturing subscribers. If list growth is your priority, Privy excels.

Key Features

Advanced popup builder with extensive targeting and display rules. Create exit-intent popups, timed delays, scroll-triggered popups, or cart abandonment popups. Target by page (homepage only, product pages, specific collections), device (mobile vs desktop), traffic source (new vs returning visitors, referral source), and more. Privy's targeting is the most sophisticated of any popup tool, letting you show the right message to the right visitor at the right time.

Spin-to-win wheels, banners, flyouts, and embedded forms. Beyond basic popups, Privy offers gamified spin wheels (customers spin for random discounts), sticky banners across top/bottom of pages, slide-in flyouts, and embedded forms for blog posts or pages. This variety lets you capture emails without annoying visitors with repetitive popups. Different formats appeal to different visitors.

Cart abandonment emails with product images and checkout links. Automatically email customers who abandon carts with reminders showing their exact cart contents, product images, and direct checkout links. This is standard for email apps, but Privy's implementation is particularly clean and high-converting. Abandoned cart emails alone often recover 10-15% of lost sales.

Email automation including welcome series, post-purchase, and customer win-back. Privy's automation isn't as sophisticated as Klaviyo or Omnisend, but covers essentials well. Welcome series nurture new subscribers, post-purchase emails request reviews and suggest reorders, win-back campaigns target inactive customers. For stores not needing complex workflows, Privy's automation is sufficient and easier to set up.

Basic segmentation by signup source, purchase history, and engagement. Segment subscribers by which popup they signed up from, whether they've purchased, order count, and email engagement (opens/clicks). It's not as granular as Klaviyo but covers most common use cases. You can send different campaigns to buyers vs non-buyers, active vs inactive subscribers, etc.

A/B testing for popups and emails to optimize performance. Test different popup designs, headlines, offers, or email subject lines. Privy shows which version performs better and lets you implement winners. Testing popups is especially valuable—a better popup design can double your signup rate.

Pricing

Free plan: 100 contacts, basic email features, Privy branding on popups. Very limited—most stores outgrow this quickly. The free plan is best for testing the platform or very early-stage stores. Privy branding on popups looks unprofessional as you grow.

Starter plan: $30/month for up to 1,500 contacts. Removes Privy branding, unlocks more display types and targeting rules, includes core email automation. At 5,000 contacts: ~$45/month. This is competitive pricing, especially considering you get both popups/list building and email in one platform.

Growth plan: $45/month base, adds SMS. Includes 1,650 contacts, SMS (with per-message costs similar to Klaviyo), advanced automation, and priority support. SMS starts at $10/month + usage costs. At 10,000 contacts on Growth: $155/month.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Best-in-class popup and form builder, excellent targeting and display rules, combines list building with email marketing, easier to use than Klaviyo, competitive pricing especially at smaller list sizes, good Shopify integration, strong customer support.

Cons: Email automation less sophisticated than competitors, limited segmentation compared to Klaviyo, reporting and analytics are basic, fewer integrations with third-party tools, not ideal if you don't need popups (you're paying for features you don't use).

Best For

Privy is perfect for stores prioritizing list growth and needing strong popup/form tools alongside email marketing. If you're running paid ads and need high-converting popups to capture visitors, Privy's popup builder alone justifies the cost. Also ideal for smaller stores ($5k-25k/month) wanting a simple all-in-one solution without Klaviyo's complexity. If you already have a large engaged list and don't need list-building tools, other apps might be better values.

4. Mailchimp: The Familiar Giant

Mailchimp is the most recognized email marketing brand globally. Many store owners already have Mailchimp accounts or experience with the platform. Mailchimp's Shopify integration has improved significantly in recent years, making it a viable option—though not the strongest choice for serious ecommerce.

Key Features

Drag-and-drop email builder with extensive template library. Mailchimp's email builder is polished and user-friendly. Hundreds of templates cover various industries and purposes. Customization is intuitive even for non-designers. The builder works well for newsletters, promotional campaigns, and basic automation emails. Email design quality matches or exceeds competitors.

