Shopify Email is a great place to start when you’re getting into email marketing. It’s simple, built into Shopify, and easy to use. However, once your store starts growing, it can quickly feel limiting. Without more advanced tools, you may be missing out on potential sales.

The main drawback of Shopify Email is that it lacks several key features that modern e-commerce businesses rely on, such as customer reviews, restock alerts, and A/B testing. I’ve been using Shopify Email for a while, but recently I started testing other email marketing apps because Shopify Email is beginning to feel a bit too basic for scaling a store.Below are my top email marketing app choices for Shopify store owners.

Omnisend – Built Specifically for E-commerce

First up is Omnisend, and this is where things start to get really interesting.

What I really like about Omnisend is that its entire focus is on e-commerce. They offer a huge library of form templates designed specifically for online stores. You can create simple email sign-up forms, or go more advanced with features like countdown timers, multi-step discounts, and gamified pop-ups—such as their popular Wheel of Fortune style pop-up.

With so many options available, growing your email subscriber list becomes much easier. Omnisend also provides powerful pre-built automations, including back-in-stock alerts and browse abandonment emails, which are essential for recovering lost revenue.

One of the biggest advantages of Omnisend is that all automation features are available even on the free plan. This includes access to pro-level features such as A/B testing and 24/7 chat and email support—features that many other platforms charge extra for.

Omnisend Pricing Overview

Omnisend offers three pricing tiers: Free, Standard, and Pro.

The Free plan allows up to 250 emails per month and includes limited SMS sending.
The Standard plan starts at $16 per month and scales based on the number of contacts.
The Pro plan starts at $59 per month and includes advanced analytics along with additional SMS credits.

Although the free plan has a relatively low email sending limit, Omnisend allows you to automatically post your email campaigns to your business’s Facebook page. This is a smart way to reach more potential customers for free—even those who are not subscribed to your email list.

Klaviyo – A Powerful Upgrade from Shopify Email

Omnisend is a strong option, but Klaviyo is another top-tier choice for Shopify store owners.

In fact, Shopify has invested in Klaviyo and currently owns 11% of the company. This has led many store owners to wonder whether Shopify Email may eventually be replaced by Klaviyo or more deeply integrated with it.

Regardless, Klaviyo is a major upgrade compared to Shopify Email. Like Omnisend, it includes built-in A/B testing capabilities. You can create multiple versions of an email and test them with different customer segments to see what performs best, helping you optimize your campaigns for higher conversions.

Smart Optimization with Powerful Branding Control

One of the standout features of Klaviyo is how it handles performance optimization. Klaviyo analyzes campaign results and automatically sends the best-performing email to future customers. This makes ongoing optimization much easier, especially if you rely heavily on data-driven decisions.

Klaviyo’s email builder includes a wide range of modern templates, along with customizable basic layouts. These layouts come with content placeholders but no pre-loaded images or color schemes. This gives you full control over branding and makes it easy to design emails that match your store’s identity.

The downside is that you need to manually upload all of your brand assets at the beginning. However, once that setup is complete, Klaviyo can automatically apply your branding to any new emails you create, which saves time in the long run.

Klaviyo Pricing Breakdown

Klaviyo has a very simple pricing structure. All features are available on the free plan, and you can send up to 500 emails per month, which is slightly more than Omnisend’s free limit.

There are only two paid plans:

Email-only plan, starting at $11.20 per month
Email + SMS plan, starting at $41.30 per month

Pricing scales based on the number of contacts and total email volume. While Klaviyo is powerful, the 500-email limit on the free plan is quite low, and costs increase quickly at higher sending volumes—often becoming more expensive than Omnisend.

Yotpo – A Generous Free Plan with Strong E-commerce Tools

If Klaviyo’s pricing feels like a deal-breaker, Yotpo could be a strong alternative.

I’ll admit, I only recently started paying attention to Yotpo, but it turns out I was behind the times. Yotpo has over 7,000 reviews on the Shopify App Store and offers one of the most attractive free plans I’ve seen in email marketing.

