Comparing the email marketing solutions for eCommerce

So you have an eCommerce business, or are thinking of starting one.

You may or may not have a contact list of customers.

If you don’t, then you need to build one.

Whether you have a huge list already or not, you’re going to want to run email campaigns of all kinds in order to gain customers, retain them and maximise your profits.

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We’re going to be delving into some of the best and most popular mail solutions, compare their capabilities, features and prices and find the best fit for you.

You may already have a provider and are looking to switch, or were using mailchimp and after the recent split of them and Shopify, these comparisons are even more relevant.

Let’s start by looking at Klaviyo . https://www.klaviyo.com/

• A popular company that have been around for a few years and are making a lot of noise in the eCommerce industry.

Overview

Klaviyo allow for an easy integration with an eCommerce store, importing all of your customers data and activities and from this you can create specific emails and email plans using ‘segments’ they specialise in developing intricate emailing campaigns and plans.

The email plans allow for you to follow up on abandoned carts, target repeat customers and create promotional campaigns.

Pros

• Easy integration to Shopify/eCommerce backend
• Very good at targeting set customer groups with specific emails
• Personalised emails to customers, using content specific to set customers, depending on their activity and history.
• Auto-responds
• Dashboard displays which emails returned the best results.

Cons

• There are a lot of features to get used to, why this is not always a bad thing, it can be confusing / overwhelming for beginners, although their website does offer easy to read explanations.
• Expensive

Prices

• They have a very small free tier, it is:

— Up to 250 Contacts

— 500 Email Sends

They also offer a grow by subscriber basis and using 5000 subscribers as a basis, the fee is: $110 a month.

Conclusion

Klaviyo are very good at sending accurate, detailed emails to specific customers, they focus mainly on delivering the email system very well.

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Omnisend — https://www.omnisend.com/

• Omnisend are also a popular company who currently seem to have about equal popularity to Klaviyo.

Overview

Omnisend market themselves as marketing automation for smart marketing and it seems that it does work, they are popular and have a good rating — currently 4.9/5 stars on the shopify app store which is incredibly good.

They are very good at integrating across the various platforms and marketing across the board.

This is great if you would like a lot of your mail to be completely automated and have control over your different platforms all in one place.

Pros

• They are offering discounts currently to users who are migrating from Mailchimp
• Integrate across various platforms including FB messenger, SMS, whatsapp.
• Personalised, segmented marketing to specific customer groups.
• Integrates with the shopify/eCommerce backends very well and have immediate access to your products.
• Omnisend have good customer acquisition process — initially they sign up visitors to your site and add them to the subscriber list via a pop up screen, they then offer discounts to these subscribers and follow up with emails.

Cons

• The email campaigns cant be designed as intricately as some other mail solutions, but they offer a well-rounded package.

Prices

• Their prices are very competitive with a big free tier, good for those who are new to eCommerce or just like a bargain!

15,000 emails / mo

2,000 emails / day

Their prices for the standard version start at $16 per month at 500 subscribers.

It will cost you $60 a month for 5000 subscribers, almost half that of Klaviyo.

Conclusion

Omnisend are very valuable at first attaining customers as subscribers and then automatically mapping their movements and sending emails and doing this across the integrated platforms.

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Omnisend vs Klaviyo conclusion

Omnisend are good if you have different platforms and would like them all in one location and automatically contacted. If you want your customers to be automatically saved as subscribers and then contacted using the settings you have put in place then this will suit you and you can sit back and continue with other areas of your business. Specifically they may be better if you are newer to the eCommerce scene. Omnisend also offer a very large free tier, great for starting out.

Klaviyo offer a more specialised emailing system that really is accurate in targeting specific customers with the precise information and requires more of an effort from you to create your settings and requirements but ultimately from that extra work comes extra gain as more accurate marketing will bring better results, they would be suited for those who are already present on the eCommerce scene and have some experience already with email marketing solutions but don’t be put off if you’re new as it is not difficult to pick up. Klaviyo are also very expensive in comparison to other providers.

I have decided to leave out mailChimp from this comparison due to their disassociation with shopify.

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I have focused mainly on Omnisend and Klaviyo because for eCommerce they are two of the best solutions out there currently due to their integration, many features and reputation.

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There are many other, smaller email marketing providers and there are a few listed below with their top points that may be attractive and suit your store more than Omnisend or Klaviyo.

• Marsello

Marsello have a great 4.9/5 star rating.

They offer segmented emails to unlimited customers, it won’t be that advanced but this could be great for beginners, their higher tier is also free for 14 days if you would like to try out their solution with more features.

• Constant contact.

It’s just for email but they have a 1 month free trial and are professional.

• Getresponse

They market themselves as the email marketers for small businesses, their prices are fairly reasonable.

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If you have experiences with any of these providers or have any suggestions not mentioned here, then please comment below!

For further Shopify and eCommerce guides and tips, join the Facebook communities such as Shopify Professionals

Shopify Professionals FB GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/553835355122956/

Thanks for reading.