Automation including abandoned cart, product recommendations, and customer journeys. Mailchimp offers ecommerce automation, though setup is less intuitive than Shopify-specific tools. Abandoned cart emails work but require more configuration than Klaviyo or Omnisend. Product recommendations are available but less sophisticated. Customer journey builder lets you create multi-step workflows, though it feels clunkier than competitors built specifically for ecommerce.

Audience segmentation using tags, groups, and behavioral data. Tag customers by purchase history, engagement, or custom fields. Create segments like "Purchased in last 90 days" or "Opened 5+ campaigns." Segmentation works but requires more manual setup than Klaviyo's automatic tracking. It's powerful but less ecommerce-optimized out of the box.

Landing pages and forms for list building. Create standalone landing pages for promotions or lead magnets. Build embedded and popup signup forms. While functional, these aren't as sophisticated as Privy or Klaviyo's form builders. Sufficient for basic needs but not if forms and popups are central to your strategy.

Reporting and analytics tracking opens, clicks, and revenue (Shopify integration required). Standard email metrics plus revenue tracking when connected to Shopify. Reports show which campaigns drive sales, though attribution is less detailed than Klaviyo. A/B testing is available on paid plans. Analytics are professional but not as ecommerce-specific as purpose-built Shopify tools.

Pricing

Free plan: 500 contacts, 1,000 sends/month (with daily limits). Most generous free tier by contact count, making it appealing for new stores. Limited to basic features—no automation, limited templates, Mailchimp branding. Daily sending limits prevent bulk campaigns. Free plan works for occasional newsletters but not serious ecommerce marketing.

Essentials plan: $13/month for 500 contacts. Adds automation, removes sending limits, includes A/B testing and custom branding. At 1,500 contacts: $25/month. At 5,000 contacts: $77/month. At 10,000 contacts: $138/month. Pricing is competitive, often cheaper than Klaviyo at similar list sizes.

Standard and Premium plans add advanced features and scale with list size. Standard ($20+/month) adds retargeting ads, send-time optimization, and customer journey builder. Premium ($350+/month) adds phone support, advanced segmentation, and multivariate testing. Most Shopify stores use Essentials or Standard—Premium is overkill unless you're a large enterprise.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Well-known brand with established reputation, excellent email builder and templates, generous free plan for beginners, competitive pricing at lower tiers, good general marketing features, strong customer support, extensive third-party integrations beyond ecommerce.

Cons: Not built specifically for ecommerce (feels generic compared to Klaviyo/Omnisend), Shopify integration is good but not seamless, automation setup is more complex, segmentation requires more manual work, less ecommerce-specific features and intelligence, many features unrelated to Shopify stores bloat the interface.

Best For

Mailchimp makes sense if you're already using it and comfortable with the platform—migration has switching costs. Also suitable for stores that do email marketing alongside other marketing (content marketing, blog newsletters) beyond just transactional ecommerce emails. Good for stores wanting a recognizable brand name and broader marketing tools. However, if you're choosing your first email app specifically for your Shopify store, Klaviyo, Omnisend, or Privy are better purpose-built choices.

5. Drip: Advanced Automation for Power Users

Drip markets itself as "ECRM" (ecommerce CRM), combining email marketing with customer relationship management. It's powerful, sophisticated, and designed for stores that want to treat email marketing as a strategic growth engine, not just a campaign tool.

Key Features

Visual workflow builder for complex multi-step automations. Drip's workflow builder is the most sophisticated of any platform. Create intricate automations with multiple branches, conditions, delays, and triggers. For example: "If customer opens email but doesn't click, wait 2 days then send SMS. If they click but don't buy, wait 3 days then send discount." This conditional logic lets you create truly personalized customer journeys.

Hyper-personalization using custom fields and liquid templating. Insert dynamic content into emails based on any customer data: name, location, last purchase, browsing history, cart contents, predicted next purchase. Liquid templating (same as Shopify themes) gives you code-level control over email content. Create emails that feel personally written for each recipient.