With Yotpo, you can send up to 10,000 emails per month for free, with no feature restrictions. An all-access free plan with such a high sending limit is extremely rare and makes Yotpo especially appealing for growing Shopify stores.

Beyond email, Yotpo offers a full suite of e-commerce tools, including subscriptions, customer reviews, and loyalty programs. Their drag-and-drop email editor also integrates directly with Canva, allowing you to pull designs and visuals straight from Canva into your email campaigns.

One of Yotpo’s most impressive features is its AI tool called Tailor. This tool lets you create customer segments using plain English instructions. Since email segmentation can be time-consuming and complex, this feature alone makes Yotpo very exciting to use.

ActiveCampaign – Automation-First Email Marketing

Another email marketing app I’ve been testing recently is ActiveCampaign.

What really stands out about ActiveCampaign is its massive library of automation templates, which they call Recipes. These templates are incredibly useful for getting started quickly with automated workflows.

ActiveCampaign also offers templates designed for very specific e-commerce use cases, including niche scenarios like tracking custom orders. If automation is a core part of your marketing strategy, these pre-built workflows can save you a lot of setup time and effort.

Pricing and Automation Value

One feature I really love about ActiveCampaign is that you can filter automations to see which ones are built specifically for Shopify. This makes it much easier to find workflows that actually make sense for an e-commerce store instead of generic marketing automations.

ActiveCampaign offers multiple pricing tiers, but it’s worth noting that not all features are available on the starter plan. That said, for $19 per month, you still get access to automations, A/B testing, basic segmentation features, and several other core tools. Considering what’s included, ActiveCampaign delivers solid value—especially if automation is a priority in your marketing strategy.

Overall, it’s a strong choice for Shopify store owners who want more control over workflows and customer journeys without jumping straight into very expensive plans.

Mailchimp vs Shopify Email: Pricing, Features, and Which One Is Better for Your Store?

Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to connect with customers, promote products, and increase sales. When it comes to Shopify stores, two popular options stand out — Mailchimp and Shopify Email.

Before we begin, this comparison is completely honest and unbiased. This is not sponsored by Shopify or Mailchimp. The goal is simply to share real experience, pricing comparison, platform walkthrough, and personal advantages and disadvantages.

Let’s break everything down step-by-step.

Pricing Comparison: Shopify Email vs Mailchimp

Pricing is usually the first thing store owners consider when choosing an email marketing platform.

Shopify Email Pricing

Shopify Email is very cost-effective, especially for small and growing stores.

First 2,500 emails per month are completely free
After that, $1 per 1,000 emails
Works directly with your Shopify plan (Basic, Shopify, or Advanced)

For example:

If you have 1,000 subscribers
And you send 2 emails per month
You may not pay anything extra

If you send 40,000 emails per month, you will pay approximately:

$40 per month after the free limit

This pricing makes Shopify Email very affordable for most Shopify merchants.

Mailchimp Pricing

Mailchimp also offers a free plan but becomes expensive as your subscriber list grows.

Free plan supports up to 2,000 contacts
Paid plans increase depending on contacts and email volume

For example:

10,000 contacts
Sending around 40,000 emails monthly
The Essentials plan costs around $79 per month

Compared to Shopify Email, Mailchimp becomes significantly more expensive as your list grows.

Shopify Email

Shopify Email is designed specifically for Shopify users, which makes it simple and highly integrated.

Creating Email Campaigns in Shopify

Creating campaigns inside Shopify is very straightforward.

You simply:

Go to Marketing → Campaigns
Click Create Campaign
Select Shopify Email
Choose a template
Add subject and preview text
Customize email content
Send test or schedule email

Built-in Templates and Easy Customization

Shopify Email provides ready-to-use templates. These templates make it easy to create professional marketing emails without advanced design skills.