Revenue attribution tracking showing customer journey from first touch to purchase. See the entire path customers take: first campaign they opened, which products they browsed, when they added to cart, which email finally converted them. Multi-touch attribution reveals which campaigns contribute to sales even if they weren't the last click. This intelligence helps you optimize entire funnels, not just individual emails.

Onsite personalization showing different website content to different visitors. Beyond email, Drip lets you customize your Shopify store experience based on visitor data. Show different homepage hero images to first-time visitors vs returning customers. Display personalized product recommendations based on browsing history. This bridges email marketing with website optimization.

Advanced segmentation with unlimited custom fields and tags. Track any data point you want about customers and use it for segmentation. Create segments as specific as "Customers who bought Product A, viewed Product B, live in California, and have opened 3+ emails in the last month but haven't purchased in 45 days." If you can imagine a segment, you can build it in Drip.

Pricing

No free plan—starts at $39/month for up to 2,500 contacts. Drip is premium positioning from the start. The $39/month tier includes all features (no feature gating like some competitors). At 5,000 contacts: $89/month. At 10,000 contacts: $154/month. At 25,000 contacts: $289/month. More expensive than most competitors, but you're paying for power-user features.

All plans include unlimited email sends and all features. Unlike competitors who gate features by plan tier, Drip gives you everything regardless of list size. You're paying purely for contact count. This is fair—small stores get enterprise features, and you're not forced to upgrade plans just to unlock capabilities.

SMS available as add-on with per-message pricing. SMS costs extra beyond base pricing, similar to Klaviyo. Per-message costs are competitive ($0.0135 per segment in the US). SMS integrates fully with email workflows, so you can create coordinated multi-channel automations.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Most advanced automation and workflow builder, incredible personalization capabilities, excellent Shopify integration, all features included at all price tiers, powerful reporting and attribution, strong segmentation and tagging, great for technical marketers who want control.

Cons: Steep learning curve—not beginner-friendly, more expensive than competitors especially at lower tiers, no free plan to test, feature richness can be overwhelming, fewer pre-built templates than competitors (expects customization), overkill for stores with simple email needs.

Best For

Drip is built for stores doing $25k+/month that view email marketing as a core growth strategy. If you have a dedicated marketer (or are one) who wants maximum control and sophistication, Drip delivers. Perfect for stores outgrowing Klaviyo's automation capabilities or needing deeper personalization. Also ideal for stores with long customer journeys (high-ticket products, B2B) requiring complex nurture sequences. Not for beginners or stores wanting simple plug-and-play solutions.

6. Seguno: Simple Email Marketing Built for Shopify

Seguno is a newer entrant focused on simplicity and tight Shopify integration. It's built directly into Shopify's admin, making it the most native-feeling email app. If you want straightforward email marketing without leaving Shopify, Seguno is worth considering.

Key Features

Built directly into Shopify admin—no separate platform to learn. Seguno lives inside your Shopify dashboard alongside products, orders, and customers. Create campaigns, set up automation, and view reports without switching platforms. This integration reduces friction and makes email marketing feel like part of Shopify, not an external tool. For people who prefer simplicity, this is compelling.

Essential automation: abandoned cart, welcome, post-purchase, win-back. Seguno covers core ecommerce automations with simple setup. Templates are pre-configured for Shopify data, so setup takes minutes, not hours. Automation is straightforward—no complex workflows or conditional branching. For stores needing only essentials, this simplicity is a feature, not a limitation.

Newsletter campaigns with product insertion and discount codes. Create promotional emails, newsletters, and announcements using a simple builder. Insert products directly from your Shopify catalog with live pricing and images. Generate discount codes automatically within emails. The builder is basic but functional—perfect for stores prioritizing simplicity over design sophistication.

Segmentation by customer tags, order history, and location. Segment using Shopify customer tags, purchase behavior (bought specific product, order count, total spent), and location. Segmentation is solid for basic needs—send different campaigns to US vs international customers, one-time buyers vs repeat customers, or customers tagged as "VIP." Not as granular as Klaviyo but covers most common use cases.

Simple reporting showing revenue, open rates, and click rates per campaign. Reports are straightforward: how much revenue each campaign generated, open and click rates, and revenue per recipient. No fancy charts or complex attribution—just the numbers that matter most. For stores not needing deep analytics, this clarity is refreshing. Advanced users might find reporting too basic.

Pricing

Free plan: 250 subscribers, 1,000 email sends per month. Includes core features: automation, campaigns, segmentation. No feature restrictions like some free plans—you get everything except higher limits. Excellent for new stores or those with small lists. Many stores stay on free plan for months.

Paid plans start at $10/month for 1,000 subscribers. Flat pricing based on subscriber count, not complicated tiers. At 5,000 subscribers: $40/month. At 10,000 subscribers: $80/month. Seguno is the cheapest option among major apps at all list sizes. At 10k contacts, you'd pay $150+ with Klaviyo—Seguno is nearly half the cost. If budget is tight, Seguno's pricing is unbeatable.

All features included at all price tiers—no feature gating. Like Drip, you pay only for subscriber count, not features. Small stores get the same functionality as large stores. This is fair and transparent. You're not constantly being upsold to unlock features.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Best Shopify integration (lives in admin), extremely simple and beginner-friendly, cheapest pricing of major apps, no learning curve for Shopify users, fast setup, solid core features, transparent pricing, good customer support, no bloat or unnecessary features.

Cons: Limited advanced features (no complex automation, limited personalization), basic email builder compared to competitors, simpler segmentation than power tools, basic reporting and analytics, no SMS integration, smaller ecosystem (fewer integrations, less community content), not suitable if you need sophisticated workflows.

Best For

Seguno is perfect for beginners, small stores, or anyone prioritizing simplicity over sophistication. If email marketing feels overwhelming and you want the basics done well within Shopify, choose Seguno. Ideal for stores doing under $10k/month or those with small teams who don't want to learn complex platforms. Also great for stores that tried Klaviyo and found it too complicated—Seguno is the opposite. Not suitable for stores needing advanced automation, deep segmentation, or multi-channel coordination.

Other Notable Email Marketing Apps

Klaviyo Alternatives Worth Considering

ActiveCampaign: Powerful automation and CRM features, but less ecommerce-specific than Klaviyo. Better for stores that also do B2B or service-based marketing. Starts at $29/month. Steep learning curve similar to Klaviyo but broader focus beyond ecommerce.

SendGrid/Twilio: Developer-focused email sending service with marketing features. Excellent deliverability, powerful API, but requires more technical knowledge. Best for stores with dev resources wanting custom solutions. Not ideal for non-technical users.

ConvertKit: Designed for creators and bloggers, works for ecommerce but not optimized for it. Great for content-heavy stores (those emphasizing blog content, newsletters). Starts at $15/month. Simple automation and good email builder but lacks ecommerce-specific features.

GetResponse: All-in-one platform with email, landing pages, webinars. Feature-rich but not ecommerce-focused. Good for stores doing complex multi-channel marketing beyond just product sales. Starts at $19/month. More than most stores need.

How to Choose the Right Email Marketing App

By Store Size and Revenue

Just starting (under $5k/month): Use Seguno or Omnisend free plan. Focus on learning email basics—automation, list growth, basic segmentation. Don't overcomplicate with advanced tools you won't use yet. Seguno if you want simplicity, Omnisend if you want room to grow.

Growing store ($5k-25k/month): Omnisend or Privy depending on your priorities. Omnisend if you want multi-channel (email + SMS). Privy if list growth and popups are priorities. Both offer solid features without overwhelming beginners. You'll start using more advanced features like segmentation and A/B testing.

Scaling store ($25k-100k/month): Klaviyo or Drip if you need advanced features. Klaviyo for best-in-class ecommerce focus and segmentation. Drip if you want maximum automation sophistication. At this scale, powerful tools pay for themselves through better targeting and personalization. Invest in whichever fits your needs better.

Large store ($100k+/month): Klaviyo or Drip, likely with dedicated marketing staff or agency. You need enterprise features, dedicated support, and advanced capabilities. At this scale, cost isn't the primary factor—ROI and capabilities matter most. Many large stores use Klaviyo because agencies know it well. Drip if your team prefers its approach.