You can easily:

Add buttons like "Learn More"
Insert products directly from your store
Add gift cards or coupons
Customize layout and branding

The biggest advantage is that everything connects directly to your Shopify store. You don’t need extra integrations or syncing products manually.

Targeting and Personalization

Shopify Email allows you to target subscribers directly based on customer data.

For example, you can:

Send promotions to all subscribers
Send special offers like gift cards or coupons
Promote holiday campaigns or shipping announcements

Since it pulls data directly from Shopify, targeting becomes faster and easier.

Automation Features in Shopify Email

Shopify Email also supports automations. You can:

Create automated marketing flows
Integrate SMS marketing through Shopify apps
Connect marketing with tools like Google Ads

While automation options are growing, they are still simpler compared to advanced third-party tools.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a powerful marketing platform with advanced features, but it can feel complex for beginners.

Automation and Marketing Tools

Mailchimp offers advanced automation capabilities such as:

Customer journey automation
Behavior-based email triggers
Detailed segmentation
Advanced marketing funnels

However, these features require more learning and setup.

Design and Customization

Mailchimp provides strong design flexibility and customization options.

But compared to Shopify Email:

Interface can feel overwhelming
Requires more time to master
Product syncing sometimes needs integrations

For beginners or small store owners, Mailchimp may feel complicated at first.

Facebook Ads and Marketing Automation for Shopify

Running a Shopify store is not only about adding products and waiting for customers to arrive. You need strong marketing strategies to bring traffic and convert visitors into buyers. Two powerful tools that help Shopify store owners grow their business are Facebook Ads and marketing automation.

Facebook Ads are one of the best ways to reach targeted customers quickly. With Facebook and Instagram combined, you can promote your products to millions of potential buyers. Shopify makes it easy to connect your store with Facebook through the Facebook and Instagram sales channel. Once connected, you can sync your products automatically and create ads directly from your product catalog.

One major advantage of Facebook Ads is audience targeting. You can target customers based on their interests, behavior, location, and shopping habits. For example, if you sell fitness products, you can show ads to people who follow fitness pages or search for workout equipment. This helps increase the chances of getting real customers instead of random traffic.

Marketing automation in Shopify helps you save time and improve customer engagement. Automation allows you to send emails, SMS messages, or notifications automatically based on customer actions. For example, you can send abandoned cart emails when someone leaves products in their cart. You can also send welcome emails to new subscribers or special discount offers to returning customers.

Shopify supports automation through Shopify Email, Shopify Flow, and third-party apps available in the Shopify App Store. These tools help create automated workflows without needing advanced technical skills.

When Facebook Ads and marketing automation work together, they create a powerful marketing system. Facebook Ads bring new visitors to your store, while automation helps convert those visitors into customers and keeps them engaged for repeat purchases.

Using both strategies helps Shopify store owners increase sales, build customer relationships, and grow their brand consistently.

Shopify Integration Across All Platforms

To wrap things up, Omnisend, Mailchimp, Shopify Email, Klaviyo, Yotpo, and ActiveCampaign all integrate seamlessly with Shopify.

No matter which email marketing platform you choose, you’ll be able to automatically pull products from your store, sync customer data, and keep everything connected across platforms. This makes setup much easier and ensures your email campaigns always stay up to date with your store data.

I’ve added links to each of these tools so you can try them out for free. I’ve also included a downloadable cheat sheet that covers the most important automated workflows for e-commerce businesses, so you can get started quickly without overthinking your setup.

Final Thoughts

I hope this guide helped you understand the strengths of each email marketing platform and how they compare for Shopify stores. Choosing the right tool really comes down to your goals—whether that’s automation, pricing flexibility, advanced analytics, or ease of use.

If you found this helpful, keep experimenting with these tools and see which one fits your workflow best. And if you have questions or want to share your experience, drop a comment and let others know how it worked for you.

Shopify Email & Marketing Automation Guide 2026: Email, Facebook Ads, Mailchimp, Klaviyo & Omnisend Explained