By Marketing Sophistication

Beginner (never done email marketing): Seguno or Privy. Start simple. Learn fundamentals: building lists, creating campaigns, basic automation. Don't jump into Klaviyo and get overwhelmed. Master the basics first, then upgrade when you need more power.

Intermediate (understand email basics, want to improve): Omnisend or Klaviyo. You're ready for segmentation, proper automation workflows, and multi-channel marketing. Omnisend if you want easier learning, Klaviyo if you're ready for power-user features. Both support your growth without limiting you.

Advanced (email is core growth strategy): Klaviyo or Drip. You need sophisticated segmentation, advanced automation, deep analytics. At this level you're not just sending campaigns—you're building customer lifecycle systems. Klaviyo for ecommerce-specific intelligence, Drip for maximum automation flexibility.

By Specific Needs

Need amazing popups and list growth: Privy. The popup builder is industry-leading and worth the cost alone if list growth is a priority. Combine it with solid email automation and you have a complete system.

Want multi-channel (email + SMS + push): Omnisend. Purpose-built for coordinated multi-channel marketing. Better unified platform than using separate tools.

Need deep data and analytics: Klaviyo. The most robust reporting, attribution, and customer insights. Best for data-driven marketers who make decisions based on metrics.

Want complex automation workflows: Drip. The most sophisticated workflow builder for creating intricate customer journeys with extensive conditional logic.

Want simplest setup and lowest cost: Seguno. Lives in Shopify, dead-simple to use, cheapest pricing. Perfect if you want "good enough" email marketing without complexity.

Essential Features Every Email App Should Have

Abandoned cart automation is non-negotiable. This single feature recovers 10-20% of abandoned carts, often paying for the entire app. Any email platform without solid abandoned cart automation isn't suitable for ecommerce. Must include: product images, cart contents, direct checkout links, automatic triggering.

Segmentation lets you target the right customers with relevant messages. At minimum, segment by: purchased vs not purchased, purchase frequency (one-time vs repeat), engagement level (opens emails vs doesn't), and basic demographics. Better segmentation = more relevant emails = higher conversions and revenue.

Welcome series automation nurtures new subscribers. When someone joins your list, automatically send 2-5 emails over 7-14 days introducing your brand, best products, and value proposition. Welcome series have the highest engagement of any emails. Essential for converting subscribers into customers.

Easy Shopify integration syncing products, orders, and customers. Manual data entry is death. Your email app must automatically pull product catalogs, order data, and customer information from Shopify in real-time. Dynamic product blocks that update automatically with current pricing and inventory are essential.

Good email builder with ecommerce-specific blocks. At minimum: product grids showing multiple products, individual product blocks with images/prices/buttons, discount code generators, and professional templates. Drag-and-drop builder should be intuitive enough that you don't need design skills.

Revenue reporting showing how much money each campaign makes. Open and click rates are metrics, but revenue is what matters. Your email platform must attribute sales to campaigns and show ROI clearly. If you can't see which emails drive sales, you can't optimize effectively.

Common Mistakes When Choosing Email Marketing Apps

Choosing based on price alone ignores the ROI equation. A $20/month app that generates $2,000 in revenue is a better investment than a $10/month app generating $500. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Evaluate tools by revenue potential and features needed, not just monthly cost. The cheapest option often costs you more in lost revenue.

Starting with overly complex tools creates overwhelm and inaction. Buying Klaviyo when you've never sent an email campaign wastes money and creates frustration. Start appropriate to your skill level. Master basics on simpler platforms, then upgrade. A simple tool you actually use beats a powerful tool that sits idle because it's too complicated.

Ignoring deliverability rates costs you open rates and sales. All these apps claim great deliverability, but it varies. Research deliverability reports and user reviews mentioning emails landing in spam. Poor deliverability means your beautiful campaigns never reach inboxes. Klaviyo and Omnisend generally have the best deliverability among Shopify apps.

Not factoring in migration difficulty when switching later. Migrating from one email platform to another is painful—subscriber data, automation workflows, email templates all need rebuilding. Choose a platform you can grow with for 2-3+ years. Starting on the cheapest option and switching annually costs time and creates gaps in your automation.

Underestimating the importance of good templates and support. Bad templates mean you're either spending hours designing emails or sending ugly campaigns. Poor support means you're stuck when things break. Evaluate template quality and read reviews about customer support. These "soft" factors significantly impact your experience and success.

Setting Up Your Email Marketing App for Success

Essential Automation to Set Up First

Abandoned cart sequence (3 emails over 3-7 days). Email 1: Send 1-4 hours after abandonment with subject like "You forgot something!" Show cart contents and checkout link. Email 2: Send 24 hours later with social proof (reviews, testimonials) and urgency. Email 3: Send 48-72 hours later with small discount (10% off) as last resort to close the sale. This sequence alone recovers 10-15% of abandoned carts.

Welcome series for new subscribers (3-5 emails over 7-14 days). Email 1: Thank them for subscribing, deliver promised discount/incentive, introduce your brand. Email 2: Share your brand story or best-selling products. Email 3: Showcase customer reviews and social proof. Email 4: Create urgency with limited-time offers. Email 5: Last chance to use welcome discount. Welcome series convert 30-40% of subscribers into customers.

Post-purchase sequence building loyalty and repeat purchases. Email 1: Order confirmation with tracking (automated via Shopify). Email 2: Delivery notification when shipped. Email 3: Request review 7-10 days after delivery. Email 4: Recommend complementary products based on purchase. Email 5: Offer discount on next order 30-45 days later to encourage repeat purchase. This nurtures customers from one-time to repeat buyers.

Win-back campaign targeting inactive customers. Identify customers who purchased 90+ days ago and haven't returned. Send 2-3 emails: "We miss you!" with reminder of what they loved, showcase new products, and offer comeback discount. Win-back campaigns can recover 5-10% of churned customers at high profit margins since acquisition cost is zero.

List Building Best Practices

Offer compelling incentives: 10-20% discount, free shipping, exclusive access. Don't just ask for emails—give value in exchange. "Join our newsletter" converts poorly. "Get 15% off your first order" converts at 5-10x the rate. Test different incentives to find what resonates with your audience. Bigger discounts get more signups but train customers to wait for discounts.

Use exit-intent popups to capture abandoning visitors. When someone's cursor moves toward closing the tab, trigger a popup offering your incentive. Exit-intent captures 2-4% of abandoning traffic—people who would otherwise be lost forever. Don't show popups immediately on arrival (annoying), only on exit intent or after 30-60 seconds.

A/B test popup designs, headlines, and offers continuously. Test popup aesthetics (minimalist vs colorful), headline copy ("Get 15% off" vs "Join 50,000+ Happy Customers"), and offers (percentage vs dollar discount vs free shipping). Small improvements compound—going from 3% to 5% popup conversion means 67% more subscribers from the same traffic.

Add email signup to high-traffic pages: homepage, product pages, blog posts. Don't limit signups to popups. Embed forms in your homepage hero section, at the end of blog posts, and on high-traffic pages. Multiple touchpoints increase total signups. Different visitors prefer different signup methods—offer variety.

Conclusion: Choosing Your Email Marketing Stack

The "best" email marketing app depends entirely on your store's size, budget, sophistication, and specific needs. There's no one-size-fits-all winner. Klaviyo dominates among serious ecommerce stores for good reason—it's powerful, ecommerce-specific, and scales beautifully. But it's overkill for many stores where Omnisend, Privy, or Seguno deliver better value.

Start by honestly assessing your current situation: How experienced are you with email marketing? What's your monthly revenue? What features do you actually need versus nice-to-haves? How much can you realistically spend? Match your answers to the right tool, not the most popular or expensive tool.

Most importantly, any email marketing is better than no email marketing. Don't get paralyzed comparing apps for weeks. Pick one that fits your criteria, set up essential automation (abandoned cart, welcome series), and start collecting emails. You can always switch later once you've learned what you actually need. The biggest mistake isn't choosing the "wrong" app—it's not starting at all.